The Idea Grove, a strategic communications and public relations agency, offers two tools on its Web site to help corporate executives who are either selecting a new PR agency or assessing their current agency relationship.

Scott Baradell, president of the Idea Grove, said he created the tools based on his experiences as a senior corporate communications executive, responsible for public relations campaigns of various sizes and budgets.

"I know what it's like to be the client of a public relations agency," Baradell said. "In some years, I managed major product launches for Fortune 1000 companies and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with national public relations agencies such as Fleishman-Hillard and Burson-Marsteller. In other years, such as when I founded a technology startup, I operated on a shoestring - doing virtually all the 'dirty work' myself and using PR firms only for specific small projects.

"Some of my relationships with public relations agencies have been highly successful; in other cases, I had to pull the plug when I realized I wasn't getting what I’d paid for."

The two online tools are "Selecting a Public Relations Agency," a printable worksheet that companies can use to compare candidate firms in 25 different categories during an agency review process; and "Evaluating a Public Relations Agency's Performance," an 20-question online quiz that helps public relations clients decide whether they should keep their current firm or seek a new one. Both are available at www.ideagrove.com.

Baradell founded the Idea Grove in January 2005. Before that, he served from 2001 to 2004 as vice president of corporate communications for Belo, a diversified media company with revenues of more than $1.5 billion. Prior to Belo, he served as vice president of corporate communications for PageNet, a wireless communications company with 1999 revenues of $1 billion. Baradell also co-founded Brightpod, a venture-funded technology consulting company acquired by InPhonic (NASD: INPC) in 2001.

About the Idea Grove

The Idea Grove is a strategic communications and public relations agency that helps clients manage their most important communications to customers, employees and investors. From core brand development to creative marketing and media relations programs, the Idea Grove's services consistently set clients apart from their competitors. To learn more about the Idea Grove's philosophy, expertise and services, please visit the Web site at www.ideagrove.com or call the company at 972.235.3439.

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The Idea Grove announced a new offering, "Brand in 60 Seconds," a brand positioning workshop for companies seeking to better define and differentiate their company or product in the marketplace.


"The Idea Grove only works with retainer clients," said Scott Baradell, president of the Idea Grove. "Because we have an exclusive clientele and do not market ourselves for project work, we wanted to find a way to engage a broader range of companies in Dallas and nationwide, to basically show our stuff.

"We have unique insights that can help companies tell their stories better -- to their customers, investors and the media. The positioning workshops spotlight our talents while providing a deliverable to clients that can form the basis of their long-term communications plan. Our goal is for each of our clients to be able to effectively communicate their brand's essence, personality and positioning in less than 60 seconds."

The Idea Grove's positioning workshop offering includes:

1. Pre-workshop company and industry research

2. A half-day workshop for your leadership or marketing team, led by Scott Baradell

3. A deliverable that includes a recommended brand essence, brand personality and brand positioning for your company or product -- as well as targeted messages for customers, investors, media and other key audiences.

The Idea Grove has conducted workshops for technology clients -- including hardware makers, software developers, and Web 2.0 ventures -- and healthcare providers. Additionally, the Idea Grove has expertise in the media, financial services, food, travel and other industries.

About the Idea Grove

The Idea Grove is a strategic communications and public relations agency that helps clients manage their most important communications to customers, employees and investors. From core brand development to creative marketing and media relations programs, the Idea Grove's services consistently set clients apart from their competitors. To learn more about the Idea Grove's philosophy, expertise and services, please visit the Web site at www.ideagrove.com or call the company at 972.235.3439.

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The Idea Grove's agency blog, Media Orchard, is drawing praise nationally for its candid insights into the worlds of marketing, media and public relations.

"Even though Scott Baradell's firm, Idea Grove, is not the largest strategic communications agency in Dallas, you wouldn't know it by his blog, Media Orchard," wrote David Henderson in The Strategist, the magazine of the Public Relations Society of America. "Media Orchard has gained status as a news source in the world of public relations, regularly quoted by industry observers, the media and PR bloggers, alike."

Media Orchard ranks as one of the 3,500 most influential blogs in the world, as measured by Technorati, and as one of the top five blogs with a focus on public relations issues. Steve Rubel, pronounced the "doyen" of PR blogging by BusinessWeek, recently called Media Orchard his favorite blog. And MarketingProfs.com, the respected resource for marketing commentary, has tapped Baradell as a contributor.

"We invite prospective clients to learn more about us by reading our blog," Baradell said. "What you see is what you get: honesty, good humor, distinctive writing, and insights gained through years in the marketing trenches."

