Making a statement in business means…
Delivering unparalleled results
Creativity beyond belief
A team that adores your business
A charming ability to anticipate
Your brand statement McKeeman Communications Group & You
The state of your business just got bolder.
MCG snapshot
McKeeman Communications Group (MCG) was founded upon the idea that one voice can be powerful. With humble beginnings in 1995, the company took the idea of one voice and combined it with creative tools to deliver a powerful exchange. The firm’s mindset from the beginning was simple – staying focused on results. Now, 10 years later, the MCG team continues to leverage great ideas for Fortune 500 companies and other smart businesses every day.
MCG is a dynamic public relations team that helps clients boost their business to their greatest potential. We do that with a variety of tools including media relations, marketing communications, guerilla marketing tactics and crisis/issues management, just to name a few.
MCG currently works within five Southeastern states and has national resources for maximum leverage and support. We are a member of PRConsultants Group, a national affiliation of public relations firms specializing in results-oriented public relations and marketing communications.
What we believe in
We’re Going To Tell You What We Really Think
You are paying us for our best advice, not what you want to hear. You hired us because we are smart, professional and we get it done in a first class way. Let’s us guide you and be your true business partner.
Occam’s Razor
Occam was a pretty smart philosopher and his “razor” thinking goes something like this: “often the simplest idea is the best.” We have found that often complicated strategy makes for complicated results. Simple, powerful, right-on elements make for pure and beautiful results.
Work Can Be Fun
As your team, we believe fun, fresh thinking makes for dynamic results for our clients. If we aren’t having fun, we are trying too hard and forcing a square peg into a round hole. We hunker down with your audience and get cozy with your customers. Is there any other way to be if we really want to understand your business? We try to stay light, loose and a little playful – because that means we are staying innovative and edgy for the best ideas to help your business bloom.
Discovery Is Everything
Upon completion of anything, we always look back to say, how could we do a bit better? We are constant detectives to sleuth out a better way, a smarter approach or even starting over from scratch. Learning is constant, as change is in business.
Take Time To Celebrate
When we finish our projects, we always celebrate. We like to take time to reflect on a big project, a strong push for our team, co-workers milestone occasions. Life is just way too short not to remember small things, big things and in between moments to pause and say “Yes! We did it – now let’s keep going.”
10 Neato Things About MCG
1. The First McCup: We helped unveil the very first McCafe (McDonald's Coffeehouse concept) in the United States.
2. The Best Biscuit: MCG team supported the charge to discover the most amazing biscuit bakers inthe Southeast with McDonald's BiscuitBowl BakeOff.
3. Beam Me Up: We helped beam up XM Satellite radio (okay just their PR campaign) in North Carolina.
4. Is That Really Her? We are great at discovering look-alikes - including Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Harry Potter and Spiderman- Perfect for movie premieres in the Carolinas.
5. Keep Healthy: Our MCG team logged over 8,000 minutes of active lifestyle time in honor of the McDonald's Be Active Campaign - to encourage North Carolina citizens to get moving and get healthy.
6. Well Connected: We've worked with many neato people including Oprah's personal trainer Bob Greene, Basketball Coach Legend John Wooden, Destiny's Child, Former Washington Redskin Bruce Smith and let's not forget Ronald McDonald, as result of creative public relations project work. Let's just say our Rolodex is mighty interesting....
7. Give Back: We have donated over 1,000 hours of pro bono time to support one of our favorite causes, Ronald McDonald House Charites.
8. We are a 10: We may not be Bo Derek, but we just celebrated our 10th birthday - with a decade of excellence in service and results.
9. Get the Call: Our team helped Sprint PCS dial up their first call by launching the digital wireless carrier's services in North Carolina.
And drum roll please…
10. It's All About Results: We love to knock our clients socks off by delivering amazing results in a highly creative way.
