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BlueSky Business Aviation News; Celebrating 25 years of helping clients gain altitude

March 26, 2014 BlueSky Business Aviation News

Celebrating 25 years of helping clients gain altitude
On April Fool’s Day 1989, a three-person design studio opened. And set about blowing the doors off the creative industry. A quarter century later, Greteman Group continues strong. Today, as a full-service marketing communications agency, it serves some of the world’s leading brands.“We like to think that we haven’t lost our youth, but simply gained perspective,” says Sonia Greteman, founder, president and creative director. “Over the years our phones have gotten smarter, and so have we. We know when to obey the rules – and when to break them.”

Sonia Greteman

Sonia Greteman Greteman Group’s first years rocketed past with the small-but-mighty team in constant motion. Generating business. Designing almost round the clock. Obsessing over big ideas and small details. Bumps came when two of the original partners left in the early ’90s to pursue different visions. But the core team stayed together and under Sonia Greteman’s leadership, the agency steadily grew, adding both staff and capabilities. It built a reputation for top-flight creative, delivered on time and on budget. Work poured in and frequent travel kept things hopping, serving clients from Miami to Montreal, Kerrville to Frankfurt.“I’m proud to say I knew you when,” says Chris Pratt, director of market analysis and communications for Dallas Airmotive. “We’ve worked together for 15 years and through that time we’ve built brands that have taken flight. Much like our current brand – Dallas Airmotive – you’re there when we need you. Right from the start.” Creative That’s Grown Up Greteman Group pushed boundaries in the mid ’90s by developing and launching one of the region’s first websites. Clients weren’t yet ready to jump into the World Wide Web, so the agency designed a site for itself turnkey, in house. This convince-through-example mentality has stayed with the agency, most recently by leading it to be among the first to offer responsive-design websites. Interactive media now accounts for more than half of the agency’s billings. “There will never be a box you can’t think outside of,” says Sheree Utash, who leads the National Aviation Consortium and serves as vice president for academic affairs at Wichita Area Technical College. Gaining Altitude By Providing Attitude Early on the agency leveraged its Air Capital location, making business aviation a key niche. Creative expanded from aircraft product brochures and direct mail to storytelling that demystified aircraft ownership – and said not only is it all right to own aircraft, it can be integral to success in business and in life. In 1996, the team began producing a magazine for Bombardier, profiling everyone from Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy Racing League owner Tony George to visionary Cirque du Soleil founder and CEO Guy Laliberté. Not long after Flexjet’s founding in 1995, Greteman Group started helping people get their heads around the concept of jet sharing. Today, the idea of splitting the financial burden of aircraft ownership through fractional shares seems a natural. At the industry’s genesis, not so much. “We weren’t selling the idea of sharing time, but owning time,” says Sonia Greteman. “One of our most successful campaigns used the line, ‘All things come to those who wait. Except the precious time lost while waiting.’ When the direct mail hit – complete with a working clock – inquiries broke all previous records.” Older. Wiser. Still Sassy. Celebrating 25 years of business may seem trivial when leaders such as BBA Aviation have been around for 135 years. But keeping the doors open for a quarter century signifies an arrival of sorts for an ad agency. The industry, always volatile, has gotten more so with services commoditized, margins squeezed and small shops springing up like mushrooms. Two thirds of ad agencies today employ fewer than five people. The industry average for client-agency relationships has dwindled to less than three years.

Click the image to view Greteman Group work through the past quarter century and what clients and friends have had to say.

“We’re incredibly proud of the longevity we have in our team and client relationships,” says Greteman, “and also that we continue to attract strong, young talent and new clients. The longer we’re in business the more we realize we haven’t gone it alone.”

Greteman Group enjoys many client relationships in the double digits. Some date back to the earliest days of the company. It’s not just the creative that keeps them in the agency fold. It’s gold-standard service personified by GiGi. Attired in go-go boots and an Emilio Pucci uniform, GiGi represents a return to the first-class service that defined the very beginnings of the jet set. GiGi believes correct beats sloppy and that details matter. She sets a standard of world-class service delivered in timely, twinkling perfection.

