Creating a 'Monster' of a Campaign
How Consultant Kevin Palmer Lures Fishing and Hunting Enthusiasts to Neighboring Province
By Nathan J. Silverman - March 16, 2010
Independent marketing consultant Kevin Palmer of Thunder Bay , Ontario , coined the slogan "Manitoba Monsters" to promote the central Canadian province's trophy fishing and wild game hunting opportunities to well-heeled outdoors enthusiasts.
Now in its second year, Palmer's successful “monsters” campaign for client Travel Manitoba is creating jitters in Ontario 's hunting and fishing industry while winning the admiration of some competitors there.
“Kevin's brought a lot of awareness to a province with very little marketing funds,” said Ed Henn, owner of northwestern Ontario 's Tetu Island Lodge. “He's doing a phenomenal job with a small budget. We outspend them by a ton of money.” Henn, a 20-year veteran of Canada 's hunting and fishing industry, said visitors were approaching him at this winter's consumer outdoors shows in the U.S. and asking if his lodge was in Manitoba . “It came from this Manitoba marketing campaign,” Henn said. “We've seen a real decrease in the bookings at the sports shows because of the program he's put together to convince people they need to go to Manitoba .” "How can you keep up to this guy? He's the guy that does the research initially - and those comments stick in his mind as he produces the creative himself - all the while retaining those key sales triggers as he shoots the images, calls for the creative theme - and then lays them out, huge cost savings that goes right to the media buys"
Another Ontario lodge operator, with 25 years of experience, said, “I've never met anybody like Kevin. He's aggressive in a good way. He's not a business-as-usual person. The man does great work.” He added, “The word among Ontario lodges is that they feel Manitoba really has its act together.”
Hunting for insights
Travel Manitoba retained Palmer in 2007 to develop and manage a new marketing strategy to increase the province's share of the Canadian hunting and fishing market and to attract outdoors enthusiasts who had never hunted or fished in Canada .
The founder of Thunder Bay-based Superior Image and Project Management , Palmer is a target-marketing specialist who believes in getting inside the heads of his client's “best customers” to find words, images, and new products and services that will resonate with their sales prospects.
Palmer is also an accomplished commercial photographer who has handled assignments for General Motors, the province of Ontario , and Canadian Geographic magazine, among other blue-chip clients. And he puts his visual communications savvy to work for his marketing clients.
To lay the groundwork, Palmer conducted in-depth interviews with
• Travel Manitoba 's management to understand their goals
• A cross-section of the province's fishing and hunting lodges and outfitters to understand their needs
• A sample of the most loyal and enthusiastic customers of some of the province's premiere fly-in resort lodges and outposts to understand their motivations and expectations. These customers, in Palmer's opinion, were the most important marketing information sources of all.
Palmer's photography ability comes in handy from time to time - as the studio work has made thousands of relevant, usable images to ad agencies all over the world...and has reduced the outgoing budget amounts for imaging - able to spend more on relevant, in-market media.
The “best customer” interviews provided essential insights into the wants, needs, and thought processes of these valued lodge patrons, which proved useful for creating new promotional literature, advertising, and trade show exhibit materials
Palmer also visited a number of lodges first hand to experience the atmosphere and operations of the industry he would be trying to help and to take photos — including dramatic aerial shots — that reflect the compelling images that customers spoke about in interviews.
Some of the creative for the newly constructed hunting campaign for Manitoba. Site visits and having creative delivery skills have amplified the available budget for purchasing more media for the Province.
The customer interview process has an overlooked and beneficial side effect, Palmer notes. When a customer endorses a company, the psychological principal of “consistency” automatically comes into play and works to the company's benefit. It's human nature to act in a manner consistent with one's stated principals – to be true to one's beliefs. So, a customer who speaks well of a business during these in-depth interviews will tend to remain a loyal customer, barring any major disappointments.
KEY*Constant Contact - Palmer has provided his lodges with a steady diet of information, requests for their input and more over the course of the last three years - this creates teamwork - and elevates the overall thrust of the in-market campaigns. As for the design "overkill" Palmer quipped "well, if it doesn't look attractive, no one will read it!"
Lodges provided Palmer with the names of some of their best customers for consumer research interviews, which, in turn, helped assure that these individuals would remain loyal customers of those lodges. Ken Gangler of Gangler's North Seal River Lodge and Outposts in Manitoba , said Palmer “quickly grasped the idiosyncrasies of our industry and laid a foundation for success that will pay off for years to come.”
