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When the time came for CGR to produce web-based Community Indicator Projects, the long-established research organization partnered with Bob Wright Creative to help develop and continuously enhance these powerful web-based tools.

Some Background on CGR

The Center for Governmental Research (CGR) is a municipal research organization founded by George Eastman in 1915 to serve as an independent, non-partisan agency for keeping citizens informed. CGR serves government, nonprofits and business leaders by providing data-driven research and analysis that affects the quality of life in communities both inside and outside New York State.

What is a Community Profile?

A Community Indicator Project, or Community Profile, assesses a range of community issues over time. Comparative performance data is generated on a number of topics, such as economics, education, and health. This data empowers leaders and residents to assess indicators in comparison to other communities, as well as the state and the nation.

Web-based community profiles (link takes you to CGR website) have become essential tools for starting strategic discussion about strengths, challenges and opportunities that affect an entire population. CGR has been in partnership with Bob Wright Creative since 2009 to help develop web-based Community Profiles, and to also help enhance the product at each iteration.

A Web-Based Community Profile for Cayuga and Seneca Counties

To produce the second-generation Cayuga and Seneca Counties Community Profile (click link to open site in new window), CGR specified a website to provide analysis, data and interactive charting capabilities for 70 indicators of community vitality. Comparative data for 4 similar counties, along with the state and the nation, cover topics such as demographics, economy and education.

The website, along with its lead sponsors the United Ways of Cayuga and Seneca Counties, provides leaders with a powerful means for assessing and understanding their communities.

A Solution that Benefits Users of Information and Providers of Information Alike

Bob Wright Creative was again brought in to support the creation of this resource. User interface design and website programming enhancements were provided  to maintain alignment with the evolving nature of the data, as well as the evolving needs of the user.

The website’s user interface design delivers improvements to usability and searchability based on user feedback. As for the back-end, developing a Drupal-based content management system delivered a number of benefits to CGR and its sponsors. These benefits include:

• Enhanced content management capability, administrative control and site security
• Greater flexibility of data presentation through the design and development of dynamic charting capabilities
• Easier inclusion of social media functionality
• Modular code resulting in cost-effective same-site scalability, as well as cost-effective replication for future Community Profile websites
• More efficient and cost-effective enhancements of product features and functionality going forward

With essential information that is always up to date and easily accessed from one central location, service organizations can more easily decide which areas need the most attention. These decisions become actionable by developing approaches to solving issues in a data-driven, quantitative way.

A Platform for Growth

CGR and its sponsors provide community profiles to the benefit of the organizations and populations they serve. Bob Wright Creative’s ongoing role involves user experience enhancement and provision of technology platforms that deliver efficient scalability, ongoing improvement and cost-effective replication. We’re happy to be part of an ongoing website initiative that is helping many, and that is a viable platform for future growth.

Click here to visit Cayuga and Seneca Counties Community Profile.

We're very excited for our client, The Maplewood, for being selected as a finalist in this year's "Best of the Web" competition, held by the Rochester Business Journal. VisitMaplewood.com is in the Health Care category. Winners will be chosen during a ceremony on March 13.

The Bob Wright Creative team worked with Maplewood administrator Greg Chambery and his team to complete a marketing strategy and re-branding initiative, out of which the new Maplewood website was born.

In creating the website, we knew the importance of producing a centralized information hub to live at the heart of a purposeful inbound marketing effort. The site has a number of features including a virtual tour, multiple blogs, videos, and audio podcasts. The result is a deep, valuable resource for current and prospective residents and their loved ones, advisors, and members of the medical community.

Many thanks to Greg Chambery and The Maplewood for the vision which has driven the site's creation, and congratulations to all of the finalists. We look forward to March 13!

I ran across an AdAge article recently, thanks to @ThomasJArmitage, that provides interesting insight into how 10 renowned brands improved their marketing agency relationships and how they plan to improve even more in 2012.

This article doesn’t represent some sort of “how to” for me. In fact, Bob Wright Creative is blessed to have wonderful clients that are strong leaders committed to creating excellent work in a positive environment of collaboration. The reason why I resonate with this article is because it re-affirms my belief in the practice of making someone else’s life a little easier.

No matter our organization’s offering, or our role within the organization, when we consider ourselves to essentially be service providers committed to helping others, I believe the output of our endeavor will always be as strong as it can be.

The article also reminds me that as an agency we are clients too. We have vendors such as printers, photographers, web hosts, landlords, accountants, and others. Just as our clients will ask themselves “how can we be more effective in our role with our agencies?” we continually ask a similar question of ourselves: we’re all pulling for the same level of excellence in our collaborations, so what can we do on our part to achieve the desired result in an ideal manner, where everyone involved ends up in a better place?

