Our holiday card will have you seeing green, but we promise there are no Grinchs here at the Sells Agency. We can’t say that it was all smiles and kind words as we painted our hands and squeezed 16 people into a circle for the “perfect” shot, but we certainly had fun and the end result was worth it.
From everyone at the Sells Agency, have a safe and happy holiday season, and best wishes for 2012. Merry Christmas!
Click here for a special holiday greeting from the Sells Agency!
Whether in business or in our personal lives, most of us are trying in some way to identify the latest trends. In business, spotting the upcoming trends can give your company a significant advantage over the competition, or even be the catalyst for starting a new, successful company.
As an advertising agency, we are constantly assessing the trends of our client’s industries, which is, of course, part art and part science. We do this by trying to anticipate what target audiences want from a business now and several years from now, as well as paying attention to their business environments.
Some of the potential trends we’ve been paying attention to this year include health insurance products becoming more retail focused, how the banking industry is reacting to new regulations and how those regulations are affecting the customer experience, and the resurgence of travel and tourism and how it is impacted by online, social media and smartphone usage.
During December there are always a plethora of lists that attempt to predict business trends for the upcoming year, so in the spirit of the new year, we are sharing with you one of the more informative lists we’ve read; a discussion on Internet marketing trends to watch in 2012 by Small Business Trends. Click here to check it out.
The Sells Agency is seeking an experienced agency account executive to work in our Fayetteville, Arkansas office. Qualified candidates will have a college degree and two to five years of experience in an agency environment working in the account services area.
This account executive will work closely with our director of Northwest Arkansas in providing top-notch customer service and marketing counsel to our NWA clients including Arvest Bank, Fayetteville Advertising & Promotion Commission and Rausch-Coleman Homes.
Qualified candidates should email a cover letter and resume to mike@sellsagency.com.
The Sells Agency would like to congratulate several of our clients on being named finalists and winners in the 2011 Arkansas Business Best of Business Awards. For the seventh year running, thousands of Arkansans voted for the companies that they think are exceptional. Categories in this competition range from finance to building services to nonprofits.
Arvest Bank took first place in the “Best Bank for Business” category, QualChoice was a finalist for “Best Health Care Insurance Provider” and Edafio Technologies was a finalist for “Best Computer Services Company.”
We agree with Arkansas Business readers, and the recognition is certainly well deserved. Congratulations to the teams at Arvest, QualChoice and Edafio.
How many different companies or businesses do you “like” on Facebook? Your simple click of approval is something that many organizations want, and even set as a condition for giveaways and contests. You may remember that we asked for Facebook “likes” during our Christmas in July giveaway.
Many Facebook users will “like” a brand page to take advantage of coupons and discounts, they will also quickly leave that page if the offer proves to be something less than was promised. As businesses venture into Facebook marketing, it is crucial that they still follow traditional marketing best practices. Misleading or false information can quickly do a lot of damage, and fast, particularly in social media.
While Facebook can be a fun and useful tool for many, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has recently set some rules for businesses who solicit “likes” on Facebook without being clear about the details.
Check out these articles from Second Wind and the Boston Business Journal for more information on the NAD’s rules regarding soliciting Facebook likes.It’s hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas tree is up at the agency! Are you looking for a fun activity to kick off your holiday season? Look no further than Arvest’s River Market on Ice taking place now in downtown Little Rock. As a community-focused bank, Arvest is excited to bring this winter activity to the community along with the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission, Downtown Little Rock Partnership and Little Rock Parks and Recreation.
Our creative department enjoyed working with Arvest to design and create a tree-topper for the Christmas tree located at the rink.
The ice rink, located in one of the open-air pavilions overlooking Riverfront Park and the Arkansas River, is open now through January 8th. For a complete list of hours visit http://www.holidaysinlittlerock.com/river_market_on_ice/.
We recently sent a couple of our account executives to the Windy City for “Certified Account Executive College” offered by Second Wind.
The two-day seminar for smaller to mid-size agencies was comprised of industry-specific courses in account service and account management skills; account planning and strategic planning; and proposal writing and presentation skills.
Account executive Allison Drennon said the most valuable thing she learned in Chicago was training in the latest strategic planning best practices… and that the best view of Chicago is from the ladies room on the 96th floor of the John Hancock building, not the 95th.
