LexusRecallsNow.com is live!
Neal Advertising created this site for Lexus of Northborough to provide valuable information to Boston area Lexus owners. Visitors to the site will be able to quickly access specific vehicle recall information on all Lexus models as well as schedule an appointment for repair as well as research recall responses made by Lexus.
We are proud to announce that Neal Advertising has won a Gold Davey this year! Our winning entry is a radio spot produced for smart center Boston called “Smart Driver.”
Hatch Award
We’re proud to announce that Neal Advertising received a Bronze Bowl at The Ad Club’s 49th Annual Hatch Awards. What project won this award you ask? This blog! UnderTheBigTopics.com was the only blog to receive an award in the blog category.
The Hatch Awards celebrate excellence in our creative community recognizing the best and brightest advertising agencies in New England.
Congratulations to illustrators Alexis Pacelli and Bryan Woodbury, designer Danielle Pikus, developers Jason Narciso and Jesse Friedman, art director Chad Foster and the rest of the Neal Advertising team!
This spring I decided to grow a vegetable garden. I haven’t had a garden since I was a kid and the pleasant memories of working in the garden and eating what my family had planted compelled me to create one of my own. If any of you have a vegetable garden, you know that it is quite a process and what you put into it is what you take out…literally.
Well, the summer is coming to an end and I have harvested most of my veggies and looking back on the whole experience I can’t help but realize that much of what I learned while gardening rings true for the creative process. I hope the following observations help grow your creative process.
Plan
Creating a vegetable garden from scratch took a great deal of planning. I had to consider where to locate the garden, if I should build raised beds, what I would plant and so much more.
Planning might seem like an unlikely step in the creative process to some, but it’s importance should not be overlooked. Unlike waiting for divine inspiration or stream of consciousness, planning helps you focus on the task at hand, puts a creative team on the same page before starting a project or brainstorm and can save time.
Consult
I learned early on that I wasn’t going to have a successful garden without a little help. I visited the library and checked out a half dozen books on New England gardening. I talked to my parents, I talked to my neighbors and I talked to coworkers who have gardens. Asking others to shed some light on what they have learned made the greatest impact on my approach to the garden.
You never have to go-it-alone in the creative process. You can always research similar projects in books, magazines and online. Your best resources, if you have them, are your coworkers. Brainstorm, bounce ideas off each other and ask for critiques on how you might make your project better.
Nurture
I didn’t realize just how much I would care about my little seedlings until I found myself waking up a half hour early everyday this summer to water my plants. I spent countless hours weeding, feeding and preventing animals and insects from eating what I was working so hard to grow and you know what? It was worth it.
Developing a style and refining your creative process takes time. Just like those plants in my garden, creatives grow everyday and nurturing your creative process will help that growth. If you find things are getting stale or just aren’t working, try something different. Find inspiration in others and everything around you. How can you apply the life you live to your creative process? What are creative’s doing in different fields? What are you creating in addition to the professional work your involved with?
Adapt
With all the rain we had early in the summer, I had a serious slug problem. I didn’t want to use chemicals so I asked a friend and he told me that you can trap slugs in partially filled beer cans. It worked like a charm! I hadn’t planned on slugs eating my lettuce or the groundhog who lives under my shed to eat my cucumbers so I had to adapt to these situations quickly to solve the problems they were creating.
I can count on one hand the amount of times I haven’t had to deal with an unexpected situation (client changes) when undertaking a project. You have to be able to adapt and adapt quickly. There is always a solution to a problem and quite frankly, I think that finding those solutions is part of the fun.
Share
What I learned in the garden this summer will certainly be passed on to my friends, family and neighbors. The beer can trick I mentioned was a great tip that I passed on to neighbors who were having the same problem.
Sharing your creative input and what you learn through the process is part of being in the creative community. Help your co-workers out, share with other creative teams, blog about recent projects and share insights with clients. This helps them grow and in turn, will help you grow as well.
Enjoy
I had a great time growing a vegetable garden this summer and I can’t wait to start all over again next season. The planning and hard work I put into my garden this summer paid off in delicious veggies and herbs and a summer filled with fun and satisfaction.
You have to have fun and love what you do if you are going to be good at it. You’re a creative because you love to create. You are compelled to create. This is your passion in life and when something is created with passion and love there is nothing better… so have fun!
What did you learn about the creative process this summer?
