Frances Del Valle (left), Managing Partner, Influence Consulting Group, with Sonia Manzano (right)

Sonia Manzano, actress, author, and pioneer in Public Television, is the 2012 New York Godmother in the upcoming National Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City, June 10.

Sonia, and other participants in the parade were at a press conference yesterday at the New York headquarters of Banco Popular. Said Brian Doran, New York Region Executive for the bank:

“We were the first corporate sponsor of the Parade, and we are thrilled to continue to honor the spirit and culture of the Puerto Rican community 50 years later.  We are also excited to invite Mr. Javier Colón, an emerging powerful voice, to join us on our float and have him share his unwavering determination and enthusiasm for his talent with all of the parade attendees. The Bank also has plans to unveil a new float design which will have the talented youth dancers from Ballet Hispánico School of Dance performing in front of it.”

Sonia Manzano is a first-generation Puerto Rican who has affected the lives of millions of parents and children since the 1970s, when she was offered an opportunity to play “Maria” on Sesame Street. She has 15 Emmy Awards to date as part of the Sesame Street writing staff. Her first young adult novel The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano will be published and released by Scholastic on September 1, 2012.

Manzano received The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Award in Washington DC, and the Hispanic Heritage Award for Education in 2003. She was voted one of the most influential Hispanics by People Magazine en Español (February 2007).

See News on Banco Popular and 2010 National Puerto Rican Day Parade.

Banco Popular North America (“Popular”) operates 94 branches in four U.S. regions – Illinois, Florida, New York/New Jersey, and California. Popular features 35,000 surcharge-free ATMs across the U.S., online banking, and a full array of individual and commercial banking services. Popular offers “Totally Free Checking,” and is firmly rooted in the communities it serves, through volunteer work and outreach.

See Popular Community Bank Launches Mobile Check Deposit. Excerpt:

Popular Community Bank’s announcement today of a mobile check deposit service for iPhone- and Android-using customers is part of a digital and branding makeover. It’s changing its name from that of its Puerto Rican parent company, Banco Popular, and it’s been rolling out new channels to customers, including an online banking platform, mobile banking apps and 35,000 fee-free ATMs.

Popular operates as Popular Community Bank in California, Florida and Illinois and as Banco Popular in New York and New Jersey.  The bank rebranded to reflect Popular’s broader, diversified customer base.

When Tom Sosnoff first approached the Chicago Board Options Exchange in 2005 with the idea for weekly options, he had in mind what he thought was a terrific marketing gimmick.

“I wanted to call them ‘quickies’,” recalls Mr Sosnoff, who came up with the idea while running Thinkorswim, the online options brokerage he co-founded in 1999. “I thought it would be good for business, but they thought it had too many sexual overtones.” – Financial Times

See full story: Weeklys drive options volume growth

Name change aims at ‘Popular’ appeal

Banco Popular is changing its name Monday to Popular Community Bank to welcome a more diverse clientele.

Banco Popular is dropping the Banco and adding Community Bank to its name in South Florida and other continental U.S. markets as the Puerto Rico-based financial institution tries to appeal to more non-Hispanics.

For folks who’d like their stock-market news to come mixed with humorous talk of movies, sports and various other topics, newly venture-funded Tastytrade Inc. promises to deliver. Tastytrade is the brainchild of Tom Sosnoff, who founded Thinkorswim Group, an online options-brokerage that was sold for some $750 million in 2009 to TD Ameritrade. See the full story in the Wall Street Journal: Online Financial Talkshow Tastytrade Piles $20M On Its Plate.

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Do you want to be in the nexus of the ‘new’ public relations?

Influence Consulting is looking for a Community Manager deeply involved in social media.

Our PR clients are expanding rapidly in social media.

• This is a freelance position, based on hourly value, or a per project fee
• You must be mobile, connected, have a highly functioning home office, and be willing to work with deadlines.
• We work best with self-motivated professionals who crave flexibility, creativity, and entrepreneurial upside, without the bureaucracy and in-fighting of a traditional agency.  We foster creative collaboration with like-minded professionals.

Are you a social maven – connected through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, savvy with blogs.? We integrate PR with social media, from concept through messaging, publicity, re-generation through social distribution channels, marketing, new business development.

We have an immediate need for an experienced social media manager to engage a clients’ audience on Facebook, and soon Twitter and other social media channels. Looking for 10 hour a week commitment to start. Growth opportunity for right person.

Have you helped build an online community? Do you live in New York City, in the L.A./Orange County area, Chicagoland, Central Florida or South Florida?

Contact: mark@influencecentral.com | Background: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mrosepr

Attributes of a Community Manager

•      Patience to facilitate and encourage members of the community to participate

•      Warmth and diplomacy, taking the time to welcome new members to the community and making everyone feel welcome

•      Skillful networking being able to connect people to solutions perhaps inside your company and outside of the organization

•      Great written skills whether 140 characters or five paragraphs

•      Confidence with technology – from HootSuite to WordPress, wav file, video platforms, early adopter, quick learner

•      Tenacity and resilience that means they go beyond the call of duty checking into the community outside of regular hours to ensure there are no questions that need to be addressed, not only serving the community but also helping manage your company’s reputation online

The Word of Mouth Marketing Assocation (WOMMA)

Read my comments in “ALL THINGS WOM Industry Voices & Perspectives.” I answered questions on storytelling, personal marketing touch points, and brand culture within an organization.

Our brains are wired to think in stories, appreciate stories, respond emotionally to stories, anticipate where the story might go. We’re also wired to reject hype as we develop an increasingly sophisticated noise filtration system. Telling stories and keeping it authentic will never go out of vogue.

Read full comments: Stories are Tradition…Buzzwords, not so much

This June we are going to Ashland to See Henry IV & Pirates of Penzance

A flash-mob performance of Shakespearian prose Saturday helped some Ashland theatergoers celebrate the Bard of Avon’s birthday.

Delivered by about 30 insiders of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a spontaneous recital of the poet-playwright’s famous monologue “SevenAges of Man,” rang through the brick courtyard in front of the Angus Bowmer Theater at noon.

“I have no idea who is going to show up,” said organizer Claudia Alick, an hour before the scheduled, but semi-secretive, gathering.”We were just thinking that we should do something for his birthday, and I thought, well, let’s just send out this little seed of an idea, and see what happens.”

Alick, an OSF producer, sent out an internal email to all of the festival employees, with directions for the flash mob, and a copy of the script; leaving the rest up to word of mouth.

“I just love secrets, and I love theater and, of course, I love Shakespeare … Ashland has a very wonderful spirit. I hope they will do it again, because here is the only place it would happen.”

See Mail Tribune story:

Flash mob celebrates Shakespeare’s birth

Alex Rodriquez watches a homer at Yankee Stadium

Although we have partners all over the world we are a New York City-based company, which means we’re Yankee fans.

Nothing thrills us more than a fast start to a new season by the venerable Yankees. That means that the veterans – A-Rod, Posada, Rivera, Sabathia, et al – do what they’re paid enormous sums of $ for, and the newbies step up and show that they can play on the Big Stage, as Ivan Nova did yesterday in defeating the Twins.

Springtime  in NY means flowers and trees blooming in Central Park, and the Yankees setting the stage for a run at the playoffs. How sweet it is.