Posts Tagged ‘communications Indianapolis’

County Commissioners will proclaim Tuesday “Bright House Networks-Net Literacy Day” in Hendricks County, recognizing the dedication of Bright House Networks and partner Net Literacy of Indiana to the local community through their current initiative that will provide computers at no cost to a host of area non-profits that need them. The recognition will occur during the county commissioners’ regularly scheduled weekly meeting that begins at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Hendricks County Government Center, located at 355 S. Washington St. in Danville.

On Feb. 26, Bright House and Net Literacy donated the final round of computers to Sheltering Wings, an emergency housing facility in Danville, Ind., for women and children suffering from domestic abuse (photo at left). Over the course of the last few weeks, nearly 50 computers were donated to seven Hendricks County non-profits that combined provide programs, services and computer access to more than 8,000 county residents. These Hendricks County non-profits in addition to Sheltering Wings have received personal computer donations from Bright House and Net Literacy to either implement or enhance a computer lab within their respective organizations: Hendricks County Senior Services, Sycamore Services, Mental Health Association, Susie’s Place, Head Start and Daycare Nursery Center.

Net Literacy of Indiana is an Indiana-based non-profit incorporated in 2003 by middle school students that has repurposed thousands of computers and established community computer labs in dozens of Indiana communities to provide computer access to more than 100,000 Hoosiers throughout the state.

Bright House Networks and Comcast have teamed up with the Indiana High School Athletic Association to offer customers the chance to relive some of history’s most exciting Indiana boys basketball state championship games On Demand. Starting today, classic boys basketball state championship games from the IHSAA’s extensive video vault will be available on Bright House Networks’ Local On Demand channel No. 600 and in the “Get Local” category of Comcast’s On Demand library at no additional cost to digital cable customers.

Leading up to this year’s 100th boys tournament March 27 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which can be seen exclusively on the HomeTown Sports Indiana (channel No. 81 on both Bright House Networks and Comcast), the following classic IHSAA boys championship games are available starting today on On Demand:

1954: Milan vs. Muncie Central
In this game, the inspiration for “Hoosiers,” Bobby Plump hits the game winner with just 3 seconds to go for the biggest upset in state tournament history.

1955: Indianapolis Attucks vs. Gary Roosevelt
Oscar Robertson, future NBA player and arguably Indiana’s all-time greatest basketball star, leads Crispus Attucks to the first of its three state titles in five years.

1989: Lawrence North vs. Kokomo
In the last championship game played at Market Square Arena, Todd Leary scores 26 points and Eric Montross has 19 points and 18 rebounds for Lawrence North.

1995: Ben Davis vs. Merrillville
A matchup between the state’s two top-ranked teams ends with No. 1 Ben Davis winning its first-ever state title.

2007 4A: East Chicago Central vs. North Central
In the highest-scoring 4A championship game in IHSAA history, the Cardinals – coached by Pete Trgovich, who played for the undefeated 1971 East Chicago Washington team – outlast the Panthers to win the school’s first state title.

In the coming weeks, the following games will also be featured On Demand:
1956: Indianapolis Attucks vs. Lafayette Jefferson; 1965: Indianapolis Washington vs. Fort Wayne North Side; 1969: Indianapolis Washington vs. Gary Tolleston; 1971: East Chicago Washington vs. Elkhart; 1972: Connersville vs. Gary West; 1977: Carmel vs. East Chicago Washington; 1978: Muncie Central vs. Terre Haute South; 1980: Indianapolis Broad Ripple vs. New Albany; 1982: Plymouth vs. Gary Roosevelt; 1986: Marion vs. Anderson; 1990: Bedford North Lawrence vs. Concord; 1991: Gary Roosevelt vs. Brebeuf; 2000 4A: Marion vs. Bloomington North; 2005 3A: Washington vs. Plymouth; 2006 4A: Lawrence North vs. Muncie Central; 2007 2A: Northwestern vs. Winchester; 2008 4A: Brownsburg vs. Marion; and 2009 3A: Princeton vs. Rochester.

Blue Horseshoe, a Carmel, Ind.-based company that provides expert consulting in system implementation and integration to Fortune 500 and mid-market businesses throughout the world, announces its acquisition of Columbus, Ohio-based TransTech Consulting Inc., a global management consulting firm.

With the acquisition now finalized, TransTech becomes a division of Blue Horseshoe. TransTech’s headquarters will remain in Columbus and its leadership and management staff will remain intact.