As part of the Account team at a small ad agency, we tend to wear a lot of hats. Whether it is helping out with a creative idea, proof reading, copy writing or analyzing campaign results, our job description is an ever-changing chameleon of advertising duties. But our most important job is the relationship with our clients.
Establishing a rapport with a client and making that client feel comfortable dealing with you is crucial. When you are working with a client, you are the face of the company. You are representing everyone in your office, from the president of the company to the receptionist. Once a solid relationship is established with a client, it must be maintained, which is true for any relationship that hopes to be long-term.
It is sometimes very difficult for the client to realize that we are working with them and have their best interest in mind. It’s not just about putting together a few new ad layouts and spending dollars. Our job goes deeper than that, we want to be a part of the team. We strive to be the marketing arm of our client’s company, helping them every step of the way.
Some key things to remember:
a) Be friendly – when answering the office phone, greeting a client at the office, or working with your client on a daily basis. This will make your client feel comfortable when trying to reach you or anyone else in the office because it is a friendly environment. The client should not feel like they are bothering us or hesitate to pick up the phone. When coming into the office they should feel welcome and at ease.
b) Listen to your client – always hear what the client has to say at first, even if it is negative. Negative news can be hard to handle and hard not to take personally. Remain positive, and stay focused on the task at hand. Listen to the client’s needs and make sure they are met with your own personality thrown into it. A client might not understand all the design factors that come into play so it’s good to be open with your client about new ideas WHILE STILL making sure their needs are met.
c) Be reliable – do what you say you are going to do. Clients will respect and admire a quick turn-around on a project. This is not to say do a rush job, never sacrifice the quality of work to get something done. This means to deliver the project when you say you are going to. Hold true to your deadlines. Make your deadlines accurate. Clients will be impressed if you deliver ahead of time. They will feel important because you are focusing on their project and it’s on the top of your mind to complete. Clients will be assured that you are going to get a project done when you say it will be done. Not only is this good for your client but good for your piece of mind. Get it finished and move onto the next goal at hand.
Remember, you want to develop business relationships that form into life-long partnerships with your clients and both parties will benefit from respectful, friendly interaction.
Neal Advertising was happy to help The Ad Club out in promoting the greatly anticipated Ad Club Reunion taking place June 22nd at the Cyclorama. Working with The Ad Club team, we designed and developed adclubreunion.com. The site integrates video, photos from the past, superlatives, social media links such as a blog, twitter and facebook and a really fun “Who would you like to see at the reunion” application. Check out the site and consider attending the Ad Club Reunion which is open to agencies, media, clients and anyone looking to network and have a great time!
Have you considered supplementing your advertising budget by using Cooperative Advertising? Cooperative advertising is an agreement between a manufacturer and a retailer that reimburses the retailer for advertising the manufacturer’s product.
Cooperative advertising reimbursement funds can be used to offset advertising expenditures. Instead of cutting back on print, electronic, direct mail or interactive advertising, which reduces their effectiveness, your company will be able to place an effective advertising program at a reduced cost. With manufacturers reimbursing a sizable percentage of your advertising expense, it is a good way to get your message out to the consumer while keeping your advertising costs down.
Let us guide you through this cost effective budgeting tool.
First, make sure you have funds available and find out the guidelines of the co-op program…
1. What percentage will the manufacturer reimburse?
2. What products do you need to advertise?
3. What are the advertising requirements?
4. When do the funds expire?
Next, check with the manufacturer about pre-approval requirements. If the manufacturer does require pre-approval, make sure you have a written copy of this. You will not be reimbursed without it.
Finally, you must gather all the information needed to submit your claim and obtain your funds in a timely manner. Most submission must be done in a sixty to ninety day period. The deadlines are strict. Keep the following in mind…
1. If you are doing radio or television you will need to provide a notarized script and invoice from the station(s). Television also requires a DVD of the spot.
2. Print advertisements require a tear sheet or e-sheet (electronic tear sheet) from the newspaper or magazine along with an invoice.
3. Direct mail advertising requires an invoice, a postal receipt and a mail sample.
4. Interactive advertising requires an invoice and screen shots of banners from the media website. If you have a pre-roll video you will need a DVD.
Coop funds are paid to you by check from the manufacturer, or can be done as a credit to your open account with the manufacturer. Who wouldn’t want to supplement their advertising budget with cooperative advertising? If you’re considering co-op but it sounds a little overwhelming or too time consuming, a professional advertising agency will be able to help you receive the greatest benefits from your cooperative advertising account.