the thought

Ad Industry’s Premier National Trade Association Accepts Less Than Ten Percent of U.S. Agencies

Centennial, CO, August 24, 2006 … Thayer Media has been elected to the membership of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the highest professional recognition an advertising agency can receive. The announcement was made today by April Thayer, President, Thayer Media.

In evaluating an agency for membership, the AAAA conducts a thorough examination of a prospective member’s professional, creative and technical skills, as well as the agency’s financial integrity and advertising achievements. Of the approximately 13,800 ad agencies in America, less than 10% are accepted into AAAA membership. Thayer Media is one of thirteen agencies in the Denver area to become a member of the AAAA.

Founded in 1917, the AAAA is management-oriented and offers its members in-depth, proprietary information concerning the operation of advertising and marketing communications agencies encompassing management, media, production, and administration. AAAA members are able to access the association’s extensive advertising, communications, international marketing and market research library. In addition, member agencies can participate in ongoing educational seminars, programs, and conferences covering the industry’s most current issues, practices, strategies, and techniques.

AAAA membership comprises approximately 410 advertising and marketing communications agencies with more than 3,000 offices: 1,196 offices throughout the United States and more than 1,800 in 134 other countries. AAAA member agencies create and place approximately 80 percent of all national advertising, and substantial amounts of local and regional advertising.

About Thayer Media
A thirteen year-old agency with annualized billings in excess of $25 million, Thayer Media has grown to become one of the largest woman-owned firms in Colorado. Thayer Media represents a broad spectrum of clients in a variety of industries ranging from restaurants to financial services to real estate investment trusts.

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02:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Katie Bastian

Wow! That is one angry woman. What a great idea – after finding out her husband has been unfaithful, Emily rents billboard space and gets revenge! I bet there are a lot of women out there who wish they had done the same thing.

Check out Emily’s blog. Emily shares other ways she got back at her “soon-to-be-ex-husband.”

Now, take a look at this video. There she is again, publicly humiliating her unfaithful spouse, destroying his things and getting back at her husband in the process. View video.

Seems pretty real – doesn’t it?

It’s not!

Don’t worry, there are a lot of people who fell for this viral marketing campaign. Here’s how it happened to me.

My friend from high school forwarded me an email with the subject line that said, “Can you believe this???” The email had an attachment of the billboard above that was placed in Chicago. I then passed her email on to a co-worker displaying my shock at such a spiteful revenge.

My co-worker directed me to an article that exposed the truth in the New York Times. Similar billboards were placed in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Los Angeles. People were quite confused between the billboards and the media attention. The billboards were actually advertisements to promote “Parco P.I.” – a reality court TV show.

Parco P.I., is a new hybrid reality/docu-drama series from Court TV that follows the Parcos, a family of New York City private eyes, as they crack cases and expose secrets at their family-run private investigation firm. The show features everything from cheating spouses to corrupt business partners.

Very entertaining! And a great way to introduce the show – turn it around on the viewers who become the private eyes as they attempt to figure out just what is going on with this Emily character.

09:11 AM | Permalink

I receive a lot of newsletters daily and only have time to read so many, but David Berkowitz (regular blogger and contributer to Mediapost Publications) caught my attention with his commentary on the publishing of the AOL search database. He provides a look into "what you can learn from 660,000 searchers."

Liked it. Thanks, David!

11:18 AM | Permalink

An article on the future of targeted advertising on the Internet based on searches performed was published yesterday in the New York Times. There has been a lot of buzz regarding privacy of people's searches and just how "anonymous" those people really remain while this data is being collected. Just think of all the people that perform searches and also Google themselves.

Hmmmm, I am not a P.I. by any means, but even I could figure out how to connect those dots.

11:08 AM | Permalink

Elizabeth Rector

The English word, raconteur is derived from the French word, raconter, meaning to tell or to relate, which evolved from the Old French word aconter, meaning to count, or to reckon up. Aconter is also the source of the English word account, which is a narrative or a record of events.

Today, however, if you ask any modern music aficionado, White Stripes fan or 16-year old kid, it means something quite different.

According to Wikipedia, the colossal online encyclopedia housing over a million entries, a Raconteur is a member of the collaboration between Jack White of the White Stripes, Brendan Benson, Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler of the Greenhornes.

