Benedict Advertising - Business Building Solutions

I couldn’t tell you the last time I read the newspaper. I mean REALLY went through and read it front to back. I have my google alerts set and if an article comes up about our clients or something about the industry I’ll read it, but that’s about it. I’ll catch bits and pieces of the news while I’m changing channels late at night but I don’t make an effort to turn it on at 6:00pm like my parents use to do every night, and I find that I’m getting along just fine. I know all about FPL trying to hike their rates, the Black Bear that’s loose in Daytona, the governor of South Carolina and his mistress, and the deaths of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, and Ed McMahon.

Between Twitter, Facebook, and blogging I usually find out news around the same time as everyone else. In a day when there’s never enough time I’m ok with the fact that there’s some stuff that I’m missing out on from reading the newspaper or watching the news but I’m ok with that. Maybe one day I’ll be the type who gets up early, pours a cup of coffee and sits down to read the morning paper, but as for now I’ll spend the extra 30 minutes hitting the snooze button.

Stay in the loop too following Perez Hiltons blog for the latest celebrity news www.perezhilton.com. For the latest in Daytona Beach news you can follow the Daytona Beach News Journal at http://twitter.com/dbnewsjournal and for national breaking news follow CNN at http://twitter.com/cnnbrk.

-Ashley Kelly
facebook.com/ogabot
twitter.com/ogabot
linkedin.com/pub/ashley-kelly/14/120/5ba

I know that sounds like the title of a 2nd grader’s school paper, but not to worry. Although I did grow up with a slight hatred for summer, the scorching Miami heat being the culprit, as well as not being an “outdoorsy” type of gal, with my career I have found a whole new reason to loathe this time of year. Yes, I am speaking of the dreaded July Nielsen ratings book.

As you may be aware, I am a media buyer here at Benedict Advertising, and in the world of broadcast television, we are slaves to the Nielsen ratings. The July book is the one book that I can count on every year, in every market, to have very low ratings points, leaving me with a big, flashing question mark over my head—how the heck am I going I going to do my buys?!? Prime is huge concern, especially. Every year, with the onslaught of more reality TV programs thrown into the line-up, different shows running in the same time slots from week to week, and online access to all the new shows via Hulu and the station website themselves, the Nielsen ratings are dropping lower and lower than the year before. The ability to buy enough points for a reasonable cost is becoming an ever greater challenge. This summer, reruns seemingly are a welcome annoyance to viewers, probably because at least they know what’s coming on Monday at 8pm. And maybe, just maybe, the viewers may be getting sick and tired of reality TV?

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-tv-ratings-061509,0,5169236.story

http://www.zap2it.com/tv/ratings/zap-tv-ratings-061809,0,5759063.story

What’s more is that even though the points are declining year to year, the stations still have the need to generate revenue, so the cost for most of these shows are staying the same as the new shows in the Fall.

So, what is a media buyer to do??

Check out the summer line-ups on each station and let me know what you’re in to. Do you prefer new summer reality TV, or are you content with catching up or revisiting the latest season of your favorite shows?

ABC -http://abc.go.com/
NBC - http://www.nbc.com/Schedule/?tz=ET
CBS - http://www.cbs.com/info/schedule/index.php
FOX - http://www.fox.com/schedule.htm?src=menu_item_schedule
CW - http://www.cwtv.com/shows/

- Erin Saffer

I have to start out by saying, my job rocks. Where else can you find this much excitement, the constant challenges, and a boatload of fun in a career?

I’ve always been the girl to think with the right side of the brain, and growing up I could always be found in the “arts and crafts” section in the classroom, creating. My passion for creating eventually turned into using my creativity to sell, and I have to give props to my father for always buzzing around with his work during my childhood. Whether it be him on the phone with a client, or knowing the reason he was away was because he was in Chicago working his magic in the advertising business, it fueled my curiosity and interest in advertising.

The agency atmosphere is a crock pot of creativity. Every project is an opportunity to shine, and ideas come from every direction in this business. You can learn from the young people, and you can learn from the veterans. In advertising we’re always learning, trying something new, and there’s a sort of super power of not being afraid to fail. And being in an environment where inspiration is a daily occurrence is invaluable.

