MGW Selection Day

March Madness is here and even though Selection Sunday for college basketball is already past, today is Selection Friday here at MABU. During these times everyone is talking about the last 4 in but we present you with the last 3 in:

  • Go! Bismarck-Mandan
  • National Multiple Sclerosis Society
  • Annunciation Monastery

These are the last 3 organizations selected as part of MABU’s pro bono project Marketing Good Works! MABU will work with these organizations to create marketing materials and provide marketing support and services. More on these projects coming soon!

Other organizations selected for MGW were Friends of the Rappahannock, Bismarck Public Schools Foundation, and National Congress for American Indians.

MABU at the ADDY’s

Road trip to Fargo? Why not. Go to the ADDY awards? Sounds like fun. Being recognized and receiving a few awards? Even better!

Members of the MABU staff headed to Fargo this past weekends to participate in the annual North Dakota ADDY awards. It was a fun event for the team to be a part of, but good memories are not the only thing that our MABU-ians came home with.

MABU received awards for these campaigns:

  • National Congress of American Indians annual report – Gold Award!
  • Dakota Eye transit bus wrap
  • ND Division of Vocational Rehabilitation TV ad
  • Agency MABU Marketing Good Works campaign

For more info about the ADDY’s visit the American Advertising Federation of North Dakota website.

Giving Hearts Day 2012 Success!

Thanks to all who participated in Giving Hearts Day 2012!

Bismarck Public Schools Foundation exceeded their $4,000 fundraising goal by raising $4,195 from 54 donors – many of them first time donors.  With the matching funds they received they raised $9,195!

Our first pro bono project was a success thanks to the web and design team who put together the postcards, posters, social media efforts and email campaign used to raise awareness of the event and a special thanks to the great people who donated.

(Read more about the project here.)

Save the Crabs – a Marketing Good Works project

The staff in our Fredericksburg, VA office have helped save the crabs of the Chesapeake Bay!

Or they plan to with their savvy social media plan for the Friends of the Rappahannock, a non-profit, grassroots conservation organization that works to preserve the Rappahannock River that flows through the town and into the Chesapeake Bay.

Save the Crabs is an educational and activist campaign to bring a stop to spring lawn fertilization that threatens the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and economy.  They simply ask that residents around the Rappahannock and Chesapeake Bay do not fertilize their lawn this spring.

Some facts for you (courtesy of the Friends of the Rappahannock website.)

The Economic Impacts:  “The Chesapeake Bay yields 500 million pounds of seafood every year with high culinary, cultural, lifestyle, and economic value.   To the 17 million people living in the Bay watershed, this is a vital part of the cultural and economic vitality of the area. Between 1994 and 2004, Virginia’s seafood harvest declined 30 percent bearing heavy economic impact.  In 2007 it hit a record low. Now blue crab populations have finally risen due to emergency crab management measures put into place in 2008, but they still haven’t reached original levels.”

Why Not Fertilize:  “Spring fertilizer contributes to dead zones (zones without oxygen) in the Rappahannock and the Chesapeake Bay…The nutrients from fertilizer wash into rivers and sewers during spring rains. Excess nutrients cause algae to grow out of control.  When this algae dies, it decomposes, which causes oxygen to get pulled out of the water. This results in ‘dead zones’ where animals such as crabs die from suffocation in the Rappahannock and Chesapeake Bay.”

Your Lawn Will Thank You For It: “Fertilizing your lawn in the fall is better for your grass.  Fertilizing in the spring will make your grass turn green fast, but it’s temporary and weakening.  Most of the fertilizer you use will be wasted by spring rains. Fall fertilizing strengthens your grass’s root systems because the fertilizer will have time to sink in and nourish, creating a healthier and longer lasting lawn.”

Keep up on news and information and like their Facebook page!

“Teaching practical, progressive potential” ND Living magazine article

Mike and John were featured in an article in ND Living magazine about internships through Rasmussen College. The following is an excerpt of the article:

John Delamotte is so certain he’ll find a job after he graduates from college that he bought a house. Thanks to an internship he secured through Rasmussen College, as well as the education and skills he is gaining inside and out of the classroom, the likelihood of Delamotte finding job placement in his local community is indeed high.