Shawn Gurke, owner of Nueltin Fly-In Lodges, said, “What is remarkable is that Kevin didn't just absorb facts and figures. He took the initiative to immerse himself in the culture of our industry, identify our clients, and gain perspective from them. Initiative is the one thing that brings his talents to the surface.”
Magnifying Manitoba 's marketing dollars
Palmer says a key to Manitoba 's success was creation of cooperative marketing and advertising programs that have excited, motivated, and mobilized a critical mass of the province's approximately 130 fishing and hunting lodges and outfitters. This was no easy task, Palmer says, given that the industry comprises a group of fiercely independent, competitive, mostly family-run businesses that had become disillusioned with other marketing campaigns, which they felt had grown stale and brought them no direct benefits.
Rick Bohna, general manager of Big Sand Lake Lodge, said, “Kevin has done in two short years what has never been done before. We now have over 100 companies working together through his unique marketing initiatives. It's taking the marketing of our product to a new level.”
The benefits for his client Travel Manitoba have been manifold. Palmer estimates that with the financial participation of the province's lodges in the various marketing programs and the leverage achieved through sponsorship investments, Travel Manitoba is receiving three dollars in promotional value for each dollar the organization spends.
It's showtime
A cornerstone of Palmer's strategy for Travel Manitoba has been a multifaceted campaign to support the province's fly-in and drive-in fishing and hunting lodges and outfitters exhibiting at the annual All-Canada Show, a traveling expo staged in January and February in a series of major Midwest U.S. markets and also in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The show focuses exclusively on Canadian hunting and fishing.
In a novel cost-sharing venture, Manitoba lodges paid to participate in locally produced Chicago television advertising campaigns designed to spark interest in Manitoba exhibitors at the Chicago edition of the All-Canada Show. The commercials, shot on the show floor prior to the public opening, featured lodge representatives jointly preparing a classic Manitoba shore lunch and included video clips of each lodge. Lodge owners reported that visitors to their exhibit booths mentioned seeing them on TV.
Hammering down on the hunting side of things - this year, the Safari Club International promoted the Manitoba Monsters Grand Slam Auction - with resounding success! Manitoba's operators are well placed now in the top-of-mind-awareness of most participants in this show in Reno, Nevada - the largest in the world!
In 2009, Travel Manitoba stepped out with a new and larger exhibit booth, including a eye-catching, 20-foot inflatable replica of a “ Manitoba monster” northern pike, a principal show sponsorship role, and a redesigned Manitoba fishing and hunting guide. But Palmer's most radical trade-show innovation was making a concerted effort to connect visitors to the Travel Manitoba booth with the Manitoba lodges on the show floor.
“We had to ask ourselves what value our presence at the show brings to the lodges,” Palmer says. “What's the point of just smiling and handing out maps and brochures?”
Gutting the competition
Palmer engaged visitors in conversations to ascertain their interests and their likelihood of fishing or hunting in Canada. Relying on his first-hand knowledge of Manitoba lodges, he directed them to the ones that best fit their requirements. In many cases he personally escorted visitors from the Travel Manitoba exhibit to a lodge's booth and introduced them to the proprietor.
Handing out maps to guests at shows - Mimicking the creative from our Fishing and Hunting Guide available at each show, Palmer created little "mini-maps" showing only the locations of the participating Manitoba Lodges at each particular show. Here, in Minneapolis - the mini map featured the "love" that Manitoba has for it's #1 geographical destination.
By one count, during a single day of the Chicago All-Canada Show, Palmer funneled 58 groups of prospective customers from the Travel Manitoba booth directly to various Manitoba exhibitors, bypassing out-of-province lodges.
“That's where he destroyed us,” Henn, the Ontario lodge owner, said. “Kevin walked them over to Manitoba booths. Without a doubt, he brought them business.” Palmer's unconventionally pro-active sales tactics ruffled Henn's feathers, but he acknowledged its effectiveness.
“I watched the Manitoba booth and exhibitors, and they were having a very, very good show,” Henn said. “There were several large groups that I didn't even get a chance to talk to this year.”
Guerilla marketing to bear hunters?
The ability to complete creative AND surveys of best customers again proves to be successful - this creative published in multiple issues of Bear Hunting magazines attempts to capitalize on the lack of Spring Bear Hunting in other jurisdictions - Palmer shot this upclose photo of a Sow alongside the highway enroute west to Manitoba.
