Here’s a sobering fact for you: Rare diseases affect nearly 30 million Americans, but because they’re so uncommon, the financial support and awareness needed to discover new treatments for them is often lacking.

All that changed nine years ago with the creation of the first Uplifting Athletes chapter on the campus of Penn State University. Uplifting Athletes works with college football players to raise money and awareness for rare disease research. Today, that mission includes chapters on 13 college campuses.

Pavone has happily donated its services to Uplifting Athletes, starting with a capital campaign brochure and video in 2011, and again this year in support of the organization’s inaugural Gridiron Gala fundraiser. Efforts supporting the gala include the development of online advertising, the design of an event logo and brochure, and paid media planning to help spread the word.

The event occurred on April 20 – on the eve of Penn State’s annual Blue-White game – the Gridiron Gala featured an evening of gourmet tailgating, live music, games, activities, and a chance to meet and mingle with several former college football stars. The gala was held in Harrisburg at The State Museum of Pennsylvania.

The event was a success, and planning is already underway for next year. If you’re a fan of football, good food and supporting worthy causes, we definitely recommend attending in the future. Until then, visit UpliftingAthletes.org to see how you can support the cause, too.

Shipley decided to ask Pavone for help in coming up with ideas for a brand spokesperson who would live on in future marketing campaigns. Early concepts included a mime, a St. Bernard, a genie, and Mother Nature herself, but the option chosen as the future face(s) of the Shipley brand were an animated duo named Lance and Rodney.

Lance (a straitlaced penguin who serves as the brand’s official spokesbird) and Rodney (a parrot who provides comic relief as Lance’s sidekick), are already hard at work for the company. The pair will appear on digital billboards, web banner ads, blast emails and direct mail pieces to promote Shipley’s home heating-options throughout the winter. They even made a TV appearance during the Super Bowl, starting in a 30-second ad that aired throughout Central Pennsylvania – a key Shipley market — during the game’s third quarter (video below).

Although Lance and Rodney’s first task is to promote home heating services in January-February 2012, the long-term plan is to feature the duo in Shipley marketing materials for the next several years.

In many ways, we consider our Central Pennsylvania community and the many hard-working nonprofit and charitable organizations within it to be one of our most important clients. That’s one reason why we donate so much of our time and talents each year to helping them accomplish their many admirable missions. The following are just a few examples of this outreach from the past year.

PA CAPITOL HUNGER GARDEN

Pavone became involved with the Hunger Garden through our ongoing work with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. In 2010, the Pennsylvania Legislative Hunger Caucus (a group of state legislators who work to raise awareness about the issue of hunger in Pennsylvania) asked us to design the label for a Hunger Garden-produced salsa as well as for its promotional website. More recently, the Pavone PR team was called upon to coordinate a media event to kick off the garden’s 2011 season and jump-start the public sale of more than 1,400 jars of its fundraising food item.

CAITLIN’S SMILES

Caitlin’s Smiles was founded in 2004 by Cheryl Hornung in memory of her seven-year-old daughter, Caitlin. Today, the organization delivers more than 100,000 arts and crafts kits to children in hospitals throughout the region. It’s natural to rally around such a cause, which is why Pavone serves on the organization’s board, designs and distributes its monthly e-newsletter, provides creative services (including logo design), and offers public relations support for special events throughout the year.

Junior Achievement of South Central Pennsylvania

Junior Achievement, according to the organization’s website, “empowers young people to own their future economic success.” In other words, the youth JA empowers will someday be the brainpower behind marketing agencies like ours. To help cultivate that talent, Pavone’s own COO, Amy Beamer, was the keynote speaker for the organization’s annual JA Titan Challenge and serves as chair of the Harrisburg Regional Council. Eight members of the Pavone team also led lessons in business and marketing as classroom volunteers for elementary school students throughout the Harrisburg School District.

