The Little Agency That Roars!

Hosting a most "egg-cellent" media event.

The way to the medias' hearts is through their stomaches. It's got to be one of the biggest (only?) perks for a radio DJ these days -- free food. But to launch Wendy's new breakfast line up in KC, we wanted to go bigger than the morning show crew. So we hosted a VIP media event at one of the stores.

Set the tone.

Yes, this is a fast-food restaurant but Wendy's new breakfast really breaks taste with other QSR menus. Using fresh linens and even an ice sculpture, the moment you walked in the door you knew this was going to be something unexpected.

Use competitive peer pressure.

Business is competitive, especially news and sales. One of the keys to success is making sure everyone knows that if they won't be at the event, their competitors will. The result, more than 50 representatives from all of the major television and radio stations, Food Business News, the Kansas City Star, and our outdoor advertising partners got a first hand taste of Wendy's new fare.

The feedback was immediate and extremely positive:
• "Everything is phenomenal."
• "Delicious with a capital 'D.'"
• "My favorite of all the items we tasted is the Good-to-Go Bar. It's great."
• "The fruit is very fresh and good."
• "I love all of the fruit included."
• "The potatoes are to die for."
• "The coffee tastes great."
• "The food looks very pretty and has a great presentation."
• "This was a great way to demo breakfast. We'll take this experience back to our stations."

The event even made Wendy's news around the company:

Sell from the inside/out.

No matter how successful any media event (or advertising campaign) is, it will never be all that it can be without the buy-in from the people on the front line. We brought that philosophy to a second Wendy's breakfast launch event, this one for crew members. Hosted in a hotel rally room we helped celebrate the launch with new breakfast information kits, new product samples, new marketing programs, key tips for execution of breakfast, and “crewpons” for breakfast discounts. 

When the crew is "egg-cited" so are sales.

 

Getting to the heart and soul of healthcare marketing.

The Carondelet Heart Institute gave us an incredible marketing opportunity: "Develop a campaign for a hospital service line with a difficult name (Carondelet) that is served by two medical centers that don't share the same name (St. Joseph and St. Mary's). The campaign also needs to be flexible enough to be easily integrated into the marketing of other service lines (ie: womens' health, orthopedics, etc.). The campaign must also make measurable gains in patients served. Oh, and by the way, your competitors are going to outspend you at least 12:1."

Love it. Challenge this agency and you're going to get some amazing action.

What we found in the marketplace was two mammoth medical centers pounding their chests over awards, technology and their superiority. What we found at The Carondelet Heart Institute was confidence, community and a personal touch. That became our rallying cry: The heart and soul of cardiac care.

What we came back with is a campaign that celebrates life. Forget the maudlin pianos. Leave the technology to the doctors.  This is a campaign for people who have a lot to live for… their wife, their kids, their team and most importantly, for themselves.

This is also a campaign developed around a retail mentality. We're not satisfied by just raising awareness. With enough money, anyone can do that. Our job is to increase calls, clicks and inquiries to the heart institute. This isn't your typical hospital campaign. This is a hospital campaign with an actual retail offer. 

The campaign went live today (Oct. 18) with TV, radio, print, online and outdoor. The real results are still days/weeks away, but you can judge for yourself if we got to the heart (and soul) of the issue.

920-124 Maybe60

 

Our clients at Carondelet Health also did something else very important. They let us get to work. No committee hoops 'o fire to jump through. No micro-managing. They pushed when we wandered too far, and they gave us the room to make a difference. I think the results speak for themselves.

 

As seen on TV

For your viewing pleasure, more new spots from Fasone: 

 

  The first installment in our new "I am Gladstone" campaign for Gladstone Dodge Chrysler Jeep RAM

Kansas City radio star Tanna Guthrie graces our new spot for Kansas City's auto body repair stars, CARSTAR.

 

  The latest and greatest "Warehouse Pricing" Landmark Dodge spot.

