March 4, 2010 / Kosal
One For the Wall
Quotes are great. But how many do you print out and put up on the wall. In the main room where I spent countless all-nighters in college, my Graphic Arts professor, Edward LeShock, had painted a giant one-word quote on the wall:
TIGHTER
It meant simply that you always had to consider whether or not you had made every element of what you’re doing as absolutely perfect as it could be; made sure you’d pushed it enough. It also made you realize you were never quite done. You’d always be looking for ways to improve things.
This kind of obsessive behavior isn’t limited to our creative department. As we’re working on a big assignment for a client, we’ll be just as worried about the strategy. We’re always pushing for more inventive, lower cost media ideas. We’re constantly exploring new online opportunities. Obsessing, it seems, is a game everyone can play.
The key is focus
My wife constantly chides me about being obsessive about new marketing ideas, but not nearly as focused on that big pile of clothes on the bedroom floor I keep forgetting to put away. While I know better than to try and defend the pile of clothes, I’ve read that this is a common trait among extremely focused individuals. (That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.)
The ability to aim your attention at a problem and dig in is a trait we look for in the people we hire. We’ve been very successful in planting this trait in every department of our agency.
August 10, 2010 / Jennifer
Planet Central Sends E S Foods Back-to-School
We recently assisted E S Foods in launching their new Breakfast BREAKS green-pouch packaging for the upcoming 2010-2011 school year. A direct mail piece and sales brochure were created targeting Food Service Directors. The big idea was "Feed More. Save More." E S Foods can help feed more kids and save schools more money. Through innovation and research, E S Foods has come up with a new Breakfast BREAKS product offering at a significant price reduction. And the kids love it!
In addition to the direct mail, we created a full page print ad and banner ad supporting the product launch. Both were placed in the August/September issue of the School Nutrition Association publication.
June 16, 2010 / Kosal
Funny
At Planet Central, we love all the new portable video cameras. Keep one with you everywhere because you never know what you'll find that's worth showing the rest of the world. Some of us love Flip video cameras, but I like my iPhone. I edited it on iMovie. (as you can guess, I'm a die-hard Mac fan.)
September 17, 2010 / Jennifer
E S Foods Educates Parents and Teachers about Hunger in America
In today’s USA Today special edition “Hunger in America,” E S Foods helps to promote hunger awareness. Planet Central Advertising created the ad campaign to help educate and inspire teachers and parents to make sure their kids have the most important meal of the day. E S Foods’ flagship product, Breakfast BREAKS and their School Breakfast Program play a vital role in our school system. When students eat a nutritious breakfast, test scores and behavior improve and there is an increased eagerness to learn. We need to fill their stomachs before we can feed their minds.
September 28, 2010 / Dawn
Commercial for Tilson Homes Wins TAB Star Award
Planet Central’s “Couple” spot was awarded the 2010 Star Award for “Best Television Commercial”. The Star Awards are the Southwest’s premier building industry awards program hosted by the Texas Association of Builders. Check out the award winning spot for Tilson Home Corporation below.
December 7, 2010 / Kim
Tilson Home Corporation Joins Extreme Makeover Home Edition for the Heart of Texas Build
The call to build a home for a deserving family in just one week has been answered by three Texas-based organizations including Tilson Home Corporation, Temple-Inland Inc. and Texas Association of Builders. The team is calling the project “The Heart of Texas Build.”
Planet Central has partnered with "The Heart of Texas Build" by offering a full marketing and public relations campaign to recruit volunteers, raise funds and collect building materials. In the past few weeks, our agency has been busy with activities which include:
- promoting a Pep Rally event to raise awareness of the build
- updating the media through press releases and media tours/interviews to recruit volunteers and collect building materials
- designing banners and posters to organize the build site and other build related events
- creating "The Heart of Texas Build" brand jackets, t-shirts, baseball hats, construction hats and badges to organize volunteers and raise funds for the build
- creating and maintaining all website and social media profiles
We are even volunteering at the build this week! For more information on the build, please visit www.HeartOfTexasBuild.com.
February 18, 2011 / Dawn
Extreme Advertising
The Hollywood Adventure of One Agency
Be sure to tune in to ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on Sunday, February 20th at 8PM EST to see how it all came together.
When we heard in late October that our client, Tilson Homes, was going to participate in an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition build, we were immediately excited. We discovered pretty quickly that while the build would be a great way for our client to become not only a regional but national name in construction – the preparation for the build would be monumental.
Pre-build
Since the build team was comprised of multiple companies, we needed a brand name and logo that could symbolize the build and unify the three different company logos. After considering the build location and reason for being, we landed on “The Heart of Texas.” The logo incorporated the brand name with a visual of two hammers making the symbol of a heart and each of the three companies’ individual logos on a banner below.
