The Pull of Pinterest

We know we aren’t the first people to write about the Pinterest trend. Communications consultant Shel Holtz recently confirmed there are now more than 50 million blog posts referencing or featuring the social media site. Clearly Pinterest is doing something right. Because these days, a new form of social media isn’t groundbreaking news, but what about a social media outlet that sucks you in and has you asking yourself: Why am I so addicted to Pinterest?

Pinterest is a site that allows members to create digital boards as a way to organize and catalog images they find on the internet, and anything is game - from recipes, to a pair of shoes, to something they find on an interesting blog. Virtually anything can be “pinned” to different boards the user creates. With over 10 million users, the content on Pinterest is almost endless.

Pinterest has been around since 2008, so why are we just now hearing so much about it? As social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter, continue to evolve, people find themselves overwhelmed with status updates and comments. There are those of us who can’t make dinner without creating a Facebook album of our meal, or risk depriving followers of our opinions on the big game.

In a recent article by Fast Company, Dr. Christopher Long, a professor at Ouachita Baptist University, explains how Pinterest serves as a much-needed escape from the day-to-day content sharing of other social media sites.

“It’s not a place where I have to worry about being bombarded by other people’s over-sharing of uninteresting or annoying daily experiences or about accidentally revealing intimate details of my day-to-day life,” Long said.

So how can Pinterest be a useful tool in the world of marketing? Like all tactics, Pinterest makes a lot of sense for some businesses and no sense at all for others. When it does make sense, Pinterest can provide a fun way for consumers to discover brand values and company culture. Here are a few examples of a few brands that are using Pinterest well to build awareness:

Kate Spade

Chobani

Whole Foods

The Travel Channel

2012 ADDY Awards

This past weekend the Sells Agency attended the ADDY awards – presented by the American Advertising Federation–Little Rock (AAF-LR) – which honor a high standard of creativity and excellence in advertising. We are excited to announce that the agency received five awards for work we created on behalf of Sheltair and Arkansas Tech University.

We won a gold ADDY award for our Choose Tech campaign, produced for Arkansas Tech University. This campaign received the only gold award for a television campaign outside of the PSA category. The Choose Tech campaign also received a bronze in the regional/national TV, single spot, consumer services category.

In addition, our Arkansas Tech Accelerated Degree TV was awarded bronze in the local television, :60 second category.

We also won bronze ADDY awards for Sheltair photography in both the campaign and color photography categories.

Special thanks go to Sheltair and Arkansas Tech University for working with us to create these successful, now award-winning campaigns. It’s our honor to work with such great clients on a daily basis and to be a part of a wonderful organization like AAF-LR.

WE WANT YOU!

Are you a college student or recent graduate interested in marketing, advertising, graphic design or art? Do you want to spend your summer doing more than babysitting or running to get coffee and making copies? We are looking for one account services intern and one graphic design intern for our 2012 Career Clarity program.

Past interns have completed various projects and campaigns for local non-profits and new agency clients that included website planning and design, brochures and other printed pieces, statewide research and public relations efforts. No matter what the project is, we promise you will be busy, have fun and learn a lot about our industry.

If you are interested in finding out more about the 2012 Career Clarity program, get more information here, and click here to get the application. Applications are due March 30. Please email questions to sarah@sellsagency.com.

Interns will be compensated for their work.

Sells Agency Welcomes New Associates

The Sells Agency is excited to welcome two new members to our team team. Elizabeth Luttrell and Lauren Thompson have joined the agency as art director and account executive, respectively.

Elizabeth is a Little Rock native and comes to us from Dillard’s where she worked as a graphic and packaging designer. She has been hard at work bringing client campaigns to life with her creative eye, and we are slowly but surely getting over the fact that she is an LSU Tiger.

Lauren has been working as an account executive for Moroch Partners for the past four years and will be heading up client accounts on both the digital and traditional side for the agency. She has an impressive background both in her work experience and as a member of the Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Arkansas.

We are excited to add these two women and their diverse talents to our team. Welcome, Elizabeth and Lauren!

"There is no love sincerer than the love of food." - George Bernard Shaw

How true Mr. Shaw, how true. And, the food is just one of the reasons we love our client, TaMolly's Mexican Restaurant.

They have been an active participant and integral part of our Marketing Clarity process since last summer, when we started market research. After months of hard work from their team and ours, we have a nearly-complete campaign that includes a multi-media approach to reaching the client's target audience through TV, radio, outdoor advertising, newspaper inserts, in-store signage, web and public relations.

The concept behind this work is based on the love and fresh ingredients that go into making TaMolly's food, and how that will carry over into the customer experience. Below are some of the pieces of creative that recently hit three specific TaMolly's markets. Other pieces of creative are still in the works, but we'll be sure to share them with you soon.

And, if you haven't dined at a TaMolly's and experienced their delicious food and fabulous prices, you can find your nearest location here.

Outdoor board:

Newspaper insert:

TV spot:

Happy National Popcorn Day!

Arvest first began passing out popcorn at the bank’s first branch, located in Bentonville, Arkansas, many years ago to make their customer’s banking experience more enjoyable. The bank’s 230+ locations are now known for having popcorn on hand for their customers, and today all Arvest branches are celebrating National Popcorn Day.

To get the full history of this fun Arvest tradition, check out the bank’s “Why Celebrate National Popcorn Day?” blog here. And don’t forget to stop by an Arvest branch today for your own bag of free popcorn!

PR Defined

The Sells Agency is a marketing firm that offers full advertising and public relations services. Okay, but what does that really mean? In short, it means we work with our clients to define their business goals and set forth a plan, using a variety of communications tactics, to achieve them. Since we wear so many different hats around here, sometimes it is hard to clearly define all our capabilities. Within different industries, and certainly within the field of communications, it is important to clearly articulate what you do. Luckily, for our PR department, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is currently leading an international effort to modernize the definition of public relations.

The practice of what is now commonly referred to as “public relations” dates back to the early 20th century. Over the years, public relations has been defined many ways, with the definition often evolving alongside technological advances and changing roles. In 1982, PRSA adopted this definition of PR, which remains widely in use:

“Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.”

Pretty short and sweet, right? While this statement still holds true, thirty years have passed, and it is time for a rethink. Below are the three definitions of PR that the PRSA is currently gathering feedback on for their “PR Defined” campaign.

Definition No. 1:
“Public relations is the management function of researching, engaging, communicating, and collaborating with stakeholders in an ethical manner to build mutually beneficial relationships and achieve results.”

Definition No. 2:
“Public relations is a strategic communication process that develops and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their key publics.”

Definition No. 3:
“Public relations is the engagement between organizations and individuals to achieve mutual understanding and realize strategic goals.”

We think it’s important to let those of you who hire PR practitioners like the Sells Agency have a say, so which one is your favorite? Go here and give PRSA your feedback.