In fact, when you Google “raconteurs definition,” the band appears as the first search engine result. It is quite an achievement: The Raconteurs, ten songs deep, have managed to dethrone hundreds of years of linguistic meaning.

It is important to point out that the Raconteurs could never stake this claim without pay-per-click, wikis, consumer-generated content, streaming videos, online interviews, ecommerce, enewsletters, vertical music and video search engines, cell phone cameras, social networking, viral word-of-mouth and blogs.

Yet Jack White is unhappy. In an interview with the UK’s The Independent, White said, "The Internet is like an electronic rumor mill and it can be destructive." Jack questions the virtue of bloggers who hold no journalism degree or gift for the written word yet have the ability to possess a worldwide audience. He complains of the proliferation of his live recordings on sites like YouTube.com. In an interview with the Denver Post he said, "I've gotten critiqued about being against the Internet in the past, but look at it from our perspective. If we make a video, somebody from the set posts photos that night and kills the surprise. If we play a new song live, they'll just compare the album version to what they heard on YouTube months before."

The Raconteurs kicked off their North American tour at Denver’s Fillmore auditorium three weeks ago. My sister and I bought our tickets the day they went on sale and I rearranged previous travel plans twice so I could attend. Long before the release of their first album, Broken Boy Soldiers, I listened to the two available cuts - ‘Store Bought Bones’ and ‘Steady as She Goes’ - on their Commodore 44 inspired website. In the time that elapsed between the April album release and the show, I listened to the album countless times and watched numerous live recordings on YouTube. I received more Raconteurs newsletters than all other music newsletters combined. I streamed their live performance on KCRW’s The Morning Becomes Eclectic the moment it became available. I downloaded the Rolling Stone Original interview and read plenty others. I spent an exuberant $6.00 on Anthem magazine just because the Raconteurs were on the cover. Amongst friends, I have dispelled misconceptions that the Raconteurs are a contrived super group or a side project on the p.s. note.

Most exhausting, I become slightly faint when people say, “Jack who?” and I am thus inexplicably forced to describe what Jack White means to me. So I guess you could say I was ready for whatever the Raconteurs threw my way at the Fillmore. I was definitely not surprised, I did not expect to be, nor wish to be.

Uh-oh! Somebody found the set list, took a picture of it, posted it online and in doing so “killed the surprise.” Other than the Flamin’ Groovies 'Heading For the Texas Border’ and a yet to be released ‘5 on the 5’ what else would they play? They only have one album, ten songs.

The thing is, the music Jack White makes is no longer truly his and the control over how it circulates is not his either. My memories, which are rooted in the music, are as much part of the essence as are the guitar licks, the melody and the inflection of his voice. People like me, who find compulsory comfort in the music of which we obsess, are the people who will listen to one song on repeat for hours because that song yields a loaded, precious and addictive moment.

The Internet, that is so potentially destructive in Jack’s opinion yet used quite extensively in his marketing efforts (see above paragraph), is what keeps me connected, allows me my fix. His slight disdain makes me wonder if Jack was ever a fan, or if he has always been the creator and the self-perceived controller.

A fan understands the importance of consumer generated content in furthering a sense of connectedness with the music. Deadheads toured the world following their 5-piece plus passion; but because of the Internet, this is no longer necessary. We can be productive, have jobs, take frequent showers and still be huge fans. Like a postcard from The Greek Theatre or a phone call from Irving Center Plaza, the Raconteurs newsletter alerts me they are playing on Conan O’Brian tonight and a new post on YouTube assures me that the world is right and the music goes on. Even if I am not there, I can get pretty darn close.

Jack has said that the first way to do things is usually the best way. Albeit, the origin of the word raconteur is found in the recording of events and now it defines a sweet rock band. Everything evolves and we all aspire to raconteur status. The undulating sea of cell phones documenting the Raconteurs' Fillmore show it not unlike all historical accounts all people preceding us have made. It is our nature to take account of things, to tell our stories. YouTube, Blogs, MySpace, illegal cell phone recordings – these are the elements that make the mosaic that tell our story, these are our markings on the wall.

Don’t be so pensive Jack. Just remember, I will always love you!

04:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CENTENNIAL, CO August 9, 2006—Thayer Media, one of the largest media planning, buying and placement agencies in the Rocky Mountain West, acquired 5 new clients in the second quarter of 2006.