They came back with more ideas than we can deploy at once, so we are taking one step at a time to help our clients and our agency get a second wind. One easy change we have been trying to make is to structure our days. If we schedule meetings in the mornings or late afternoons, the creative has an uninterrupted mid-day to really groove and our account service team can get quality time with our clients.
Second Wind is a partner and advertising resource to more than 800 small to mid-sized agencies. Find out more about Second Wind at www.secondwindonline.com.
As we approach the holiday season and 2011 begins to wind down, we can’t say that things are slowing down around the agency. At Sells, we are excited to announce our newest client, Edafio Technology Partners.
Founded in 1999, Edafio, a Greek word meaning “passage” or “pathway,” has itself taken an interesting path to success in the IT industry. When local information technology providers couldn’t meet the needs of the Little Rock-based JPMS Cox accounting firm and many of its clients, the firm decided to create its own solution – Edafio Technology Partners. The newly established business was so successful in producing results for JPMS that it quickly developed into a full-service IT provider and began taking on clients of its own.
Over the years, Edafio has grown to a successful company, but had recently begun experiencing some pains in the sales and marketing area – primarily in closing new business prospects. That’s when they came to us.
As we always do, we started with research to understand as much about the company and its competitors, customers and prospects as possible. We analyzed their sales cycle and identified some key barriers to converting more prospects into customers. We are beginning to focus on the lead generation part of the sales cycle, which, if you’re a business owner or IT manager in Central Arkansas, you’ll be seeing soon. We’ll keep you updated as we work with Edafio to communicate their brand and allow them to effectively sell their core services to prospects.
Where will the Edafio/Sells Agency path lead? Stay tuned to find out.
Recently, the Sells Agency was presented with the ‘Magic of Vision Award’ by local non-profit, Safe Places, at their annual Cinderella Ball. The award recognized work the agency did to help bring awareness to Safe Places and its mission.
Our work included updating the Safe Places website, www.safeplaceslr.org, as well as producing marketing materials and executing PR tactics. The video we produced as part of that work is included below. But, the work we did for the organization pales in comparison to the work they do each day for children in violent and abusive situations. They are the only resource in central Arkansas that provides long-term help and counseling to victims of family violence and abuse, and we want nothing more than to see their good work continue.
However, Safe Places survives on grants and donations, and is always in need of support and funding. We encourage you to visit their website, read their story and help this much needed organization in any way you can.
We are so glad we got to be associated with such a wonderful organization like Safe Places.
Recently Jon Hodges, one of our “co-rockers” (as we like to say around here), was on a relaxing, week-long vacation. So what were we doing while Jon was enjoying his trip to Yellowstone? Obviously plotting a little prank.
More than 600 balloons later, this is what Jon returned to find stuffed in his office on Monday morning.
For those wondering, the clean up from this stunt was also a team effort and went surprisingly quick! Just another day at the office!
Right there on the home page of our new website we call ourselves agnostics. Are we making some comment on our faith? Not at all, actually. What it means to us is that we don’t place our faith in one or two specific marketing tactics.
Perhaps the best way to explain a tactically agnostic agency is to explain what it isn’t.
For instance, much is being written and discussed lately about how great social media is as a marketing channel. There are literally hundreds of social media agencies popping up all over to help companies market through this new channel, which promises great returns for small investments and the ability to really “connect” with customers.
How about digital agencies? Hire a digital agency and they promise to bring your marketing into the 21st century with robust websites, mobile apps, promotional microsites and more.
Then you have the traditional agencies that are stubbornly clinging to the mantra that every client needs to be on network TV. True story: in two different meetings with potential new clients recently, both started the meeting by saying, “don’t come back and just tell us we need to run a bunch of TV.”
Add to these direct marketing firms, PR firms, design firms, telemarketing, CRM, email marketing, etc., etc., etc.! We could go on and on with what being tactically agnostic isn’t…but here’s the main point.
The Sells Agency is a marketing firm. We solve marketing issues and help clients get a return on the investment they make with their marketing budgets. We employ a specific and precise process to arrive at a marketing approach that will help our clients achieve business and marketing goals – and we do not predetermine what marketing tactics the client should employ. Not until we have an understanding of their industry, business, competition, marketplace, products, culture, customers and prospects can we arrive at marketing goals, objectives, strategies and tactics.
It’s called our Marketing Clarity process, and it’s why we say that we are tactically agnostic. When you truly believe in the marketing process you cannot put your faith in one specific tactic.
