Thought Bubble
In celebration of all the college football festivities, Coldwell Banker Real Estate released its annual College Home Listing Report (College HLR), which ranks college towns across the country in home affordability. This year, the College HLR ranks the average home listing price of three-bedroom, two-bathroom properties in more than 115 college towns home to schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
Last week I had one of my best “only in New York” experiences to date: parading through Times Square with more than a dozen brand icons and mascots.
The parade included The Michelin Man, Colonel Sanders, Tony the Tiger, The Kool-Aid Man, French’s Mustard, the Vlasic Stork, the Crash Test Dummies, a Kia Hamster, Mr. Peanut, Smokey the Bear, McGruff the Crime Dog, The AOL Running Man and my favorite, CK client, Sparky the Fire Dog, the official “spokesdog” for the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). All of these iconic characters made their way from the Times Center, through Times Square, to the Madison Avenue Walk of Fame. It was truly a sight to see. I even spotted a few jaded New Yorkers doing double takes.
This was the culmination of Advertising Week’s annual Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame public vote. It was exciting to have the National Fire Protection Association’s (NFPA) official mascot Sparky the Fire Dog among this year’s nominees for favorite icon. Not only is Sparky celebrating his 60th birthday this year, but the Advertising Week event came just days before the kick-off of the NFPA’s annual public awareness campaign, Fire Prevention Week (October 9-15).
At an awards luncheon on a sunny Autumn afternoon, CooperKatz received an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the PRNews Platinum PR Awards for ‘Help Petfinder Adopt the Internet Day’! As finalists in the Word of Mouth / Viral category, CooperKatz was noted for its 360-degree approach to PR and social media in the planning and execution of this campaign.
The decision by ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) to downgrade the United States’ sovereign debt from AAA to AA+ elicited an avalanche of commentary from the industry, the media, the government and the public.
The main dialogue focused on whether or not S&P made an appropriate decision (not to mention the issue of that $2 trillion calculation error). But the controversial move also reignited ongoing debates over the state of the credits rating industry – specifically the role and position of the “big three” (S&P, Moody’s and Fitch) – in the wake of the financial crisis where the ratings agencies gave AAA status to mortgage-backed assets that quickly turned toxic.
This offered up a powerful opportunity for a new market entrant to voice its perspective on the significant and systemic problems with the credit ratings “status quo,” and the changes needed to re-establish credibility.
Given the continued economic challenges faced across many parts of the United States, it is not surprising that local job creation is considered headline news.
The CooperKatz team worked with DialAmerica, one of the nation’s largest privately held teleservices companies, to announce the re-opening of its Greenville, S.C. contact center on July 5th and help drive recruiting efforts.