Part II: The Case for Leaving Yellow Page Advertising.: Campbell, Harrington & Brear

Part II: The Case for Leaving Yellow Page Advertising.: Campbell, Harrington & Brear

Rising With The Sun

Over the weekend I was offered an opportunity to re-familiarize myself with the selling process. I forgot how much work went into preparing to put something on the market, making sure every detail is perfect and that the product is ready to be shown to hundreds of people. The only difference this weekend what that I was asked to do a sales video for a horse named Octavian, not a product or a service. I’ve learned a lot at Campbell Harrington and Brear about how much work goes into first coming up with a concept or idea about a product, then planning how to make it happen, then editing and refining the concept/idea, and finally presenting it. The system isn’t brain surgery, it’s just a tedious process that requires a lot of work and thinking to make sure everything turns out at planned.

Saturday morning I was up at 6:00am and out to the barn to watch Octavian’s owner ride him. I had to take mental notes on his behaviors and how he responded to certain aids because I was going to be the one riding him later in the day. This was the research part of my process. I’ve have only ridden this horse once before so it was vital that I got to know him on the ground as well as in the saddle.

After he was ridden in the arena he was taken to the round pen to work on body commands and to get him listening to the rider. It’s important to make sure he is paying attention and listening to the rider and responding to what he is being asked to do. I would categorize this as part of the planning. We needed to make sure he was going to behave and pay attention as it would be very dangerous to jump a 1200 pound animal and not be in control.

After the round pen we brought him back to the stables to get him cleaned up. I spent a good 40 minutes giving him a bath, washing his white legs so they would stand out and look nice, and brushing through his mane and tail. This is the editing/refining time that was used to make him picture perfect and stand out over other equine sale videos.

The final step occurred at about three o’clock that afternoon as I changed into riding breeches, jumping boots, and a polo and began riding Octavian. I warmed up for a about 20 minutes and the next thing I know I was flying over 3 foot fences.  The prep work definitely paid off as I completed several courses. The finished product: a successful sales video!

 Check out the link to the video below. The beginning is slightly boring but the action picks up towards the end!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZE5utuX3yY&feature=player_embedded

CH&B launches new website!

It’s a very cool experience to be able to see ideas sketched out on a notepad transform into a fully functioning interactive completed project. Although I wasn’t at Campbell Harrington and Brear during the basic idea developing stages of the new website for Strine’s Heating and Cooling I was able to be a part of the last steps in completing the website developing process.  I was able to see how a somewhat “monotone” website was pulled apart and transformed into something not only visually appealing, but intellectually attractive as well.

The idea behind the website was to provide better visibility for Strine’s brand, to set up a platform for interacting with customers, and to showcase the core values of Strine’s Heating and Cooling.

From what observed there was a lot of good information from Strine’s website. It was a matter of pulling out the information and placing it into a better designed website. Because this new website was a lot more thorough then the older one, there was also a fair amount of new copy that needed to be written. New pictures were taken to replace some of the older outdated photos posted on the old site. It was quite a facelift!

It was obvious that many visual changes were appearing. What was as noticeable was the important strategy of what was going on behind the scenes. A website could have the world’s best pictures and copy, but if nobody knows about it, it’s not going to be seen. So how do you fix that problem? SEO. SEO is a strategy that uses certain techniques to make sure your website gets noticed. If done successfully, it will create a larger viewing presence of your website though keywords and consistently keeping the website information fresh.

Building a website is a time consuming and tedious process. It definitely doesn’t happen overnight.  I was lucky that I was able to experience some of the website building process. Even though it was only from observation, I was able to get a lot of useful information out of it!

Words of Wisdom

“It doesn’t matter what you do in life as long as you have a valuable skill or skill set. Pick something that you can learn that will set you apart from everyone else.”

These very wise words were given to me from Campbell Harrington and Brear’s President, Mel Campbell, this morning as we sat down and had a chat about what I was doing as an intern and what has been going on in the world of advertising. These words hit me pretty hard as I have been struggling with realizing that I’m not really a sit at a desk from 8am-5pm person. Make no mistake, I’m still 100% sure advertising is what I was to be doing with my life. I’ve always dreamed of owning my own business, starting with a small home run farm giving lessons and training, then moving on to bigger things, such as owning a ranch or resort. It’s going to be a while before those dreams can be fulfilled, but thanks to CH&B I’ve got a pretty good head start! I have learned many new business and advertising skills. I’ve been able to learn a few “tricks of the trade” and I’m constantly learning how things work in a business setting.  I’m picking up skills that I can use in future jobs, and even further into the future as I possibly attempt running a business of my own. You can take the knowledge that you learn in an agency setting and use them practically anywhere. I came to the conclusion that having a basic business background with a focus on advertising is what I need. I can learn to manipulate the skills I’m learning and use them for my own personal benefit.  

