Posts Tagged ‘client service’

Preservation through production

By admin, November 2, 2010

“Advertising without posters is like fishing without worms,” says Jim Sherraden, manager of Hatch Show Print, one of America’s oldest working letterpress print shops. In business since 1879, Hatch Show Print is located in downtown Nashville, TN.

Step through the door and soaring above you are posters, floor to ceiling, all done by hand, on a letter press with wooden and lead type. To be exact, everything is done by hand. Hand cranked, hand inked, hand trimmed and packaged by hand. And then says Sherraden, “…we call the customer from a rotary telephone.”

Hatch is a working museum with artifacts from the turn of the century. As you’ll see from this video, what they’re really about is “preservation through production.” If you love music, just one visit will convince you that that’s true.

You’ll see posters ranging from Bessie Smith to the Beastie Boys and every genre in between. But what really stands out is that the shop is home to a who’s-who of country music history, which makes sense since Hatch Show Print has been making posters for the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame for years. The same type is used today as was 70 years ago.

And isn’t this like farming, where the land, the traditions, the history and the craftsmanship are preserved by keeping farms in production? Even with all the technological advances and innovations in agronomy and machinery, farming is still a hands-on endeavor that requires patience and passion. The same values that go into making the art of Hatch Show Print.

One poster at a time, one field at a time. Passion and determination is what keeps traditions alive. Farming is no different. Without it, it’s just another industry.

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Seeing Innovations Up Close and Personal.

By Chris Jurewicz, September 23, 2010

Someone get this guy a glass of water. That’s what I was thinking as Joe Kelsay, a sixth-generation dairy and crop farmer in Indiana, spoke to a group of Canadian agriculture media this week.

The temperature was 35°C (or 95°F) in the Whiteland, IN region on Wednesday as Kelsay took a group of 13 media on a tour of his farm. He spoke with pride and passion about his operation for close to 90 minutes and, yes, his throat was getting a little dry by the end.

Kelsay with media

Joe Kelsay speaks with Canadian ag media near Whiteland, IN.

This was, however, the perfect conclusion to the 2010 Innovations in Agriculture media tour, which AdFarm organized for one of its clients, Dow AgroSciences.

Kelsay’s family has been farming on the land for more than 150 years and was granted the Hoosier Homestead Award in 2009. To qualify, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years. The farms also have to consist of more than 20 acres or produce more than $1,000 of products each year.

Reporters from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec were thrilled to spend some time with “Dairy Joe” and to learn about how he has ensured his farm remains relevant in an ever-changing industry. Kelsay spoke about management practices, conservation efforts, innovations and even marketing – his tour ran the gamut.

And, just as the conclusion of the Innovations tour was impressive, so was the start – and everything in between.

The group kicked off the trip with a tour of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. The tie between innovations in automobile design and technology – and that of innovations in the agriculture industry – was not lost on this group.

The Indy Motor Speedway is a must-see in the region. Each year, around 300,000 people gather on the speedway grounds for the annual race. Next year’s race will mark 100 years of the Indy 500 (if they can fit 400,000 people on the grounds, I bet it will happen!).

The link to innovations continued on Tuesday, as the media toured the ever-expanding Dow AgroSciences headquarters in Indianapolis. The day was spent looking at the challenges and opportunities the industry faces over the next few decades, which will see the global population increase significantly.

Dow’s headquarters is under construction and will see thousands of additional square feet being added over the coming months. This was the first time a group of Canadian journalists was given the chance to see the work in progress.

A final element of note during this tour was a popular visit to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, which markets itself as the largest children’s museum on the planet. For a tour about innovation, this was a perfect fit.

Thank you, Indianapolis, for a great visit. Now, if you can, please send some of that heat up north.

What agricultural innovations are you most-impressed with or excited about?

Chris Jurewicz is a PR Specialist in AdFarm’s Calgary office. You can follow him on Twitter @chrisjurewicz

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The one staff member every agency needs.

By lexie bexson, March 17, 2010

In an agency, we’re all a team. No one could survive alone, whether you’re an art director, copywriter, account manager or first-year intern who gets stuck mounting things on foamcore – everyone is important.

But there is one role that is often overlooked that can be so valuable – a role that is often responsible for preventing unwanted client issues and huge embarrassments – and it’s a proofreader.

ING Typo

The trick to proofreading is that almost anyone can do it. They just need time, focus and a relatively strong understanding of the English language. In an agency environment, so often is this important step over-looked. And while we might get away with it sometimes, the day when an ad goes out with a miss-spelled word, or a duplicated phrase, or cut-off logo – is a day we want to avoid. Even worse if the client finds it before you.

Ouch.

It can happen so quickly, a rush project, copy sent from a blackberry, a deadline at 3:00 p.m. – and *poof* a print ad appears with a glaring spelling error and it feels like it’s pointing right. at. you.

I once did a travel ad for a local client, trying to make a rush deadline into a daily paper (which I still have, btw). It left my desk approved by the client and in good shape. But when production was sending the ad to the paper, a tiny typo appeared by the travel deal to Great Britain. It read: Londong – starting from only $899.

Boy, did I hear about that one.

There isn’t always one person to blame, we all touch the ad before it goes out the door – but there is only one way we can make sure it doesn’t happen. Proofread. Twice. Just to be sure.

Have any proof-reading disasters to share?

With her keen mind for  strategy Lexie is an idea machine with an eye for a good solutions when she sees it. You can contact her directly at Lexie.Bexson@adfarmonline.com.

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Is the economy affecting your approach to client service?

By shawna robinson, February 8, 2010

With the recent economic downturn affecting everything from housing markets to lending rates, I found myself wondering if the intangible things – like client service – are affected as well. And the answer is inevitably “yes”.

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The services clients request are changing.

Budget cuts in North America have been rampant. Marketing budgets have taken a big hit, which means many clients have had to do without, or get creative. And creativity can come in many forms. Exploring synergies across tactics are crucial. Being forward thinking one, even two quarters out – not annually –  makes for faster response time to market fluctuations and consumer shifts. Agriculture as an industry especially knows that today, many growers are being equal parts cautious and reactionary. And many clients may even opt to take some basic services in-house to capitalize upon their own resources and flexibility to meet the daily grind of internal stakeholder requests.

When budgets change how do your responsibilities evolve?

 

As an agency, the responsibility to participate is never waived. That means:

1. Work hard to educate the client on their brand(s) and how to maintain them. An agency is hired to develop and build brands for our clients. One measure of your ability as a communicator should be to articulate the brand attributes so clients know enough not to erode or compromise the asset they’ve trusted us to develop.

 

2. Keep your eyes on the strategy. When work goes internal, so too can focus. If you are serving as a strategic partner, help your client maintain a clear line of sight to the desired end result. Offer suggestions to tweak the roadmap along the way to help your client from veering off course.

3. Be nimble. Serve your client with a specialized and experienced skill set. Wherever possible, if your expertise is required – even outside the usual process for getting work done – be responsive to clientsneeds.

4. Be honest. We are all on the same team with our clients, carrying the same brand torch.  Make sure you’re doing your part to not let the flame go out.

As we move into more reliable economics and our industry continues to grow, we may discover that through these unique times, new ways of serving our clients will open doors to new relationships and new opportunities.

How do you see the future of client service changing?
Shawna Robinson is an Account Manager at AdFarm. She can be reached directly at Shawna.Robinson@adfarmonline.com

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