New work for Plaza Art Fair

It's Plaza Art Fair time. Time for new banners, print ads and outdoor boards. It's a roll of the dice every year wondering what illustrator/illustration style The Plaza is going to feature. Don't get me wrong, the illustrations are always lovely, but they're not always the easiest to work with from a graphic design stand point. We hit the jackpot this year and Brandi made the most of our good fortune.

“A big PR home run!” - Michael Garozzo

There's nothing sweeter than a full house on a Monday night. Just ask Michael Garozzo. 

Scott, Dominique and Fasone's PR machine delivered full-houses at all four Garozzo restaurants for their 20th Anniversary. 

“Couldn't have done better.” “(NCAA) Championship Monday is traditionally a horrible day for us. We had a two and a half hour wait at every restaurant.” “We’re going to do this every year. – Michael Garozzo

Garozzo's anniversary was picked up and covered by...

Channel 9

Channel 41

Fox 4 Noon Show

Fox 4 Morning Show

Kansas City Business Journal

Northeast News

Lee's Summit Journal

The Pitch Fat City Blog

Making a Foodie Blog

We arranged congratulatory resolutions from both the Kansas City, City Council and the Missouri House of Representatives.

We also started a Garozzo's fan page on Facebook. Signing up more than 200 fans, the site was used to send invitations, updates and continues to spread our word-of-mouth online.

You have an anniversary this year. Let's make it a profitable one.

The Eleven Windows of Christmas

 

As you're shopping on The Plaza this holiday season be sure to check out the window displays we designed. Eleven very vertical windows all wrapped up in holiday cheer and good design.

What we've been working on lately.

Coming to a TV, radio or egg case near you...
Garozzo's Ristorante – You know Michael Garozzo's voice, now you know what he looks like.
soho119 – A new concept in upscale retail, bringing high-end fashion, intimate dining and a vinotherapy medspa all together under one roof. New York based. Leawood is their first location. Fasone is their advertising agency. Here's one of the radio spots we've worked up for them.

Grazeland Farms – Which comes first the chicken or the egg? Well if you want a better, healthier egg you start with a healthier way to raise egg-laying chickens. Pasture raised on the prairie. No egg factories here. You've got to see it to believe it. Check out their web site Grazeland Farms

Wendy's "eats up" our creative.

When Wendy's International wanted to boost same store sales they came up with "Snack o'Clock"–a new past lunch and after dinner day part. When they wanted to launch the campaign in Kansas City they came to us. Using traditional and digital outdoor, along with online banner ads, we delivered the tasty creative they were craving. You can check out the animated banners here:
Wendy's Web Banner 1
Wendy's Web Banner 2
Wendy's Web Banner 3
Wendy's Web Banner 4

The magic of advertising.

Here's a little story about a little company that found it's "Roar!" through the magic of advertising. PierMagic is a start up company that went looking for an ad agency partner last May. Two brothers. One crew. One technology patent. And the belief that they could repair your foundation better than anyone else around. All Matt and his brother Mead needed were customers.
That's what we bring to the party.
On the surface, foundation repair is a commodity. Since most of us don't know diddly about foundations, all foundation repair companies sound alike. So we put a large percentage of their budget into a jingle you can't get out of your head. Catchy. Clever. A jingle with a hook you find yourself singing hours later. Our media buy then compliments our jingle. By using :15 bookends our jingle is heard twice each commerical break, once at the beginning then again at the break's end.
Since starting on TV, the results have been nothing short of "Roar!":
• PierMagic's call volume is nearly doubling the call volume of their big, national competitor's.
• PierMagic now has three crews and a back log of work.
• People are singing their jingle when asked "how did you hear about PierMagic?"
• Strangers are coming up to Matt saying "hey, aren't you the PierMagic guy?"
• PierMagic is beginning to franchise their technology and their name.
I told you it was magical.

When smaller is smarter.

The Kansas City Star treats advertisers like they're an after thought. Packing their pages so full of ads, sometimes there's only a single, small article on each page. (Which isn't doing their readers any favors either.)

Our solution? Design an ad that isn't easy to stack or pack other ads around. The results have the impact of a full-page ad, without the full-page price.