Boston Archives - CerconeBrownCompany

Exploring Our Own Backyard for the CBC Boston Experience

We’ll just come right out and say it: we LOVE Beantown! As one of the most historic cities in the country, Boston has a lot to offer from unique activities, great food, and lastly, is home to some amazing brands.

Throughout the year, we routinely invite editors and influencers spanning a variety of lifestyle, food, and travel publications to join us for brand excursions to aspirational places like Santa Barbara and Sonoma County. While these locations are breathtaking in their own ways, we decided it was time to take advantage of our own backyard and prove that Boston in fact is a great travel destination.

This is why we invited 10 editors to come experience all of Beantown’s unique qualities in our first Boston Experience, a new program added to our House Program series.

Take me out to the ball game

It wouldn’t be a trip to Boston without a chance to watch the Sox play at Fenway Park. As soon as the editors landed in Logan Airport, we made our way over to Fenway – in Safr vehicles, a new Boston-born ridesharing app – to watch the Boston team play the Blue Jays (spoiler: they crushed the Jays). Even though some of our New Yorkers were hesitate about sporting those Boston B’s on their caps, everyone enjoyed a Fenway Frank, or two, and were psyched to be able to experience a ball park that has so much history – Green Monster and all.

Best view in Boston

For their weekend in Boston, the media had the pleasure of staying at one of Boston’s newest boutique hotels, The Envoy Hotel. Situated along the water in one of the city’s fast growing neighborhoods, the Innovation District, the views from this hot spot are unmatched.

After a Red Sox game, we rounded off the evening with a boozy social on the Envoy Hotel’s stunning rooftop, drinking in the city skyline as well as a few signature cocktails.

Unforgettable brand experiences

The next morning, we were up at the crack of dawn to watch the fishing boats at Boston Fish Pier unload their daily catch. Legal Sea Foods gave us the behind the scenes scoop on how they choose their premium fish and what goes into making sure all their restaurants are getting the best and freshest fish.

Later that evening, our group dined with Legal Sea Foods at their Harborside location in the Seaport. It all began with Executive Chef Rich Vellante’s oyster shucking demo – that you can find live on Food Network’s Facebook page.

And the night concluded with a true sea-to-table dining experience where the media tasted Legal Sea Food’s freshest seafood dishes. Also at the table, was Legal Seafood’s CEO Roger Berkowitz who dined with the media and chatted about his journey with the brand.

Demarco Williams, Forbes Travel Guide editor, wrote about his experience with Roger Berkowitz. Check it out here.

After a classic duck tour excursion, the best way to get up to speed on your Boston history, the day peaked with a surprise trip to Ocean Spray’s cranberry bog just outside of the city. Knee-deep in cranberries, the media learned about cranberry harvest and finished off the experience with a bog-side luncheon. Needless to say, the group was berry pleased with the amazing Instagram pics they got from this adventure.

Feasting, beasting and sight-seeing

The next morning we kicked off the day the right way with a scenic run along the freedom trail in Hoka One One kicks!

And followed it with a lunch rendezvous to ArtBar in Cambridge where the staff pulled out all the stops – oysters, shrimp, mini tacos, a s’mores bar, and a sorbet bar!

And from ArtBar’s patio, a boat picked us up for a little rosè and a cruise around the harbor with 90+ Cellars and Discover Boating.

BostonNamast’ay in Boston

We sent off our media with a restful rooftop yoga class, hosted by Boston- born brand Crane & Lion.

Who knew there was so much to do in our very own backyard? Check out the social chatter from this experience on Instagram at #CBCBostonExperience.

August 29, 2017

Boston-Based Converse Refines Its Legend

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When it comes to brand positioning, you could argue that the Converse All Star invented the new-school formula: iconic design, story-filled history, and an ultra-loyal following. With the 100^th birthday of the Chuck Taylor All Star looming, Converse boldly announced an addition to its iconic family: the Chuck II.

Announcements like this often cause PR agencies to hold their breath. Messing with success is one thing, but changing a successful icon is another beast – it challenges the traditional mold of what brand strategy looks like in terms of strategic consistency.

