The News Chair

Coles Oscar Picks

With the Oscars coming up this Sunday night, we thought we’d share some of the Coles team’s picks!

Mother-son owners Barb and Brian Coles both loved Best Picture nominee Top Gun: Maverick and would love to see it take home the top prize of the night.

Social Media Manager Sam Mackell’s favorite nominated film is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and she thinks it should and will take home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Vice President Public Relations Tiffany Whisner, Director of Creative Content Caroline Barton and Financial Manager Teresa Christ all loved Elvis and think Austin Butler will get Best Actor for portraying “the king of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Senior Copywriter Sam Watermeier thinks the Indian epic RRR should have been nominated for Best International Feature Film, but he’ll be happy to see it win for Best Original Song.

What are YOUR Academy Award picks and predictions?

Coles Finds a New Home in Carmel

Pictured above are a few members of our team working together and laughing along the way in our beautiful, newly renovated office.

After more than three decades in Indianapolis, we are excited to move our offices to Carmel and contribute to such a vibrant, growing community. Our team of 17 public and media relations professionals, copywriters, designers, developers and e-communications experts looks forward to helping organizations stand out in the marketplace by delivering our clients’ key messages to the right audiences and securing the desired results.

Come visit us at 358 Gradle Drive!

Creativity Keeps Businesses Booming

Fortunately, working remotely is always an option for our team, but of course, it’s a necessity right now. Although our business office is closed, our home offices are open, and we are continuing to build our clients’ brands.

While COVID-19 is slowing down activities in some markets, it is providing opportunities in others. For example, we recently teamed up with Indiana Historical Society to build an online tool that allows Hoosiers to submit photos, videos and stories documenting how they are dealing with the “new normal” of life amid COVID-19.

We have been helping another one of our clients explain the financial aspects of this new normal on an almost daily basis, developing and distributing e-blast messages to their customers about tax filing and payment extensions, new loan programs, etc. To house the numerous financial updates, we created a COVID-19 Resource Center on their website.

We are also helping a senior living management company promote temporary jobs that have opened up in the wake of COVID-19, and we are documenting the many ways in which they are keeping residents and their loved ones connected despite visiting restrictions.

How are we doing all of this from the comfort of our homes? Here are a few tips and tricks that could help you and your business during this time as well:

Zoom Meetings: Zoom is the most popular video conferencing solution for companies with 500 employees or less. It’s gaining users rapidly amid COVID-19 concerns, adding roughly 2.22 million monthly active users since the start of the year. Allowing us to see each other and communicate face to face brings back a sense of normalcy and “business as usual.” It’s also keeping our company’s collaborative, creative spirit alive and thriving!

Task Lists: When everyone’s operating remotely, it can become easy to lose sight of what we’re all working on. That’s why we’re all sending each other bulleted task lists every morning. We also utilize Trello, which organizes everyone’s tasks in separate boards and lets you track each team member’s progress.

Sharing on Slack: Slack, our office newsfeed, has been our best friend lately. Not only does it allow us to stay in touch, but it’s been a great tool for boosting employee morale in the midst of COVID-19. Sharing pictures of our home offices — and the pets who break into them — is a particularly comforting activity.

Tapping into Creativity: When the mechanical shark kept malfunctioning during the production of Jaws, director Steven Spielberg took a less-is-more approach, making the monster’s presence known through menacing music and underwater point-of-view shots. This creative solution saved the film and made it even better than it would have been before. Think of COVID-19 as the malfunctioning mechanical shark you have to work around in order to keep your business booming.

By Brian Coles 
Chief Marketing Technologist / Owner