Side Door Media is No More

It is now known as Balihoo Creative.

During a recent spin around agency websites, I noticed that all links formerly associated with Side Door Media are now directed to Balihoo Creative. No announcement from the company or official word on the change (that I’m aware of, at least), but it has happened nevertheless.

For those who may not be familiar, Side Door Media grew out of Balihoo, by offering a full set of agency services to those who needed more than just the media planning and buying capabilities that Balihoo offered. By all accounts they’ve stayed consistently busy since then, so perhaps this is an effort to more closely align their services with, and support, the Balihoo brand.

Anyone else have more information? Feel free to comment away.

UPDATE: Dave Yasuda, General Manager of Balihoo Creative, left a comment providing more context (and some good-natured sarcasm aimed my direction) about the name change.

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They’re Challenging You. Yes You.

The folks over at Balihoo have issued a challenge to other agencies in the Treasure Valley:

Hey Suckers,

We’re running the Main Street Mile next Friday, and a cocktail says that our agency can beat your agency. Do you have 5 people at your office that can run a mile? Do you believe that a bloody mary is more important than carbo-loading? Prove it. Sign up by June 22.

Details:

Balihoo cordially invites your running participation in the upcoming Main Street Mile – “A Mile for Men’s Health.” For those unfamiliar, the MSM is a one-mile race around the downtown blocks of Boise. Besides a great excuse for exercise and company camaraderie, the race is, more importantly, a fundraiser for Prostate cancer awareness and education which provides free screenings to Treasure Valley men. In 2007, alone, $40,000 in cash contributions were raised and 622 men were screened.

The race offers a company-oriented wave (Albertsons Team Mile Challenge) which features teams of five co-workers who run the course at the same time. What better way to promote community awareness and company pride amongst the Boise advertising community than to rally each agency to field a team?

The Main Street Mile is scheduled for Friday, June 27th at 6:15 PM. Cost for the Albertsons Team Mile Challenge is $50/team and early registration ends June 22nd (please note, you can still sign-up after June 22nd up until the race on Friday). Please see the attached entry form or visit http://www.mainstreetmile.org/ for details.

Thanks for your consideration and we hope to see you on Main Street next Friday.

Best,
Team Balihoo

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The Realities of Business

The topic comes up from time to time — local agencies doing work for local clients, particularly the larger clients that just so happen to be in the area.

Unfortunately, fairly or not, the fact of the matter is that the larger local clients do not always see the value that a local agency can provide.

Case in point: Blue Cross of Idaho.

Earlier this year, Blue Cross of Idaho chose the Minneapolis office of Weber Shandwick to help launch its new web-based health and well being initiative. The folks over at Red Sky PR first noticed this decision, and made comment about it on their PR Musings Weblog.

Another recent example: Balihoo.

In March, Balihoo named Affect Strategies as their Public Relations Agency of Record. Now, given Balihoo’s focus on large-scale media planning and buying, I can understand this decision. It is in their best interest to work with an agency that can provide the best exposure possible, particularly to media buyers and agencies that buy in large volumes, and a PR agency out of New York is certainly a wise choice. The cynic in me has to wonder, however, how much of this decision was driven by the addition of Michael Browner to their Board of Directors two days prior to the announcement. Pure speculation on my part, but the timing just seems suspect.

So without laboring on too much longer with the same old ‘poor us’ mentality, I’ll pose this question: What do local agencies need to do differently to either attract or retain these types of clients? Is it just a fact of life today’s business environment, or are there there areas that local, or even regional shops can focus on to differentiate themselves?

Now, the same question to those on the client side: What do out-of-town or out-of-state agencies offer that local or regional agencies don’t? Where are the local shops lacking?

Now that I’ve stirred the pot, I’m going to go ahead and duck for a while…

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