Our Portfolio of Tools
We have a dynamic portfolio of ever-expanding tools – and we’re not talking the Home Depot kind (although those come in handy as well.) MCG is ready to put our portfolio of brilliance to work for your business today. A sampling of our classic set of brand resources at MCG:
Media Relations
Getting Your Messages Across With Local Media
As a results-oriented team, MCG has built strong networks and credible relationships with local media outlets throughout the Southeast. We have consistently provided successful results in delivering our clients' messages efficiently and with high impact. Our effectiveness is based partly on our objective role as true counselors. MCG evaluates each client's unique goals and their competitive environment to ensure we provide newsworthy information to media outlets for every pitch. This approach positions our clients as leaders in their industry and encourages editors to consider them as a resource. Relationships are key, but measurable results are what counts. In 2001 alone, MCG secured close to $2 million in media coverage on behalf of our clients. Our media coverage ranged from national coverage all the way down to local radio talk shows.
Community Relations
Making You a Hero in Your Neighorhood
One of MCG's special areas of expertise is developing community relations campaigns. We have developed statewide campaigns targeted at important causes and issues such as health, education, and the environment. For example, MCG formulated an aggressive media relations strategy targeting North Carolina news editors-both English and Spanish --for a national campaign entitled "Immunize for Healthy Lives." The results were phenomenal. We produced a television public service announcement, a newspaper ad in Spanish as well as bilingual education materials for on-site distribution at our client's restaurants and at local health departments. Since the beginning of the campaign, MCG has generated over $1 million in media coverage.
Marketing Public Relations
Building Your Brand Image
MCG consultants bring consumer marketing and retail business expertise along with a full-scale understanding of the complete marketing communications arena. Our ability to provide fresh, creative thinking and on-the-mark recommendations that integrate with a full communications program makes us a valued marketing partner.
One of our most creative, unique media relations and marketing campaigns focused on the art of making biscuits. McDonald's biscuit baker finalists from around the Southeast gathered together for a bake-off, hence the beginning of "BiscuitBowl" and contestants went "oven mitt to oven mitt" vying for the "top biscuiteer" title. The timing of the program - in the midst of the football season and prior to the "bowl" season - helped position this as a fun, competitive sport "of a different flavor" for both participants and the news media. At the end of the campaign, media coverage was extensive from all parts of the state generating over $300,000 for our client.
MCG has many such success stories that demonstrate our thoughtful and creative approach to building a marketing communications program. And what keeps it fresh every year for our clients is that we have fun doing it.
Crisis & Issues Management
Protecting You in Times of Trouble
The importance of a well-trained staff that can respond to news media in a calm, clear and persuasive manner is essential in today's highly competitive market. Many a company's image and credibility has skyrocketed or plummeted with the success or failure of an executive's interview. Crisis or emergency situations also rely heavily on well-trained spokespersons to deliver specific messages while skillfully steering away from sensitive issues.
MCG prides itself in offering this training to our clients which proves to be invaluable in a crisis or emergency situation. Our clients learn how to handle on-the-spot media requests, interview with reporters, what to say and how to say it, and learn how to become company spokespeople. With MCG's 32 years of combined experience, we have developed standard media response procedures for larger companies for unsolicited media inquiries that has proven to be highly successful.
Public Relations Coaching
Your Partner in Building Your Brand
What is Public Relations Coaching?
Think of Public Relations Coaching like dining at your favorite cafeteria – picking out a little of this and just a bit of that. You determine how much public relations support you need and when you need it.
How Public Relations Coaching Can Work for Your Company:
Strategic Brainstorming Partner for Fresh Thinking
Media Relations and Crisis Training
Idea Bank/Resources for Best Bets in Successful PR Campaigns
“Mile High Thinking” – Thinking Bigger, Thinking Differently
Mentoring development for growth of PR Director or Public Relations Team
Guerilla Community Relations Tactics
How Does Public Relations Coaching Work?
Hourly Rate for Strategic Projects
Monthly Support – Weekly Teleconference for 1 hour per week, three times per month.