Clients are quick to praise the agency on its milestone anniversary – and for what the agency has done for them. USAIG CEO Dave McKay says, “USAIG has this amazing culture and history, but before Sonia and her team at the Greteman Group, we were doing our best to keep it a well-kept secret. They have helped a successful 86-year-old company thoughtfully communicate relevance and given us a vibrancy we just would not have found on our own. We love them!”

Vice President of Communications Steve Phillips has worked with Greteman Group close to 20 years, longer than any other marketing professional – first in his role at Bombardier Aerospace, then Flexjet and now FlightSafety International. He says, “The Greteman Group team is customer focused, creatively excellent, quality minded, deadline driven, and really great to work with.”

BlueSky Business Aviation News | 27th March 2014 | Issue #265
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BlueSky – your weekly business and executive aviation news – every Thursday

Wichita Eagle; Have You Heard; PR News takes ‘cheap shot’ at the Shockers

In a bid for more subscribers through a national e-mail blast on Wednesday, PR News touted its “expert opinions” on communications and crisis management, among other things, through what a Wichita State University spokesman calls a “cheap shot” at the Shockers.

The PR group now needs a little crisis management help of its own.

The e-mail, which was about how to “score big” in the business, has a subject line that says “Don’t be like Wichita State.”

“Really, that’s the approach you’re going to take to generate business?” asks WSU spokesman Joe Kleinsasser. “It’s just a marketing attempt gone awry. Is it the end of the world? No. But it’s unfortunate.”

His day began with a couple of e-mails from his counterparts at Wake Forest University and Princeton University alerting him to the slam against the school and its beloved Shockers.

“And, yes, I am unsubscribing from their distribution list,” one said after saying how much the slam annoyed him.

It’s a sentiment others locally and nationally are echoing.

“We think this approach is mean-spirited and beneath contempt,” wrote Barth Hague, WSU’s associate vice president for university relations and chief marketing officer, in an e-mail to PR News about playing on the Shockers’ “heartbreaking loss.”

“Whoever is responsible for writing it is reflecting your organization in a very poor light. We’ve received multiple e-mails from peers around the country who saw it and were unhappy about it. Several of them said they unsubscribed from your distribution list because of it.”

He added, “We request a full and formal apology.”

Hague received a response from PR News, though the organization’s vice president for marketing, Amy Jefferies, didn’t respond to him by the correct name.

“Hi Beth- I am truly sorry for this oversight on our part and any stress this has caused you. A very important lesson has been learned by my team for future promotions.”

She added, “Are there any PR News products I can offer you and your team free of charge– Guidebooks, a PR News subscription or conference attendance?”

Without correcting her mistake with his name, Hague thanked Jefferies for her note and the offer of freebies and replied that “at this stage, having just been insulted by your organization, free products are not something we’re interested in.”

He also suggested what he thought would be an appropriate apology – sent to the same e-mail group that received the Shockers slam – but has not received a response as of yet.

Nor has PR News responded to a request for comment from The Eagle.

However, the Wichita PR community has a lot to say about the slam via a series of e-mails, texts and conversations.

“I thought I was getting PR punked!” wrote Katie Grover of Fidelity Bank. A “livid” Grover wrote, “For being in the marketing/PR field, they should know better than to potentially upset individuals in the target audience. Unless they think people in Wichita, Kansas don’t know anything about PR/marketing.”

Wichita Metro Chamber of Commerce spokeswoman Angie Prather wrote, “Since it’s highly unlikely that any PR professional would ever deliberately choose to insult an entire nation (ShockerNation), I’m assuming that they actually intended to use this campaign: BE LIKE WICHITA STATE.” She went on to list many reasons people would want to be like the Shockers.

“PR News is a product of that Eastern Establishment that can’t quite grasp that anything worth happening doesn’t make it past the Hudson River,” wrote Al Higdon, co-founder of Sullivan Higdon & Sink. “Their dismissal of the fact that Wichita State’s achievement is totally unique in the history of college basketball is not at all consistent with what quality PR practitioners inherently know: Before opening mouth, figuratively or otherwise, it’s best to do your homework and have an insightful grasp of the issue at hand. In this case, PR News is one and done.”