Delamotte is studying multimedia at the Rasmussen College Bismarck campus, and specializing in three dimensional graphics. While most people may think of 3D as Hollywood movies or games, Rasmussen is teaching Delamotte that animation has practical, progressive potential right here in North Dakota

Mike Mabin, owner and president of Agency MABU (Marketing & Advertising Business Unlimited) in Bismarck, sees the potential of 3D – both for his company and for his clients

“Younger generations are accessing information in different ways. With all of the new media that’s out there, especially the Internet and mobile applications, how we deliver information is changing. Our need is to look at how really new media is going to play a part in marketing and communications.” Mabin describes

Mabin took his need to Rasmussen, and Ed Sargeant, the school’s multimedia instructor, lined him up with Delamotte, whom he hired as an intern. So far Delamotte has created Web site graphics and 3D animation for internal promotion and a client’s television commercial.

“One of the reasons we wanted to start the internship is to present new visions for clients in a way that this market hasn’t seen. In a sense, we’re ahead of the clients because they don’t know the potential,’ Mabin states. “This internship is allowing us to open the eyes of the community and the client through Rasmussen and through John, into new ways of doing things. We’re hoping the client will follow.”

Mabin has hired several interns from colleges and universities across North Dakota before but this was the first time he approached Rasmussen.

“Rasmussen has really looked forward in terms of what communications of the future are going to look like,” Mabin explains. “John is bringing all kinds of new skills and knowledge, especially in the area of multimedia production and 3D animation. I think John is a good example of someone who is pushing the edge of how communication is going to happen in the future.”

Excerpt from the article “Teaching practical, progressive potential” by Carmen Devney in ND Living Magazine (February 2012).

A Quick Marketing Good Works Update

This is an exciting time at MABU! Meetings with the “finalists” for Marketing Good Works are taking place during this week and the next. These meetings help us have a better idea of what exactly each organization needs and how MABU can help them.

The first meetings went great and it is really amazing to talk to people active in the community and hear their organization’s story. We are definitely looking forward to our following meetings and are super excited to kick off with some more Good Works!

Stay tuned for some more updates and the always increasing list of projects taken for 2012 MGW!

Another MABU developed website is launched

Congratulations ND Indian Business Alliance for the launching of their new website! MABU created IBA’s new logo and designed a website to highlight real members of the North Dakota Native American business community. The home page shows pictures and quotes of great members of the Native American business community in ND. More success stories are to come on their website so keep checking it out!

IBA is a Native American Organization that supports new and existing Native-owned businesses both on and off the reservations. They offer a variety of services to help business owners and increase entrepreneurship among Native Americans. If you are interested in more info about Alliance please contact IBA Executive Director Leslie Morsette at director@ndiba.com

St. Alexius billboard is up!

February is American Heart Month and St. Alexius Heart & Lung Clinic’s campaign promoting heart health awareness in up and running.  MABU produced TV ads that have been running since the end of January and now a billboard created by the MABU design team hits the streets. The billboard is located on South 3rd St, in Bismarck N.D.

Check out St. Alexius Medical Center’s Facebook page for more information about the campaign and for heart health related articles and tips.

Giving Hearts Day, MABU’s first Marketing Good Works of 2012!

It is Sunday and there is no better day of the week to announce our first pro bono project of the year. During 2012 MABU is helping worthy causes with our Marketing Good Works Project. Our first recipient was Bismarck Public Schools Foundation. The project was to coordinate the Giving Hearts Day fundraising event on behalf of BPSF and other organizations including the Ronald McDonald House, Central Dakota Children’s Choir, ND Women’s Network, ND Elks Association, Gateway to Science, and FARRMS. Our team developed an e-newsletter, and sent social media updates and news releases for Bismarck Public Schools Foundation. We also prepared a few nice looking posters and postcards to be sent to potential donors for all organizations.

Giving Hearts Day is a 24-hour online fundraising event hosted by Dakota Medical Foundation and Impact Foundation. On February 14, DMF and other community donors will match contributions of $10 or more up to $4,000 made to Giving Hearts Day participants through their website.

We at MABU are really excited about being a part of Giving Hearts Day and want to invite you to visit www.impactgiveback.org on Tuesday, February 14 and make a donation!