So why do they keep getting worse? Easy. We have a perfectly failed system.

This is why fresh faces like candidate Sean Summers face such long odds in their quest to represent south central Pennsylvania in Congress. Despite receiving the outright endorsement of the York Dispatch and a tacit endorsement from the York Sunday News (along with Commissioner Chris Reilly), Mr. Summers still must overcome a system design to deny the political outsider. Here’s a recap.

When incumbent Todd Platts decided to impose his own term limit and retire, seven Republicans entered the ring.

Two of the seven are entrenched politicians: Scott Perry, a three-term Pennsylvania state representative and a long-time Republican Party insider; and Mr. Reilly, now in his fourth term as York County commissioner. That they are leading in the polls should come as no surprise. The system is designed by politicians to protect politicians.

Consider the following:

You Scratch My Back, I’ll Scratch Yours

All the members of South Central Pennsylvania’s State Delegation – the group of state representatives who serve the residents of this congressional district – immediately endorsed Representative Perry after he announced his candidacy. All are working to get him into Congress.

Are they trying to get rid of him? Has he done a poor job of representing the district’s interests? Who knows? But a more likely guess is this: Their “all-for-one, one-for-all” attitude ensures their own continued survival. As a result, their machines are now his machine … and when they need his help, his machine will become theirs.

Surprise! Money Follows the Politicians

Sean Summers has promised to not accept PAC money. And of the seven candidates, only two have received the support of PACs. Guess which two. If you guessed the two politicians, Representative Perry and Commissioner Reilly, you are correct.

Here’s why this matters: Individuals can contribute no more than $2,500, and there are only so many people able to contribute that much, especially with seven Republicans shaking the same pockets.

As a result, PAC money tilts the playing field dramatically. Commissioner Reilly has raised $192,000, including $119,000 from Senator Pat Toomey’s PAC Citizens for Prosperity in America (Source: Daily KOS). This has allowed Commissioner Reilly to saturate the airwaves at a rate that leaves others choking in his dust.

And Scott Perry received $5,000 – a relative pittance – from Citizens United, “a group” that Harrisburg’s Patriot News says is “best known for bringing the lawsuit that led to the Supreme Court ruling that the government can’t limit how much organizations such as corporations and unions spend on political ads.” That $5,000 is among the $24,000 he’s received from PACs, accounting for 19 percent of his war chest.

Remember, PAC money is not local money, it’s money from people all across the nation, meaning this election for District 4’s U.S. Congressman is being heavily influenced and paid for by people who have no connection to Central Pennsylvania. That shouldn’t play well here.

Senator Toomey? Your Rent is Due.

Commissioner Reilly announced his candidacy on January 23. Senator Toomey announced his support for Reilly the following day. Whoa!

Question: What do these two politicians have in common? Answer: York area businessman and political puppeteer Scott Wagner, a big Reilly supporter.

According to PoliticsPA.com, “Wagner estimates between direct contributions and hosting fundraisers, he accounted for over $200,000 of Toomey’s 2010 haul.”

Could Senator Toomey owe Mr. Wagner a favor? Gee, do you think?

It’s Only Hypocrisy if It Doesn’t Help Us

While we’re talking about Mr. Wagner, let’s take a moment to explore the Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania, another PAC that, according to Mr. Wagner’s own personal website, receives his “stamp of approval.” You may not recognize the PAC’s name, but it has been flooding Central PA households with oversized campaign postcards this season – some in support of certain candidates, and some slamming, ripping and otherwise disemboweling other candidates. At our house, we have received at least five different postcards telling us why we shouldn’t vote for Representative Ron Miller.

Each postcard bears small type saying, “PAID FOR BY CITIZENS ALLIANCE OF PENNSYLVANIA PAC, THE POLITICAL COMMITTEE CONNECTED WITH CITIZENS ALLIANCE OF PENNSYLVANIA WHICH ADVOCATES LIMITED GOVERNMENT, CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDING PRINCIPLES AND A RETURN TO A CITIZEN BASED LEGISLATURE, NOT ONE DOMINATED BY CAREER POLITICIANS.”