Contact Cara McLauchlan at 919/303.3999
Or Kim McKeeman at 919/488.4471
A Sampling of Clients We Have Worked With
We don't like to name drop (okay, maybe we do) but here's a few of the great business partners we have worked with over the years:
McDonald's
Sprint PCS
Blockbuster
XM Satellite Radio
Starbucks Coffee
Ronald McDonald House Charities
Ronald McDonald House of Durham
Levi's
Coldstone Creamery
Our MCG Team
Kim McKeeman, APR
President and Founder
With more than 17 years of experience practicing public relations, Kim has learned the subtleties of communications that produce results. Counseling clients in both good times and times of crisis, her expertise as a big-picture strategist who rolls up her sleeves and gets the job done has earned her the reputation of a solid communications counselor among clients like McDonald's Corporation, Blockbuster Video, Sprint PCS, XM Satellite Radio and Starbucks Coffee Company.
Award-winning employee marketing campaigns? Multi-state media tours? Single-market product launches? Kim’s range of expertise allows her to switch gears smoothly and support teams of co-workers, or roll up her sleeves and execute plans, while keeping her gaze calmly focused on the end result. And who’s to know -- perhaps raising three young boys helps hone those multi-tasking skills a smidgeon.
Prior to establishing McKeeman Communications Group in 1994, Kim counseled clients as a group manager at Price/McNabb, Inc., the fifth-largest advertising/public relations agency headquartered in the southeast. Previously, at the Greater Toledo Area Chapter of the American Red Cross she planned and developed award-winning communications materials and public awareness campaigns as assistant director of marketing and communications. Kim graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. in journalism from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.
Beth Gargan
Senior Public Relations Consultant
Beth Gargan brings a depth of experience and extensive skill set to each project she manages at McKeeman Communications Group. After years of working in virtually every aspect of television news, Beth chose to put her news sense and strong writing abilities to work for clients in business and the arts. With more than 20 years wowing clients and co-workers, Beth is a well-rounded communications expert and public relations counselor.
Looking for a different way to tell your story? At McKeeman Communications Group, Beth uses a unique combination of creative listening, savvy communications and marketing sense, and unabashed enthusiasm to deliver award-winning results.
As the mother of three daughters, Beth has a strong love and interest in education issues. She was public relations coordinator for the North Carolina Association of Educators, the state’s largest professional association for educators. Throughout her career, she has worked with numerous corporations, educational institutions and nonprofit groups on various education projects and events.
Prior to joining McKeeman Communications Group, Beth served as account director at Capital Strategies, a public relations firm in Raleigh, and counseled her own clients as a successful freelance writer/public relations practitioner. A native of California, Beth earned her B.A. in journalism/English from the University of Southern California and her M.A. in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia
Jenny Harper
Public Relations Consultant
First, it was working with the most beloved mouse the world had ever seen. Next, it was the clown whose recognition is trumped only by Santa himself. Jenny Harper’s public relations experience with some of the most well-known organizations in the world has given her an acute sense of managing soup-to-nuts programs in a big-picture landscape.
As a public relations counselor with McKeeman Communications Group, Jenny puts those skills to use every day as she consults with clients on media outreach, marketing public relations efforts or media call management – and then makes it happen. With strong presentation and communications abilities, and a perceptiveness that allows her to get at the core of what clients – and their customers – want, Jenny creates efforts and materials that continually resonate with audiences.
Prior to joining McKeeman Communications Group, Jenny had fine-tuned her abilities with nearly a decade of experience in public relations – first with Walt Disney World’s public affairs team managing media, community and government relations, and then joining the Ronald McDonald House team in Chapel Hill, NC, where she served as the director of development and public relations, developing and executing award-winning campaigns. Jenny graduated from Florida State University, earning her B.S. in International Affairs. Newly married and a lover of historic neighborhoods, Jenny and her husband share the hobby of refurbishing their new home.
Michelle Young Hubacher
Public Relations Consultant
Michelle Hubacher brings strong writing skills to the MCG team. Her experience includes writing gigs with TV Guide (when “Thirty Something” was hot), Hosiery News Magazine (ask her some time why pantyhose run), The Union Observer (she once went deep undercover on a drag racing expose – okay, maybe not so deep), regional publications and lots of corporate newsletters and promotional materials. She continues to sharpen her writing skills – if you need a Top Ten list, she’s your man – and offers a dash of creativity when a lighter touch is called for. As a public relations consultant for 11 years, she has worked with community and media relations programs for McDonald’s, Blockbuster, the Carolina-Virginia Fashion Exhibitors and the Charlotte Youth Ballet (that one, totally behind the scenes), to name a few.