Converse, though, is doing just that and winning at it, with no small thanks to some very integrated PR and advertising. Up until now, Converse has been rather tight-lipped about its updated original, teasing the online world with a simple Roman numeral “II” as part of its upcoming “Ready for More” campaign.

Now that the secret’s out, Converse has been quick to control the narrative. Recognizing the original Chuck’s success, the Chuck II is not a replacement, the brand is making clear, but rather introduces improvements borrowed from its parent company Nike. Determined to create something great, Converse took nearly four years to collaborate with consumers in order to make their favorite shoe even better.

Converse brand GM Geoff Cottrill said to Adweek, “I’d go so far as to say that the creative world is responsible for who we are today as a brand.” The statement underscores Converse’s understanding of its consumer base, a factor that clearly has informed its PR strategy. Converse’s delicate dance is well-planned, exciting customers ready for a fresh look, while paying homage to the style icon that started it all. By being proactive and strategic with messaging, Converse has introduced a tempting step up, rather than inciting backlash from purists.

[Source]

July 29, 2015

Ted vs. Roger Goodell: What We Can Learn from a Wicked Boston Accent

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With Tom Brady’s appeal happening as we speak, and the All World Quarterback’s Golden Globe-worthy performance in Ted 2 just days from release, I couldn’t help but think about what it would be like if Ted, and not Tom’s attorney Jeffrey Kessler, were representing him today.

Let’s just say that although Tom’s legal interests may be somewhat compromised, I feel confident that this little ball of Southie belligerence would finally tell Goodell to his face what we’ve all been thinking. (Warning: don’t click on this link if you are offended by extremely rude, off-color insults barked with a Wicked Boston accent.)

Okay…let’s get this away from L Street and back on Boylston. This little fantasy of mine got me thinking about how far we’ve come in content marketing (yes, I’m making a rough transition, but stick with me).

Remember when YouTube hit? You would have thought the entire paid media business was lost overnight to a cheap digital camera and some editing software. The ability to create engaging, nimble, smart content has been democratized, whereas what hasn’t changed is the power behind truly well done, strategic brand communications.

For example, consider Under Armour’s short film “Tom Brady’s Wicked Accent.” If you aren’t one of the 1.5 million folks who watched this hilarious piece, here’s the gist: it’s a three-minute Under Armour ad that people love to watch over and over again.

https://youtu.be/q2CA0_UE4yU

Basically, Tom Brady goes into a Dick’s Sporting Goods somewhere near his hometown of San Mateo, CA (naturally, he heads to the Under Armour section). The Funny or Die gag unfolds as the sales clerk and shoppers have fun with Tom’s accent. Of course, the joke is that he has no accent whatsoever, and his squeaky clean, nice-guy image unravels to the point where Tom drops an angry F-Bomb on the entire shenanigan.

As mentioned, the piece was viewed 1.5 million times on YouTube alone, and shared and talked about many, many more. The inbound marketing experts will point to this sort of success as proof that traditional brand advertising is dead… after all, there was no media buy.

However, on closer examination, just how non-traditional was this? Let’s see: Big-name star? Check. Hundreds of thousands in production cost? Check. Big reach? Check. PR-campaign behind it? Check.

You see, even though this is a great example of a successful “viral” video, it’s far from catching lightening in a bottle. Under Armour’s success wasn’t abandoning the tenets of good, solid brand work, it was simply making the most of the deployment channels at its disposal.

The lesson? Consumer-facing brands like Under Armour must continue to tap into the emotion and insight of their brands, while layering on more sophisticated ways to harness this reach. It’s something we call Brand/Action marketing at CBC, the combination creating powerful brand communications with the pragmatic, ROI driven practices of inbound marketing programs.

It’s not a choice between old and new—it’s just smart marketing in 2015 and beyond.

Now if the studio can just find a way to sell deflated footballs signed by Tom and Ted at this week’s opening, I think we may have all the elements for an amazing success…

— Len Cercone

June 23, 2015

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