When it comes to free checking, free debit cards and debit card rewards, most of the news hasn’t been good lately. Contrary to what banks around the country are doing, our client and the largest Arkansas-based bank, Arvest, announced this week that it will keep checking and debit cards free. Additionally, Arvest will continue to provide free online banking, free mobile banking and a debit card rewards program to its customers, while also lowering their overdraft fees. For thousands of Arvest customers and Arkansans in general, that’s some good news!
Our PR department has been working with Arvest on a public relations plan in order to announce this information, which bucks the national trends and influences other Arkansas-based banks to follow suit. Along with the plan we conducted research, created a release and comparative charts that highlight the trends in free checking and debit card fees, produced a fact sheet and talking points for Arvest associates, and worked with the media and bank executives to execute coverage in a four-state footprint.
To see one example of the coverage generated from this exciting Arvest announcement, click here to read the Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s coverage in central Arkansas.
It is common sense to most of us to think twice before posting anything on Facebook, or anywhere on the web, especially if that post could lead to trouble at the office. As social media becomes an ever-larger part of our lives, people seem to struggle with what is and what isn’t appropriate to say to their online audiences.
This month, the National Labor Relations Board, ruled that employees have the right to share their personal opinions about their jobs online. The NLRB determined that employees who were fired for allegedly harassing another employee about their work performance on Facebook must be rehired. Can you say awkward work environment?
The lesson in this situation is that just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. In today’s age of social media it is important to remember that online conduct reflects not only on yourself, but also on your company and your clients.
Last week marked a very big event here at the agency. We would have blogged about it sooner, but most of us are still recovering from a severe overdose of cream cheese, or just now waking up from a food coma. That’s right, food was involved. Are you even surprised? It was an event we declared the 1st Annual Sells Agency Diptacular.
What exactly is a Diptacular? Well, as you can imagine, it is a very serious competition in which dips were prepared by all and then eaten in mass quantities and judged. To determine a winner, we used a very scientific method of each using five $1 dollar bills to cast our votes into paper cups.
We had quite the spread, including rueben dip, chocolate chip cookie dip, pimento cheese, onion baked dip, corn dip and turtle cheesecake dip. The winning dip, coming in with a whopping $14.00 victory, was sadly, a dip with no name. For the purposes of this blog, we will just call it “Gaea’s Dip,” as our accounting guru Gaea Miller made it. The recipe for this simple and delicious dip is below.
2 Packages cream cheese
1 can Rotel
1 package sausage
Simply brown the sausage, drain, and combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Heat on low until warm and ready to eat! Enjoy the pictures below from our new favorite annual event!
Notice anything different about us today? The Sells Agency website has a new look. After our big move and new office look, we decided it was only fair that the website got an update too. Our new website is easier to navigate and tells you a little bit more about us here at the Sells Agency. As before, you can also see the clients we're working with and some examples of the work we're doing for them. Enough talking about it though, go check it out here!
Today we are celebrating the 49th birthday of our fearless leader, lovingly known around the agency as Marketing Mike.
Some of you may be thinking, "Wait a second, this guy looks too cool, with his untucked shirt, rolled up sleeves and casual sunglasses placement, to be the leader of such a professional team like the Sells Agency."
Or you might be thinking, "This guy... is he REALLY 49? That baby face doesn’t look old enough to run an agency."
You also could be thinking, "Hey, I went to college with him, and how in the world does a theatre degree from Hendrix prepare you for a career in advertising?"
All valid thoughts, but do not fear because in honor of his birthday we have compiled
The Top Ten Reasons Why Mike Is The Best Boss and Agency Owner Ever:
10. His extensive knowledge of both the 80’s and Monty Python bring a perspective to his work that can simply not be found anywhere else.
9. He can have a phone conversation anywhere. Seriously, anywhere! Just trust us on this one.
8. He’s a man of principle. Vegetables and desserts should never mingle. Ever. No matter how delicious.
7. He’s older than us, so we feel young and cool at least five days a week.
6. Mike has the power of time warp. How else can you explain his being comfortable leaving at 2:55 for a 3:00 meeting in Conway?
5. It is easy to work for someone when you know for a fact that your boss is freakishly smarter than almost everyone on any subject.
4. There is no meeting too important to be interrupted with “You guys haven’t seen this YouTube video!?”
3. He has an insatiable appetite for caffeine, so we can be sure that’s he’s up should we ever need him at 3 a.m.
2. Without Mike, what excuse would we have to call Bob Bob?
1. No matter how much we tease him, he hasn’t fired us… yet.
Happy Birthday Mike!