Michelle’s communications career has included positions as director of communications for the National Association of Hosiery Manufacturers, PR account exec for Price/McNabb and mother to two feisty, back-talkin’ girls. She has a B.A. in magazine journalism from the University of Georgia.
Cara McLauchlan
Public Relations Consultant and Coach Partner
Cara likes to think of herself as a “fresh thinker.” She serves as a strategic partner to offer public relations leadership to help clients “think bigger.” As well, through mentoring and training, Cara is able to help executives expand creativity and take their game to the next level. Cara's ability to help others succeed and produce results has benefited clients like McDonald's Corporation, Starbucks Coffee Company, Sprint PCS and BTI Telecommunications. Cara's background also includes agency experiences as the Director of Public Relations for ADSTREET Advertising & Public Relations in Cary, N.C. and with Price/McNabb, Inc., in Raleigh, N.C. Cara received her B.A. and M.A. in journalism and public relations from Michigan State University, the land of the famous green and white Spartans (not the maize and yellow roadkill). When she is not whipping up innovative PR strategy, she adores being a mom, wife and keeper of the family black Labrador named Java (as in coffee, not the computer program.)
Tracy Langer
Creative Director
Tracy has served as creative director at MCG since 1995 -- infusing creativity and captivating design in her works for clients and branding projects. She lends her 20 years of graphic design experience to strengthen MCG’s marketing communication initiatives. She enjoys finding the best solution to get the message across and has a knack for creating art that suits the client’s core personality. Tracy’s ability to design for the client has enabled her to work in every field imaginable. Her experience includes award-winning work in advertising, collateral design, logos and identity systems, invitations, posters, illustration, and web design. Tracy graduated from Miami University with a B.A. in Fine Arts and a minor in Marketing. While there, she won a contest for the redesign of the Mid-American Conference logo which is still used to this day. Her legend lives on at MCG….
MCG in Action
We really don’t like to brag (well, sometimes we do if it’s good). Below are some of our great moments in action – as well as some plain day-in-the life photos that make us look good.
Contact Us
Want to see how your business could benefit from the MCG team’s brilliance?
Contact us today at 919.488.4471 or info@mckeemanpr.com
McKeeman Communications Group
A decade of service and results
info@mckeemanpr.com
919.448.4471
Calvert Technology Group
Flow
It’s all about flow.
You want a system to identify, enliven, and communicate your business, and you want it all to work together smoothly.
A logo. A website. A digital brochure. An interactive module. And technology custom-designed to seamlessly support it all.
Everything should be elegant, intuitive, functional. It should engage people.
It is essential media. And it is within your reach.
What We Do
The mission of Calvert Technology Group is to partner with you to define -- or redefine -- your corporate identity and marketing capabilities in a way that is compelling, engaging, and built to last. Rather than focusing on short-term point solutions like a website or a logo, we work toward end-to-end corporate identity systems and the essential media and technology that will put your company in the lead. What does all this mean?
Getting Started
A thorough marketing strategy is key to maximizing exposure for your business. We begin by sitting down with you to hear your vision for your company. We want to understand your business, your customers, your competitors, your likes and dislikes, and your current marketing activities; all the things that make your business unique. Then we apply our design and development expertise to help tell your story in a completely customized, engaging, relevant and effective way.
Where We Won't Go…
We don't try to sell you stuff you don't need or want. Using cookie-cutter, template-based solutions for your unique products or services will not put you ahead of the pack. It's our goal to put only the sharpest, fastest, and best-matched arrows in your hands, so that each part of your essential media plan perfectly hits the mark you are aiming for.
