Campbell, Harrington & Brear

October 13th, 2011
Posted By: Allan Pettit

There’s power in numbers. We’re helping a group of electrical contractors tap it.

Years ago, several electrical contractors formed an alliance enabling each of them to select from a pool of more than 300 of the best, most thoroughly trained commercial/industrial electricians available in Central Pennsylvania. As a result, each member stands ready to handle the electrical needs of anything from small commercial shops and offices, to mid- to large-sized manufacturing facilities, to nuclear power plants.

From building a voice and data network, to installing a security system for a new bank location, to wiring anything from a big screen TV in a company lobby to a whole new factory, every one of these electrical contractors can mobilize a crew of these outstanding electricians to meet any customer’s needs at a moment’s notice.

There was a problem, however.  An issue that eluded them for years.

How do you market this arrangement?  How do you advertise a group?  How do you promote something that seems like a non-entity?  Also, how do you brighten electrical contracting and make it fresh?  Despite their previous marketing forays, no one knew much about them.

Enter CH&B. We developed a completely fresh and unique marketing model.  We took the alliance and totally repackaged and repositioned it with an entirely new image, a new edgy name – wiredworks.net – and a new brand umbrella.

All of our messaging – from logo to outdoor – uses bright, zappy colors, bold zippy modern graphics, and a zingy slogan … “when your electrician isn’t working … wiredworks.net.”

Through the use of outdoor – for significant name recognition and initial introduction of the brand – and humorous (yes, humorous) TV commercials, we direct potential customers to a single, cool, highly SEOed wiredworks.net landing page that tells the full story of the alliance and invites the target audience to either select a contractor individually via a link or go directly to the alliance for selection guidance.  Either way, within 24 hours you can have onsite as many electricians as you need for as long as you need them.

Think you need to rewire your image and message? Contact Angela Wenner, our director of new business development. She will develop answers for you that can build your business.

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October 7th, 2011
Posted By: Angela Wenner

Our new web developer, Christian Gloss, toiled late into the evening last Friday. As the office grew darker, he tapped away – writing, testing, inputting, uploading, linking, integrating, tagging, propagating, and staring into the bright light of his iMac, inhabiting a world that most will never understand and using a language that might as well be Martian. Gradually, a distinctive low rumbling noise began to fill his office. The sound seemed endless to him, relentless even, pulling him from his silicon and caffeine haze.

“Not from around here” as they say, Christian had no idea of the tradition, nostalgia, smells and sounds that make York Bike Night a must-do event for thousands of people each year in late September. What he was hearing was the sound of hundreds of bikers converging into a four-block area to show off, meet up, hang out, and simply enjoy the camaraderie that naturally happens when bikers get together.

This year’s Bike Night featured a Grand Marshall that legends are made of: Beese Wendt, a seven-time National Hill Climb Champion who happens to be from York County. A 1976 Sports Illustrated article described him this way:

“An intrepid gentleman named Beese Wendt helped build the Jefferson hill, and holds the record for climbing it. His given name is Truman, but years ago the other riders tagged him with Beese (Bee-zee), sort of short for BSA, because he was fighting faithful to his trusty BSA bike. It is a classic 1949 Vincent, painted bright purple, although Beese swears the aerosol can said burgundy. For Beese Wendt to ride a purple Vincent at Jefferson is akin to Buddy Baker driving a flathead Ford with fender skirts and a Continental kit at Darlington. Despite years of hillclimbing, Beese’s bones are intact. “Got a lot of bruises, and once I hit that darn concrete shed at the top of the Muskegon hill and tore all the cart-ridges out of one of my knees, but that’s all that’s ever been hurt bad,” he says.

“But I don’t know,” he adds reflectively. “Last year was like all the others. I traveled 10,000 miles, and all I got is a car that’s wore out, a bike that’s wore out and a body that’s wore out. I just don’t know….”

The 2012 commemorative Bike Night t-shirt was designed by CH&B’s Mark Leinaweaver, who captured the flavor and excitement of  the 1960’s era Hill Climb competitions where Beese became legendary. Within a few hours, the T-shirts were sold out, vendors headed home and only the hard core partiers remained. I’ll bet Beese was around somewhere, in a smoky bar, telling young riders stories of the good old days.

A few blocks west, Christian shut down his iMac and headed home – for a quiet martini, and a soft pillow.

 

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