UPLIFTING ATHLETES

Uplifting Athletes is a nonprofit organization uniting college football teams in pursuit of a common goal: raising awareness and funds in the fight against rare diseases. Each of the organization’s nine college chapters focuses on a different illness, often chosen based on a player’s or coach’s personal connection to the disease. To support this mission, Pavone helped create a video and brochure for Uplifting Athletes’ capital campaign, shot a video used to recruit additional chapters, offered design services for an upcoming gala event, and provides ongoing public relations support.

MS SOCIETY

Of all the community partners Pavone currently works with, by far our longest-running relationship is with the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. As a result, our collaboration – mainly design projects – is equally extensive, but a few recent examples include print and outdoor ads for the Walk MS event; print and movie theater ads for the Bike MS event; and the design of a logo, program, invitation, posters and online banner ads for the chapter’s annual fundraising polo match.

JUMP STREET

Jump Street is a private, nonprofit, community-based arts incubator dedicated to developing educational and economic opportunities for all age groups. Pavone lends an artistic hand by designing invitations and save-the-date cards for Jump Street’s annual Derby Day fundraiser, which has raised more than one million dollars for the organization.

HUMANE SOCIETY OF HARRISBURG AREA

The mission of the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area is simple: to build a better community for pets and people through compassion, protection, education and collaboration. Being pet lovers ourselves (just ask Hollywood), we were more than happy to help. Throughout the year, Pavone helped promote various Humane Society events through public relations support and the design of print ads.

LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA SOCIETY

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) offers a variety of programs and services in the Central Pennsylvania area to support their mission of curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, while improving the quality of life for patients and their families. Pavone pitched in by designing invitations to help increase awareness and drive traffic to LLS events throughout the year.

HARRISBURG REGIONAL CHAMBER

The Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC is a catalyst for policy change, job creation and business growth throughout the capital region. As a longtime member of that business community, Pavone uses its capabilities to create the chamber’s annual holiday card, design logos, and put together a capital campaign brochure for a fundraising effort that will kick off in 2012.

The first flash mob, in the form of 50 amateur and semiprofessional performers, assembled at the Houston Wine & Food Week on June 11. At a predetermined time, members of the mob shed their “casual festivalgoer” attire to reveal branded Alouette T-tshirts. Led by their cheese maestro, the singers then belted out a spirited rendition of the well-known French-Canadian folk song, “Alouette” (with suitably cheesy lyrics added), as more than 2,000 surprised attendees hummed along and snapped photos.

Follow-up mobs made appearances at San Francisco’s Castro Street Fair in October and at the Philadelphia Food & Wine Festival later the same month.

As with any flash mob, a written description does it no justice, which is why we captured the Houston experience for you to sample in the video below. Bon appétit!

In addition to garnering media coverage in nearly every area hosting V.I.P. experiences, the campaign created something even more valuable – memories that will last a lifetime for some very happy dairy fans. Four of those experiences are summarized below, with two more taking place this weekend at farms in Delaware and Virginia.

An elementary school librarian by day, Mary Bowser got up close and personal with a calf at Griebel Dairy Farm in Lucinda, PA. “My 97-year-old mother pastured her family’s cows in our neighborhood when she was young,” wrote Bowser in her winning contest entry. “I would love to be part of the world of agriculture – if only temporarily.”

Carol Yemola and her husband, Ed, got a lesson in cow cuisine from Dick Waybright of the world’s largest robotic dairy farm, Mason Dixon Farms in Gettysburg, PA. “I strive to provide my family with the freshest products to eat,” wrote Yemola in her essay. “What could be better than learning where some of those products are produced?”

Neal and Ronna Farley (with farmer Robert Fry) spent a memorable day at St. Brigid’s Farm on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Ronna waxed poetic in her bid to win a V.I.P. experience and her charming limerick stood out in a crowded field of entries: “There once was a girl from the city; she always looked quite pretty. A farm trip she won; her dream had begun. Looking back on it makes her quite giddy.”

