Rosica Public Relations turns the Pedegg into the golden egg. Chris Rosica, CEO of Rosica Strategic Public Relations discusses the campaign success of the Pedegg.

Link to YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/RosicaPR?feature=moby

By Joao-Pierre Ruth
1/21/2008
NJBIZ

BOOK REVIEW

In two new books on marketing, New Jersey entrepreneurs Larry Bailin and Christopher Rosica provide a collection of tips for attracting and retaining customers. Bailin focuses on the Internet in “Mommy, Where do Customers Come From?” (Larstan Publishing; 151 pages; $24.95.) while Rosica offers brand-building advice in “The Authentic Brand” (Noble Press; 212 pages; $19.95).

Rosica, CEO of Rosica Public Relations in Paramus and owner of Noble Press, culls anecdotes from the careers of notable businessmen such as Jerry Baldwin, co-founder of Starbucks Corp.; Jeff Taylor, founder of online job site Monster.com; and Wally “Famous” Amos of Famous Amos Cookies.

Creating anecdotes about a company and its services can help keep customers interested, writes Rosica. The story of Amos baking his own cookies stuck with customers because of its authenticity, Rosica says. “You live the story,” he quotes Amos as saying. “When it’s authentic, no one can dispute, deny or steal it.”

Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben and Jerry’s Homemade Holdings, the maker of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, provides a similar example. “There are a bunch of businesses that are named after fake people,” Rosica quotes Greenfield as saying. But by using their real names, the founders of Ben and Jerry’s created the sense that they stood behind their products.

On the question of what to look for in a job applicant, Rosica cites vacuum-cleaner maker David Oreck, founder of Oreck Corp., who notes that glowing resumes and sparkling references don’t necessarily show how effective a person has been in his or her last position. “If a guy comes from a company whose profits increased $10 million in the five years he worked there, in all likelihood, it’s a coincidence,” says Oreck “He just happened to be around.”

Meanwhile, Bailin offers insights into how to cultivate contacts through the Web. Bailin speaks from some experience: He founded Web site developer Online Resource Incorporated in 1995, and, after selling that company, launched Single Throw in 2000.

“Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From?” discusses the importance of keeping online marketing messages clear, noting that too many sites are cluttered with flashy graphics that block the marketing message.

But clarity is just the beginning, notes Bailin, relating the example of a client who got a big order that the buyer wanted delivered within 24 hours. But the client shipped the order via ground freight, with no chance of meeting the deadline.

“So angry was this customer that he fired off one of the nastiest e-mails I’ve ever encountered, which detailed the failure to pay attention,” writes Bailin. The furious customer was Pixar Animation Studios, one of the most prominent studios of its kind in Hollywood, which lost all interest in coming back for more.

To purchase The Authentic Brand, please visit www.theauthenticbrand.com.

Public Relations Contact: Rosica Strategic Public Relations

From Family Circle Magazine
January 2008

Fun, affordable ways to show your winter-worn feet some love.

Your toes will tingle while J.R. Watkins Peppermint Exfoliating Food Scrub deep cleans. Jrwatkins.com, $7.99.

Public Relations Contact: Rosica Strategic Public Relations

from NJ Biz
1/7/2008
By Shankar P.

In August, private investigators hired by New Brunswick’s Johnson & Johnson drew a trail leading from 700 pharmacists, eight wholesalers and two importers to the Shanghai nerve center of a global counterfeiting racket. The investigators’ only lead a year earlier, according to media reports, was a single fake box of J&J’s OneTouch brand of test strips that diabetes patients use to check blood-sugar levels.

Johnson & Johnson is just one among several pharmaceutical companies that constantly run the risk of seeing counterfeit versions of their branded products infiltrate distribution chains and land in local drugstores.

“Any one major incident can hurt the brand,” says Narendra Srivatsa, business development manager at Cortegra, a specialty packaging firm in Fairfield that counts J&J, Hoffmann-La Roche and Pfizer among its clients.

Driven mainly by concerns over patient safety, pharmaceutical companies are stepping up their efforts to combat the menace of counterfeit versions of their prescription products, Srivatsa says.

Any laxity could expose them to expensive product recalls and brand name erosion, says Srivatsa. By comparison, “the investment is minimal” in anticounterfeiting packaging, he notes.

Ensuring “product security” is critical for a pharmaceutical company, says Srivatsa. Besides counterfeiting, diversion of products meant for one market to another also compromises product security, he says.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers choose from a variety of options to both track and trace their products through the distribution chain and prevent counterfeiting, says Srivatsa. These options are recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but not specifically mandated, he says.

Available technologies include product serialization so a trail can be traced to manufacturers; holography or special coatings that can include messages and bar codes; “color shifts” where the colors on a product’s label change when viewed from different angles; “taggants” or chemical markings for identification; and RFID (radio frequency identification) that allows for remote tracking of products through the use of tags.

