Folks in the media relations business frequently try to sell their services as a substitute for advertising, and goodness knows, if you can get your product covered in Newsweek, that's great (I did for ViaTV). However, building brand awareness requires multiple impressions (three minimum), and one can seldom obtain frequency using media relations. Advertising is the only way to get your product in front of consumers consistently, plus of course, you can control the message completely.
Barnwell Whaley Print Ads
Law firms have specialties and target markets just as any business does. Barnwell Whaley primarily served businesses and professionals. Services for business included contracts and other agreements, defending or prosecuting civil litigation, patents and trademarks, and mergers and acquisitions. Services for professionals included defense against litigation for mal-practice (doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc.), partnership agreements, employment law and other services.
These ads ran in the Charleston Regional Business Journal. The ads were designed to be run three at a time on successive pages, which gave us an opportunity to both tell a story and get multiple impressions. The ads are based on the premise that people hire attorneys, not law firms, thus the focus on individual attorneys.
- Every Problem Looks Like a Nail
- Intellectual Property Services
- Bet the Company
- Health care Services
- Transaction Services
ViaTV Videophone Print Ads
These ads ran in a variety of magazines and newspapers nationwide, including
Good Housekeeping, Parade, Maxim, in-flight magazines (American and United
Airlines), the Miami Herald, the Palm Beach Post, the New York Times and
others. To keep media costs to a minimum, I was able to obtain "direct
marketer" rates from both newspapers and national magazines, which saved
between 40% to 50% off run-of magazine prices.
The primary targets were geographically dispersed families, primarily
grandparents, so the ads had a strong "see what you are missing" component.
The ads were designed and produced by Webber - Harris - Witt. The concepts
and copy were collaborations between Laurie Webber and myself.
ViaTV Videophone TV Ads
In collaboration with Webber-Harris-Witt, I produced one 30-second TV spot, which was aired on cable channels in the San Francisco Bay Area. Entitled "Birthday Party," the spot featured a videophone call between a grandma and her 5-year old granddaughter during the little girl's birthday party.