That last part in particular seems odd: “…not one dominated by career politicians”? As mentioned earlier, Mr. Wagner, who has a banner ad for his own website on the Citizens Alliance site, is supporting Mr. Reilly. While Mr. Reilly is a nice man, he is also the living definition of “career politician.” In fact, he is currently serving his fourth four-year term as York County commissioner, this after serving as mayor of Dallastown.

Are These Guys Joking?

In another interesting twist, Mr. Reilly has been endorsed by the Citizens Against Higher Taxes, this despite the 66.6 percent increase in our tax rate that occurred during Mr. Reilly’s four-year term as president of the county board of commissioners (2000-2003).

Then again, that’s the perfectly failed system at its finest. That’s why we continue to get exactly what we don’t need. And that’s why if Sean Summers wins on Tuesday, April 24, citizens everywhere should celebrate democracy’s remarkable resiliency.

That, in a nutshell, was a company’s call for help. For years, yellow book advertising had consumed this company’s marketing budget. And for years that made sense.

Then again, the company was founded in 1972. Here it was 2010, yet the company was still spending tens of thousands of dollars annually on an antiquated medium that’s essentially untrackable. (Yes, the days of the yellow books are over.  When was the last time you used one of the directories?  Heck, people under 35 never use them and those older use them very rarely. Today’s shoppers use their smartphone or computer.)

So the company came to us for guidance into this new digital world. And we explained how those yellow dollars could produce much more green using web-based marketing.

Unfortunately for this particular company, their present website was a manufacturer’s site reskinned for their own company’s use … very little branding and almost no SEO.

So the time had come for this local company to rethink its marketing strategies and step into the modern world of online marketing … a very efficient and effective tool.

Our Plan

By reducing the company’s yellow book commitment to the barest minimum (the client couldn’t go cold turkey), we were able to redeploy dollars into the creation of a new website – which launched in early 2011.  We also developed a web promotion strategy with trackable Search Engine Optimization and strategically designed, measurable pay-per-click campaigns (the first of which launched October of 2011).

We created a new website that is user-friendly and informative with multiple ways of contacting the client for pricing or service. And since the site is content managed, it’s easy to update the content frequently, which improves search engine visibility and allows the client to keep promotional offerings fresh.

Ongoing site maintenance, keyword research, the addition of fresh content and other search optimization techniques by CH&B has enabled our web-based strategy to succeed.

The site’s performance was boosted by a well-targeted pay-per-click campaign which benefited the organic performance of the site as well.

Compared to October of 2011, February of 2012 showed:

• an increase of 125.7% in average time spent on the website
• an increase of 41.7% in pages viewed per visit
• an increase of 5.4% in percent of visitors produced by organic search
• a drop in the bounce rate of 11.2%
• 54 calls were generated in one month via the mobile component of the pay-per-click campaign

Meanwhile, each month, the number of customers contacting the company via the website to make purchases, schedule appointments or ask questions increases. And our Search Engine Marketing techniques have turned the Special Offers page into the most frequently visited page on the site.  A harbinger of future sales results.

“We have been able to position this brand in a way that’s distinct from the manufacturer’s brand, while showcasing the company’s expertise and uniqueness in the marketplace,” says Angela Wenner, Campbell, Harrington & Brear account executive. “A lot of people claim expertise in web-based marketing, but the proof is in the data.”

Why continue to throw your money away in yellow book advertising when you can track and acquire real results in a web-based strategy?

Yeah, politics can get ugly, but they can be a thing of beauty, too.

Campbell, Harrington & Brear has handled a lot of campaigns over the years, helping to brand everything from township supervisors and mayors and judges to Sean Summers, who seeks to become the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania’s new 4th Congressional District.

Few have been more challenging and enjoyable than this one. Due to the surprise retirement of the seated U. S Congressman Todd Platts, we had 93 days to the Primary when Sean came to our door … 93 days to create a brand, a look and a message that would differentiate Sean from the crowd of seven candidates … 93 days to get a read on the newly drawn District … and 93 days to help Sean overcome the significant advantage in name recognition owned by the two career politicians who entered as early favorites.