Being an art director, I think really is the best of both worlds. Not only do I get to “draw” on my Mac, being a part of a project’s development process really has it’s rewards. Working with a strong team where everyone brings their individual strength and knowledge to the table is an exciting storm. And personally, some of my best ideas come from behind the very desk where the late great Big Z’s ideas were originated. I look forward to
keeping that tradition going.

So yeah, my job rocks. I’ll leave you with a bit of creative genius and a glimpse of where I’d like to think I get my “advertising bug” from. Curtsy

- Kym Zurstadt

Why can’t they all be “Friends”? That’s what the major networks have been asking themselves since the show went off the air in 2004. NBC was King on Thursday nights with “Friends”, “Seinfeld” and “ER” .

“Friends” ran on NBC for 10 years with an average of 20 million viewers per episode. It consistently ranked in Nielsen’s list of top 10 shows. It was one of the few series to “go out on top.”

Now, audiences are so fragmented with the addition of new cable channels with original programming, DVR’s and websites like Hulu . While we have many more viewing choices, there is fierce competition to top the ratings charts. This has led to many shows being cancelled after 1 season or even worse, 3 episodes! Some shows are yanked and replaced so quickly it feels like a bad assembly line of entertainment.

That is why I wanted to pay homage to some of my favorites, and ask the networks what was behind their reasoning of switching days/time periods and canceling before an audience had time to grow?

Samantha Who starring, Christina Applegate. It first aired in the fall of 2007 on Monday nights on ABC. The show averaged 11 million viewers. It was moved to Thursday nights and ratings dropped to 4 million.

Pushing Daisies aired for 2 seasons on ABC. It had a decent start with an average of 10 million viewers. The show leveled out at nearly 8 million viewers before it was cancelled. The last 3 episodes aired on Saturday at 10 p.m.

Welcome to the Captain starring Chris Klein, Jeffrey Tambor and Raquel Welch ran on CBS for only 3 episodes! I caught it once and thought it was quirky. I was willing to give it another shot and POOF! it was gone.

And the last show I will mention has been a sore spot since it came and went back in 2003. It was the time before DVR’s and after everyone threw out their VCR for a DVD player (that didn’t record!).
Miss Match aired on NBC on Friday nights for 1 season. It starred Alicia Silverstone and was produced by Darren Star (“Melrose Place” and “Sex and the City” fame). It was supposed to appeal to a younger skewed female audience.

I’m sorry, but what percentage of young, single women are sitting at home watching TV on a Friday night? The show was doomed from episode one.

I’d like to throw some facts out there for the network bigwigs to consider while they are deciding whether they should cut a show after 1 season:

“Seinfeld” was on air for 4 seasons before it broke into Nielsen’s list of Top 30 Shows with an estimated 12.75 million viewers. Seasons 5-9 averaged over 20 million viewers.

And I’m sure we’ve all heard of a little show on Fox called American Idol. It ranked number 30 with 9.9 million viewers during its debut season. Every year after, it has ranked #1 with an avg. of 25 million viewers.

- Julie Coln

Alright, Alright. It was only a matter of time before I had to give in. I didn’t really want to do it. I had a lot of excuses. I dreaded putting in the work. I put up a pretty good fight for a pretty long time. But in the end, you’ve got to give the people what they want. So with that thought in mind, I have joined the Facebook community. I am obviously way behind the rest of the world, but in an effort to catch up, I spent the weekend setting up my Facebook page.
I guess the eye-opener was when I attended a conference of advertising agency owners. When the speaker asked for a show of hands of everyone who had a Facebook page, I was the only one without a hand up. Let me point out that most of the people in the room were old enough to be my dad. The speaker even looked right at me to confirm that I, in fact, did not have a Facebook page. The majority of the material covered during the two-day conference was about social media and using it for the good of clients.
My goal for the weekend was to become somewhat familiar with all Facebook had to offer. I am excited about the idea of being able to track down guys that I had played baseball with over the years. It didn’t take long for me to start sending out friend requests and accepting requests that were sent my way. So I ended up spending a good chunk of the weekend chatting, checking out what friends had been up to lately and even taking quizzes. I still have a lot of info to add to my profile and a lot of features to explore. I haven’t even added a picture of myself yet for people to know it’s me. But it shouldn’t take me long at the pace I’ve been working at.
Maybe I’m not as much of a grown-up as I thought or maybe I’ve been wrong all along. It doesn’t matter much now because I’ve been sucked in. So because it was pointed out to me in a recent chat that my Facebook game is weak, I’m going to cut this off, go login and ask everyone to send me a friend request. I’m sure you’ve seen the number of friends these people have. I have a lot of catching up to do!
- Kellen Wholford

