Job Opening - Web Developer/Programmer

Es/drake in Boise has an opening for an entry to mid-level developer to "assist in web development within a quickly growing marketing communications company." The full job description can be found here.
(Courtesy of CareerBuilder)

Technorati tags: web developer job, es/drake, careerbuilder

Those crazy kids in Kansas

They're at it again.

Those crazy kids at Sullivan, Higdon & Sink have a job opening, and just as before they've posted it on the American Copywriter blog.

If you're not familiar with American Copywriter, you should be. It is more than just a podcast, and much more than just a blog. Its a brand. And just as they did before, SHS is using the power of the American Copywriter brand to assist in their recruiting efforts. They are taking advantage of a resource that is readily available to them, and (at a very minimal cost) reaching potential employees that are already familiar with the agency.

The question remains -- how long until anyone in this neck of the woods does anything similar? Every job listing I've seen for agencies in Idaho has come from either a typical job listing (either online or offline) or the agency's own website.

Technorati tags: sullivan higdon sink, american copywriter

And in breaking news

Goodby Tops Publicis For HP Global Assignment

I know, you're wondering what this has to do with agencies in Idaho.

Well, Goodby Silverstein & Partners will be taking work away from Publicis in Seattle. The Publicis Boise office is, for all intents and purposes, an extension of the Seattle office. Therefore, Goodby Silverstein & Partners (in theory) has just taken away a chunk of work from Publicis Boise.

Once again, this business, even at the local level, does not operate in a vacuum.

Technorati tags: goodby silverstein & partners, publicis, publicis seattle, publicis boise

Which is an easier change?

As an employee, do you think it is easier to go from working on the client-side to the agency-side, or vice-versa?

A couple of notable examples on the client-to-agency side:

• Jamie Cooper - moved from ProClarity, where he was the Vice President of Corporate Marketing, to es/drake, where he is now the Chief Operating Officer.
• Traci O'Donnell - moved from the J.R. Simplot Company, where she was a Marketing Manager, to Stoltz Marketing Group, where she is not the Director of Business Development.

Moves from the agency-to-client side tend to be a little less obvious, for a couple of reasons:

• Agencies don't want to admit that they've lost talent, which could mean a loss of future business.
• Hiring someone away from an agency just doesn't seem to have the same newsworthiness as an agency hiring someone away from the client side.

What do you think? And what about agency-to-agency? Is that its own ballgame?

Feel free to leave a comment here, or send an email here.

Technorati tags: proclarity, es/drake, simplot, stoltz marketing group

Blueline picks up Flat Planet

No, its not the title to a scene out of some bizarre sci-fi comic -- er, graphic novel as they're apparently called today.

Blueline Grassroots Marketing of Nampa recently acquired the web development company Flat Planet, also of Nampa. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they are both located out near the Idaho Center, in the TECenter on the BSU West campus.

The two companies have worked together in the past, so this shouldn't come as a big surprise to anyone. After all, it was just this spring that es/drake purchased AB Positive and merged it into their agency. Since they are two small companies, hopefully the Blueline / Flat Planet integration doesn't come with the same headaches that seem to come with the territory.

Technorati tags: blueline grassroots marketing, flat planet, es/drake, ab positive

New Hire at Oliver Russell

John Liebenthal has returned to Oliver Russell & Associates as a Senior Copywriter. This is John's second stint with the agency -- he was with the agency for a couple of years during the heady dot com days, before moving over to Publicis in Boise, and most recently The Kern Organization in Los Angeles.

Welcome back John.

Technorati tags: oliver russell, publicis, the kern organization.

Job Opening - Graphic Designer

Okay, okay, so I know I'm a few days late in posting this.

The Boise Craigslist website has an anonymous job listing for a Graphic Designer. From reading the listing, I gather that they're looking for a jack-of-all-trades sort of designer, who can do a little bit of everything.

Once again, this is an anonymous listing via craigslist, but from there are certain lines within it that lead me to think that the hiring agency is.......any guesses? I've got mine.

Oh yeah, and before I forget -- thanks once again to Danny G over at AdPulp for the mention recently. I appreciate the kind words.

Technorati tags: boise, craigslist, graphic designer job, adpulp, danny g, idaho ad agencies blog

Oh the Irony

A little over a week ago I made a post about Albertsons/Supervalu making a switch from one agency to another on some of their work. At that time, I also posed the question of whether or not local agencies do a significant amount of work for Albertsons.

No more than a week later, I came across this news on Oliver Russell's website. While it isn't quite on the same scale as the work mentioned in the original article, the timing of the news seems, so me at least, ironic.

It should be noted, however, that the bulk of the work around the avenu special offers was/is done by Concept Shopping, which is located just outside of Chicago. The way I read the article from Oliver Russell, they did the branding and messaging around it.

Technorati tags: albertsons, supervalu, oliver russell, avenu, concept shopping

Big Brothers Big Sisters Mentor Campaign

A friend of mine passed this along to me, and asked if I'd help to spread the word. Sharing it here is the least I can do...

The United Way Day of Caring, benefiting the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Idaho is coming up on October 19th. This event gives people a chance to become familiar with the BB BS program, and learn more about becoming a mentor to a child in the program.

