Axiom Soars With Girls With Wings, Inc.

by Dave Sniadak

Everyday, we're fortunate to help our clients' needs bloom into successful promotional opportunities. However, this week we're excited to help an aviation-based organization raise awareness for it's noble cause. Girls With Wings, Inc. is a non-profit from Cleveland, Ohio that aims to help the dreams of young girls take flight.

The organization is hosting the Twin Cities' first Aviation Inspiration Day at historic Fleming Field in South St. Paul on Saturday, May 28th. Axiom Marketing Communications took on this pro bono project and is honored to be serving as media liaisons for this special event.

Girls With Wings Founder Lynda Meeks will be hosting the event, along with several inspirational women in aviation, talking to young girls from across the Twin Cities from 1st grade through 8th grade. Families are encouraged to attend the event. There are morning and afternoon sessions and admission is $5 per person. Tickets can booked here.

"At the end of the day, girls need flight plans, not fairy tales," Meeks said. At Axiom, we're happy and proud to help this program get cleared for take off.

Greetings from Axiom's Summer Intern!

Hi, all!

My name is Natalie and I am the new intern at Axiom Communications! I want to introduce myself to our wonderful followers. I am a senior at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University. While there is no specific marketing/advertising degree, I am creating my own with a major in Communication and minor in Economics.

Being involved on campus is extremely important to me. Despite my lack of sportiness I am on softball and sand volleyball intramural teams in the spring. While my teams might not win every game, we sure have fun -- which is what is most important anyways, right? I am also involved with Marketing Club and Joint Events Council, both of which I will be on the executive board of next year.

Last summer I interned for United Cerebral Palsy of Central MN in St. Cloud, MN. My main responsibilities there were creating a social media marketing plan, updating social networks, creating an event website, and getting last-minute projects done for June's golf fundraiser. Of course we had to have a little fun each day -- most of which consisted of discussions of Monday's episodes of The Bachelorette!

One of the best decisions I have made so far is to study in Australia. I spent five months as a student at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle, WA. Even though I have been back in the US for six months, I still like to think I have the Australian culture in me. Living abroad opened my eyes to a whole new world (literally) of customs and ideas that I hope stick with me! I know what I learned can only help me in the future.

I am so excited to work here at Axiom and learn the in's and out's of a successful agency. We have so much ahead and it'll be busy, but that is when I thrive. This is such a great opportunity and I'll be learning from smart, creative, and friendly people. It is only the first day and already I can just tell it is going to be wonderful!

Cat Food Company Feeds Your Cat's App Envy

Cats have been a staple of cheesy Internet fame for years and years. Cat food on the other hand flies much lower on the radar.

Obviously people want to talk more about their furry felines than what they're feeding them. This poses quite the dilemma for the cat food companies looking to get noticed in a social media space that isn't too interested in them so much as the animals they cater to.

Friskies has carved (or clawed in this case) a niche with their out-of-the-box thinking. It started back in 2009 when they launched the Scratchington Post, a mock site that featured a collection of cat-related articles and pictures.

This time around, the cat food company has released a new app...for your cat.

That's right. Friskies released an app featuring three games that are meant to played by your fuzzy friends. To be honest, all three games are essentially the same and feature something floating around the screen that react to the touch of a hand (or paw). You can check out a video of the app here.

While the app isn't for everyone, it's good to see companies that are usually forced to keep a low profile branch out and try to snag their share of the attention.

Breaking Down the New Nook Predictions

On the heels of a very well-reviewed software update to their popular Nook Color e-reader/tablet late last month, Barnes and Noble raised some eyebrows with an announcement that they will be holding a special event on May 24th.

There haven't been many details released about what exactly will be unveiled at this event, but the blogosphere has been buzzing about the possibilities. Some of the predictions make sense, others just make me shake my head. Here are the 5 predominate opinions out there with my take on each, and I've also rated each scenario's chance of happening on a scale of 0 (absolutely no chance) to 10 (guaranteed to happen):

• Nook Color 2: The gut reaction by many was the idea of a new device to capitalize on the recent Nook Color popularity. Is it an exciting possibility? Sure, but it is not going to happen any time soon. Yes the Nook Color has its hardware flaws, but not nearly enough to warrant abandoning the current Nook Color model.
• Possibility of happening? 1 out of 10

• Honeycomb update: Some speculated that the Nook Color might benefit the growing trend of Honeycomb tablets with an upgrade to Android 3.0 of its own. Sorry, I just don't see this happening either. Piggybacking off of the previous prediction, Barnes & Noble just spent a lot of time and money upgrading their current model to Android Froyo making another update this soon both unlikely and unwise. The tablet-optimized Honeycomb is still getting its sea legs and would be far too buggy for the Nook Color this early.
• Possibility of happening? 2 out of 10

• From Wi-Fi to 3G: Others have thrown out the idea that the May 24th announcement will be a 3G model of the Nook Color. I really don't like the idea because 3G means carrier charges, and one of my favorite parts about the Nook Color has been the lack of carrier involvement. However, given the prevalence of Internet-needy apps on the Nook Color (and the need for an Internet connection to download new apps), this move wouldn't surprise me too much.
• Possibility of happening? 6 out of 10

• Upgrading the Nook: More and more people are leaning towards next Tuesday's announcement centering on the original Nook e-reader, speculating that the device will get a competitive boost to compete with the Kindle. Considering the general consensus is that the Kindle the better pure e-reader, I agree that this has the strongest chance of happening.
• Possibility of happening? 8 out of 10

• Downgrading the Nook: Another interesting prediction is a new lower-end model of the original Nook that could compete with Amazon's dirt cheap ad-supported Kindle. I don't hate the idea, but I'd rather see Barnes & Noble focus more on putting the Nook on par with the Kindle instead of purely going after sales and market share.
• Possibility of happening? 7 out of 10

Obviously this is all speculation, but it's the only thing the tech world has at this point as we all wait anxiously for May 24th to roll around.

The State of Local TV News

We seem to have one of the local news shows on during or just before dinner at our house; mostly just to catch the weather...even though as we all know there are about 10,000 other ways to get your local forecast.

Anyway, while I was waiting for the weather to come on, I caught a segment about 'push mowers.' The nut of the story was that with the rise in gas prices, homeowners are looking for an environmentally friendly alternative. Now that premise is a bit hard to swallow. I mean, how much do you think you're going to save by not putting gas in a lawn mower?

But what really got me going was the term 'push mower.' To this reporter, that simply meant a push reel mower like the ones our grandfathers might have used. The reporter completely forgot or simply didn't know that there are push gas mowers, and more importantly, corded and cordless electric push mowers that are green and are a lot more practical on any lawn larger than a postage stamp, especially if you have some weeds instead of fine fescue.

The inherent laziness of just going to a local hardware store and being led around by the owner is not what I'd call good journalism. Now, we're not talking about hard news here, but all I ask for is a bit of research before you turn the camera on.

Full disclosure: Axiom represents The Toro Company, makers of both gas and cordless mowers.