Gotta Get Chipped

Get on the cat-wagon and take advantage of 150,000 free microchips for cats in metro Denver.



My colleague, Amy, will be the first to admit that her two dogs are microchipped, and her old cat (that she had for 16 years before he passed away) was not. She thought since her cat often never left the couch that he wouldn’t need to be found. But in reality, fewer than 10 percent of cats that are brought to shelters are ever reunited with their owners. The rate of reuniting dogs with their owners is two to five times higher than with cats.


So cat owners in metro Denver now don’t have any excuses. Time to get your cat chipped! Yesterday, the Denver Area Veterinary Medical Society (DAVMS), Dumb Friends League and participating members of the Metro Denver Shelter Alliance launched the CHIP YOUR CAT™ year-long program to provide 150,000 free microchips and lifetime registration for cats residing in the six county Denver metro area (Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas and Jefferson counties). The launch event was held at the Dumb Friend’s League Quebec Shelter and more than 28 cats showed up for free chips. The microchip procedure is simple, routine and virtually painless, and it doesn't require any anesthesia. The microchip is the size of a grain of rice and is injected just under the loose skin between the shoulder blades. The kitties at the event were braver than I was. The first time I saw a cat chipped I was waiting for the claws to come out. It was rather uneventful. The procedure is similar to a routine vaccination.

Want more information?

1. Go to www.ChipYourCat.com to find the nearest participating veterinary or shelter clinic near you
2. Print out a microchip coupon(s)
3. Make an appointment and take your cat in for a complimentary wellness exam and microchip
4. Maintain your cat’s microchip registration online by checking and updating your contact information on the appropriate Web site (You will get information upon registration)
5. Update your contact information on a regular basis

PICTURE CAPTION: Officer Kent Ferris of the Jefferson County Sherrif’s Office with Mr. Hudson the cat at CHIP YOUR CAT launch event at the Dumb Friends League. Mr. Hudson had been adopted by the Ferris Family eight years ago and lives with two German Sheppard’s.

The Seven-Year Itch.

The seven-year itch. Is it the same with a business as it is in a marriage? I honestly can’t speak to the scratching that allegedly occurs when one crosses the seven-year mark with a spouse, but I can tell you that having crossed that mark with GroundFloor Media, I am not sure how one would have had time to even stop and scratch.

For those of us in the PR world, it’s amazing to look back and see how our industry has evolved so quickly. Back in 2001…
• People heard “Facebook” and thought, “what a great new name for the yellow pages”
• VNRs were all the rage
• Local newspaper reporters had specific beats
• $25 gift limits for reporters were laughable
• PR agencies barely looked at a start up unless they were willing to fork over at least $20k per month
• Farm reporters and kindergarten teachers were being hired to run major accounts at technology-focused PR firms – because there were no other warm bodies to hire
• Press conferences were still in vogue.
• Tracking a crisis happened on the evening news; not on Twitter
• An opt-in SMS campaign sounded like a public health program for teens
• IM was cool and the word “blog” sounded like a bad bug bite
• The SEC didn’t dream of recognizing Corporate Blogs as public disclosure
• Newspapers wouldn’t have discussed integrating their online and print news operations
• Many of us still had dial-up Internet access
• Faxing press releases was still commonplace
• Telecommuting was frowned upon

Now, traditional advertising dollars are being siphoned over to implement strategic, creative, viral PR programs; clients are (rightfully) demanding a strong ROI on their PR spend; and as practitioners, we are constantly challenging ourselves to stay ahead of a curve that keeps bending by the minute.

My guess -- anyone who has time to even think about stopping to scratch that itch won’t need to worry about what’s next.

Chicken Little

It’s true. The more things change, the more they stay the same. It was just about this time, seven years ago, when our little world was inundated with visions of Chicken Little and his falling sky. Literally. The technology boom – turned bust – had swept through the nation as friends and colleagues in the tech world were scrambling to determine how to navigate the maze of the unemployment process while trying to find a new job that would pay half of what they had grown accustomed to; housing prices were softening (although no one told the folks in Boulder), and you couldn’t pick up the paper or flip on CNN without reading about the latest dot bomb crisis du jour. Then came September 11. I am fairly confident everyone remembers exactly where they were when the second plane crashed and New York erupted into mass chaos.



I can’t forget it. I had just decided to launch this consulting business called GroundFloor Media, hadn’t even taken the time to buy a real desk and was getting ready to launch a nationwide program for breast cancer survivors. Then it all stopped.



While today’s headlines “U.S. Bends the Rule of Free Markets” and “Leaders Meet to Plan a Rescue” fill the pages of USA Today, I realize it’s not too different than the stories that filled our morning papers back in the spring of 2001. Sure, the content is different. We didn’t talk about irresponsibility and greed and the government bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; we focused on irresponsibility and greed with young entrepreneurs and the venture capital community.



As a country and as a community, we bounced back. When you start a business in the middle of one of the greatest tragedies to hit American soil, with unemployment rates peaking and not a good news story in sight, you begin to see that the more things change, the more they truly stay the same. Sit tight. Stay awake. This too shall pass.

Top 100 PR, Marketing, Advertising and Social Media Blogs

Get ready to start bookmarking... Our friends at Spotlight Ideas just posted a list of the top 100 blogs related to PR, marketing, social media and advertising. While the GFM Glog did not make the cut (don't worry, I'm not bitter), there are a number of great blogs listed that I highly recommend you add to your own blogroll or at least, to your IE favorites. All the biggies are included (i.e., Seth Godin, AdRants), but there are a couple of less notorious ones that I would also recommend, including Customers Rock!, Make the Logo Bigger and the Diva Marketing Blog.

You can check out the entire list here.

Enjoy!