As the guests of honor on Creamy Acres Farm in Mullica Hill, NJ, Mimi Kostos of Philadelphia and her fiancé, Luis, pitched in to help with the daily feeding. “Being a food-service director and head of the district’s wellness committee, I come in contact with many students,” wrote Kostos in her contest entry. “The experience will provide me with additional tools to educate students on the importance of dairy farming.”

Pavone’s social media team works hard to create digital campaigns that get results for our clients. Most of the time, that work is done behind the scenes in an advisory role, or as the voice of various Facebook, Twitter or blogging efforts. But every now and then, our experts emerge from the social media shadows to demonstrate their digital marketing expertise on a very public stage.

That was certainly the case when our integration strategist, Kendra Metz, and our digital media manager, Stephanie Hemmann, were asked to co-author an article for the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) monthly publication, Tactics. More than happy to oblige, Kendra and Steph produce a thoughtful piece titled “Making it work: 5 steps to social media success.” Check it out for yourself if you’d like to get acquainted with Pavone’s social media team before our next foray into the national spotlight.

That was a reaction two New Jersey banks – The Bank and Skylands Community Bank – wanted to avoid when they joined forces to create Fulton Bank of New Jersey. The two financial institutions had been a part of the Fulton Financial Family for many years, but their track record meant little to the thousands of customers who just wanted to be reassured that their financial security wouldn’t change along with the name of their bank.

To help ease the transition, we created a TV spot (below) explaining the name change and introducing the new name. A small village of Fulton Bank’s iconic animated characters pitched in to drive home the spot’s key message, “We changed our name, not our family.” The end result is a 30-second spot that carries out its prime mission – to make people feel better about the changes taking place at their local bank.

Brewed since 1950, Carib has enjoyed huge success in the Caribbean and in recent years has begun focusing more attention on the American beer market, particularly in Florida and in New York. To help speed the transition from homeland beer of choice to mainland import, Carib has partnered with food and beverage marketing agency Pavone. Pavone is focusing much of its initial efforts in Florida, a market providing an ideal launching pad and a natural fit for a beer that prides itself on embracing the outgoing, high-energy Caribbean lifestyle.

The main objective for Pavone: Make a bigger splash in Florida and then introduce the original island favorite to beer drinkers beyond the Sunshine State. As the current buzz surrounding Carib builds, those introductions should come easily. “The quintessential beach beer” is how it was recently described on FoxNews.com. The reviewer was also “confident it’ll beat Corona every day of the week and twice on Sundays.”

The Pavone marketing campaign also includes on-premise promotions and events, traditional advertising, and supply channel outreach with distributors.

The campaigns kick off this summer focused on the test market of South Florida. The Pavone team created a campaign for Carib based on what the Caribbean is all about – adventure and excitement. The region is credited as the birthplace of Carnival, a festive season incorporating costumes, dance, Calypso music, street parties and parades that has been adopted by cities around the world.

“Despite what other beer brands might want you to believe, the Caribbean is much more than just relaxation and quiet beaches,” said Pavone President Michael Pavone. “It has a very active and outgoing culture, and this campaign brings that culture to life and gives American beer drinkers a taste of an authentic Caribbean experience.”

When “The Great Flood of 2011” washed over central Pennsylvania on September 8 and 9, it deposited roughly nine feet of water in the basement of our Market Street headquarters, forcing us to relocate our infrastructure and 50-plus employees for two full weeks. We’re back now, but if you didn’t know we’d moved, that means “Operation Seamless Displacement” worked precisely as planned.

Either way, we’d like to extend our personal thanks to everyone for their patience and cooperation during this process.

We’d especially like to thank our gracious hosts, Higher Information Group and Environmental Interiors, for allowing 50 new faces to share their office space, parking lot and coffeemaker for two weeks. Higher Information Group also helped with our technology needs by sharing bandwidth and keeping our servers up and running. They didn’t have to do that, but they did, and it shows just how good it is to have friends in high places (literally and figuratively).

