Local designer honored

Earlier this year, Treasure Valley Litho held a competition between local designers to create their company Christmas card. They sent out 40 invitations to designers, but only 8 chose to enter their designs. The overall winner was Kate Holgate of Stoltz Marketing Group.

Congratulations Kate. Send me a copy of the design and I'll display it here as well.

For more, check out the full story at the Idaho Business Review.

Technorati tags: treasure valley litho, kate holgate, stoltz marketing group, idaho business review

New Hire at Oliver Russell

Mike Caplan has joined Oliver Russell & Associates as their Hewlett Packard Account Director. According to the announcement on Oliver Russell's website, Mike will be working out of the Portland office, but will travel to the Boise office frequently.

Congratulations Mike.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, oliver russell & associates, mike caplan, hewlett packard

New additions to the agency listings

Thanks to an anonymous comment on a previous post, I have added a couple of new agency links:

Blue541 in Coeur d'Alene.
Salty Design Foundry in Coeur d'Alene.

Now's your chance -- step up to the mic and introduce yourself.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, blue541, salty design foundry

And in other news

Here's something completely unrelated to marketing, but I got a kick out of it anyways.

The space shuttle Discovery has been in orbit for the past 12+ days. It was scheduled to land yesterday, but bad weather has not allowed for it. Right now, they're considering landing sometime today at Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base or the White Sands Space Harbor, which hasn't been used for a shuttle landing in 24 years.

While the folks over at NASA deliberate, the flight controllers in Houston are taking it all with a timely sense of humor:

Flight controllers in Houston, trying their hand at holiday songwriting, sent the Discovery crew in their daily messages lyrics to their version of the song, "Let it Snow."
"Oh the weather at KSC is frightful. But at White Sands it's so delightful. And since we have to land. Land White Sands. Land White Sands. Land White Sands," it said.

Technorati tags: space shuttle discovery, nasa

What's happening up North?

Haven't seen or heard much out of the folks up in Northern Idaho.

Anything new or notable out of Hanna & Associates? Advantage Advertising? Smash Media?

Let me know if there's anything worth sharing.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, hanna & associates, advantage advertising, smash media

As year-end approaches

Will the next couple of weeks be a flurry of activity, or will everyone just coast through the rest of the month? Perhaps a good indicator would be to give North by Northwest a call and see if you can schedule any studio time before the end of the month. I'd be willing to guess that you won't be able to.

The reason behind it? Awards, of course. In order to qualify to next year's awards, a spot must run before the end of the year (see Apple's 1984 for a classic, and locally relevant, example).

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, north by northwest, advertising awards, apple, 1984

Recycled Creative

This one first crossed my mind around Halloween. I've seen and heard (mainly heard) several spots that have been using recycled creative lately. Much of it is time-specific, running around a certain time of year (Halloween or Christmas, for example). Now I'm all for developing creative concepts and executions that can be reused, but the exact same thing year after year?

A few examples:

• Goodwill, and their "Three Witches" spot that has run around Halloween for at least the past three years.
• Hertz Car Sales, and their modified "Christmas Carols" that have run for at least the past two years.
• Ashley Heating & Air, with their "Employee Christmas Band" that is on its second year of rotation.

I'm not suggesting that these spots were all created by local agencies. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't -- that's not the point. The point is that there's a fine line between "Hey, I remember hearing this last year" and "Oh great, they're running that again this year."

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, seasonal advertising, radio advertising

Latest from Moxie Java

I've seen the latest Moxie Java billboards around Boise recently, promoting Moxie Java Gift Cards as gifts this Christmas. The copy reads something along the lines of "Because coffee shouldn't be put in a box." The image is of a wrapped box, with a brown corner and liquid around the bottom of the box.

Here's the thing. I get the concept, I just don't like the execution.