Our Specialty is Your Competitive Edge
Today the most successful high-end businesses utilize digital media, like interactive websites and promotional videos, as their leading identity and marketing tools. Calvert Technology specializes in cutting-edge digital media and technology support, and we complement those with well-integrated, beautifully designed print publications. With Calvert Technology Group as your partner, all these elements work together to make up a system that the best businesses count essential to their market placement. That's why we call our end-to-end corporate identity and technology services essential media.
Why Calvert Technology Group?
The last thing you want is "yet another vendor" to deal with, or even worse, three or four vendors that you have to coordinate and patch together. Calvert Technology Group functions as a strategic partner, coordinating all the media skills and items you need in order to help you create an entire system that is consistent with how you do business, what you sell, and how you communicate with your clients and employees. The Calvert family of companies works this way for every market we are in. We think you will find the difference refreshing, and we look forward to a lasting relationship with you.
Contact Us
Calvert Technology Group
a division of Calvert Holdings, Inc.
1225 Crescent Green, Suite 110
Cary, North Carolina 27518
919.854.4453
info@calverttechnology.com
www.calverttechnology.com
Portfolio
CureDM, Inc.
Category: Corporate ID Redesign
CureDM is an early-stage biopharmaceutical company seeking development of a diabetes cure. Our project was to redesign their corporate identity in a manner consistent with their marketing strategy and desired corporate image.
Key Design Direction: Focusing on the growth and generative metaphors that are consistent with their drug compound results, we compiled a clean color palate of greens and complimentary blues, with a crisp, professional gray as a base. The logo leaf image was hand drawn and paired with a clear, gently curving font called Hoefler Text. The print collateral carries out the growth theme with the soft-light overlay of a beautifully veined leaf, and print specifications for a heavy, smooth cream paper.
Status: Currently in development.
Calvert Holdings, Inc.
Category: Corporate ID Redesign
Calvert Holdings, Inc. is the parent company of Calvert Technology Group and our other sister companies. The goal of the project was to implement a fresh corporate identity that is consistent with the image and positioning of this upscale, high-end corporation, which creates, discovers, and evolves inspiring new businesses.
Key Design Direction: We developed an identity that feels reminiscent of an ultra-modern contemporary art gallery or architectural space; a beautifully lit and open arena in which new ideas and concepts can evolve. Our key words were elegant, urbane, and global, and the result is a design that conveys sophistication within a clear, intuitive structure.
Status: This program is in development with a target go-live date in Q4 2006.
BioTechnology Transfer
Category: Corporate ID Redesign
BioTechnology Transfer specializes in product development services for biotech device, diagnostic, and therapy start-up companies. The goal of the identity project was to offer at least two ways of communicating this company's lean, light, and quick way of delivering products and services, which is unique in a world of large pharmaceutical and biotechnological corporations.
Key Design Direction: Company tagline: “Stay lean. Stay Focused. Move Fast.”
Concept 1 – For this concept, we combined the tagline ideas with the “transfer” notion expressed in the company name. This is a group that is incredibly accomplished at picking up a business or product in the middle of the development race, and moving it forward at high speed to the finish line. We utilized the image of an Olympic-level runner who has just received the baton in a relay, and animated the tagline in a way that reflects and builds on the notion of speed and delivery.
Concept 2 – Here we continued the company tagline theme but with a cutting-edge, hi-tech user experience feel. In order to convey the many services and offerings of this company, we developed an image that communicates the feel of a complicated but organized and efficient system, coalescing around the nucleus of this up-and-coming biotech company.
Status: This project is in development with a target go-live date in Q4 2006.
McKeeman Consulting Group, Inc.
Category: Website Implementation
McKeeman Consulting Group is a marketing and public relations firm with a focused, results-oriented approach. Calvert Technology Group utilized their site design to develop a completely Macromedia Flash-based website consistent with their interactive and motion-oriented design goals. The result is a fresh site that feels professional and playful, high-tech without taking itself too seriously.
Status: This project is complete and online at www.mckeemanpr.com
OcuCure Therapeutics, Inc.
Category: Corporate ID Redesign
OcuCure Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing a new generation of proprietary eye disease treatments and technologies. Our project was a concept piece to redesign their corporate presence in a manner consistent with their company mission and goals.