Of course, it’s not the first time we’ve been forced to flee to higher ground. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan in 2004, we spent two weeks working out of a Residence Inn conference room here in Harrisburg. The waters were about a foot higher this year than they were seven years ago (we’ve got the marks on the wall along the basement stairs to prove it), but the result was the same: We didn’t miss a beat then, and we didn’t miss a beat this time, either.

The Pennsylvania wine industry has many stories to tell, but the stories the state’s 140-plus winery owners would really like to hear are the ones from their millions of fans.

That’s the basis of a new campaign created by the Pavone called “Pennsylvania Wine Stories: There’s a Story Behind Every Cork.” The promotion for the Pennsylvania Winery Association (PWA) will also benefit the National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL).

The effort asks wine lovers to visit PennsylvaniaWine.com, the PWA Facebook page, or a participating winery to share their Pennsylvania wine stories and read some of the many tales submitted by other wine lovers. For every story submitted, the PWA will add another cork to its growing collection, which will be transformed into a sculpture at the end of the year – and donate one dollar to the NCFL, an organization that inspires and engages families in the pursuit of education and learning together.

“If you’ve got good wine, a good story isn’t far behind,” said PWA President Sam Landis, a second-generation owner and operator of Vynecrest Winery in Lehigh County.

Stories will be collected through October 2011. After October 31, one story from each of Pennsylvania’s seven wine regions will be chosen as a finalist and a public vote on the PWA website will determine the winning tale.

The campaign is funded, in part, by Pennsylvania’s Wine Marketing Research Board (WMRB). For more information about Pennsylvania wines, including a list and map of Pennsylvania wineries, visit PennsylvaniaWine.com. Details about the NCFL and its mission can be found at FamLit.org.

Farming buffs can enter the V.I.P. Dairy Farm Experience contest by describing, in 50 words or less, why they should be chosen as a dairy farm V.I.P. Entries can be submitted via the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association’s Facebook page. The deadline for submissions is August 31.

Winners will be whisked away, with a friend, to a local restaurant to be treated to dinner with the farm family, followed by an overnight stay in a local bed-and-breakfast or luxury hotel. The following morning, they’ll be transported to the host farm, where they’ll receive a behind-the-scenes tour and V.I.P. treatment – which may include massages and pedicures to mimic the cushy treatment enjoyed by the dairy cows – throughout the day.

The contest is part of a recent campaign designed to help the public learn more about the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association’s 7,200 dairy farm families. The 2011 campaign, under the tagline or “Your Milk Comes from a Good Place,” also includes sampling events and social media outreach throughout the region. The Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association is one of 19 state and regional promotion organizations working under the umbrella of the United States Dairy Industry Association.

So they asked Pavone for help. The result is a website that brings World Flavors into the 21st century and reflects their position as an industry leader. But we didn’t stop there. The World Flavors team was so impressed with their new web makeover, they asked us to create a matching corporate identity package consisting
of business cards, note cards and a corporate brochure.

The work, at right and below, speaks for itself, but getting there wasn’t without its challenges.

World Flavors is a family-owned and operated company, founded more than 40 years ago, with a corporate identity package shaped by the family members who founded the company and continue to lead it today. The website and existing corporate identity packaged, however admittedly flawed it was, had a sentimental value that far
exceeded its marketing value.

Convincing World Flavors leadership to let go of these relics and venture outside their creative comfort zone required their complete trust. The Pavone team earned that trust (the most important part of any agency-client relationship), and the result is a website and corporate ID package that finally reflects the company’s ranking in the world of flavors.

Yuengling is known for its flagship beer, which everyone orders by name: “Lager.” But America’s Oldest Brewery came to us with the challenge of rejuvenating the first beer D.G. Yuengling ever bottled when he opened his brewery in 1829 – Lord Chesterfield Ale. Sales were low and awareness even lower, but the brand did have a small loyal following, which the company took as a sign that there were more people would appreciate its unique flavor. So we brought Lord Chesterfield back to life – literally and figuratively.

