Together with the Florida Bar Foundation, Rise was honored to accept an Image award from the FPRA (Florida Public Relations Association) for the Florida Bar Foundation website. The image awards recognized outstanding achievement in public relations initiatives.

Giving to two of the Foundation’s primary campaigns, much of which comes via the Web site, increased during a year when many charities saw declines. The End-of-Year appeal saw a 50 percent increase over the previous year, from $9,100 in 2008 to $13,642 in 2009. The Lawyers’ Challenge for Children saw a 9 percent increase, from $147,223 in 2008-09 to $160,425 in 2009-10. For the new e-newsletter, which is integrated with the Web site, bounces have declined from a high of 42 percent to 13.6 percent, opens have increased from 17.5 to 46.5 percent, and click-throughs have gone from 1 percent to 18 percent. Calls asking for assistance using our Web site have nearly ceased. When inquiries or comments do reveal areas for correction or improvement, they are immediately and easily addressed by the communications staff using Adobe Contribute or by Rise Creative Group, which provides quality and prompt assistance. Overall site traffic has increased by 50 percent from an average of 385 visitors a week during the first month after launch to 579 visitors per week in the most recent month.

We’re huge Orlando Magic fans at Rise, and with this season’s playoff run, we’ve created an electrifying Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper to cheer on our favorite NBA team. Want to show off your Orlando Magic pride? Download yours now and comment with a screenshot of your desktop. Go Magic!

Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 2560 x 1440
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1920 x 1200
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1920 x 1080
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1680 x 1050
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1680 x 1024
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1440 x 900
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1280 x 1024
Orlando Magic desktop wallpaper 1024 x 768

Installation directions

Windows Users: In Microsoft Internet Explorer, click the image link to open the image in a new window. Then right click, select “Set as Wallpaper” to save as your desktop background image, or “Save Image As…” to save the poster onto your hard drive.

Macintosh Users:Right click on the image and “Save Image to the Desktop”. Then click on the Desktop & Screen Saver icon in the System Properties panel. Click on the + button on the bottom left, and select the picture on your desktop.

Cruising, and mostly guessing our way through some of Florida’s most desolate state roads, Stephan and I arrived last Saturday to one of Central Florida’s largest exhibitions of chrome, leather, and tattoos—The 16th Annual Leesburg Bikefest.

Yes, we failed miserably to meet the Bikefest dress code, but more importantly, we were impressed how so many people had come to a city of less than 16,000 to demonstrate their communal passion and loyalty for the motorcycle culture—easily doubling the population.

Why were we there you ask? Good Question. Our goal for coming out was simple; go out and document how our client, Gilbert Recreation Insurance, administers and executes their promotional efforts at a highly trafficked event.

The smoldering heat and mild dehydration was not enough to turn us away. We were determined to document the process and get the scoop story. From Gilbert’s carefully branded backdrops, well shaded sign-up areas, to their charming representatives, Gilbert Recreation Insurance captivated the attention of many attendees. Patron after patron met with a representative, provided their basic credentials, and then automatically entered to win “$1,000 in cold hard cash”— Too easy.

We took the time to meet the Gilbert road team and ask what they enjoyed, what the loved, and what they would like to see changed at their events. Most of the answers were straightforward and rightfully positive. Their intention, according to their representative Tim ” is to educate attendees, make them feel positive about insuring one of their highly valued assets, and create long lasting relationships.”

After review of our documentation, we’ve come to the conclusion that Gilbert does what it knows very well and been doing so for many years. However, Gilbert acknowledges there is room for improvement and they seek to progress in their social engagement/footprint. Amiably, Gilbert Recreation Insurance has asked Rise to be their guide.

Things we’re looking to do:

• Befriend fellow festival attendees & presenters via Twitter & Facebook
• Create multi-way conversations on said platforms
• Collaborate with fellow presenters to construct larger campaigns
• Implement the friending/liking/follow to the Gilbert consultation process
• Create additional payoffs for attendee’s participation like photo op’s that get sent directly to preferred social platform.

So, our initial goal is see what works and what doesn’t and provide a testament of our progress in the following weeks.

Stay tuned.

Facebook’s new social plugins, specifically the new “Like” button, make it ridiculously easy to share the web with the people you know. This is great for users of Facebook, since they’ll get more exposure to what’s good on the web as defined by their friends. Marketers are licking their chops as well, in anticipation of another stream of exposure for the businesses they represent.

Now that the opportunity for all of these connections is as simple as two lines of code on your website, this sheds even more light on what is arguably the most critical aspect of marketing today: creating information people find valuable. Valuable enough to hit a “like” button.