About the Idea Grove

The Idea Grove is a strategic communications and public relations agency that helps clients manage their most important communications to customers, employees and investors. From core brand development to creative marketing and media relations programs, the Idea Grove's services consistently set clients apart from their competitors. To learn more about the Idea Grove's philosophy, expertise and services, please visit the Web site at www.ideagrove.com or call the company at 972.235.3439.

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The Idea Grove, a strategic communications and public relations agency, has launched a new service for corporate clients that wish to better understand the business opportunities afforded by the blogosphere.

Scott Baradell, the Idea Grove's president, said:

"When I started a company called Brightpod with three co-founders in 2000, our goal was to offer corporate clients an easy way to access their data from wireless devices. We were a bit ahead of our time, and were fortunate to be acquired in the midst of the Nasdaq meltdown in summer 2001.

"Because so many corporate clients were cautious about wireless data in 2000, we introduced 'Mobile Data 101,' a consulting offering designed to orient our clients with the wireless world. We had many takers for this service.

"My early work in corporate blog consulting reminds me of the wireless market a few years ago.

"Blogging, together with associated Web 2.0 innovations such as RSS, wikis and podcasting, are revolutionizing how people distribute and access information. But while forward-looking corporations are dipping their toes in the Web 2.0 waters, the great majority of companies are proceeding cautiously.

"These companies may not believe they are ready for a blog -- but they still want to understand the blogosphere and its rapidly growing impact. And so, the Idea Grove unveils Corporate Blogging 101."

The service is geared toward senior executives and marketing or communications departments (as opposed to techies) and has two parts:

1. Education Session

-- Overview of blogging and other Web 2.0 innovations
-- How Web 2.0 is changing business models
-- How Web 2.0 is changing marketing and PR
-- Analysis of successful corporate blogs
-- Guide to reputation management through blog monitoring
-- Tips for upgrading your Web site newsroom and Intranet
-- Discussion of client business goals
-- Ideation: how client goals may be advanced through blogs/Web 2.0.

2. Ideation Document

Provided within a week of the session, this deliverable offers ideas and recommendations for entering the Web 2.0 space based on Idea Grove research and client input. The document includes a variety of alternative courses of action, based on the level of buy-in achieved within the company. Communications departments don't need to wait for the CEO to become a blogger to make behind-the-scenes improvements in the communications program -- such as enhancing media monitoring, overhauling the online newsroom, and upgrading the Intranet.

Education Sessions can be held in person or online. Please contact the Idea Grove at info@ideagrove.com or 972.235.3439 if you are interested.

Baradell,40, opened Idea Grove offices earlier this year at The Points at Waterview in Richardson. Baradell served from 2001 to 2004 as vice president of corporate communications for Belo, a diversified media company with revenues of more than $1.5 billion. Prior to Belo, he served as vice president of corporate communications for PageNet, a wireless communications company with 1999 revenues of $1 billion. Baradell also co-founded Brightpod, a venture-funded technology consulting company acquired by InPhonic (NASD: INPC) in 2001.

About the Idea Grove

The Idea Grove is a strategic communications and public relations agency that helps clients manage their most important communications to customers, employees and investors. From core brand development to creative marketing and media relations programs, the Idea Grove’s services consistently set clients apart from their competitors. To learn more about the Idea Grove's philosophy, expertise and services, please visit the Web site at www.ideagrove.com or call the company at 972.235.3439.

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Scott Baradell, an accomplished corporate brand strategist and communicator who has been the senior corporate communications executive for two Fortune 1000 companies, today announced the launch of Dallas' newest public relations firm: the Idea Grove. The Idea Grove is a strategic communications consultancy specifically designed to succeed in today's overcrowded information marketplace.

"In every waking hour, Americans are bombarded with marketing messages. Thousands of times each day, consumers see images or hear words designed to shape their desires or change their buying habits," said Baradell, the Idea Grove's president and CEO. "Unfortunately for consumers and for marketers, it's become a case of diminishing returns. America has developed a collective case of attention-deficit disorder, and it's getting worse, not better."

Baradell, most recently the vice president of corporate communications for media powerhouse Belo Corp., explained how this information overload has led to a related problem: "PR overload."

"Many PR agencies take a quantity-oriented approach to getting a client's message out," Baradell said. "For example, at most agencies, calling the news media to pitch a story is a 'bulk' activity. They make many calls to reporters to increase their chances of a placement. And - for the sake of cost-efficiency - a junior staffer who knows very little about the client's product or company often does the work. The staffer might make 100 calls to journalists to get mentioned in, say, three publications. And the agency presents that to the client as a success.