Client partners include:
Colorado Mountain College – Two year college with 12 campuses throughout the Rocky Mountain region
Stapleton – The nation’s largest urban development, Thayer Media planned and executed their summer radio campaign
Pester Marketing Company – Owner of Farm Crest and First Stop convenience stores
JOMY – Boulder based manufacturer of aluminum ladders, fire escapes, staircases, and balconies
Metropolitan State College of Denver – Located in downtown Denver, Metro State is a four-year college and has the second largest undergraduate population in the state

A thirteen year-old agency with annualized billings in excess of $25 million, Thayer Media has grown to become one of the largest woman-owned firms in Colorado. Thayer Media represents a broad spectrum of clients in a variety of industries ranging from restaurants to financial services to real estate investment trusts.

01:37 PM | Permalink

Katie Bastian

What do Toyota cars and children under the driving age have in common? A lot more than you might expect.

In the past decade, marketers have realized that kids are key players in household purchase decisions. Little ones have more influence over purchases from food to cars than ever before.

According to a national survey called, “Nag Factor,” commissioned by the Center for a New American Dream:
• “55% of kids surveyed said they are usually successful in getting their parents to give in (to their nagging for a
product they want).”
• Children affect over 60% of the family’s market purchases.
• American children aged 12 to 17 will ask their parents for advertised products an average of nine times until the
parents finally give in.
• Babies as young as six months old can form mental images of corporate logos and mascots.
• Brand loyalties can be established as early as two years old.

With that said, Toyota seems to be on the right track with their latest marketing strategy. The car maker teamed up with Whyville.net, an educational online community of kids ages 8-15, who create their own personas and interact with other visitors, for a virtual promotion of its Scion model.

Members of Whyville.net, a.k.a. “Whyvillians,” earn “clams,” the currency of Whyville.net, by playing educational games. After the launch of this new campaign, hundreds of virtual Scions were purchased using the “clams.” The new virtual Scion owners could custom design their new cars, and drive around the virtual Whyville and pick up their Scion-less friends for a ride, according to an article about this promotion published in the New York Times.

Toyota says the campaign is working. Ten days into the campaign, visitors to the site used the word “Scion” in online chats more than 78,000 times and the community meeting place, “Club Scion,” was visited 33,741 times.

According to Matthew Diamond, the chief executive of Alloy Media and Marketing, “Targeting so-called tweens or teenagers long before they can buy a product is a tactic that more and more marketers are exploring. You are branding your product at a relevant time to the young person. You’re establishing that brand presence and positive association, since important buying decisions are forthcoming. But the key to reaching younger consumers is to capture them before they have any opinions on brands.”

Toyota seems to be right on the money. According to an article from the Associated Press, Toyota’s overall sales numbers are up almost eight percent for the year.

Toyota’s marketing department is also on target. An article called “Facts About Marketing to Children,” notes that advertising directed toward children is estimated at over $15 billion annually – about 2.5 times more than it was in 1992. In addition, 80 percent of all global brands now deploy a “tween strategy.”

So Toyota’s marketing department sees a need to reach a younger audience to gain loyalty, and they fill that need through their Whyville strategy.

The other thing they are doing right? Using the Internet. The Internet is an ideal medium for marketers to target children and tweens because:

• Kids pack 8.5 hours of media exposure into 6.5 hours each day, seven days a week – which means they spend more time plugged in than they do in the classroom.
• It’s part of youth culture. This generation of young people is growing up with the Internet as a daily and routine part of their lives. They email each other instead of calling on the phone, they use the Internet for school projects and also use the Internet as a source of entertainment (i.e. games and chat rooms.)
• Sophisticated technologies make it easy to collect information from young people for marketing research, and to target individual children with personalized advertising.
• By creating engaging, interactive environments based on products and brand names, companies can build brand loyalties from and early age.
-According to, “How Marketers Target Kids.”

Toyota is making a name for itself and employing new and successful marketing strategies, while American carmakers are notorious for marketing flops. They almost always have to rely on price point advertising to sell in a time crunch. Hence, Chrysler’s new employee discount program to move their 2006 models off the lot and GM’s increase of the rebates they offer.

GM and Chrysler marketing departments could learn a lesson from Toyota. It is time for American car marketing departments to spend more time building their brand image and lifetime relationships with younger clients because not only do kids influence their parent’s purchasing decisions, but it will also help American carmakers build brand loyalty early in a customer’s life.

02:17 PM | Permalink