But as part Sean’s outstanding team of advisers, we’ve seen the campaign come a long way. It is Sean who marshaled the most impressive army of enthusiastic volunteers. It is Sean who saturated the market with a clean, clear message long before the others even stirred. And it is Sean who is wearing the campaign’s mantle of leadership.

Working with people like Sean is what keeps us above the muddy waters of politics. Our commitment is to represent individuals of the highest personal integrity – good people who honestly wish to serve, as opposed to those more intent on feeding from the public trough.  That’s why we have never run a negative campaign.   And that’s why our company has a phenomenal winning record in political campaigns.

And there’s no question regarding Sean’s character. He’s the attorney who represented Albert Snyder, at no cost, against Westboro Baptist Church (the hateful group that disrupts military funerals), in a case that lasted nearly five years and went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Although time is short, there’s still a long way to go. Sean’s running hard. He’s truly living up to his brand: “A Leader. Not a Politician.” And by doing so, he’s coming down the stretch with a great deal of momentum.

The Library of Virginia

In February, I had the privilege of viewing an exhibit of posters at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. My first steps into the lobby of this amazing building set the tone for a fascinating journey into the histories of advertising, music, graphic design and printmaking. What I didn’t expect was to have a revelation about technology, or, should I say, the lack thereof. Nor did realize how little I knew about something so familiar and recognizable as the classic “concert poster.”

The Art of the Hatch Show Print is an exhibit of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. (The exhibit is currently on display until 8/15/12 at the California University of Pennsylvania, in California, PA).

Since 1879, Hatch Show Print has been in operation in Nashville, TN, producing hand-made posters using the letterpress printing method. Letterpress involves the arrangement of hand carved wooden letters and symbols onto a printing block, which is then inked and pressed onto poster paper using various colors of printing inks. This method produces a result that is simple yet bold, perfect in its imperfections, vintage and modern at the same time.

The exhibit featured some of the most iconic images in popular music, creating moments where I heard the music in my head, or recalled news clips from my past when the event first took place and became historic. These posters are the epitome of timelessness.

Today, many graphic designers are referencing this “vintage” style in an attempt to bring coolness or “authenticity” to their work. Fonts are being designed with the rough-edged boldness characteristic of the Hatch Show Print signature style. Sterile, slick, clean designs are being replaced with imperfect, organic, fractured shapes and imagery that have been inspired by 50- or 100-year-old posters never intended to last more than a few weeks.

The Hatch Show Print workshop is still in operation today – in fact flourishing, while taking orders from around the world on a rotary phone. Its walls are filled with racks of wooden letters, symbols and logos cut by hand by artists with callouses and dirty fingernails. There are no computers marring this living museum of printmaking.  In our world of website optimization, social media, iDevices and instant gratification, the craft of the letterpress poster is inspirational in its simplicity.

I’m regularly asked to speak to groups about the latest and greatest shiny objects in our marketing arsenal, the Pinterests and Facebooks and LinkedIns and such. How they can be leveraged to promote brands and engage customers. These are powerful tools, yes, but do they have value without a thoughtfully crafted, simple message, that is creative, memorable and timeless?

“Advertising without posters is like fishing without worms.”
– The Hatch Brothers

 

See the process: A video of the Hatch Show Print workshop.

Images courtesy of Hatch Show Print, a division of the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum.

There are too many potential pitfalls: too many i’s to dot, too many numbers to slot, and too many other packages shouting from the shelves. Often it’s a small canvas, so form and function must work together seamlessly. And in certain segments, the biggest challenge can be striking the right balance between eye-catching design and regulatory compliance.

When you have a trusted packaging partner like Campbell, Harrington & Brear, your life becomes simplified. Whether you need a new design or an update, we’re ready to apply our decades of packaging design, testing and production experience toward meeting your needs.

