Intern Insight: Tour de Soundscapes- Production of Arvest Family Card and Sweepstakes Radio Ads

Our Career Clarity interns have been hard at work since the beginning of June, and will be dropping by the blog in the coming weeks to share with you some of their experiences at the Sells Agency. Enjoy this Intern Insight from copywriting intern Jillian Oyler.

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!

Christmas in July

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!

Bob Sells is Arkansas Advertising Federation's 2011 Distinguished Educator

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.

Bob Sells accepting the 2011 AAF Distinguished Educator Award.

Marketing Clarity for TaMolly's Mexican Restaurants

Clarity, in terms of marketing, advertising and public relations, means several things:

• · From a business perspective, Marketing Clarity means being clear and focused about what business goals are being met by the communications efforts.
• · From a communications perspective, it means being clear with your message.

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!

Jacksonville's Patriotic Spectacular

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!

In it's 10th year, the Patriotic Spectacular has become a way for the city of Jacksonville to honor all the military families that call central Arkansas home. This year’s entertainment will be provided by country singer Candy Coburn, and the Gloryland Pastor’s Choir. It is an evening of family fun, free entertainment, community recognition and, of course, fireworks.

The event is held at Jan Crow Stadium at Jacksonville High School, located at 2400 Linda Lane. Lawn chairs or blankets are recommended for lawn seating. The fireworks display will still be held on the JHS football field.

The Sells Agency wishes you a safe and fun-filled holiday weekend!

A Warm Welcome (and Welcome Back!)

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!

Want to work with us? Here is your chance!

Entry Level Media Job Opening

Are you a recent college graduate interested in the advertising profession? Intrigued by the changing world of media options and how businesses can and should be mixing media channels to effectively communicate with customers and prospects? Are you known for your attention to detail? And, are you more comfortable in a spreadsheet than you are in an art studio or creative writing lab?

If so, then we would like to talk with you.

The Sells Agency currently has an opening in our Little Rock office for a media assistant position. This person will report to the agency’s media director and have the opportunity to provide support for the director in planning, buying, tracking and invoicing media for our clients. Intelligent, inquisitive learners with a long-term interest in the media planning/buying side of the business should apply by sending an email and resume to info@sellsagency.com.