A partner in working with Blue Horseshoe to apply world-class business applications to companies throughout the U.S. and overseas for several years, TransTech was founded in 1983 and has specialized in distribution and logistics design and implementation to economically solve clients’ business challenges. TransTech has improved profits for clients representing more than 50 different industries throughout the world, from heavy manufacturing to various types of distribution companies. Comprised of senior members with extensive experience in engineering, systems and business, TransTech has completed projects in the past two years in Mexico, the United Kingdom, China, India, Singapore and Romania.

“The acquisition of TransTech Consulting Inc. continues to position Blue Horseshoe as the only North American company that can provide integrated software solutions to sustain and enhance entire business operations under one roof,” said Kevin Paul, vice president of Blue Horseshoe. “TransTech has a long, proven and highly successful track record of providing unparalleled services in the publishing, automotive parts supply, medical and pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries for more than 25 years and we are very excited to add TransTech’s expertise, capabilities and global reach to existing Blue Horseshoe service offerings.”

Founded in 2001, Blue Horseshoe is a privately held solution services firm that provides expert consulting and packaged software solutions to Fortune 500 and mid-market businesses throughout the world. Based in the North America, Blue Horseshoe assesses business needs and applies world-class business applications to improve profitability and increase efficiency. For more about Blue Horseshoe, visit Blue Horseshoe online.

Like many companies, our fax machine has been pretty quiet lately.  No, it’s not dead.  It’s just not being used.  Email is our number one means of communication, along with cell phones, land-lines (yeah, still) and social media. 

And speaking of social media, this article’s headline by Sam Brace, special for Inside Tucson Business, states 2010: The Year Social Media Comes of Age for Businesses.  There are some interesting facts in the article.  Below is an excerpt.

– KRC Research, based in Washington, D.C., found that 88 percent of 200 executives of nonprofits it surveyed experimented with social media in 2009, and 85 percent plan to actively use it in their organizations this year. MarketingSherpa, a research firm specializing in tracking marketing efforts, reports that most industries are increasing their budgets for social media marketing in 2010.

Behind these increases is a booming population of new users of social media. Statistics show that 66 percent of global Internet users have visited social networks and that more have used these sites than traditional e-mail. Facebook grew to more than 300 million users in 2009. Twitter grew by 1,382 percent in February 2009. These sites are where people are gathering and there’s little to indicate they will leave for greener pastures in 2010. –

So here’s my question…will email be the next to die.  If you read this article by Dave Rosenberg at the CNET Blog Network, you might think we heading down that path.

Perhaps it’s too early to kill the fax machine (or email… how do you kill email?) with a baseball bat, as seen in the movie Office Space.  But I don’t think that day is too far away.

Well, it’s snowing — like, really snowing — here in Indianapolis today. A few minutes ago, just outside my office window, I saw the biggest snow plow I’ve ever seen in my life. That’s odd, considering I’m from Chicago, where snow days are about as rare as a Cubs playoff appearance.

The giant plow got me thinking, though, about what it is that we do here and how it’s not all that dissimilar to plowing snow. Marketing encompasses a lot of things, public relations among them. Within public relations is crisis communications, which, in the heat of the moment, can feel like shoveling 12 inches of snow and trying to clear the way before the next wave hits (expected tonight, from what I hear). So, in the spirit of plowing through the muck while creating as few headaches, potholes and angry drivers as possible, here is a fascinating case study, courtesy of The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), of how one company, Domino’s Pizza, handled the first moments of a pretty big crisis this past summer.

Safe travels during that after-work commute today. Come to think of it, tonight might be a good night to order a pizza and let someone else do the driving …

Brian Coles has been named vice president of marketing at Coles Marketing Communications in Indianapolis, overseeing strategy and tactics of both traditional and non-traditional client campaigns.

A 1999 graduate of Indiana University, he joined the agency in 2003. His past experience includes assisting a new business in Colorado launch its operations and leading its management function, product manager of Technuity and inventory manager for Batteries.com. Coles has experience providing market research for Endress+Hauser Consult AG, a Swiss company specializing in measurement products. He has also served in corporate communications for Indiana Mills and Manufacturing. In his free time, Coles volunteers with the Alzheimer’s Association and St. Mary’s Child Center. He is also a past board member of AdClub Indianapolis and a past committee member of the Alzheimer’s Memory Walk.

Since 1985, Coles Marketing Communications has provided marketing, communications, creative, Word of Mouth and social networking council to local, regional and national clients in the government, healthcare, education, financial, logistics, real estate, hospitality and technology industries. Coles Marketing Communications is a member of Pinnacle Worldwide, Public Relations Society of America, Better Business Bureau and the Counselor’s Academy.