One of the joys of living in Florida is our perpetual sunny weather and warm temperatures with the occasional afternoon thunder shower.  How strange it was to see on the weather report chance of rain 100%!  You almost never see that unless a tropical storm/hurricane is coming.  I had often wondered what that percentage actually meant.  Well, I finally heard an explanation.   The % refers to that portion of the viewing area that could expect to see rain on that particular day.   Ok… so you hope that you don’t fall into that percentage especially if it is on the weekend. 

This week, however, Central Floridians felt a little differently. For most of us, it seems that is has been forever since we had any rain.  And none of us are complaining because we sure need it to help put out those fires for example that have burned thousands of acres.

But now after 3 days of heavy, steady rain, we are all ready for it to be done.  The fires are no longer in the news so of course the assumption is that they are all out (now it is all the flooding that is making the headlines).  The brown lawns have started to turn green again and the outside plants seem to be coming back to life.    And as Central Floridians, we are not prepared for this kind of weather.  How many of you have an umbrella, better yet, how many of you have a rain coat?  I have seen many people have to wait for the rain to subside to go anywhere outside because they have neither.  

One of the reasons we live here in Florida because we love the sunshine!  And in being from the North East originally, I sure do not miss the grey, dull, dreary rainy days which I have been reminded of this week.  I thank God for giving us the rain that we needed so badly but am ready for the sunshine and a fabulous weekend sitting in it!

 - Christine Byelick  

Last week, I saw an interesting article on MSN.COM. A woman was arrested for kicking her bickering children out of the car. If you have ever been trapped in a moving vehicle with two fighting tweens, you would probably speed up to 60 mph and hurl yourself out the door. Instead, this woman just had enough crap for the day and kicked them both out of the car.

The bickering teens were only a couple miles away from home. Maybe on their little walk, they would realize why they are got kicked out of the car. Instead, the mother gets arrested…and for what?? Teaching her tweens that their behavior is entirely unacceptable?

Tweens are horrible…it’s like the terrible 10’s through the terrible 19’s. I think it’s all Mickey Mouse’s fault. What has this world come to that children are so fragile and can’t be disciplined? Sometimes, they need a reality check. Heck, I remember once when I was fifteen, my mother left me at the Wal-Mart! She didn’t get arrested!

My mom was famous for throwing things…shoes, ashtrays, portable phones…if it wasn’t nailed to the floor she’d give it a chuck. That woman could hurl a portable phone 10-15 feet and she was a crack shot. I learned how to “matrix” way before it was cool. She wasn’t opposed to launching things at my friends, either, if she thought they were lying. My friend, Stephanie, can attest to how accurate my mom’s aim is. She’s been hit a couple of times. My step dad should have bought stock in Uniden; He could have been a millionaire. I’ve been kicked out of the car numerous times for “rolling my eyes” and being a “smart ass.” I’ve even kicked my precious 11-year-old cousin out of the car for talking back to me. You know what I say? “Come and get me, Coppers!”