Over the years, we’ve done a lot of packaging for a lot of products – from food and computer software to grass seed and beer. We’ve designed packaging for everything from prescription products to peat moss. That’s a broad base of experience.

But it goes beyond having the packaging design chops and the detail orientation necessary to see a project through to a pretty, accurate conclusion.

For consumer products, we collaborate with leading research firms on studies that test food labels on simulated store shelves, tracking eye movements to determine not only whether the designs are influencing the shopper to choose one brand over another, but also which elements in the design (brand mark, photograph, product descriptor) are most effective in capturing the consumers’ attention.

We also facilitate consumer focus groups on behalf of food manufacturers to gain insight on perceptions about core products and brands, and to explore the potential of new products being developed.

When you blend that degree of experience and elbow grease with a keen attention to detail and a profound understanding of the process, you can be sure your package will not only be pretty and accurate, but effective as well.

For more information, call Angela Wenner, (717) 846-2947, or send her an email.

This is the opening round of a three-tier, national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), the oldest national advertising trade association. AAF represents a national network of 200 ad clubs across the country and 40,000 professionals in the advertising industry. The Charleston competition is expected to attract nearly 300 entries.

All across the country, local entrants will be vying for recognition as the very best in their markets. At the second tier, local winners will compete against other winners in one of 14 District competitions. District winners then advance to the third tier, the national ADDY® Awards competition.

Under Campbell’s guidance, Campbell, Harrington & Brear has won more than five dozen ADDY awards, including two for Best of Show, as well as numerous regional, national and international awards in a range of media.

“I am really looking forward to seeing, appreciating and evaluating the great work produced by the talented Ad Club members in the Charleston region,” Campbell says.

But to continue being the area’s most successful Realtor, Rick had to become the area’s most progressive Realtor, too.

So we suggested that Rick and his team develop a phone app as part of their marketing strategy.

What is an app?

Apps act as mobile websites for the ever-changing landscape of smartphones. Typically, an app is developed to be downloaded onto mobile devices. The cool thing about apps is they make it easy for your target audience to immediately discover your new services and promotions. Plus, apps can be changed or updated quickly and easily. Apps also build brand loyalty, which is especially important in this digital age.

In addition to serving as a quick portal to your products or services, apps can also play a key role in promotional launches or B-to-B customer service.

Bottom line: With apps, immediate customer interaction is just a tap away.

About The Rick Smith App

We proposed something that would deliver a real market service, while driving leads to the Rick Smith Team and providing user data in real time.

The result is a branded app that feeds local and national MLS listings to a prospective home buyer’s cell phone and provides multiple search capabilities.

For every property that a home buyer is interested in, a phone call or email can be sent directly from the app to the Rick Smith Team, whether it is a Rick Smith listing or not.

Consumers want instant gratification, and marketers want to connect with those consumers at their peak moments of need or interest. This app provides both, and by positioning Rick as the first agent in York County to come out with an app, we reinforced the Rick Smith Team’s brand as the leader in the marketplace.

To support the launch of the app, we created newspaper ads and a digital billboard announcing the app to the marketplace.

The app has resulted in hundreds of searches leading to increased phone and email activity for the Rick Smith Team.

To try the app yourself, text RST3 to 87778, or visit www.ricksmithteam.com and click on the Download App icon.

A well thought-out app might be able to help you better serve your customers while better defining your brand. To discuss whether an app is appropriate for your business, email Angela Wenner, director of new business development, or call her at (717) 846-2947.

Campbell will help to select the most outstanding of 150-plus entries for the local ADDY Awards competition (covering Florence, Georgetown and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Wilmington, North Carolina), the first of a three-tier, national competition conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF).

The AAF is the oldest national advertising trade association, representing 40,000 professionals in the advertising industry. The AAF has a national network of 200 ad clubs located in ad communities across the country.

Under Campbell’s guidance, Campbell, Harrington & Brear won more than five dozen ADDY awards, including two for Best of Show, as well as numerous regional, national and international awards in almost every medium … corporate design, print, packaging, and broadcast.