• The "coffee" leaking out of the box appears, to me at least, to more closely resemble the consistency of motor oil than it does coffee. Try this one for yourself -- pour a cup of coffee into a gift box, small cardboard box -- anything really. See for yourself how much is absorbed by the box and how much leaks out onto the floor/counter/table/surface.
• Black coffee? Is that the best they could come up with? Moxie Java offers so much more than just black coffee. Yes, I realize that black coffee may be the easiest visual representation, but the easiest choice is not always the best choice.

Just my opinion, of course. I do not know who is doing work for Moxie Java these days, but I'd be interested in hearing what everyone else thinks about this one. Comment away.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, moxie java, outdoor advertising

And over in Eastern Idaho

It appears that Steele & Associates is still in search of a Media Buyer.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, steele & associates, media buyer job

The lines are blurring

An article on Adweek's website today once again underscores how the lines between traditional agencies and web-centric shops are blurring.

While the article focuses on the big-name national agencies, as Adweek is prone to do, the same principle applies even here at the local level. Traditional agencies are looking to beef-up their interactive abilities (es/drake, for example), while at the same time, interactive shops are looking to add talent with traditional agency experience (Blackfin Technology comes to mind).

Are there others? Sure there are. But one point that the Adweek articles misses is that this has been happening for years. Talent moves back and forth, and sometimes back again. The high-profile moves at these large, national agencies have simply served to shine a little more light on the situation (and I'm sure a little PR push helped move the story along).

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, adweek, es/drake, blackfin technology, marketing talent

Job Opening - Marketing Account Manager

Blueline Grassroots Marketing has an opening for an Account Manager. This person will "manage innovative marketing strategies focused on new media technologies and social networking." The full job listing can be found here.
(Courtesy of Craigslist)

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, blueline grassroots marketing, marketing account manager job, craigslist

Boise Advertising Federation Update

I received an email last night from Victor Obenauf at Platinum Advertising Group, who is the current BAF President. He let me know that the Boise Advertising Federation's website will be retooled in about a month, and there is also a luncheon coming up in January.

Also, there's a BAF holiday get-together tonight in the basement at Pair Restaurant. Here's a little information about it:

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, platinum advertising group, boise advertising federation

Job Opening - Associate Creative Director/Art Director

Here's one for the "now there's a new name" column. Brick Group, which is described as a specialty agency that provides "kick-butt ideas to the real estate industry" is looking for an Associate Creative Director/Art Director.

In reading the description, found on both Creative Hotlist and as an anonymous post on Craiglist, what they're really looking for is a Creative Director, but they want to leave their options open.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, brick group, associate creative director job, art director job, creative hotlist, craigslist

Many Thanks

While wandering around the Internet yesterday, I came across a couple of posts that link back to the Idaho Ad Agencies blog:

Tac Anderson over at Blueline Grassroots Marketing has an entry about Social Networking On and Off Line, in which he lists a number of blogs that he reads regularly, and I am honored to see that this blog is included in that list. Tac -- I got the hint, and one of these days we will have the chance to meet in person.

John Foster at the Idaho Business Review added a blog post on the Boise Valley Economic Partnership, and using local vs. national agencies recently, which included a quote from this site.

Thanks to both Tac and John for the coverage.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, blueline grassroots marketing, idaho business review

An Open Invitation

When the Idaho Ad Agencies blog first began, it was intended to provide an avenue for discussion about the agency business here in Idaho. News, commentary, jobs, rumors -- it has all been fair game.

But a good discussion is not one-sided. I appreciate those of you who have taken the time to leave a comment on any of the topics that have been presented during the past year. You may not agree with what I've written -- hell, you may think I'm completely full of shit -- and you've got every right to have your opinion. I've got mine, as I'm sure you've noticed.

Now I'd like to take it a step further, and hence the open invitation. Do you have something you'd like to contribute to the Idaho Ad Agencies blog? If so, send it to me. Topics are pretty much wide open, as long as it relates somehow to the agency business and marketing environment here in Idaho.

Your contributions can be either credited or anonymous, just let me know which you'd prefer.

Technorati tags: idaho ad agencies, idaho ad agency commentary