We started by creating the Chesterfield Society (www.chesterfieldsociety.com), an online fan club designed to unite and rally “Chetty” fans. Soon after, the beer’s noble namesake, a real-life 18th century British lord known for dispensing frank advice to all who would listen, was resurrected for a series of appearances during Philly Beer Week. During his visit to Philadelphia, he toured the city’s busy bars and pubs and encouraged beer drinkers everywhere to drink his lordly ale. (That’s him above with Yuengling’s own Wendy Yuengling.) Through events, social media (Facebook and Twitter), a blog, public relations, and his oversight of the Chesterfield Society, the beer’s fan club, we transformed Lord Chesterfield from an outdated historical figure into a blogging, tweeting, modern-day celebrity.

By the time the last pint was poured, Lord Chesterfield and his ale had become good copy for reporters in the Philadelphia region as well as subject matter for beer bloggers. The campaign also delivered more than 7.5 million online and print media impressions. People lined up to meet Chetty at events and, best of all, they lined up to buy his ale. Between July and September 2010, sales of Lord Chesterfield Ale were up nearly 22 percent in the Mid-Atlantic region over the previous year.

A profile of the campaign on the front page of Harrisburg’s Patriot-News and continued growth of Lord Chesterfield’s online fan base even resulted in an invitation for Lord Chesterfield to appear at Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett’s inaugural ball. Not bad for a guy who’s been pretty much nonexistent on the social scene for the past 227 years.

Al has been Pavone’s controller for five years and, to us, he’s a lot more than just a Chief Financial Officer. (The ad below that ran in the Central Penn Business Journal explains that.) Al is the man who helps us all sleep better at night because we know our bottom line is being watched carefully. And with Al, who can be found in his office at all hours on some days, there’s a good chance he’s actually awake at 3 a.m. and watching that line.

Almost every brand wants to be an “experience” for consumers, but few can bring that experience to life in a literal way. That’s what Turkey Hill Dairy did when it transformed an abandoned 19th century silk mill into a 26,000-square-foot family attraction just a few miles from its Lancaster County headquarters.

The new visitor destination, called the Turkey Hill Experience, celebrated its grand opening this past weekend, and Pavone was on hand to help our longtime client make the most of the occasion.

Anyone who visits the Experience will no doubt be impressed with the multisensory adventures within, plus the homage it pays to Lancaster County and Turkey Hill’s ice cream and iced tea-making processes. Judging by how seamless the tour is, visitors might even be inclined to think it all came together easily. Far from it. Converting a shell of a building that had been vacant for 25 years into an interactive tourist destination required years of forethought, planning and, with a little help from Pavone, a boatload of marketing.

But like an ice cream sundae loaded with toppings, it all came together in the end and made a lot of people happy.

At just over 1,000 square feet – roughly the size of half a tennis court – the Capitol Hunger Garden definitely isn’t the biggest garden in Pennsylvania, but its objective is nothing short of monumental. That’s because its purpose is to raise awareness of the growing issue of hunger in Pennsylvania. It’s also being used to raise money for the 21 food banks across the Commonwealth.

In 2010, the plot of land located just off the governor’s entrance to the state Capitol in Harrisburg yielded enough tomatoes, peppers and onions (thanks to the hard work of more than 100 green-thumbed volunteers) to create more than 1,400 jars of Capitol Hunger Garden Salsa. The salsa is being offered at pahungergarden.org for a minimum donation of $25 per jar.

Pavone became involved with the Hunger Garden through our ongoing work with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank. Several months ago, the Pennsylvania Legislative Hunger Caucus (a group of state legislators who work to raise awareness about the issue of hunger in Pennsylvania) asked us to design the label for the salsa as well as the website being used to promote it. More recently, the Pavone PR team was called upon to coordinate a media event to kick off the garden’s 2011 season and jump-start the public sale of the salsa.