In addition to blanketing the local TV and radio airwaves with innovative and cost effective advertising — purchased at extremely favorable, negotiated rates — Palmer also commissioned a public relations program in each of the All-Canada Show cities. Centrally handled by a Chicago-based PR firm, the PR campaign utilized traditional and online media to reach outdoors enthusiasts through local newspapers and Web-based media by means of news releases, personal contact with local outdoors editors and writers, posting content on special-interest online forums and community news sites, and posting comments on mainstream media Web sites. A 2010 press release highlighting the 50 th anniversary of Travel Manitoba 's Master Angler Awards program resulted in a sports section story in the Des Moines Register, one of the Midwest 's largest newspapers.
Digital Boards were employed this past year in the Minnesota Markets - posting takes about a minute - and this webcam delivered proof of fulfillment within a two or three minute time period. Technology allows Palmer to have very large arms around the world - working from his office in Ontario Canada.
For the Minneapolis-St. Paul show, Palmer deployed digital billboard advertising at 19 locations in the metro area, including billboards promoting the availability of bear hunting. Visitors en route to the show were literally ambushed by outdoor advertising for Manitoba 's outdoors.
For good measure, Palmer also secured long-term billboard contracts at three high-traffic locations in western Ontario proclaiming “There's better fishing in Manitoba .”
This billboard is up in a key competitive market - showing the incredible fishing opportunities found in Manitoba. Pricing and developing creative in-house were both keys to obtaining a long term deal on this work.
Beyond the All-Canada show initiatives, Palmer has organized and led delegations of Manitoba lodge owners to sales venues that were new to most of them, including an international meeting planners' convention in Dallas and a consumer expo in Germany that drew 75,000 visitors.
Fishing for physicians
An outgrowth of Palmer's “best customer” surveys is a new program to expand the market for Manitoba 's outdoors offerings.
After discovering a niche market of fishing physicians through the “best client surveys”, Palmer spearheaded the creation of a “Hook and Learn” continuing medical education program for licensed health care professionals, another collaborative venture with the lodges.
The fully accredited program, launched in 2010, was developed and will be taught by instructors from the University of Manitoba . The programs will be held at participating Manitoba premium lodges. Tuition is free, subsidized by Travel Manitoba and the lodges, which are also helping to underwrite the cost of a pilot advertising campaign in a Canadian medical magazine and the production and distribution of program brochures.
Manitoba's Lodges Lodge Their Praise
Gangler of Manitoba 's Seal River Lodge said Palmer's campaign “has raised the bar so high for the other provincial tourism agencies it will take them years to catch up to Manitoba .”
The in-market media for Manitoba's new hunting program. In-house media allowed this piece to quickly develop at a low cost to the client and allowed more room for in-market media buys. “Kevin Palmer's branding work for Travel Manitoba is innovative and right on the mark,” said Joel Prunty, long-time media manager for the All-Canada Show, who has observed many provincial marketing efforts over the decades.
Mark Clarke, manager of market development for Travel Manitoba , Palmer's client, said Palmer's work “gave us an elevated and sustained presence in the marketplace.”
While Palmer's “Manitoba Monsters” might be haunting the sleep of the province's competitors, they're creating sales possibilities that Manitoba 's lodges and outfitters once could only dream about.
Palmer, strangely enough - was never a fishing or hunting expert - and was initially teased in gest by competing lodge and outfitting owners while at shows - "hey, there's the Manitoba fish and hunt guy that don't fish or hunt" - one can only imagine what they may be saying now...
Kevin Palmer, RPM, CMInst.M, CTB (hons, Arizona) can be reached at his company, Superior Image and Project Management, at (807) 473.3648 or kpalmer@tbaytel.net . His personal page on Facebook Palmer is on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Institute of Marketing and is certified as a “Registered Professional Marketer” member #801.
All images, design, layout, writing, creative stuff - Kevin Palmer, 2009.
Some sample media from the past couple of years and a detailed explanation of how and why it was created...