Concurrently, all across the country, local entrants will be vying for recognition as the very best in their markets. At the second tier, local winners will compete against other winners in one of 14 District competitions. District winners then advance to the third tier, the national ADDY® Awards competition.

Says Campbell, “I am honored to be selected to judge the Coastal Carolinas ADDYs competition.  The AAF-Costal Carolinas has a great number of advertising agencies, design firms, marketing organizations and PR companies that produce wonderful work … I can’t wait to see it!”

For more than three decades, Campbell, Harrington & Brear has been offering a full range of marketing and communication services to help clients cut through the confusion. Their services range from website design and construction to digital media, social networking and search engine optimization, as well as traditional disciplines such as TV, radio, outdoor and print advertising.

Think it’s a good idea to do your own media buying? You are making a big mistake.

Fact is, if you’re placing your own media, you’re wasting your company’s money.

Don’t take it personally, but effective media buying is a profession. And just like Tom Brady can pass better than you and Pavarotti can sing better than you, a professional media buyer can strategically plan and cost-effectively buy media better than you too.

Our director of media strategy spends his entire day immersed in media alternatives, analyzing data, interacting with sales reps, ferreting out the truths beyond the promises, and drafting strategic plans that allocate media dollars in the most effective way for optimal results.

And with the rapidly evolving world of new media, the role of a media professional who understands this dynamic arena becomes even more essential.

Moreover, today’s media professional is able to ensure that your new media will interact and dovetail with your traditional media in ways that create greater impact.

Here are additional reasons why you should have a professional media strategist draft a well-conceived plan and place your media for you:

• You will be spending your money more efficiently by utilizing someone whose knowledge base is rooted in the how, where, when and how often of media.

• You will not be wasting money on media you shouldn’t be buying, like publications your target market doesn’t read, billboards in poor locations, radio stations that attract the wrong listeners, or search engine marketing that is poorly conceived and executed.

• A professional media buyer can help you obtain value-added packages due to strong relationships, negotiating savvy and volume buying.

• And with a professional media strategist, you don’t have to answer all those calls, meet with all those reps, and evaluate all those community requests. He does it for you.

Here’s the bottom line: Even if you don’t need our creative services, consider the value of enlisting our media purchasing services. It will save you money and hassle and maximize the return on your media dollars.

To discuss our media purchasing services, email Angela Wenner, director of new business development, or call her at (717) 846-2947.

For nearly a decade, seed-stage companies have been turning to LSGPA for funding, entrepreneurial expertise, and access to a vast network of connections within the life sciences universe. The firm’s uniquely qualified team offers years of collective entrepreneurial, operational and corporate governance experience, having helped start and build companies time and time again.

But like that busy doctor, they didn’t have time enough to treat their own brand. And they knew it was time for a check-up.

They discovered us through our website, brought us in for a consultation, then asked us to help them “find their blind spots.” What we discovered was a company with a strong, accurate idea of who it was and the space it commanded. “They knew themselves very well,” says Angela Wenner, Campbell, Harrington & Brear’s director of new business development. “They weren’t grasping for an identity, but they were having trouble articulating that identity.”

What they needed, we determined, was an overall polishing of the brand and the development of tools – both traditional and digital – which would allow LSGPA to efficiently execute a consistent marketing strategy. Our goal was the creation of a more current, cutting edge presentation platform, more in line with – and attractive to – the type of burgeoning high-tech companies they seek to serve.

We advanced the logo, taking its basic footprint and giving it dimension. We crafted a slogan – Leading Ideas to Market.^SM – that more clearly conveys their mission and role in the commercialization of life sciences innovations.

But our most important service was helping them take advantage of newer, better, more efficient marketing media tools available for pushing information outward toward their audiences. “They really hadn’t had a chance to focus on high-potential tools such as social media or a website that clearly and effectively serves information and is optimized for search engine visibility,” explains Angela.

Their new website, designed, written and built by CH&B, launched November 1 and now serves as a full presentation of the refurbished brand and the tremendous resources LSGPA has to offer.

If you think your brand needs a check-up, email Angela.