CH&B has immersed me in a world of social media. I’m not going to lie; at times it’s very boring and mundane work. But, at the same time I learning a skill set that not everybody has or wants to be a part of. I’ll have something to offer a potential employer that other people might not. This is important because it’s one of the stepping stones to one day having my dream job and owning my own business.

I thank Mr. Campbell for his words of advice and insurance that I’m on the right track and doing what I need to do to promote a solid future. I encourage you to keep those words of advice in your mind at all times. What you’re doing now can greatly impact your future!

Media Buying

Today I had an awesome opportunity to sit down with Stephen Marcum, Campbell Harrington and Brear’s director of media strategy and learn a lot of things about media buying that you can’t learn from sitting in a classroom. Because media buying is kind of an abstract area there really isn’t a set formula on how it should be done. There are definitely general guidelines of costing and you can sit down and takes not on the different kinds of media buying, but they strategy behind the process is best learned by watching someone who is experienced in the field actually do it.  

Each client purchasing advertising space has different needs in order to successfully reach the market they are trying to advertise to. For some businesses print ads work best while for others TV and Radio are other profitable contenders.  It’s all about researching the market area and figuring out which medium is going to work the best! Seem simple? Not so fast! So you’ve figured out the medium of what you’re going to use little did I know before today how many subcategories are connected to each medium. For newspaper you need to figure out where in the paper the ad needs to go so it will be most valuable. Do you choose the sports section, or the life and style section? Do you print the ad in black and white of in color? For radio, what station do you play the ad on and what’s the best time to have the ad playing? And, as for TV, what network do you advertise on, or how long should the spot be?

These are all critical details that take time and research to figure out. You need to know not only your client but they target audience of their message. It’s so much more than just punching a bunch of numbers into a calculator and giving the client a bill for the advertising space.

I’m grateful I got to sit in on and listen to a man with a good amount of knowledge and experience in media buying. It’s an important skill to have because even as new media marketing strategies develop, traditional advertising will always be a part of the business.

Branding

On May 11, 2011 Japan experienced a life changing weather event when a tsunami hit the shores of the small island.  Lives were forever changed as houses were destroyed, property was washed away, and lives were taken because of the earthquake that set off the massive storm. There were a lot of negative impacts on the island of Japan that took place on that awful day in May but there was one good thing that came out of the tragedy.

 I was astonished to read an article today, found on AdAge, that the storm did have one positive impact in Japan. The impact was on how the Japanese are now putting more thought into what they consume and how they consume it.

“77% of people said they were actively seeking out brands they believe are helping recovery of the country and personal stability.” – AdAge

This should be a neon flashing sign to the producers of thousands of products around the world. We have added a large group to the already larger bandwagon group of people searching for products that first off benefit/help sustain their country as well as products that are environmentally friendly to the different lands we call our home.

How does this affect marketing?

Simple! We need to produce products and market them in a way that people connect to the product and feel as though they are doing some good through purchasing the product.

“Our own research indicates that over 60% of people want "to be part of a shared process in product and service development.” – AdAge

You are more likely to purchase a product if you feel good about purchasing the product. It’s a very simple idea, but an idea that we don’t think about a lot of the time.

We need to brand our products according to what’s important to the consumers.

To read the full article head to:

 http://adage.com/article/agency-viewpoint/japanese-earthquake-changed-consumer-habits/228124/

The Art of Being Prepared

Today became an unusual day at the office as our secretary Lisa suddenly had to leave the office. Because of her absence and the fact that she would be gone for the following week I immediately assumed the secretary responsibilities. Luckily for me I was aware that she was going to be out of the office the following week so I had had some time to learn the basics of what she does such as answering the phones and delivering the mail. They may seem like mundane chores but you don’t really realize how important something is such as taking a phone call until a potential client is on the other line! Talk about pressure. With 40 buttons on my phone in the office, yes I counted my notes on answering the phone graciously got me through my first phone call. It might seem silly to take notes on such a thing but honestly I was grateful to have them as I was unexpectedly thrown into a situation I wasn’t familiar with.

The saying “You can never be too prepared” was abundantly true.  I would have been scrambling around hoping that I knew what I was doing. It’s nice to feel comfortable in a situation you have no control in.

I kind of enjoy being able to answer the phone “Campbell Harrington and Brear, how may I help you?” because it gives me a chance to talk to someone and delivering the mail to other employees because it gives me the opportunity to get out from behind my desk.

I’m sure in the next week I will get a lot of value from taking over for the secretary. I’m already learning basic office skills that are important to have.