An Adventure with Earl Cox and The Martin Agency

            On Thursday, Earl Cox is coming to speak to our class.  Mr. Cox is currently the EVP, Partner & Chief Strategy Officer at The Martin Agency.  He has worked there for 26 years.  He is also a member of the Marketing Advisory Board here at Virginia Tech.

            The Martin Agency, located in Richmond, VA is quite a large advertising agency that was started in 1965.  They are responsible for creating many famous campaigns for WalMart, Pizza Hut, and Discover.  Thought what really launched them to their success was the Virginia is for Lovers campaign, which started in 1969.  Since then, they have cultivated many followers.  Mr. Cox has worked on the Geico and UPS campaigns.

            An issue that The Martin Agency is facing is making sure that they are still prevalent.  With so many people and new companies getting involved in advertising, they need to ensure that they are still top of mind for clients.

Questions for Kelly Fisher:

            How did you get into the industry?

            What inspired you for Geico and UPS?

            Did you come in entry-level and work your way up?  If so, what did you do as an entry-level employee?  If not, how did you come about your position?

An Adventure with Got Milk? and Kelly Fisher (Class Speaker Prep)

            Kelly Fisher will be talking to our class today about her work with the Got Milk? campaign.  I am pretty excited about it, because though I am not a milk drinker, I absolutely love the campaign.  Below is my preparation for her presentation...

            To be honest, I was not able to find a whole lot of information on Kelly Fisher.  I couldn’t even find her on LinkedIn.  Though I do know that she has been with Got Milk? for a few years now.

            As far as Got Milk? Goes, they have been running essentially the same campaign for the past 19 (almost 20) years.  They use celebrities and other famous figures to promote their campaign by placing milk mustaches on each of them in their advertisements.  For the most part, they have all been print advertisements, and though they have not worn off on people, especially when using multiple different celebrities over the years, Got Milk? has kind of fallen by the wayside in my opinion.

            I think the biggest problem that Got Milk? is currently facing is that there have been so many proponents of other sources of calcium, and the organization is no longer advertising as much, leading some people to forget about this monumental campaign.  This is something to be addressed.

            Not until looking on the Got Milk? website did I know that the organization has come out with a different campaign that promotes the idea that “Real milk comes from cows.”  The campaign is trying to inform consumers that there are so many more ingredients in the other milks on the market (soy, almond, etc.) rather than the few in cow’s milk.  After perusing around the site, I think that this is a rather interesting campaign; it just needs to be promoted more.  I was not aware of it until going directly to the site.  This is something that needs to be fixed.

Questions for Ms. Fisher:

            What type of work do you do working for a campaign that doesn’t necessarily promote a brand, but rather a general product category (milk)?

            How did you get into the industry?

            What inspired the creative behind the commercials and the “Imitation Milk Kit”?

An Adventure with Burt's Bees and Julie Talbot (Class Speaker Prep)

            Julie Talbot has held and currently holds quite a few titles.  In her professional career, she is currently the global brand manager for Burt's Bees lip balm but has held previous titles such as the Associate Brand Manager for Burt's Bees and the Associate Marketing Manager at Godiva Chocolatier.  Being a Virginia Tech alum, she is also a member of the Marketing Advisory Board here.

            Burt's Bees just recently had a failing advertising campaign that Julie will be telling us more about in class tomorrow and what they are doing about it now.  Another thing that I believe Burt's Bees is struggling with is getting consumers to purchase their product.  I am fully aware of Burt's Bees and the variety of products they offer.  But I have never purchased one.  The products of theirs that I have tried have not impressed me anymore than the cheaper lip balms and beauty products that I am already using.    This is definitely a problem that (from what I have gathered from friends and family) that is prominent for Burt's Bees throughout the market.

            My first attempt at a solution for this would be to put Burt's Bees back in the public's eye, and for a good reason.

Questions for Ms. Talbot:

Have you experienced any learning situations from being on the Marketing Advisory Board at Pamplin?

What is a common challenge you face working on a brand?

An Adventure with Publicis and Chris Shumaker (Class Speaker Prep)

            During class on Tuesday, Chris Shumaker from Publicis, a Virginia Tech alum, will be speaking to my advertising class.  Again, not being all that familiar with the advertising world, I was not familiar with Publicis.  After doing research, I realized that they are quite a large firm in the advertising world, working with companies such as Aflac, Wendy’s and P&G.