"At the Idea Grove, we worry about the 97 other calls. Did the caller, because of his or her inexperience or lack of knowledge, have rude or embarrassing interactions with reporters that will cause them to never write about the client's product or company? We don't take a 'bulk' approach at the Idea Grove - in media relations or anything we do.

"That's the Idea Grove's answer to PR overload. We do the homework to create highly focused messages for our clients; then, we communicate those messages to highly targeted groups of people. People, in most cases, who actually want to receive the message. We don't waste words and we don't waste time - our clients' time, the news media's time, or our own time. That's ultimately what sets the Idea Grove apart."

Baradell, 39, recently opened the Idea Grove's first office at The Points at Waterview in Richardson. Baradell served from 2001 to 2004 as vice president of corporate communications for Belo (NYSE: BLC), a diversified media company with revenues of more than $1.5 billion. Prior to Belo, he served as vice president of corporate communications for PageNet, a wireless communications company with 1999 revenues of $1 billion. Baradell also co-founded Brightpod, a venture-funded technology consulting company acquired by InPhonic (NASD: INPC) in 2001.

During his 17-year career, Baradell has gained broad-ranging industry experience encompassing media and entertainment, financial services, technology, travel, health care and telecommunications. A former newspaper journalist for the Dallas Times Herald and Dallas Observer, Baradell has an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Virginia. He maintains an APR designation from the Public Relations Society of America.

To learn more about the Idea Grove's philosophy, expertise and services, please visit the Web site at www.ideagrove.com or call the company at 972.235.3439.

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In observing Presidents' Day, we celebrate two men best known for their honesty in communicating with the public - Abraham Lincoln, dubbed "Honest Abe" after paying off his debts when a store he owned went bankrupt, and George Washington, who according to legend confessed that he "could not tell a lie" after chopping down the family cherry tree. In honor of George and Abe, the Idea Grove today unveiled its Top 10 Moments in Honesty for 2005 - which serve to prove that honesty, indeed, is still the best policy when dealing with the public.



And the winners are...

Nelson Mandela's Brave Stance on AIDS. In announcing that his son, Makgatho, died of AIDS, Mandela challenged convention in South Africa, where AIDS remains a shameful stigma. He said such honesty is "the only way of making an ordinary illness ordinary instead of following those who are not well-informed."

Armstrong Williams Exposed. Give credit to Greg Toppo of USA Today for exposing Williams as well as Ketchum, the PR firm that paid the commentator $240,000 to promote the Bush Administration's "No Child Left Behind" law on his TV and radio shows.

Teri Hatcher's "Has Been" Speech. The actress showed endearing humility during her Golden Globe acceptance when she said she "couldn't have been more of a has-been" before landing her comeback role in "Desperate Housewives."

Condoleeza Rice Admits "Bad Decisions." Rice's candor during confirmation hearings was refreshing for a presidential administration that has been reluctant to concede mistakes.

Jose Canseco's Steroid Squealing. After being deceived for so long, fans are ready to hear the truth about steroids in baseball - even from an imperfect messenger like Canseco.

Splenda "Made from Sugar" - with a Dash of Chlorine. Sugar farmers launched a guerilla campaign to counter Johnson & Johnson's $40 million in annual advertising hyping the artificial sweetener as "made from sugar." Guess that sounds better than "made in a laboratory."

Gavin DeGraw's Honest Anthem. In crooning that he doesn't "want to be anything other than what (he's) been trying to be lately," the New York singer-songwriter has created a soulful anthem for being true to oneself.

Journalists Show Their Truthful Colors. Despite negative stereotypes, a nationwide study cited by Editor and Publisher showed that journalists, on average, are more ethical than all other professional groups, with the exception of doctors, seminarians and medical students.

Reebok Says "I Am What I Am." Yes, it's only an advertising slogan -- but Reebok's $50 million marketing campaign, which launches Feb. 20, will encourage personal integrity through celebrity pitchmen such as Jay Z, Andy Roddick and Lucy Liu. (Popeye was inexplicably excluded.)

Harvard President's Candid Remarks on Gender (Before He Took Them Back.) Lawrence Summers should have stopped when he was behind.

About the Idea Grove

The Idea Grove is Dallas's newest public relations agency. Led by Scott Baradell, former senior corporate communications executive for Belo Corp., the Idea Grove knows how to set client companies apart from their competitors. As clients, journalists and others will soon discover, the Idea Grove is slightly different. You'll get no double talk from us, because we say what we mean the first time. Our Web site and launch news release are coming soon, but if you'd like to learn more about us now, call our offices at 972.235.3439 or e-mail us at info@ideagrove.com.

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