Denice Bruce of the KU School of Medicine – Wichita is opting to do what PR News possibly should have considered, and that’s to keep her mouth shut – mostly.

“Not sure my response would be considered a good example of PR. But then, neither is that subject line.”

Tammy Allen of Allen, Gibbs & Houlik wrote a restrained note to PR News while canceling her subscription.

“I was so mad when I was writing the email that I was shaking,” she wrote.

Allen references how Shocker inside players Chadrack Lufile, Kadeem Coleby and Darius Carter could help the PR News copywriter understand how that subject line made people feel.

“There was some discussion about whether the copywriter or person who approved the email . . . should be left alone in a room to discuss the matter with Lufile, Coleby and Carter.”

Carol Skaff of Cohlmia Marketing asked, “What’s wrong with these people? It’s puzzling how a so-called communication organization could be so obviously tone-deaf…not only about its constituents but about its own purpose for being, which is to create positive relationships with constituents, not drive them away.”

Dave Franson of the Wichita Aero Club wrote, “Their subject line sends a glaring message– ‘Don’t look to us for advice on how to relate to the public. We have no class!’”

Greteman Group’s Deanna Harms wrote that she’s sorry PR News resorted to such a ploy and is “sorry to see it used by a professional publication that promotes best practices and high ethics.”

“I hope to be like Wichita State. To walk away with head high regardless of a game’s outcome.”

Teresa Veazey, president of the Kansas chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, says PR News calls itself “a daily intellectual hub.”

“Maybe the way they want to teach us or help us learn is to create their own … PR crisis to manage.”

She says she’s disappointed in the lesson, though. “I’m disappointed, and I’m embarrassed that this kind of a situation comes from a PR organization,” Veazey says. “PR News is supposed to teach us how to do our jobs better. Are they going to learn from their own mistake?”

The Wichita Eagle
Carrie Rengers

© The Wichita Eagle, 2014


Celebrating 25 Years of Helping Clients Gain Altitude

On April Fool’s Day 1989, a three-person design studio opened. And set about blowing the doors off the creative industry. A quarter century later, Greteman Group continues strong. Today, as a full-service marketing communications agency, it serves some of the world’s leading brands.

“We like to think that we haven’t lost our youth, but simply gained perspective,” says Sonia Greteman, founder, president and creative director. “Over the years our phones have gotten smarter, and so have we. We know when to obey the rules – and when to break them.”

Greteman Group’s first years rocketed past with the small-but-mighty team in constant motion. Generating business. Designing almost round the clock. Obsessing over big ideas and small details. Bumps came when two of the original partners left in the early ’90s to pursue different visions. But the core team stayed together and under Sonia Greteman’s leadership, the agency steadily grew, adding both staff and capabilities. It built a reputation for top-flight creative, delivered on time and on budget. Work poured in and frequent travel kept things hopping, serving clients from Miami to Montreal, Kerrville to Frankfurt.

“I’m proud to say I knew you when,” says Chris Pratt, director of market analysis and communications for Dallas Airmotive. “We’ve worked together for 15 years and through that time we’ve built brands that have taken flight. Much like our current brand – Dallas Airmotive – you’re there when we need you. Right from the start.”

Creative That’s Grown Up

Greteman Group pushed boundaries in the mid ’90s by developing and launching one of the region’s first websites. Clients weren’t yet ready to jump into the World Wide Web, so the agency designed a site for itself turnkey, in house. This convince-through-example mentality has stayed with the agency, most recently by leading it to be among the first to offer responsive-design websites. Interactive media now accounts for more than half of the agency’s billings.

“There will never be a box you can’t think outside of,” says Sheree Utash, who leads the National Aviation Consortium and serves as vice president for academic affairs at Wichita Area Technical College.