So, while the season of resolution is still new, I resolve to strengthen my commitment to helping make things a little easier for others, inside the office and out.

You can read the AdAge article in its entirety here.

Congratulations to Greg Chambery, Owner/Administrator at client company The Maplewood. Greg recently made a guest appearance on "the CEO Hour" where he, along with attorney Kevin Cooman, discussed financial and legal issues pertaining to long-term nursing care.

For me, an interesting take-away is the level to which The Maplewood dedicates itself to innovation within the ever-changing long-term care operating environment. This is especially impressive when we consider the ripple effect Baby Boomers will soon have. Don't get me wrong, I love my parents, aunts and uncles! But, it seems that commitment to innovation will be key as the demands of this sizable demographic are felt.

Greg's participation in this forum also illustrates The Maplewood's commitment to being a valuable resource not only to its residents and family members, but to the greater community as well.

Click here to listen to Greg Chambery on "the CEO Hour".

With your first step inside The Maplewood in Webster, New York, one thing becomes abundantly clear - the nature of long-term and rehabilitation care has changed. The Maplewood's foundation of innovative clinical care is housed within a model that is focused on hospitality, not institutional confines. The Maplewood feels more like a resort, and less like a nursing home.

With this in mind, we set out to deliver a new website that captures the unique nature of the Maplewood brand. "Distinctly Different" is a key pillar of The Maplewood - one that informs every aspect of the website.

As the central hub for Maplewood information, family members, residents, professional community, and staff all benefit from a rich presentation of valuable content. Highlights include photo slideshows, in-depth information, "Get to Know" videos, and a growing blog presence. Soon to be launched will be an audio podcast series to help listeners make informed decisions around long-term and rehabilitation care.

Many thanks go to Maplewood's owner/administrator, Greg Chambery, for having the vision and commitment to developing a site of this nature.

We invite you to visit www.MaplewoodNursingHome.com, and lend us your feedback.

I met with one of my client's senior management team today and something amazing happened.

A little backstory

We meet once a month to review PR opportunities. None of the people in the room are responsible for marketing, all of them overseeing one of the various departments in my client's company.

The meetings go alright. We churn through an agenda that I had inherited, looking for upcoming events that we can publicize and story ideas that we can pitch.

Actually, the monthly meeting was a dog. We did our duty, but it was not a good spend of everybody's time.

What to do?

My client and I agreed that the time was not well spent and that we needed to shift gears. We hashed some ideas around and decided the best plan was to back up and get his team more engaged in the overall marketing process. They needed context. They needed to be able to understand what direction we're taking their marketing and how they fit into it.

Talking fast to make it fit

So, today I spent an hour and a half taking the team through the three main areas of work that I've been focused on for their company: strategic, tactical and operational.

I shared the steps we went through in developing the strategic plan, the findings and the strategies. I shared the positioning work we did and the rationale behind it. I shared the branding that we've been developing and how it tied into the strategic work and positioning. We covered the overall tactical plan and how we're in the process of operationalizing their marketing function.

We covered a lot of info in a short period of time.

The magic

After I was done something amazing happened: they started getting excited about the opportunities and challenges before their company and they started to share some excellent ideas—not just PR ideas, but marketing ideas.

They were really good ideas, too, because they had context for the first time. The team started to understand how they each fit into the company's marketing strategy and that unlocked their expertise and creativity. It was quite dramatic.

If your company's marketing team is comprised of non-marketing professionals, take time to give everyone context. Don't just share with them what you did but share why you did it—the thinking behind your approach.

By doing so, you'll help them understand the big picture, how they fit and what unique piece they have to offer. You'll get much better contributions from the team and who knows, you might even have that "Ah Ha!" idea that's been eluding you.


(Photo Credit: Josh Gastin)

Here's a recent piece we did for Spectracom promoting their Path Align-R technology. Check it out!

Creative Team
Creative Direction: Phil Daggar, Bob Wright Creative
Illustration: Ken Townsend, Bob Wright Creative
Flash Programming: Jon Daggar, Bob Wright Creative
Writer & Audio Production: Tom Cummings, Cummings Creative

Learn more about Spectracom and see the web site user interface we created for them by visiting: www.spectracomcorp.com

We're really happy for our client, Financial Institutions (Nasdaq: FISI). According to the Rochester Business Journal they just posted 80% growth in quarterly net income!

You can read the RBJ article about it here.

Really, it's no surprise to us. Financial Institutions is a great company to work with. The many years working together—designing annual reports or redesigning their corporate identity—have been filled with great collaboration and respect. Congratulations!