Key Design Direction: This concept piece adds clean black and white close-up photography to soothing and understated optical imagery. The result gives OcuCure's developmental compounds a human face. This allows the materials to communicate a humanitarian feel over a purely scientific one, and clarifies the highest motivation of its founding members.
Status: This work was an initial concept piece; we are partnering with the client to solidify the engagement.
Calvert Research Institute
Category: Corporate ID Redesign
Calvert Research Institute is a sister company of Calvert Technology Group and consists of a service provider network to provide end-to-end drug development services. Partnering with Calvert Research Institute allows drug development scientists to receive assistance in everything from funding to management and resourcing, so that they can focus on their core pharmacology skills rather than the administrative and management needs every young company has.
Key Design Direction: The theme “Bridging the Gap” became apparent as the company communicated their goal of bringing early-stage pharmaceutical companies across a services gap to a value point where investment firms are compelled to invest. The Macromedia Flash introduction communicates this theme in both imagery and build, while allowing the rest of the site to load without a wait on most connections. The initial site was created as text-primary, with phase two including the development of three informational videos that will give the welcome and then communicate directly to both of the primary target audiences.
Status: This program is in development with a target go-live date in Q4 2006.
Calvert Café
Category: Website: Narrow-focus marketing for innovative product/service offering
E-mail Template: End-user targeted email communications
Calvert Café is another pioneering new company within the Calvert Holdings family of businesses. This enterprise brings a cutting-edge, innovative approach to providing specialty beverages. They target multi-tenant business property owners in order to provide a managed, turn-key amenity that gives their clientele a distinct advantage over their competitors.
Key Design Direction: The primary goal for the website was to describe this very high-end luxury corporate amenity to potential purchasers. We created a color palate of soft, opulent colors and combined this with clean corporate imagery. The navigation is very clear and simple, so that the design never prevents site visitors from getting the crucial information they want and need to make a decision.
The market for the email template was the end-user, or Calvert Café coffee drinker. These colors are warm and engaging, and work nicely into the existing design of the Cafes themselves.
Status: The website launched in Q2 2006 and is live at www.calvertcafe.com.
Privacy Policy
Nothing is more important to Calvert Technology Group than protecting the private information of visitors to our site. Below you'll find information about our commitment to ensuring the privacy of your personally identifiable information (such as your full name, address, email address, telephone number and/or other identifying information) and preserving the integrity of the medium.
Please read the following carefully. If you have any questions or concerns, please send us an email at info@calverttechnology.com.
Gathering and Use of Information
Calvert Technology Group will never willfully disclose any personally identifiable information about our online audience to any third party without first receiving the user's permission. We do not collect personally identifiable information from our visitors other than what is supplied to us on a voluntary basis. We do collect information not personally identifiable for aggregate statistics only to be used by Calvert Technology Group.
Visitors to the Calvert Technology Group Web Site may voluntarily supply certain personally identifiable information in connection with subscription registration for sites or services which require subscription (such as email newsletters). In addition, personally identifiable information is voluntarily provided in connection with certain content submissions, community postings (i.e., forums or bulletin boards), comments and suggestions, or voting.
Calvert Technology Group may use such information only for conducting the activities stated above, for internal marketing and promotional purposes. The extent of such use is always explained at the time a site visitor provides such information. If the visitor does not want this information collected and used by us for the disclosed internal purposes, the visitor is given an opportunity to 'opt-out.' Our visitors need to recognize, however, that under certain circumstances, if they select to 'opt-out' they may not be eligible for certain activities for which the personally identifiable information is needed.
Acceptance of these Calvert Technology Group Web Site Privacy Policy Terms and Conditions
By using this site, you signify your agreement to the terms and conditions of this Calvert Technology Group Web Site Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, please do not use the site. We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of this policy at any time. Please check this page periodically for any changes. Your continued use of the Calvert Technology Group Web Site following the posting of any changes to these terms shall mean that you have accepted those changes. If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at info@calverttechnology.com.