Arvest Bank is offering a new payment service and we don’t know how we ever lived without it. If you have a DVR, you know what we mean.
It’s called ZashPay, and it’s an electronic person-to-person payment system that allows people to move money directly from their bank account to a friend’s with only their phone number or email address. The service allows you to pay others from your online account without the need for third party tools like PayPal.
At Arvest, it’s free to sign up for ZashPay and there is no fee to receive money. Sending money costs only 75 cents per transfer. Recipients get a text or email message letting them know they have a payment waiting and they have 12 days to claim it for deposit into their bank account. If unclaimed by the recipient (like that will ever happen), the payment is canceled and the funds stay with the sender.
Oh, it works the other way, too. Just have your friends Zash you the money they keep forgetting to repay for that dinner or joint birthday gift or rent or…
Pretty cool, huh? For more information on ZashPay, check it out on Arvest.com.
Arkansas is currently ranked 49th in the country for adults with college degrees. This is not a fact that we are particularly proud of, but we are proud of one of our clients that is working to change it. Arkansas Tech University kicks off their Accelerated Degree Program this semester, providing Arkansans who have earned some college credit a new option for completing their bachelor’s degree.
This 100 percent online degree completion program allows students to obtain their degree while working completely from home. It gives students the flexibility to complete courses on their own schedule within a given semester, but still allows them access to the support of Tech faculty and staff. The program is in response to the governor’s mandate to produce more college graduates for the economic success of the state.
It is with both sadness and pride that we are saying ‘good-bye’ today to our last two Career Clarity interns. We aren’t glad to see Jillian and Wes go, but we are very proud of all the hard work they have done this summer.
While here, Jill served as our copywriting intern and Wesley as account services. They got to see first-hand how an agency works and also got to tour several vendors. From television stations to printers to production studios, they had a behind-the-scenes experience of how we create our product.
The interns also spearheaded our TaMolly’s Research project this summer, traveling all over the state to conduct interviews and gather information on a new client’s business. Now that we are in the process of putting together a marketing plan for this client, we are so thankful for all their hard work that has made getting to this point possible.
TaMolly’s was just one project out of many that these two were involved in. Others include work on Carlton-Bates, the Fayetteville Guide and the Jacksonville Business and Visitors Guide. For a look back at Jillian and Wesley’s work, you can view their ‘Intern Insight’ blogposts here and here.
Thanks so much to Jill and Wes, we have loved having you and know you will both go on to do great things!
Here at the Sells Agency we don’t exactly pride ourselves on our athleticism. We aren’t in any cool kickball or softball leagues, and we would much rather have a potluck than an office-wide “Biggest Loser” competition (trust us, we had a major fail with that earlier this year). However, there’s a new kid in town and we’re concerned that she may try to whip us into shape.
Camille Flores joined us this month as a media assistant. Originally from Chino Hills, California, she comes to us by way of the University of Arkansas where she was a four-year letterman and captain of the women’s soccer team.
Camille graduated with a degree in advertising and public relations and most recently completed an internship focused on media planning and buying, as well as developing and executing media strategies. She also has experience as a marketing assistant working with ESPNU and as a marketing intern for the U of A Athletics Department of Marketing.
Yes, she is very impressive and we are so excited to have her here as part of our media department. And with a real athlete hanging around, who knows – we may be flexing more than our marketing skills soon. Welcome, Camille!
One thing that I love about working at the Sells Agency is the fact that no two days are ever the same. Well, that and the fact that everyone seems to enjoy eating as much as I do!
As a production artist I've had my hands on a lot of different projects including numerous brochures, outdoor boards, logos, tradeshow booths and much more. It's quite exciting! Recently, I finished one of my favorite projects yet, the 2011 Fayetteville Guide.
This 100-page guidebook covers everything someone might need to know about living in or visiting Fayetteville, Arkansas. If you flip through the book, you will see what a beautiful place the city is. There are articles on tasty restaurants, great schools, scenic trails and so much more. You'll see and read more things about Fayetteville than you ever imagined, and that's the whole purpose. If it opens your eyes to new attractions in the area, it has succeeded.
