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Yesterday’s post sparked some great conversations on social media with regard to what everyone thought about various commercials – in particular one that I’ve included in today’s "pretty good" category.  It’s been great to hear legal marketers weigh in on these, so let’s keep the conversation going! 

I’ve got five commercials on today’s "pretty good" list, and I’ll both go into why I like them, and why they don’t make it to the "really good" list.Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Pretty Good 2013

When you’re not particularly enamored of either team in the Superbowl, and hockey is more your sport anyway, what’s a gal to do when football’s biggest game of the year is on? DVR it so I could watch just the commercials, of course! (And the Sandy Hook Chorus sing "America the Beautiful" – that was not to be missed). 

Though after zipping through the game to catch this year’s ads, I was kind of wishing I’d skipped the whole thing all together – these are some of the most expensive ads to be purchased throughout the year, and for me, there were almost no standouts. Where have all the good marketers gone?

But, since I need to choose *some* good commercials to discuss, here are my top picks for this year – I’ll cover the "really good" today and the "pretty good," the bad and the ugly later in the week. Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Really Good 2013

Last week, the LMA NJ chapter once again piggybacked on to what the NY chapter was doing, and hosted a lunch where we Skyped into a panel presentation focusing on whether law firms should help promote individual attorneys (or just focus on the firm brand as a whole). The panelists included Robert Algeri, the co-founder of Great Jakes, which is listed in his bio as "a marketing communications firm that develops next-generation websites for mid-size and large law firms." 

We also had Andrea Crews, the Director of Marketing and Business Development for Levenfeld Pearlstein, a mid-size midwestern firm, and Jasmine Trillos-Decarie, the Director of Marketing and Business Development at Foley Hoag. 

Continue Reading Should Law Firms Help Promote Individual Attorneys? An LMA Recap

As I was leaving the LMA 2012 conference, I learned that what many of us had been hoping for was coming true – we were starting up a LMANJ city group! Although New York and New Jersey are close together, getting in and out of the city can be less than ideal, particularly on a work night, so those of us working in New Jersey are happy to be piggy-backing off of the NY programs and doing our own networking. 

Our first session took place last Thursday, and after some initial networking among ourselves, we tapped into the NY session via Skype, which was dedicated to the topic of "Unpacking and Mapping Your Career Business Plan." The session was presented by Kelly Hoey, Business Network Strategist, and Jennifer Johnson, J.Johnson Executive Search, Inc. Continue Reading Unpacking and Mapping Your Career Business Plan – An LMA Re-Cap

In my last post, we talked about the first part of the client panel session from the Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Meeting, with panelists Jeff Carr of FMC Technologies, Janet Dhillon of J.C. Penney and Ron Barger of the Archon Group. The second part of the session was equally as valuable as the first.

One of the interesting points that the panelists made during their comments was that they need their attorneys to elicit the real end game from them – they went as far as to suggest that attorneys should ask them directly “What does ‘winning’ mean to you?” Jeff said lawyers need to get their clients to be specific, because they often won’t volunteer that information.

He joked that business development is like a relationship – people don’t get better with time. They’re on their best behavior in the “marketing phase,” so attorneys need to get past that, and force their clients to be specific about the results that they want.

Continue Reading Change or Die? A General Counsel Panel – Part II

A few days ago, I offered my initial recap of the general counsel panel that we were treated to at this year’s Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference, focusing on some key quotes from the session. Now, let’s get into the meat of the panel, where even more value is to be found.

The one overriding thought I had (and I was not alone if you listened to the tweet stream) was that year after year, we’re hearing the same comments and advice from general counsel. What does that mean? It means that law firms STILL aren’t listening to what their clients really want. 

In the past, this has been manageable, because the economy was thriving and there was plenty of work to be going around. But now, as Jeff Carr of FMC Technologies warns:

There will be new business models that come into place. We’ll build them if you won’t. We don’t need YOU to survive. We need the [legal] industry to survive."

Continue Reading Change or Die? A General Counsel Panel – Part I

I’m currently about 30,000 feet above the earth, flying back home after a whirlwind time at the LMA’s Annual Conference. I feel like my attendance at the conference was akin to drinking water from a firehose – there was a lot of information to take in, and a lot of great ideas and conversation. Now, it’s time to process all of that, and sort out what I can use and share.

In my mind, the most important session of the conference is always the General Counsel (GC) panel – I can best help my clients by telling them what their clients say to marketing folks when they’re not around. This year, the panel was its own breakout session (though I think it should really be required attendance for EVERYONE), and once again, it was an incredibly valuable session. 

The panel featured Ron K. Barger, the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Archon Group, Jeffrey W. Carr, the Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary for FMC Technologies, and Janet L. Dhillon, the EVP, General Counsel and Secretary for J.C. Penney Company. It was moderated by Tom Duggan and Cathleen Flahardy of InsideCounsel.  All of the GC’s represented are active members in the General Counsel Forum. Continue Reading “Legal is the Only Industry Where Clients Act Like Sellers and Sellers Act Like Buyers” – A General Counsel Panel

So yesterday, we had the chance to take a look at some of the higlights from the Superbowl commercials of 2012.  Now, it’s time to see which spots failed, why, and what lessons law firms can take from them. 

We’ll start with my pick for the worst commercial of the night…Go Daddy’s Body Painting Commercial (which is pretty much tied with their Cloud commercial for worst in my book).

https://youtube.com/watch?v=NG2qU7x4DjoContinue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Bad & The Ugly 2012