“The issue of hunger in Pennsylvania is about families not having access to food, but it’s also about not having access to healthy food,” said state Sen. Mike Brubaker(R-Chester/Lancaster), Chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Hunger Caucus. “Many low-cost food options are unhealthy, and one of the secondary goals of the Capitol Hunger Garden is to raise awareness of the importance of fresh, healthy meal options.”

Pavone recently released its annual collection of the top trends facing today’s food and beverage marketers. The report includes a focus on how consumers are taking “gourmet shortcuts” to prepare meals, how they make purchasing decisions, and which group of consumers marketers should pay more attention to in the coming years (Hint: It’s not moms).

“The world is changing fast, but the food and beverage industry is changing even faster,” said Pavone President Michael Pavone.

Change, it seems, is a hot topic because the trend report has received a lot of attention in the few months since it’s been released. To date, our food trends team has presented the findings to dozens of food and beverage companies with more bookings expected throughout the summer. Food and beverage media, like Gourmet News, have also taken notice with recent coverage of the report.

The third annual trend report is based on in-depth research, analysis and contributions from leaders in the manufacturing, innovation, academic and agricultural areas of the food and beverage industries. Members of the Pavone food trends team are available to give in-depth presentations of the trends, either in person or via webinar. To schedule a presentation or for more information about the trends report contact Mary Lorson at 717-234-8886 or mlorson@pavone.net.

That simple office supply question served as the opening of one of two radio spots created by Pavone for Harrisburg International Airport (HIA) in a recent campaign designed to convince travelers (vacation/leisure travelers as well as business travelers) that the convenience of flying locally is sometimes worth a slightly higher fare.

The campaign, united under the theme of “All Things Considered,” reinforces HIA’s value proposition through the use of its airport code – MDT – which was reinterpreted to focus on the savings of money, distance and time the airport provides to local travelers. While past HIA marketing efforts have focused on the promotion of specific flights, this is the first campaign by the Pavone and HIA teams to promote the airport and support the overall brand identity.

In addition to radio spots airing throughout central Pennsylvania, the campaign also includes web banners and digital outdoor advertising. The campaign kicked off on April4 and is scheduled to run through May.

The end result was “Matters of the Heart,” an evening of education with presentations by cardiologists Jeffery Gilbert, DO, below left, and Al Zoda, MD, FACC, below right. In addition, the first interventional cardiology patient treated at the Medical Center shared her story and talked about the risks associated with the disease.

To make the night more exciting, we teamed up with The Heart Truth®, a campaign created by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. They provided celebrity dresses worn by Venus Williams, Jordin Sparks, Jennie Garth and Gayle King from its Red Dress Collection, which was launched in 2002 as a national symbol for women and heart disease awareness.

The event was such a success that all 250 available spaces for “Matters of the Heart” were reserved a week prior to the event, forcing Mount Nittany Medical Center to hold a second presentation so more community members could attend. The Medical Center plans to hold a similar event in the spring.

The opportunity to learn more about women’s heart health was all the motivation people needed to be there, but we think the celebrity dresses definitely gave the attendees a little extra incentive to learn how to protect their hearts.

® The Heart Truth, its logo and The Red Dress are registered trademarks of HHS.

What most people don’t realize is that while Hoss’s does a good job of feeding hungry families inside its restaurants, it does an equally good job of feeding hungry families in the communities it serves. That commitment to serving the community is the basis of a new campaign created by the Pavone and Hoss’s teams designed to fight hunger by partnering with local food banks and collecting donations at each Hoss’s location

Between March 6 and April 3, diners who bring a canned or nonperishable food item to any Hoss’s restaurant will take home a pint of one of Hoss’s homemade soups featured that day, and the canned item will be donated to a local food bank. The effort will be promoted with a statewide public relations blitz and supported by radio, print and online advertising.

All in all, it’s a simple plan with a simple premise: “When you eat at Hoss’s, a hungry family eats, too.” Hard to argue with that. As for which soup you should take home as a reward for your generosity, that’s up to you, but there’s a good reason the Hoss’s chicken noodle is the only variety served daily.