Gaining Altitude By Providing Attitude

Early on the agency leveraged its Air Capital location, making business aviation a key niche. Creative expanded from aircraft product brochures and direct mail to storytelling that demystified aircraft ownership – and said not only is it all right to own aircraft, it can be integral to success in business and in life. In 1996, the team began producing a magazine for Bombardier, profiling everyone from Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy Racing League owner Tony George to visionary Cirque du Soleil founder and CEO Guy Laliberté. Not long after Flexjet’s founding in 1995, Greteman Group started helping people get their heads around the concept of jet sharing. Today, the idea of splitting the financial burden of aircraft ownership through fractional shares seems a natural. At the industry’s genesis, not so much.

“We weren’t selling the idea of sharing time, but owning time,” says Sonia Greteman. “One of our most successful campaigns used the line, ‘All things come to those who wait. Except the precious time lost while waiting.’ When the direct mail hit – complete with a working clock – inquiries broke all previous records.”

Older. Wiser. Still Sassy.

Celebrating 25 years of business may seem trivial when leaders such as BBA Aviation have been around for 135 years. But keeping the doors open for a quarter century signifies an arrival of sorts for an ad agency. The industry, always volatile, has gotten more so with services commoditized, margins squeezed and small shops springing up like mushrooms. Two thirds of ad agencies today employ fewer than five people. The industry average for client-agency relationships has dwindled to less than three years.

“We’re incredibly proud of the longevity we have in our team and client relationships,” says Greteman, “and also that we continue to attract strong, young talent and new clients. The longer we’re in business the more we realize we haven’t gone it alone.” Greteman

Group enjoys many client relationships in the double digits. Some date back to the earliest days of the company. It’s not just the creative that keeps them in the agency fold. It’s gold-standard service personified by GiGi. Attired in go-go boots and an Emilio Pucci uniform, GiGi represents a return to the first-class service that defined the very beginnings of the jet set. GiGi believes correct beats sloppy and that details matter. She sets a standard of world-class service delivered in timely, twinkling perfection.

Clients are quick to praise the agency on its milestone anniversary – and for what the agency has done for them. USAIG CEO Dave McKay says, “USAIG has this amazing culture and history, but before Sonia and her team at the Greteman Group, we were doing our best to keep it a well-kept secret. They have helped a successful 86-year-old company thoughtfully communicate relevance and given us a vibrancy we just would not have found on our own. We love them!”

Vice President of Communications Steve Phillips has worked with Greteman Group close to 20 years, longer than any other marketing professional – first in his role at Bombardier Aerospace, then Flexjet and now FlightSafety International. He says, “The Greteman Group team is customer focused, creatively excellent, quality minded, deadline driven, and really great to work with.”

Click to view Greteman Group work through the past quarter century and what clients and friends have had to say: http://vimeo.com/89736458


Don’t Be a Jerk When Gathering Website Visitor Data

It’s tempting, we know. You have a website and want to collect that oh-so-juicy visitor information to further your marketing efforts. But how you ask for that information makes all the difference. You can be honest and courteous, or you can be … that person. The guy who takes the last piece of pizza without asking. The one who insists you help him move a refrigerator up three flights of stairs. The fact is, if you use bad manners to get information from your website visitors, it will backfire. Your visitors will be left with a bad taste in their mouths, which can affect future interactions with your company. Knowing what’s appropriate and what isn’t is the key to getting the data you want without alienating your audience. The following scenarios are examples of things you’ll want to avoid.

1. Don’t blindside.

You’re visiting a website when you see a link that says, “Sign our card and we’ll donate to needy orphans.” You, as a caring individual, click the link. You’re then asked to log into Facebook. Although you weren’t expecting it, lots of sites ask you to log into Facebook these days, so you’re not concerned. But then you see a pop-up box that says that the site will have access to all your data, your friend’s data, your pet’s data, your high-school transcript, etc. Now you’re concerned.

2. Don’t bait and switch.

This starts out with something like, “Fill out our short survey for a chance to win.” And then after you click you’re inundated with page after page of personal questions, usually with no way to gauge how much more you have to fill out before you’re actually finished. The more questions you fill out, the more frustrated you become.