These pro-bono spots were done by Stoltz Marketing Group, and produced by North by Northwest.



For more information, you can go to either www.bbbsidaho.org, or www.unitedwaytv.org/doc.

Technorati tags: united way, day of caring, big brothers big sisters, stoltz marketing group, north by northwest

Review: Hop On Board Campaign

I've had a chance to catch most of the Hop On Board campaign that es/drake recently did for Valley Regional Transit and ACHD. Overall, I think they've done a good job with this campaign.

The message of this campaign is appealing on several levels. It offers a solution for those who are environmentally-conscious, and concerned about the effects of automobile pollution. It offers an alternative to those concerned about the growing traffic problems and congestion on city streets in and around the Treasure Valley. It also presents itself as a stress-reliever of sorts, in that riders need not worry about the stress of driving, traffic, etc.

Admittedly, I did not catch the "massive downtown event" (as per the es/drake news article), so I have no comments about the effectiveness of that event. Here are, however, a few of the highlights of the campaign (based on what I've seen so far):

Television Spot -- Probably the single most effective visual example of what Valley Regional Transit and ACHD are trying to accomplish. A number of individuals were seated, at roughly the distance from each other that they would be if they were each in separate vehicles. The next shot is those same people, spaced at roughly the distance they'd be from one another if they were all on a single bus. The visual is striking, and it delivers the message(s) quite well.

Radio -- I recently heard a traffic report on the radio, sponsored by Valley Ride (Valley Regional Transit). This sponsorship ran during the 5 o'clock hour, and was well placed spot to reach the very commuters who could benefit from the service.

I do think, however, that there are some areas that could be improved, or in some cases where es/drake has missed the boat:

Transit -- I see a fair number of buses and commuter vans on a daily basis. Since this campaign broke, however, I have yet to see the Hop On Board message on any of these buses. Its not for a lack of available space, either. Several of those same buses have been running with empty panels recently.

Look and Feel -- Looking at it from strictly a design standpoint, I like the "urban, contemporary, and bold graphic design" of the campaign. Putting it into the context of the audience, however, I don't know that it will appeal to / get noticed much by the 35-40 year old professional who commutes from Meridian to downtown Boise every day. I see it being very effective with a younger crowd, college-aged, perhaps, but the message seems to be directed toward the "working professional" who is also a homeowner, has mortgage and car payments, and could see the financial benefit of commuting.

Website -- I do like the fact that the website has the same look and feel as the rest of the campaign, and give es/drake credit for that. The think that stuck me immediately, however -- the tagline of the entire campaign is "Hop On Board" however the URL of the site -- RideLine.org. Why not take the extra step to make sure that your website's URL is easily associated with the rest of the campaign? A quick check revealed that (as of a few days ago) HopOnBoard.org, HopOnBoard.com and HopOnBoard.net were all available to register. Huge disconnect, in my opinion.
I do like the Savings Calculator feature on the site, but I don't find it useful personally, as my daily one-way commute is less than 15 miles. I'd be interested in seeing what I could save by using public transportation, but I don't have that option.
Finally, why not put the television spots up on the website as well? You've already done the work on them, it serves as one more way to engage the customer/visitor, and provide just that much more incentive to use the available services.

There are other suggestions that I could make that would, in my opinion, improve this campaign, but I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach. I don't think that this has completely played itself out yet, and I wouldn't be surprised if the folks down at drake have more pieces to this campaign that just haven't been seen yet. If they do, great -- it'll build on some strong initial work. If they don't, this is still a good campaign that will generate some good response and better involvement in public transportation.

Overall, I commend the staff over at es/drake for a good campaign for their client. I think that they missed out on a few opportunities to make it a great campaign, though.

Technorati tags: hop on board campaign, valley regional transit, ada county highway district, es/drake, marketing campaign review, idaho ad agency commentary

Craigslist Job Posting - Advertising Media Buyer

From the Boise Craigslist website: Advertising Media Buyer

An interesting little bit that I picked up on from this post -- they're looking for someone who has the "ability to engage in high-level negotiations with media sales representatives, utilize market and media research, work with basic media software..." However, in the "Compensation" field at the bottom of the page is listed as "Entry Level."

To me, that says that the employer (whomever they may be), wants to find an experienced media buyer, but they're only willing to pay an entry level wage. In today's job market, I just don't see that working out very well for them. Sure, they might catch someone just out of school, but I'd think its the wrong time of year to take that approach.

Technorati tags: craigslist, media buyer job

And as a follow up...

...to the previous post about Supervalu/Albertsons, the day after the move to Dailey & Associates was announced, Adweek reported that the former agency Duncan & Associates would be closing.

Conventional wisdom, and some basic business knowledge, says that in this type of business you shouldn't depend on one client for the majority of your business. The general rule of thumb that I've heard over and over is that if more than 50% of your business comes from a single client, you should worry. This is a glaring example of why that is the case.

Overall, I believe that most of the agencies in Idaho do a pretty good job of not falling into this trap. Every once in a while, though, it helps to take note of examples such as Duncan & Associates, to prevent it from happening in your own shop.

Technorati tags: supervalu, albertsons, dailey & associates, adweek, duncan & associates