            It is safe to say that Shumaker knows quite a bit about advertising, having been in the field for close to 30 years.  Working his way up from account executive all the way to the CMO, he has also had his share of experiences and positions.  There is no doubt he will share some interesting insights into our young advertising minds.

            Stated earlier, Publicis is a large firm.  This can make it easy for them to gain accounts, but it can also be a challenge because there is no room for mistakes.  They will always be in the public eye, so any decisions they make will be critiqued.

Questions for Mr. Shumaker

I have heard that in order to go far in the marketing field, you will need something higher than a Bachelors degree.  Do you find this to be true in today’s world?

What are some challenges you have faced and how did you resolve them?

What has been something you are most proud of in your 30-year career?

An Adventure with Wieden+Kennedy and Brandon Thornton (Class Speaker Prep)

            On Monday night, I attended Brandon Thornton’s presentation on finding your voice.  Partially because it was extra credit for both my Advertising and Integrated Marketing Communications class, partially because it was about finding your voice (and I definitely struggle with that), and partially because I wanted a bit of prep before his Advertising presentation on Tuesday.  Here’s a bit of what I learned from the presentation, as well as from a bit of research…

            Brandon Thornton is the Lead Strategic Planner at Wieden+Kennedy, specifically on the Nike basketball account.  He is from Richmond, VA and is a Virginia Tech graduate.  Upon graduation from Tech, he took the first job he could, and worked for UPS, solving shipment issues.  He was not all that enthused to be working there and eventually decided to apply to VCU’s Brand Center.  From there, he was a store manager for American Apparel, and after many attempts, he finally reached his goal of working for Wieden+Kennedy.  He started as an intern, but has moved up to his dream of being the Lead Strategic Planner for the Nike Basketball account.

            As far as Wieden+Kennedy, I had never heard of it (I know, I’m pretty out of the loop in the advertising world).  But after researching it, I realized that I am very familiar with their work.  Obviously, I am familiar with the brand Nike, and have seen many of their advertisements.  Wieden+Kennedy has also worked on the Levi’s, Velveeta, Old Spice, Target, Diet Coke, and many other accounts.  Recently they have done the Old Spice advertisement with NFL player Greg Jennings, Facebook’s first ever advertisement, and Procter and Gamble’s “Thank You, Mom” advertisements during the Olympics just to name a few.

With all of this information, here are my questions…

Toying with going to grad school eventually myself, did you feel that you needed to attend some sort of graduate school in order to achieve your goals?  Why or why not?

I know that Nike Basketball was your dream, but now that you’ve reached it, have you decided on a new goal?

Are there certain tests you use to evaluate a creative?

An Adventure with Modea and Steve Grant (Class Speaker Prep)

            After learning a bit about advertising agencies as a whole, I was surprised to hear that there was quite an up and coming agency here in Blacksburg, VA.  Most of the advertising agencies that are large and successful are found in large cities (NYC being a popular location).  Initially, I thought that the location would be a strategic issue for Modea.  It might be a lot harder to get the word out about and draw clients in.  But after looking at Modea’s list of clients, I can see that they are not struggling with that problem.  Modea has a healthy list of clients, which I can only infer that there is a good and positive perception about Modea and the type of work they put out.

            Not only is their work ethic positive, but Modea also seems to have an awesome work environment.  I am definitely a believer that a factor in producing great work is to have a positive and encouraging work environment.  If people don’t like their job, they won’t necessarily put their best effort into what they are doing.  You can see this in Modea.

            Some Modea Facts:  Won Small Agency of the Year, Best Culture from Ad Age’s Small Agency Awards; Expanding (hopes to have about 200 employees eventually; currently in the works of building an office where the old Blacksburg Middle School was)

           

My Questions for Steve Grant and Modea:

Clearly Modea has a very fun work culture.  What is one of your favorite parts about that culture?

What drew you to Modea?  What did you think you could bring to the culture there?

What exactly are your responsibilities as Head of Strategy for Modea?

What has been one of the most challenging projects you have worked on, and looking back, would you go about it differently?