Category: agency news

Es/drake’s work for the Idaho Commerce & Labor’s Division of Tourism has been recognized at the national level.

The 2006 Idaho Travel Guide was named the best travel guide in the U.S. by the Travel Industry Association of America. More information about the recognition can be found here.

Congratulations to the folks over at es/drake for the nod.

Technorati tags: es/drake, idaho commerce & labor, idaho travel guide, travel industry association of america

Chevy announced last week that it has invited students to participate in The Chevy Super Bowl Ad Challenge, which will allow a team of 2-3 students to create a concept for a spot to be aired during the Super Bowl in February 2007.

John January wrote up a great recap on how the whole creative process might play out over at the American Copywriter blog. Coming from the creative/agency point of view, I think John is spot-on in his assessment of what will happen. That being said, however, I’d still encourage any interested student to take a look.

Registration must be completed by September 22nd, and submissions are due by October 13th. Its high pressure on a short timeline, but that’s life in the advertising business.

Technorati tags: chevrolet, super bowl ad challenge, american copywriter

So this story isn’t necessarily marketing or advertising related, but it does involve a local business, and its just too good not to share.

I just read on The Idaho Statesman’s website that the women’s fashion boutique store Ishi is going to be closing. Business concerns were a factor in the decision, of course, but the very last line in the article sums up a fantastic attitude to have:

“Every year I would say, next year I’ll have more time to garden and spend time with my husband Pete,” she said. Now, it’s here. “I’m creating my next year.”

Technorati tags: idaho statesman, ishi

Why are there so many radio spots lately that include emergency service-type sirens? Every time I hear something like that in the background while driving, my first reaction is to look around to see where the sirens are coming from, and if I need to get out of the way. Then, once I realize that its actually part of a radio spot, I’m immediately irritated.

I’d be willing to bet that I’m not the only one. So just why would you want to purposely create that kind of negative association with your product/service/message by doing something like that?

Technorati tags: radio advertising

If I were a teacher, I guess I’d be the type to give partial credit for attempting to answer a question or taking the right action.

That being said, I have to give partial credit to Stoltz Marketing Group. They have been occasionally updating the news on their website, including some news items that I’ve previously mentioned.

But here’s the kicker, and the reason that they only get partial credit. Unless you dig into Stoltz’s website, you’d never know that they have been posting any of their news. The reason? When you first enter their flash-only website, the “Latest News” section of their main page indicates that the most recent news is from January 5, 2006. Once you dig into it, however, you’ll find that the most recent news piece is from July 1, 2006, not January 5th. Why is this?

I’d be willing to bet that there is a very simple explanation — the site was built by a developer who is no longer with the company. This developer, I would assume, was the only person who knew how to make the whole site work well, and now that they’re gone, the people who are left are forced to piece it all back together. If this is indeed the case, it begs the larger question — what do you do when a key member of your staff leaves the company? How do you make sure that they’re not taking the full scope of knowledge about a particular subject (in this case, how to update your company’s website) with them out the door?

Technorati tags: stoltz marketing group, stoltz marketing group news, marketing talent