But from my perspective, I see something different. When I look at the finished product, I see all of the people behind it. I see months and months of hard work. I see photos that were edited in Photoshop until they looked good enough for the guide, type that is perfectly consistent from page to page, and tables that are neatly organized. I see lots of phone calls, hundreds of conversations and maybe even a few heated discussions (no, that never happens). Most of all, though, what I see is teamwork.
This book didn't just happen overnight and it wasn't created by just one person. The client had a vision that she shared with our account executives. The information was gathered by and articles written by our copywriters. The style and layout was planned by our art directors. The photos were selected and perfected by production artists. It was proofed and re-proofed and re-proofed by almost everyone at the agency. We all had a part, whether it be big or small.
I loved working on the Fayetteville Guide because it was a project that I was able to invest a lot of myself into from the beginning, and even though I'm happy that we now have a hard copy of our hard work, a part of me misses the process.
Luckily, there’s less than a year left until we start this entire process over. Fayetteville Guide 2012, I'm ready for ya!
What’s a good learning program without field trips? And, from a highly professional standpoint, who doesn’t like a good excuse to venture out of the office every now and then? After taking those good, strong points into consideration, PR account executive Emily Canada scheduled an intern tour to KARK Channel 4 to witness a live newscast.
We were lucky enough to be there for KARK’s News at Noon program. News director, Rob Heverling, was nice enough to take time out of his day to be our personal tour guide. We started our tour on the newly renovated set, and then made our way into the control room right before the show started. (FYI, if you were that kid who wanted to push every button in the elevator, a job in this room may be the one for you.) I’ve never seen anything like it! There were three people in this room running the show, and my mind was constantly wondering how each of them remembered which button to push while watching so many different televisions at once. I was very impressed and intrigued by how something that looks so technical to me seems so simple and natural to them. We watched the show for about fifteen minutes and then moved on to see the newsroom, account executive offices and the rest of their workspaces. It’s amazing what you learn behind closed doors. Thanks, KARK for letting us visit!
July has come and gone, and while there seems to be no end in sight for these astonishingly hot temperatures, our Christmas in July celebration has come to a close. Without further ado, our lucky winners are:
Terri Leming Davidson - Cat butt magnets
Andrew Webre - Nose shower gel dispenser
Lauren Chesney Anderson - Batterfinger
Larry Pineda - Defrosty ice cubes
Chris Minshell - Cookin’ with Coolio cookbook
Congratulations to our Christmas in July giveaway winners! We will be in contact soon, as we are sure you can hardly wait to get your hands on these prizes.
Thanks to everyone for “liking” the Sells Agency on Facebook. We appreciate your support and hope you will encourage your friends to “like” us also.
As we welcome a new month, the agency is also welcoming a new member to our team. Camille Flores joined Sells Agency today as a media assistant. Stay tuned for more about Camille later this week on the blog.
Today we are revealing our last two gifts for the Christmas in July giveaways. To be eligible you must go to our Facebook Page and “Like” us. Everyone who becomes a fan of ours will be entered into a drawing for our Christmas in July gifts.
Our final gift is best suited for mature chefs and the die-hard Coolio lovers everywhere. Coolio shares some of his most loved recipes in this full-of-character cookbook, but unlike Paula Deen, Coolio’s colorful language should be reserved for the people on Santa’s naughty list.
Today’s intern insight is a little bittersweet for us here at the agency. Our Pixel Perfect Interactive intern, Landrey White, is leaving us to return to Fayetteville for her senior year at the University of Arkansas. We know - the nerve of her. While we see the necessity of her departure, we will certainly miss her and appreciate all the great work she did this summer. More importantly, we have no idea who is going to keep Thad in line now.
Here’s what Landrey had to say about her internship at the Sells Agency.
“When I started my internship 10 weeks ago, I had absolutely no idea what to expect. I had no previous experience working on websites, yet here I was starting my first day as the Pixel Perfect Interactive intern. My very first assignment was to make an outline of the content on a disc provided by a client to be used for a new website we would create. At the time, I never would have imagined how immersed I would become in this project over the course of my internship.
I spent hours upon hours researching information about the industry and writing copy for the several pages of the website. I also stayed in contact with the client on a regular basis, doing several rounds of revisions and edits. As the site began to come together, I could see my hard work paying off and was amazed at how much responsibility I had been given. Rather than feeling like an intern, I felt like an important member of a successful team.