Cortegra has carved out a niche because its pharmaceutical industry clients either do not have some of those technologies in-house, or have inadequate packaging capacity.

Cortegra’s printing facilities are spread across Fairfield, Elmwood Park, Morrisville, N.C., and Evansville, Ind. It is a subsidiary of Menasha Corp. in Neenah, Wis., which is 150 years old and the country’s third oldest manufacturing company, says Srivatsa.

The next big change the pharmaceutical packaging industry is bracing for is “pedigree legislation,” which some states are considering, says Srivatsa. This legislation will take effect in California and several states beginning Jan. 1, 2009, he says.

Pedigree legislation would require manufacturers to provide for electronic transfer of product information as it moves from a manufacturer to a wholesaler and then through the distribution channels to the drugstore, says Srivatsa.

New Jersey is still debating the pros and cons of the pedigree legislation, says Srivatsa. On a related front, pharmaceutical manufacturers need to arrive at a consensus on minimum standards for product security and the preferred technologies to ensure it, he says.

“There is also some level of concern at the pharmacist level about pedigree legislation because there is no standardization,” says Srivatsa. He says many pharmacists worry about how much, and how often, they would need to invest in devices to read any new tags.

The challenges faced in product security have grown with the spread of purchasing prescription drugs through the Internet, says Srivatsa. Another set of imponderables for printing and packaging firms like Cortegra arises from the complexities involved in pharmaceutical manufacturing across multiple global locations, he adds.

While the pharmaceutical industry and its packaging suppliers wait for standardized protocols to evolve, Secure Symbology Inc. in Wayne has found a way to innovate.

Secure Symbology has designed advanced bar-code technology that is unique to each sales item and can be tracked all the way through the supply chain to the manufacturer, says CEO Graham Sampson. He says he owns more than a dozen patents for this technology.

Sampson says that unlike RFID, his invention—called a 2-D composite serialized bar code—does not require new reader systems, which should make it easier to be accepted into distribution chains.

Sampson points to a built-in security feature of his technology: If a product’s serial number doesn’t match the distributor’s inventory records, the FDA is automatically alerted, along with the original distributor and the manufacturer.

“The core of what we do is collect data that allows us to ensure that the consumer gets a guaranteed pedigree product,” says Sampson, whose company was recognized by NJBIZ in 2007 as Emerging Business of the Year.

For more information, please visit www.securesymbology.com.

Public Relations Contact: Rosica Strategic Public Relations

from The News-Journal (Daytona Beach, FL)
January 7, 2008
By JAMAIL LARKINS
COMMUNITY VOICE

I've been involved with and enamored by aviation for 12 years, beginning at age 12 when I took my first flight. Although I loved flying and the joy it brought me, it never occurred to me at that time that I would spend my entire working career in it -- and earn a decent living by it.

For the past three years, I've been traveling the country speaking to thousands of middle-school kids about aviation and careers it offers. My alma mater has been sponsoring these 20-city tours since I was a junior at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I've been telling these students, as I share my story, that a career in aviation is possible and attainable. I recently read that aviation is in need of pilots and air traffic controllers; that there is a worldwide shortage of pilots. As evidenced by some airlines canceling flights, the shortage is here and now.

In early 2000, aviation and its related economic activity totaled $976 billion, which, at the time, was greater than the gross national product of all but the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy and China. It is a very large, diverse and exciting industry. The industry employs almost 11 million people, who earned $278 billion in wages and salaries in the early 2000s, and the industry, as a whole, has a tendency to provide higher wages than other industries.

In addition, very few industries are so involved in national pride (Apollo missions), protection (defense) and economic activities (general aviation and airline passenger and freight operations).

There always will be a need for the aviation/aerospace industry; we will always need people to fly and maintain aircraft. Therefore, there is significant job security. By the end of 2008, 27 percent of the current industry work force will be eligible to retire. This will create tremendous opportunities for newcomers to the industry -- beginning now.

A wide range of different career fields is also available in the aviation and aerospace industry. Traditional careers such as pilots (military, airline, corporate), air traffic controllers and mechanics are available. But there is a substantial number of careers that most people do not consider, such as aeronautical engineering, airport management, aviation medical examiners and aviation attorneys. So though employment numbers seem to be tottering in many industries, opportunities abound in the aviation sector.

Critical to a career in aviation is getting an education that is focused on the business. That's my mantra when speaking to sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade children. In order to become a competent member in the aviation industry, additional or "focused" schooling is vital.

Today, I am involved in the business side of aviation. For the past three years, I've been an ambassador for the Federal Aviation Administration with a focus on safety and careers. And when I encourage young people to pursue their studies and consider aviation, I assure them that opportunity really is a reality and available for all. As an African-American, I can attest to it. My greatest joy is still piloting a plane through the wild blue yonder.

Larkins is national spokesman for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, FAA ambassador for Aviation & Space Education and a consultant for several aviation organizations. He still flies as an aerobatic air-show pilot.

Public Relations Contact: Rosica Strategic Public Relations