My Grandmother, who is a Saint in every sense of the word, always said that when my Uncle Mark was little she would take him into the Sears Roebucks where he would act all crazy. She swore there was something about the florescent lights that made him crazy. She even admitted she smacked him in the face once and made his lip bleed. Now a days my granny would have been hauled off to the pokey, all because my uncle was acting a fool. Does that sound fair? That’s why I believe kids are such little smart mouths these days. Children need to learn that there are consequences for their actions. But the parents aren’t allowed to teach them, or they’re afraid to, because the kid might decide to call HRS or someone else will report it as child abuse. When I would threaten to call HRS, my mother would say “Here, let me dial the number for you.” Same thing when I would threaten to runaway. She would hand me black yard trash bags (she always said they were more sturdy so the wouldn’t rip when I was holding them and riding my bike to God knows where) and ask if I needed help packing my belongings. The disrespect that these kids display these days is absolutely not flying with me.

I think that this Supernanny and Nanny 911 is all a load of crap. What Jo-Jo, the Supernanny, needs to do is go pick herself a good switch (the thinner the better) and lay into those kids. I’m not saying its okay to beat children to an inch of their lives, but a nice little cuff goes a long way.

P.S. Don’t worry for my future children, because there will be none. The only children I have are furry woodland creatures.

- Sonja Dewees

H1N1 Influenza A. Probably the scariest virus I’ve ever seen. Oh wait! No it’s not. But if I were to believe the ridiculous hype that the media has generated about this strain of flu I probably would have quit my job, stocked up on gallons of water, pallets of canned goods and 1000s of those nice sanitary masks that you see people wearing on just about every news site on the internet right now. Seriously, this has been so over hyped it’s ridiculous. I read today that Mexico stands to lose 2.2 Billion from its GDP based on this so-called “Pandemic.” The United States has more confirmed cases of “regular” flu every month of ever year and you don’t see people avoiding us like the plague (yes, pun intended). So next time you turn on the TV for your hourly “Swine Flu” update take a moment and think about a few things.

Now I’m not saying that Influenza is by any means a joke, it has caused a few deaths and has infected a few people around the globe, but come on, let’s put this in a little bit of perspective here. Every year at least 39,000 people across the globe die from the regular strain of Influenza. As of today the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported 939 cases of “Swine Flu.” That’s right, 939. Yet somehow I can’t turn on the TV, read a newspaper or log on to CNN.com without hearing about this global “pandemic.” Just that word, Pandemic, conjures up thoughts of mass graves, zombie movies and the end of the world. But wait, once again, lets put this into some perspective. In 1918, a flu pandemic swept the globe killing around 1 million people. To date, this is the worst flu pandemic in history. There are around 6 billion people living on the planet today, meaning that even if “swine flu” were to become the worst flu epidemic in history less then 1% of the population would die.

Once again I am not insinuating that this would not be a terrible tragedy, but is it really necessary to create panic, fear and global paranoia over a new strain of bug that has a 10% mortality rate? I personally feel that this is ridiculous. Couple the media blitz with the fact that hand sanitizer sales have gone through the roof and I am left with a feeling that maybe people are using this little “scare” for their own gain. DVD sales of “how to prevent the swine flu” and “Swine flu 101” have been flying off the proverbial shelves and sales of surgical masks have posted better sales numbers in the 2nd quarter then diaper sales! Hmm, imagine that, people using fear as a selling tool?

Well all that aside, I feel that it is the media’s duty to report the news, not create it by causing panic and fear. I mean was it really necessary to declare a level five (and don’t even get me started on these crazy alert levels) pandemic for a virus that only has 1000 confirmed cases WORLDWIDE? Maybe we should think about the impact of today’s media and let that influence some of our decision-making processes. Oh well, I guess it is what it is.

- Darin Duehl

My husband and I were looking for a new car recently, so I decided to e-mail a dealership in Orlando to set up an appointment to go look at their cars. I e-mailed them at night and got back a generic response that someone would be in touch with me the next day.
Well, the next day I didn’t get a response from the salesperson until late in the day after I e-mailed the dealership a second time. He sent the information on the cars we were interested in and I emailed him back to ask if he could meet with us that afternoon.
Guess what, no response until the next day at 10:30 a.m. and he didn’t answer the additional questions we had, just that he did have time that afternoon to meet with us.

My problem is: if you have a website and you have a place for people to e-mail and ask questions, etc., you should respond in a timely manner! I do research online all the time for work and most people respond quickly with answers. If I don’t get a quick response I go on to the next company.