Once the logo and brand name were determined, we began coordinating the apparel for the build team. In addition to being an active construction area, the site was also considered “on-set” for the TV show. Because of this, each member of the 90 person build team needed to have coordinating apparel and identification. Planet Central selected, logoed and purchased t-shirts, fishing shirts, jackets, baseball caps and even Cowboy Hat Hard Hats for the build team members. We also created the artwork and put together the ID badges for the build team, VIPs, Media and more.
As a thank you to the VIPs and sponsors of the build, we imprinted the build logo and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition logos on an aluminum water bottle as a keepsake. To help our client raise money for a fund for the family, we negotiated a deal with a t-shirt vendor and created 5,000 t-shirts that were for sale at the Pep Rally and during the build week.
In the weeks prior to the build, we also developed and maintained a website dedicated to the build that allowed the public as well as skilled volunteers to sign up to help during the build as well as provided useful information regarding dates and times for important events during the build week. We also created social media profiles for the build on Facebook and Twitter to help generate excitement in the community as well as provide important information to volunteers, supporters and the media.
Planet Central also created banners that would be used during the build week to promote sponsors, identify locations (VIP tent, Media Corral, Chuckwagon, etc), serve as polite notices to the community (Pardon our Mess) as well as a banner that each of the 4,000 volunteers signed during the build week and was given to the family as a keepsake after the build.
In order to help get our client’s other retail locations excited about the event, we created buttons for sales counselors at each location to encourage customers to ask about the build. We also created signage for inside the retail locations explaining what was happening.
In mid-November, Planet Central began sending out the first of many Press Releases regarding the build in North Central Texas in order to promote important build events and recruit volunteers.
During the Build
While the majority of the marketing campaign for the build was in place, there were still many details that would need to be taken care of on-site during the build week. To ensure that everything ran smoothly, Planet Central sent three members of the Account Team to Texas for the build. In addition to living in an RV on-site for 24 hour availability, the Account Team handled all media requests for interviews with build team leaders, celebrities, volunteers, soldiers and more – some even at 2AM! While on-site the team continued to update the build website and social media profiles while ensuring that the day to day marketing for clients continued as planned.
A videographer for Planet Central also filmed over 40 hours of footage during the build week – including portions of a Christmas Carol that was written for the build week. The Account Team coerced soldiers, volunteers and skilled workers to participate in the music video which was then uploaded to YouTube and used for Tilson’s Christmas e-Card. The remaining video footage will be used to create a DVD of the event for the build sponsors and partners.
The day after the home was revealed to the family, Planet Central hosted a press conference in front of the newly built home. The event was the first opportunity for the press to meet and ask questions to the family as well as an opportunity for sponsors to give any additional gifts and greet the family.
Post Build
Once the build was complete, the work was not over. In order to keep up the momentum of the build for our client, Planet Central planned viewing parties for the episode at each retail location as well as in the town of Salado, TX – where the home was built.
For the retail locations, Planet Central created a mailed and emailed invitation as well as a radio spot inviting guests to come to watch the episode as well as for behind the scenes information from the company that built the home. One guest at each location would also have a chance to win a t-shirt signed by show host, Ty Pennington.
The viewing party in Salado, TX is primarily for the volunteers that put so much time and effort into the build. Since Planet Central had continued to interact with volunteers and fans on social media sites after the build completed, the event sold out before an official notice was even sent out!
Planet Central also helped organize a series of events for our client that would happen outside of their normal marketing areas. Each retail location would host a seminar giving details on the build as well as information on our client in general. We promoted these events by sending a “Save the Date” postcard to prospects in the seminar areas and then following up with an invitation for the event. Also supporting these events were newspaper ads in each location.
Even 10 weeks after the build was completed, Planet Central continues to receive and coordinate inquiries from media throughout the state of Texas.
June 20, 2011 / Kosal
We revamped our logo
If you have noticed a new look around our site, it is due to our newly revamped logo. We hope you like our new logo as much as we do!
March 12, 2012 / Terry
Our Tilson TV and Radio Spots Win Awards
We have won another award! Our Tilson television spot, “Coloring”, and radio spot, “Unicorn Pony”, were recognized by the Home Builders Association of Richmond at the Major Achievement in Marketing Excellence Awards. This same television spot was previously recognized by the Texas Association of Builders STAR Awards as the best television spot of the year and, in addition, won a 2012 Telly Award. Of course, our greatest reward is helping drive calls, web visits, and traffic to one of our long-standing clients, Tilson Homes, but it’s also nice to get some recognition along the way. Congratulations to everyone involved!