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: shoot a portrait in studio | shoot an exterior shot of a thing | take a studio shot of a product | super-impose them all together | create a message which is relevant based on an event, person, place or thing, then reverse the image and lightly set that same image into eyes to give the impression that this was all real and natural and that the subject is actually looking into the product - and combine all of this into an ad design for magazines, brochures, prints, sides of cars, banners for web: total time 4 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Go 3500 feet underground | setup all studio flash equipment | bounce light off of reflectors | hide lighting behind equipment and off camera | balance light evenly to work out hot spots | light man in bucket at top right | take studio shot of man holding pick axe / miner tool | superimpose together | add shadow beneath tool to create illusion of on top of image | logo it and sell it out the door - total time 8 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: take macro shot of phone focused on services blurring out background enough to still realize its a phone | find map of local area on google and put it together in graphic in photoshop | design round piece of art for phone number to sit | come up with creative to amplify the phone service for client | layout in corel draw | print pdf and have client approve | colour correct phone and match colours in graphics to flow | produce client name similar to logo | place into phone book ad - total time 8 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot outdoor lifestyle shot at remote lodge facility | get angle just right for drawing the eye into the photo | use photoshop to warp client logo to appear as though it's written on the dock | utilize warp and trim command to write sales attraction message on dock and have it appear to follow the dock's layout as well | colour correct photo | place ad into magazines, web, sport show materials and other. Total time: 4 hours |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Go to Pow Wow at Manitoba MTS Centre | shoot for 4 hours all of the dancers in their traditional clothing | come up with 300 images | zone in on one or two good images | put into photoshop | use warp and blur command on copy of image to create speed look | twin it with the Provincial slogan | twin the pieces together to form one attractive ad | send in for printing on wall mural, billboards, promotional brochures and re-edit for website - total project time 12 hours plus shooting. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot laptop in studio with lighting and red and blue gels over flashes | take screen capture from website | superimpose screen capture over top of computer screen to create illusion that the laptop actually has this on it | take photograph of plane flying at airport | remove background | use blur and warp commands in photoshop to create the blur effect using the colours of the website for continuity | keep all colours within the same look and feel | tilt plane to appear as though it is taking off | recreate the prop using another photo of plane on the ground with good prop look | superimpose it all together for advertising piece | total project time 18 hours |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Learn about Sky Trac Monitoring systems from client interviews | understand the importance to them and it's impact on their buying habits with concern for safety | arrange a shoot with management in the background | setup lighting in control room | setup phone look | screen capture the map and superimpose onto screen for the illusion that we've shot it real time | have people in the background blurred out | clear off tables to appear organized | shoot image without showing man's face | put together slogan to emphasize the safety bonus that people get by flying with our client who has well-experienced pilots | brand the airline | layout ad | place ad for approval | publish ad to client's database for future use; total project time for this piece: 14 hours including setups. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Emphasize main selling feature vs competition which was detailed in client surveys - age and experience...this lends itself well to the word "trust" - shoot image of all older pilots in uniform in front of plane and stick to same colours: layout in Corel or Illustrator and submit to client database for repeated media buys in the future. Total time for this project: 3 hours shooting all pilots, layout 4 hours, approvals and corrections: 4 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot outdoor shots of plane landing, colour correct, crop to maximize splashing, shoot shots of corporate guests landing and shaking hands with lodge owner, superimpose in photoshop, reduce opacity to see "through" the image, label branding onto image, create see through lodge branding strips, layout cleanly - send for approval for magazines, show brochures, booth designs, web, corporate pieces and to the clients involved. Total time 12 hours including concept planning. |
|
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Site visit to lodges | find bear | shoot bear from a safe distance using a $4,000 Canon L Series Lens | Layout billboard from image | buy billboards at incredibly low rates and purchase enough to influence millions of people to make the call | keep phone number large enough to see and call from a car phone | make billboard 40' x 20' and send to billboard company in Minneapolis to reprint | run billboards in series with a movement strategy of 3 weeks in each area rotating around over 4 month period | measure results | submit to client for approval | total time this project: 3 weeks. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Convince Santa to come into studio | shoot him on white background | shoot credit card with macro lens | put credit card into photoshop | mimic font style of credit card and change name to North Pole Credit Card | change name on card to Santa Clause | show santa in a number of different poses including pulling his pockets out like he's broke | wear the numbers off the card with blur command | create ad featuring Christmas Catch UP loans | place name and phone number | put a time frame on it | clearly write the contact information on the ad | submit ad for approval | publish and buy print media and website upload | metrics built in to the web : total time on this project: 17 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot lifestyle imagery for 3 days at client's lodge | superimpose two ads together | blend the two nicely | create a few different layers together | create a drop shadow beneath banner on top | make text stretch across face | layout the logo design across the clear space | make the splashing very evident | create banner for show booth | print banner 10'x10' and make trade show booth | total time on this project 16 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Make three banner stands | shoot portrait of drilling in the field | create logo | shoot product shots of various stuff to illustrate availability | create banners | use shots of spinning drills to contribute to the "cool factor" | use blend and warp commands to create graphics | take shots on white of products being sold | create three stands | get client approvals | print stands at $300 each | make show handouts | print 200 of these at $250. Total time on this project: 3 days at 12 hours a day. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot images in field over a summer | retro existing logos | create shadows for behind logos | layout in a style similar to Fortune magazine to attract corporate viewers | keep font selections to a minimum, all in the same family | come up with attractive messaging | utilize existing provincial logo within the colour scheme | make it a visual piece that you wanna open up and look at | print 65,000 of them and arrange for distribution throughout Canada, USA and some in Germany. Total time on this project: 3 months. |
 |
|
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot kid in a chair with a video game controller in hand looking straight up at nothing | zoom in on shot of grizzly bear's feet (from the zoo in Winnipeg) | superimpose the two together | come up with the sell for the dsl / high speed internet | twin the two together with all the disclaimer information below | submit to client | total time on project 1 day. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Creation of a 12 page brochure to sell more sauna stoves and outfits. Shoot imagery of younger boy in studio on white, shoot images of products, develop benefit and feature listing of the advantages of these stoves, layout in a size of 5.5" x 10.5" and make booklet of it, produce 100 booklets for distribution at a sports show: total time on project: 4 days. |
|
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Billboards in competing markets. Shot of massive fish. Buy billboards in key areas where competitive clients visit - make billboards reveal what they're missing by not coming to our clients places - in their face type advertising. Total time buying and building: 4 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Buy bag icing sugar. Get mirror. Go to pharmacy and get empty pills and bottles, write the word "HELP" in icing sugar, place needles and spoons and pills in the image, find logo that is kind of scattery and disorganized looking like an addict - then shoot the piece for sale in the future | submit to client for approvals | shoot on mirrors and black velvet | total time on this project 2 people at 8 hours from concept to completion. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot lifestyle hunting scene in the field. Shoot image of millions of geese in the air. Superimpose the two together from the same region / area | create a sell document for the benefit of all the clients | print to billboard and show brochures - and web. Give copy to client and save into clients' database. Total time on this project 22 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Alcohol and Drug Addiction Series ll - shoot beer bottle in studio, simulate the words "high life" on the label, multiply it out ten times to give the impression of spinning | list off all the downsides of excessive alcohol consumption including stroke / heart attack / liver trouble / paralysis / schlerosis / breathing trouble / hang overs and twin it with a positive message within the series "Get MORE out of Life" and submit to client for approval for their health and safety posters. Total time on this project 2 days. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Create a piece to attract the attention of medical personnel interested in Continuing Medical Education. The front has the Doctor operating in an operating room but we can't tell what he's operating on - and the caption on the front is "Doctors look after people all day long - but who looks after the doctors?" Upon opening it, they see this - a doctor operating on a fish removing the lure amplifying our "catch and release fishing" conservation policies. It also documents the course outlines and benefits and features on this page of the 11x17 with a fold. Total time layout, design, photography, concept, selling, program implementation: 3 months. |
 |
From above. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot for General Motors and Chevrolet for the new truck styles in 2006. Take imagery and combine with shot taken of QEW in Toronto for massive appeal - and twin. Total time on this project: 1.5 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Mimic creative in-market for this show handout detailing operator locations at a show. Designed to maximize traffic at the show to our client's operators. Handed out to every guest entering the facilites. Branding from in-market utilized - as well the cover mimicked the cover we utilized for the guide that year...which was reproduced on our booth as well. Total time this project 12 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Self promotional piece from 2004 - total time in studio 8 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: On site visit - shooting clients lodges. Wrote in shadow'd material the name of the lodge - kind of cool, somewhat artsy. Total time including shooting at lodge and creative concept - 3 days. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Very proud of this piece. Winner of all kinds of awards for internet and lawyer marketing. The key piece was the bottom left hand "ad" which closely mimicked the survey information received while interviewing over 200 clients. The resulting increase in business was somewhat overwhelming and this ad continued relatively unchanged for a number of years. Won awards for productivity, yellow page design, internet design as well as created wealth for the client. Total time on this project: 5 weeks including survey, photography, layout/design and corrections. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Truck wrap on a 5 ton for a food distributor. Took all images and blended them together. Food shots on the side you can't see - candy and confectionary on these two sides. Logo and detailed contact information runs this banner around the City with very high profile results. Total time on this project: 2 weeks. Impact astounding. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Flip cover on the guide for Manitoba. Superimpose all these shots together into a format which is condusive to having hunters pickup our guide and hopefully select Manitoba as their next destination. Total time on this project: 3 months given the in-location shooting and graphic designs - designed and redesigned; passing through a network of opinions and retrofitting to their liking. Includes all major hunting activities in the Province and a high satisfaction level was received for the most part. Includes branding information on Manitoba Monsters...a key separation and definition tool for the outfitters. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Excitement, feel, great branding and more - this work included a site visit at a local track in Manitoba and then colour correcting, cropping and branding for the company. Total time spent on this project: 10 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: More branding work on a client's personnel. Total time on this project: 1 hour, yielding dozens of great images which intimate quality without a word. Logos and branding applied afterwards. |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot images and layout into flash - took out the last part as it pertained to an older promotion. Focus here is to either beat'em (golf) or join'em (fishing) with the final caption being "nothing beats 8 hours in a boat with your clients"...an obvious push to the corporate world to continue fishing as opposed to golfing with their clients... |
|
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Shoot lifestyle scenes and create a billboard and web things out of the creative. Quality is of the highest priority within this work. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Amplifying the safety side of things for a new client Cobra Drilling. We've completed several best customer surveys - and from those came the ability of my client to quickly circumvent issues which others have difficulty with - one such issue is attention to safety detail. Here, my client's driller talks on a satellite phone with the drill blurred in the background. Total time on this project 8 hours driving, 4 hours shooting, 4 hours laying out - and 3 hours discussing and altering for website at www.cobradrilling.ca |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Amplifying the quality side of maintenance - this contractor was shot in front of his backhoe on site at Cobra's working site in Longlac. Utilizing the skillsets developed through Playboy Magazine's training, he is basking in light from all around - and producing a very high quality image. These and other images are being placed now at www.cobradrilling.ca |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Amplifying the safety side of things for a new client Cobra Drilling. We've completed several best customer surveys - and from those came the ability of my client to quickly circumvent issues which others have difficulty with - one such issue is attention to safety detail. Here, my client's driller is covered in mud with the drill blurred out in the background - the logo is the new logo for another of my client's whose website is being developed at www.wrprodrill.com |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: The beginning of the Wirerope ECommerce site which led to finding expertise in this area and developing a team approach to resolving the thousands of products that my client carries into a neat and complete package. For more on this ecommerce site - go and check it out! |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: To clearly communicate the new product lines at Prodrill, owner Hugh Paxton ordered this newsletter from our firm as part of our ongoing work. The newsletter features higher quality images from Cobra's site visit, as well as detailing of the new things that Prodrill is marketing. The piece went out on a Customer Relations Management software via email at no printing or distribution cost to Prodrill and had a positive impace on his business. Prodrill and Superior Image seem to work exceptionally well together over the past few years...he is a respected client and super business development expert. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Another creative which was produced to sell heaters to the drilling community. This image was taken of a jogger several years prior in Moose Factory Ontario at the Cree Village Eco Lodge - however, it was the perfect shot for this cover of Hugh's newsletter... Note the caption on the bottom - "Yes it's cold - but at least there's no bugs!" This is a perfect example of why a retainer needs to be in place - as this type of creativity would never have resulted, without an intimate knowledge of the history of the business - combined with an ongoing update every week. Excellent client, excellent results - excellent outlook going forward! |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Same client - growing and growing. This poster was made for his grand opening in a second location at Red Lake Ontario. Had to be done without imagery - and the grand opening was a success, we produced the marketing collaterals, submitted advertising and took care of some of the sales motivators in the design. Proud again of this client. Total time on this project: 20-50 hours a month. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Our firm also writes pretty good sales outlines to motivate folks to buy - aided by some tools purchased over the years. One of the most incredible things that I use personnally is the Sant Proposal Writing Software which contains thousands of tips, tricks and phrasing that makes us sell more product and service than any other firm I am aware of...and it doesn't really matter if its' moose hunting or widgets in Africa - it seems to work. The initial survey and the retainer portions are key to having the sales motivators shine...so don't forget to include that retainer in your recommendation - if that is why you are reading this. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Cover of the October SlingChoker drilling catalogue. Elements here are the pick, the rock, the blurring of the rock, the red gels underneath the rock to make it look like it's on a "ring of fire" and then clear sales information and fast delivery shown by the blur and the related text. The total time on this project was 3 hours after all the images were shot. These images were already in our database from previous projects. This particular creative is now going on 3 years old - yet it's still in use... |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Our firm also writes pretty good sales outlines to motivate folks to buy - aided by some tools purchased over the years. An older sell page on the wirerope portion of Prodrill's business - pretty clean and concise which encourages better readership. I put this in here because it's quite plain, and shows a level of consistency even given the moderately exciting subject. Sorry Hughie. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: This is really old - but still kind of cool. The layout forces you to read it for some reason - can't explain although the shot of the wire was tough to take and really came out well... |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: A little profiling on Hugh. Works to set the tone for the rest of the website and puts a face on all this marketing jazz - hopefully making him a little more familiar to those that only deal over the phone with him. Again, great client. On to Travel Manitoba samples... |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Part of our work with Travel Manitoba is to engage our partners in buying activity. In this case, this graphic sold it out in about 3 hours. In those 3 hours, we received 5 hunt donations from operators at a cost of $4,500 on average. Proud of my operators in Manitoba - the finest marketers around! Time for layout: 9 hours, conceptualizing the idea: 2 weeks prior to: result: total sell out two years in a row. High profile positioning for Manitoba in front of the world's richest hunters - the Safari Club International. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: And part of the process of selling - is to make it painfully obvious that all advertising is pretty heavily subsidized - which it is...thus the re-use of the Santa Clause imagery. We're giving away ads at $3,000 that cost $40,000 and getting a maximized take-up on this advertising from our operators across the Province. The net effect is receiving about $3 in value from every $1 spent - when considering the reduced pricing we've been getting, the operator contributions - and the promotional programming that we've been participating in. Love those operators in Manitoba - the Premium Lodges and Outfitters in Canada. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Throughout the marketing plan that was written from testimonials and interviews from their best clients - a multi-facetted approach was built from scratch - this slide outlines the areas that we tackled all at once - usually suicide, however I had lots of great help from the client and the lodge operators - and so it was successful. From left to right - Doctor incentive programming, master angler program alterations, masterangler gear introduction, re-introduction of the partnership program, new booth design and production of a giant 23' Manitoba Monster fish, introduction of the Manitoba Monster branding, introduction of hunting marketing plan, new ad designs, new guide designs, introduction of the Premium Manitoba Lodge marketing group, promotion of City fishing (catfishing, ice fishing) and more - we've accomplished so much inside 3 years! |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: More highlights from time in the field with client Travel Manitoba. Aerial - 1 hour. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Becoming a better writer and laying out of stories for the guide were both things learned during the past years with the agency. This has translated into better stories for my other clients, faster media turnaround - and less errors in the work. Travel Manitoba has been a great learning experience to be sure. Maximize time: 4 hours, page layout 4 hours - edit story 4 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: The imagery and experimenting with how imagery effects target groups - which I have maintained throughout the years with Travel Manitoba have led to being able to directly correlate certain marketing activities with purchasing levels...something that ordinary business does every day. This website was designed for www.manitobamonsters.com but has yet to be adopted. Time to design page: flash 9 hours, web with link placement: 21 hours, overall layout: 36 hours. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: This looks like it will be the cover for the 2011 Guide - although I haven't yet perfected the layer selections. Time so far: 2 weeks on and off. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Connections through my photography work landed the editors of Playboy magazine up to a premium lodge in Manitoba. This was quite a feather - as Playboy's circulation numbers are quite incredible and the folks from that magazine that came to Manitoba are amazing mentors for my career - and quite nice, personable gentlemen. Time on story: 2 weeks, 3 days shooting, organizing trip for others 2 days: |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: Our firm also handles all the media buying for all of our clients. This number, approaching a million dollars a year - puts the firm in a unique position - as we've negotiated with: CBS, NBC, KARE ll, ABC, negotiated NFL Playoff spot time, InfoMercial time, time on CBS Outdoor Billboard as well as billboards in Chicago, Minneapolis, digital boards, Texas Radio, Minnesota Radio(4), Chicago Radio, Dallas The Ticket, Canadian Magazines Hockey News (2 million subscribers), Outdoor Canada (1.4 million subscribers) and more. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: This appears to be the image for the guide for 2011, however it's not settled yet. The 65,000 guides that will be produced will be sent throughout the USA, Canada and Europe - this year we may also send them into China - as part of a Canadian Tourism Commission initiative to drive more business into Canada through this newly developing market. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: As part of our contract, we also negotiate ways for Manitoba to get more top of mind awareness and exposure. Partnering with Outdoor Canada is such a way. We setup a deal whereby they visit our lodges, write a story, include the story in their editorial, have a contest for a free giveaway to a Premium Lodge in our Province - and the whole thing has an exposure value of more than $100,000 and yet costs us very little. Just an excellent way to continue achieving better results for our clientele in the long term. Total time spent on this promotional effort: 100 hours plus. |