Now that it's the last day of my internship, everything has truly come together. All the websites I've had a hand in have gone live, the last of which fatefully premieres today. The work I've been given the privilege of doing here is without a doubt the most beneficial experience I could have asked for and I'm so thankful for the people who trusted me to do it.”
Have a fabulous senior year Landrey, thank you so much for your hard work!
For those of you who are sitting at your computer, hitting the refresh button over and over to find out what other gifts we are giving away, give that finger a rest. And, for those of you who are oblivious of the important things going on around you—Hello! It’s Christmas in July!
If you haven’t already “liked” our Facebook page, do it by clicking here. You’ll to be entered to win one of the five Christmas in July presents we are giving away.
We announced yesterday that the first prize that will be given away to one lucky Sells Agency fan will be their very own litter of Cat Butt Magnets! Classy and tasteful for any household refrigerator.
However, if you aren’t lucky enough to win the Cat Butt Magnets, we have four more gifts that are equally as great. At the Sells Agency, we see holidays as a time to spend time with the ones we care about most. And, to eat cake. So, as our second giveaway, there’s no better gift to give during the holiday season than a Batterfinger! (Feel free to bake us a cake, and no the child is not included in giveaway.)
Our third gift is a fine piece of décor for the bathroom or shower. It’s a soap dispenser and designed to mimic the nose of a very large giant. As pictured below, it hangs nicely on any shower wall and makes bathing a lot more simple and fun. No more slippery bars of soap!
So what are you waiting for? Go “like” the Sells Agency and these gifts could be yours!
I don't know about you, but I've never really put a lot of thought into the process by which the magazines and paper mail I receive each week is printed. This is also true for printing something in the office. I press a button, and it just kind of happens. Like magic. After accompanying the other interns and our intern coordinator, Sarah Kurrus, on a tour last week, I experienced how our friends at Arkansas Graphics make that printing magic happen for the Sells Agency and much of Little Rock on a daily basis.
I was initially surprised by how massive Arkansas Graphics actually is. From the outside it looks like a normal-sized office building, but once inside, you find yourself in a warehouse-esque room. There are multiple high-tech printers squirting different-colored ink, giant stacks of various publications laid out page-by-page, and tons of workers scurrying about. One printer was a loud, violent contraption we were told is capable of decapitating fingers. Scary. We also got to watch someone work with a machine that uses a razor blade sharp enough to cut through 250-deep stacks of paper. Thankfully, this printer has sensors for safety purposes, and I'm happy to report we left with all our fingers intact. Overall, it was an eye-opening experience and definitely gave me an appreciation for the amount of time and hard work required to print everything we request for our clients here at the Sells Agency.
Hey, you. Yes, you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to see what our Christmas in July giveaways are. Sit back, and breathe please. This week we’re rolling out the list of giveaways selected from the gifts that appeared on our 2010 Christmas card.
If you have "liked" the Sells Agency on Facebook, you are enrolled in our drawing. If you haven’t, go HERE to do so – there’s still time.
We know we have kept you all anxiously waiting, but do not fear because the time has come to let the cat (or catt butt in this case) out of the bag.
The first prize that you could win is the one and only Cat Butt Magnet set! Don’t stick pictures on the refrigerator with any old magnet, use a cat butt magnet instead. In all honesty, there are no words that do this product justice. If you don’t believe us, just check it out.
Check back tomorrow for the next two prizes in the Christmas in July giveaway!
As an intern, I expected to be filling coffee cups, stapling papers, answering phones, looking over shoulders and shining shoes. I’m not much on admitting that “I was wrong,” but this calls for an exception. Just two weeks into my internship, I was given the assignment to write two radio commercials for Arvest to introduce and promote the Arvest Family Card and Arvest Family Card $5,000 Sweepstakes. One thing I learned: 30 seconds is a VERY short amount of time to say everything you need to say. However, after a few revisions, cutting unnecessary syllables and saving breaths through test reads, I succeeded!
Yesterday, the other interns and I took a tour of Soundscapes recording and production studio. Mark Schulte accompanied Landrey, Wes and myself to Soundscapes to assist with and watch the production of the two Arvest radio commercials. We got a full tour, met the production geniuses and the talent, or whom I like to call “the voice of Arvest.” Watching the radio commercials being produced was so surreal. And, I really got the satisfaction that my work was becoming something of substance. If you’re in Arkansas, keep your radios tuned in and listen for the Arvest Family Card and $5,000 Sweepstakes commercials!
