Blog
Branding advice from City Slickers
One of my all-time favorite movies is City Slickers starring Billy Crystal. It's about three middle-aged buddies who take a vacation to a working ranch and go on a cattle drive. The tough-as-nails crew boss is played by Jack Palance, who in a famous scene tells...
Political Advertising: No, thanks
In this final week of campaigning there is an advertising blitz going on designed to help people make their decision before election day. The only conclusion that all this advertising leads me to: I'm really glad that our firm specializes in tourism, hospitality...
Roanoke, VA : Outdoor Hub of the Mid-Atlantic
Q. What is the most famous hiking trail in America? A. The Appalachian Trail, and nearly a quarter of its 2100 miles are in Virginia including long, scenic stretches that run right through the Roanoke Valley. Q. What is the most visited unit of the National Park...
Brands, Brand Identity and Logo – how they relate to each other
When I do presentations for clients or groups I frequently start with a PowerPoint slide that illustrates how a brand is not the same thing as a logo, tagline, or company/product name. It’s important to understand that a brand is harder to nail down that any of these...
Choosing the right creative firm
A few days ago I posted the first of a two-part series on making the marriage between a client and a creative agency work. The first part offered a few tips on how to get the most out of your relationship with your agency and thus maximize the return on your...
Getting Maximum Benefit From Your Creative Agency
In this space we have written about subjects of interest to us as a creative agency – like developments in the world of advertising and the power of creativity. We've also written about topics specific to our clients and prospective clients – like tourism and...
A Deserving Award for Botetourt County Tourism
I'm writing this blog from my hotel room in Greenville, SC. The Southeast Tourism Society Fall Conference wraps up with a breakfast session tomorrow. I can say about this conference the same things I have said about every STS conference since I joined. It was a...
The evolution of print media. It’s not dead yet!
At about this time 19 years ago my future business partner and I were making plans to launch our business. We were two idealistic kids (we were in our 20 then) with dreams of filling our days doing amazing creative work. We chose our company name because we wanted to...
Where will your trail lead?
I love the concept of Tourism Trails. Not only are they are wonderful marketing tools for destinations, but they are also a great convenience for travelers. It's easy to see why they are becoming so popular with the traveling public: 1. Convenience. There is...
The Truth Shall Set Your Brand Free
Truth in advertising is considered by some skeptics to be an oxymoron. Advertising practitioners are only slightly more trusted than members of congress (now that really hurts!). Well, this advertising practitioner is here to talk about the importance of truth in...
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