 |
Creative Services Menu for this Piece: We have been buying media for many years and are able to secure quite a good deal on a repeated basis. Bear Hunting magazine features our advertising pretty well all year long for a great price with good advantage to our outfitters in the business. There's a testimonial from a few of these types of folks here. |
 |
Having the folks from Field and Stream Magazine show up and then to develop a rapport with them seemed like a great idea - as they are one of the largest magazines with very very large subscription base - although I had little to do with the original trip - I have maintained contact with these caliber of writers on an ongoing basis. Every little bit helps. Media fam trips are a great thing to offset marketing costs and obtain great value from magazines that are credible and with large distribution. |
 |
So, after interviewing this clients' best clients - strategy was developed which closely mimicked the opinions and intents of those best clients...so, we immediately went out and got the #1 sponsorship position with the dominate show in the business for Manitoba - the All Canada Shows. Our firm did design the giant 20' booth, and the cover each year sits on the third row - with all kinds of benefits and features being displayed on the booth. Last year, we added another customer suggestion and put the 23' giant Manitoba Monster blow up fish into action as well - all towards gaining a better presence in the market for my biggest client - Travel Manitoba. |
 |
As part of our promotional campaign, we try to give back a little something to the communities where we serve - in this case, Wyatt Johnson received this cheque for $4,000 to be used at a lodge in Manitoba as part of a Dream Draw and in conjunction with our contest "The Great Canadian Outdoor CookOff" The Cookoff pits Manitoba Lodges against one another cooking shore lunch with a judge picking the winner and the entire thing broadcast in the markets where an upcoming All Canada Show is to be held. More top of mind awareness for my client, Travel Manitoba. |
 |
In order to gain top of mind awareness and maximize during these All Canada Shows, we designed this little handout for our client - Travel Manitoba. Inside, depicts an area which is the floor of the show and details where each operator is within those show areas. The piece is then handed out at the front door of the arena by members of the "fishing for life" charity group and we paid them a small fee for this service - which in turn was used by that group to sponsor events that they hold. This little handout mimics the cover of the fish/hunt guide - which is also made oversized at the booth for Travel Manitoba. More top of mind awareness for my client, Travel Manitoba. |
 |
Also, as part of the media blitz - we benefit from some pretty ok advertising in the guide for the actual shows. Here's the creative we came up with for that particular application. Its' a pretty steady diet of all-year media creation, show planning, advertising buying, media placement, sponsorship coordination, operator relationship building and more. Love that job with Travel Manitoba!
|
 |
In the past three years, we've arranged, attended or setup advertising in the following US centres: Minneapolis, Washington, Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, Madisson and this year will be doing the same in Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix and Miami. To date, the firm has purchased over $5 million dollars in media on behalf of several different clients so far. |
 |
Presently - another contest and editorial is being undertaken with amazing top of mind awareness results for the client - Travel Manitoba. In fact, more than 6,000 people have entered into this contest on mobile, on email, online, and through the magazine's pages on newstands. This represents millions of viewers across the Country and will be an ideal venue in the future to continue to create wealth for the operators in the fishing and hunting product in Manitoba. Have a look for yourself - it's running right now, may as well enter - no? |
 |
Now on to a little variety - these were done a little while ago - backlit 4' giant menu boards for a local restaurant called Java Hut. I have done the original ones a few years ago and it was time for a price increase and some changes - so... Total time on these 5 boards: 18 hours. |
 |
Shot these images long before I had the right equipment for lighting, lenses or camera. However, they'lldo for now. Looking forward to doing some franchise work in the near future with Tim's. More to come. |
 |
Have a million images of amazing sunsets from Manitoba - which will come in handy in a stock bank some day. Images sell for a one time usage beginning at $1,000. I now have a series of regular buyers for my images, which is nice. |
 |
The main sell for our lodges - that incredible wealth |
 |
Something from nothing. This little shot is a gem but really clearly illustrates the precision that the industry has overall. These stakes line up the drill to the exact location required... |
 |
As part of some of our work, we often get repeated offers at the last minute for super buys when others back out of agreements. One such deal was with the amazing folks from the Hockey News. A regular provider of advertising for my clients, we have the absolute best rep in the business - Nicole Mullin. My clients continue to get top-notch service in all their advertising from folks in the business - that know their business like Nicole. In this special commemorative edition, we placed three or four full page ads in the magazine.
|
 |
Found this little gem on line - none other than the MLOA's Executive Director Ryan Suffron...guiding for Pike! |
 |
|
