Category: Archives

5 Ideas to Boost Virtual Event Engagement

Since live events have been sidelined for most of 2020, virtual events are having their moment. To keep attendees engaged at virtual events takes lots of preparation and a good plan for virtual event engagement! Here are 5 ways you can boost engagement at your next virtual event: 1. Engagement = Points Towards a Large Sweepstakes Prize Run a Sweepstakes for a chance to win one large prize, like a

October 8, 2020

Ideas to Build Brand Equity in Times of Crisis

Before we dig into the nuts and bolts, let’s define what it means to build brand equity. By definition brand equity is the commercial value that derives from consumer perception of the brand name of a particular product or service, rather than from the product or service itself. Companies use advertising and other methods to build brand equity and make their products more memorable, recognizable, and desirable, over other similar

May 1, 2020

11 Small Business Social Promotion Ideas for the Shutdown

Small businesses, especially those considered non-essential right now, have to come up with creative ideas to retain loyal customers and ensure that they will have a business to reopen. For most small business this is definitely not “business as usual,” but rather, “business unusual” that keeps you in the black. For each of these small business social promotion ideas, please remember that each social platform has promotion guidelines that still

April 15, 2020

8 Creative Employee Incentive Ideas to Inspire Your Work From Home Staff

COVID-19 has turned many companies upside down in how they approach their work and the engagement of their employees. Here are 8 employee incentive ideas to inspire your work from home staff to work harder than ever, even when the new normal is not so normal. 1. Encourage Self Care How are you encouraging self-care for employees that are working from home? Run a promotion on Facebook asking your

April 10, 2020

Our Memories of Barbara at Marden-Kane

Barbara Chien our beloved Controller is retiring from Marden-Kane on December 31st, 2019.
To honor her 34 years of service, guidance and friendship, we have created this retirement tribute as a testament of how much she has impacted our lives.
This scrapbook of memorable moments in time is filled with all our good wishes along with an abundance of photos capturing the many happy faces that have been part of her life while at MK.

December 19, 2019

How to Run a Legal TikTok Contest or Sweepstakes

TikTok recently posted advertising guidelines for the US and EU, which don’t give a lot of guidance about contest guidelines, but that doesn’t mean that there are no rules to follow. To keep your TikTok Contest or Sweepstakes legal you should adhere to these seven basic recommendations for running a promotion on a social platform: Use a unique hashtag to track entries. The best way to track entries for

August 2, 2019

Facebook Custom Application Changes for Brands

Recently, Facebook made an API change to brand pages that prevents a new custom application (also called a custom tab) from being added to a brand page if that brand page has less than 2,000 followers. This means that if you are starting a new Facebook page for your brand or business, or if you a small brand, and you want to add a custom application (i.e. a sweepstakes form

May 22, 2019

Marijuana Marketing Making Us Dizzy and Confused

This post on marijuana marketing was contributed By Fae Savignano, EVP, Marden-Kane Digital. In the United States the use and possession of marijuana/cannabis is illegal under federal law for any purpose. However, the legalization of marijuana by U.S. jurisdiction (State law) is on a roll! As of this date, the medical use of marijuana (with a doctor’s recommendation) is legal in 33 states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware,

April 10, 2019

A Tribute to Rosemary

Rosemary Stein, our much loved and respected Vice President will be retiring from Marden-Kane, Inc. on August 31st, 2018. From our offices in Chicago, she has for the past 17 years bestowed us with her grace, peaceful demeanor, knowledge, proficiency and expertise in the promotional realm. In tribute to all of the wonderful things she has done, the successful promotions that she has worked on, all of the people that

August 20, 2018

Teen Trends for Back to School Promotion Planning 2018

Can you hear it? It’s the school bell ringing. Time for your back to school promotion planning! So what trends should you know about as you plan for this back to school season? Here is where it’s at for kids, tweens and teens this year: Snapchat. Snapchat is still a top social app of choice for today’s teens, even though popularity seems to be waning a bit. Why do they keep using it?

July 26, 2018