The temperatures outside are frightful, but here at the Sells Agency we are still feeling quite delightful! Why, you ask? Because we are celebrating Christmas in July! You may remember that this past holiday season we gave our clients and friends the gift of helping them gift others. In case you missed it, you can check out the Sells Agency Gift generator here.
As our way of extending the holiday spirit of giving throughout the year, we are giving you the opportunity to win some of the fun gifts from our gift finder! All you have to do to be eligible to win is “like” the Sells Agency page on facebook. Once we are up to 250 friends who like us on facebook, we will randomly select the winners from that group.
What are you waiting for? Go “like” Sells Agency on facebook, and encourage your friends to do the same. You could find some Christmas cheer from the Sells Agency headed your way soon!
Last month we had the pleasure of attending an Arkansas Advertising Federation luncheon where our founder, Bob Sells, was presented with the Distinguished Educator Award. For those of you who may not know the history of the Sells Agency, or just how much Bob Sells has contributed to our industry and community, we thought we would share with you an excerpt of the nomination we submitted which resulted in well-deserved recognition.
While attending the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Bob became passionate about the field of public relations, advertising and communications. He graduated in 1957, and after a successful career in the industry Bob was named to the Public Relations Society of America’s College of Fellows, an honorary organization for those who have “left a significant footprint on the public relations profession.”
After 28 years as a public relations manager at Southwestern Bell, Bob started his own advertising and public relations firm, Sells and Associates, in 1991. After retiring again and leaving the company in his son Mike’s hands, he pursued his passion for teaching others and enjoyed teaching writing and public relations at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway for six years.
Even today as a retiree, he continues to work for causes he is passionate about and teaches others to do the same. Not surprisingly, he often uses the media and his knowledge of the public relations and advertising industries to fight for those causes. He served on the advisory board of the Reynolds Center on Aging for six years where he did anything related to public relations, marketing and advertising. Three consecutive governors appointed him to the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging where he served as chairman for two years.
It is evident that Bob takes any opportunity to teach that he can, including teaching others the importance of contributing to the community. Always willing to give his insight to help others learn, Bob Sells is truly a lifelong teacher who has openly shared his public relations and advertising expertise with many people over the course of his career.
Clarity, in terms of marketing, advertising and public relations, means several things:
The Sells Agency has developed a process for helping our clients achieve Marketing Clarity because too often we observe or become engaged in communications efforts that have either lost the focus of their original purpose or that, in execution, have become disengaged from that purpose.TaMolly’s Mexican Restaurant recently worked with our agency on the first steps of the Marketing Clarity process – research and planning.
Over the last six weeks, our team has relied upon three different types of research – market perception telephone surveys conducted by an independent market research company, interviews with executives and analysis of trends, and point-of-sale interviews with customers.
Our internal research crew depleted five days and countless bowls of fresh salsa to interview almost 600 TaMolly’s customers in Arkansas and Texas. We will use this qualitative research as a comparison with the market research.
Step one in our process, research, is complete and will be presented to the client next week. Our next course will be step two, planning and enchiladas.
If you haven’t checked out TaMolly’s (link: www.tamollys.com), try their fresh food today. Seriously, today, it is Enchilada Wednesday.
Check out the photos below of some of the research team hard at work!
Featured in both the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s July Style section calendar and in yesterday’s Weekend section, tonight’s Patriotic Spectacular event in Jacksonville is the perfect, family-friendly event!
The Sells Agency wishes you a safe and fun-filled holiday weekend!
The Sells Agency is excited to announce the addition of two new associates in our Northwest Arkansas office who both bring years of unique experience to our agency. Drew Finkbeiner joins the agency as an account supervisor, while Stacey Roberts joins as public relations account executive.
You may remember Drew from his years in the Little Rock office before working for two years at Factory Design Labs in Denver, Colorado. During that time he gained significant digital experience in his role as digital account manager on the Audi USA account. Now, Drew will provide his marketing strategy and consultation expertise for a wide range of clients.
Stacey will lead the Northwest Arkansas public relations team, and joins us after more than six years as a business writer with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Northwest Arkansas edition. Her journalism career spans more than seventeen years and includes working as both a reporter and managing editor for several publications, including the Benton County Daily Record and Northwest Arkansas Times. She will assist our clients in building media relations, public relations strategies and communicating key messages to their target audiences.
We can’t wait to see all that these two will accomplish in our Fayetteville office. Welcome, Drew and Stacey!