3. Don’t be a pest.

A box pops up the second you land on a website saying, “We appreciate your feedback. Please fill out our survey.” While you appreciate the politeness of saying “please,” you’re not interested and you close the pop-up so you can get back to what you were doing. You go to another page and are treated to the exact same pop-up. You dismiss it. It comes back again. Over. And. Over. You fear that the website will eventually scream, “I will not be ignored!” and attack your loved ones. Etiquette

Miss Manners Data-gathering Guide

Despite the examples above, it’s possible to successfully gather information from your visitors without harming your relationship with them in the process. Let the practices below serve as your etiquette guide as you think about what kinds of information you’d like to gather from your website visitors.

1. Ask only for what you absolutely need.

Visitors are stingy with their information, and asking too much can be off-putting. If you have a newsletter sign-up form on your site, only ask for the visitor’s email address and his or her name. You take this approach because website visitors will only fill in as much information as they think the payoff justifies. In addition, because most other sites only require a small amount of information for newsletter sign-up forms, visitors expect it to be that way for all websites. Another reason to restrict what you ask is that as the amount of required information increases, the level of confidence the visitor has in you decreases. Asking too much may result in visitors assuming something shady is going on, especially if the kinds of information you’re asking for seem unnecessary.

2. Ask for information in stages.

Many websites use outrageously long forms in the mistaken belief that the only way to get information is all at once. A better approach is to gather the data from shorter forms and storing that information in a cookie on the visitor’s browser. This allows you to add to the information as the visitor continues to interact with your site, even across multiple visits to the site. Using this technique builds a more complete profile of the visitor without being obtrusive.

3. Be courteous.

Your visitors give their information freely, and should be treated with respect. If a visitor declines to give you information, don’t press the point by repeatedly asking through pop-ups or other means. Be honest in how much you’re going to require from visitors. If your site includes a survey, explain how long the survey will take before they even click the link to take the survey. If the survey spans multiple pages, let the visitor know how many total pages there are and what page they’re currently on. These simple additions will greatly increase the likelihood that the entire survey will be filled out. And finally, make sure you have a privacy policy that clearly spells out what types of information you gather from your visitors and why. This transparency builds confidence with your customers.

Adjust Your Approach

Meeting the needs of your website visitors while achieving your own goals can be a balancing act. Even if done in the most pleasant manner possible, asking for too much information too often can cause your audience to prematurely leave your site. And while they might not complain to you directly, their unhappiness may show up in your website analytics. If you’re seeing pages that have a high rate of abandonment, it’s a good indication that your visitors are leaving that page for a particular reason. And if that reason is your approach to information gathering, it’s something you can easily fix.

* This article was originally published in the March 13 issue of BlueSky Business Aviation News.


Aviation Pioneer Blazed a Trail that Still Inspires

Mary Feik – still quick-witted and feisty at going on 90 – says she’s done nothing special in her life.

But her 45-minute talk this past weekend for Women in Aviation Day at the Kansas Aviation Museum – touching on just a few of her accomplishments and experiences – indicates otherwise. And the audience itself exemplified perhaps her greatest legacy. Dozens of women and girls joined the men and boys packing the room, eager to hear her recount the exploits of seven decades working with and flying planes.

Her long career began in the 1930s learning to fix aircraft engines at an Army Air Corps base. She served as a lead engineer during World War II, helping ensure that B-29 bombers and other warbirds were airworthy. Logged thousands of hours as a maintenance engineer and pilot during and after the war. Served as a technician for three decades on U.S. air bases. Helped restore vintage aircraft for the National Air and Space Museum. Actively participated in the Civil Air Patrol, rising to the rank of colonel. For much of that time, Feik worked exclusively with men.

At the aviation museum, she spoke to an appreciative audience, but perhaps most captivated of all: the many girls and young women who were there to stoke their dreams of a life in aviation. Thanks to remarkable women like Mary Feik, those dreams today are much more likely to become reality.

Pictured above: There’s no shortage of colorful anecdotes when aviation pioneer Mary Feik takes the podium. Here she speaks at the Kansas Aviation Museum during the museum’s 2014 celebration of Women in Aviation Day.