We did end up buying our car from the internet salesperson in Orlando. Yes, he was new and yes, I did explain that I worked in advertising and that you really should respond quickly if you are working the internet leads for the dealership. I also informed his senior salesperson that was helping with the deal.

Everyone is complaining about this horrible economy, especially car dealerships. The bottom line is; you can’t sell anything if you don’t communicate in a timely manner. More and more people have Blackberries, I-Phones, are Facebooking and tweeting. Information is being sent and received at an incredibly fast pace. If you provide poor customer service in this day and age you’ll be crossed off the list!

- Brenda Sidoti

As a first time mom of a 14 month old little girl, I’ve learned a lot over the last 14 months. While I was pregnant I spent hours and hours in Target and Babies R Us registering for all the things needed for safely raising a baby. There are so many things in those stores that it’s quite overwhelming. Now that I have and use all these things, my mother, mother-in-law and plenty of random strangers, love to tell me “we didn’t have that when I had my kids.” If I’m out in a restaurant, shopping, or wherever, when someone sees me with my daughter and one of our many gadgets designed to make mommy-hood easier, they love to tell me how much easier things are now thanks to all these new inventions. And though I’m very grateful for all these things and appreciate the fact that they do make day-to-day activities easier, I’m not sure that being a mom is necessarily easier these days. There are so many things out there that can harm our kids that weren’t there 30 years ago when I was a baby. There are so many more germs and much more pollution. There are more cars on the road, people drive faster and there are more car accidents. There is the internet, cell phones and various other ways that sick, mean people can contact and try to harm our children. So, I’m eternally gratefully for my many modern contraptions. Thanks to these things I can spend more time protecting my baby from all the other things that can make her sick or hurt her.

I’ve always been a very Type A personality…I like order, tidiness, and cleanliness, however I never would have described myself as a germaphobe, that is until I had my daughter. And I’m still not necessarily germaphobic when it comes to myself, but I’m VERY germaphobic where my daughter is concerned. My husband teases me and says I’m going to make her into a wimp, but that’s ok by me! As her mommy it’s my job to make sure she’s healthy and safe! So, I’d like to share the top 5 things a germaphobic mommy cannot live without. Most of these things are the things described above…things that “we didn’t have when I had my kids.”

1. Shopping Cart Cover – the shopping cart cover is essential when kids are big enough to start sitting in the shopping cart. It totally covers the seat and uses elastic to wrap around the handle and back rest and ties to the sides. This way the child can’t touch or put their mouth on the dirty shopping cart where other snotty-nosed kids have rubbed their noses, mouths and probably unwashed hands. Not to mention the adults who don’t wash their hands, then push the carts around. Ick!
2. High Chair Cover – same idea as the shopping cart cover, just made for restaurant high chair…protects against the same snotty-nosed, dirty-handed kids that have sat and ate in that chair.
3. Rubber Suction Cup Placemat – This is a rubber placemat that has little suction cups on the bottom so you can stick it to restaurant tables and keep your child’s food off a table, a table that may or may not have been disinfected after the last people ate there. Again, you’re also protecting against the snotty-nose, dirty-handed kids and adults, waiters who might have sneezed on the table, and who knows what else could be on that table!!
4. Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer - Very important, who knows what you’ve touched, and you’re changing diapers…germs, germs, germs…sanitize often! They make nice little bottles that will hang right on the handle of your diaper bag.
5. Wipes, Wipes and More Wipes – Wipes are not just for wiping wet and dirty bottoms, although, believe me, I go through my share doing that! I’m a compulsive bottom wiper! But I use wipes for much more than that! Wipes clean baby hands, baby faces, dirty tables, dirty toys, dirty pacifiers…anything! I should buy stock in the wipe company!

You may wonder how I manage to haul around all these things for the inevitable germ crisis, but I never take them out of my car, that way they are handy for any germy situation!

While all the new inventions for child care have made things more convenient, keeping your children safe is harder than ever, so good luck keeping them safe and healthy, and make sure to use all these inventions, they make life as a germaphobic mommy a little bit easier!

- Stephanie Benedict