Posted on Sun, Aug 31, 2008
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 1, 2008 - With their new guerilla marketing division, Man on the Street, Atlanta-based ad agency MLT Creative has put a new spin on an old idea. This new venture has already allowed MLT to get its clients' messages out more effectively at trade shows and national meetings, as well as on the Web through viral videos.
Billy Mitchell, agency president and creative director, said he's always looking for innovative ideas to help clients break through the clutter and stand out from their competition.
"Sometimes it's the simple ideas that work best," Mitchell said, highlighting one recent example.
"A few seasons back," he continued, "when leaving an Atlanta Falcons game with my two sons, I noticed a street performer drawing a huge crowd near the entrance to the rail station. Captivated by the sound of his drumming on big, plastic buckets, hundreds of people had hung around to listen, rather than board the trains for their usual fast getaway after the game."
"I immediately recognized that it could be a great guerilla marketing idea for one of our clients: Sto Corp, a leading manufacturer of exterior wall coatings and claddings. Their products just happen to be sold in a bright yellow bucket, boldly branded with their iconic logo."
MLT Creative hired a talented local drummer, dressed him in a white jumpsuit and equipped him with drumsticks, buckets and a branded banner that read, "For the world's best walls, Sto beats all." The drummer is currently drawing attention at construction trade shows across the country, from Miami to Las Vegas to San Francisco.
The bucket drummer also appeared at this year's national distributor and sales meeting, under the theme "Keep The Beat: Growing with Sto in a Slowing Market".
Additional projects created under the Man on the Street concept include a recent campaign for Manheim, the world's leading automotive auction and reconditioning company. For this project, teams of models in mechanics' jumpsuits with chrome coin changers on their hips worked the floor at the National Automotive Dealers Association trade show in Las Vegas. Dealers were intercepted at areas around the convention, where the most foot traffic occurred, and given a single dollar bill. Then they were asked to give it back, after which they were handed the same dollar, plus 50 cents in change. The models would then say, "That's how it works with Manheim's Reconditioning Services. For every dollar you invest in recon, you'll average more than a $1.50 back in added resale value."
MLT now offers ideas for great guerilla marketing campaigns to all of our clients as an added "secret weapon" to help them add buzz to their business without busting their budgets. From candid, videotaped interviews with our clients' customers and prospects, to projecting branded messaging on the sides of buildings, they know how to think both big and think small to ensure that no great guerilla marketing idea is overlooked.
About MLT Creative
MLT Creative, based on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, was founded in 1984. Known as the idea launch padTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions.
Contact:
Chase Mitchell, Public Relations
MLT Creative, 404-292-4502, chase.mitchell@mltcreative.com
Posted on Thu, Aug 21, 2008
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - AUGUST 21, 2008 - Vann Morris, an account coordinator with local B2B ad agency MLT Creative, recently traveled to Tuscon, Ariz., to present her master's thesis at the 11th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology (ICLASP).
Morris' presentation, "Perceptions of (Non) Patronizing Speech in Interability Communication," focused on a phenomena she observed while working with individuals with cognitive disabilities in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It was there she began to take note of just how often people tend to "talk down" to those with conditions like Down Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy.
"I noticed people talked to them like they were babies," Morris said.
This behavior ran counter to her work at Community Entry Services, where she strove to instill a sense of self reliance and determination in individuals with cognitive disabilities.
"It was a direct contradiction to everything we were trying to help them achieve," she said.
Discovering that no one had ever covered this subject in a thesis, Morris tackled the topic herself, and in doing so became the nation's foremost expert on it.
The results of her research may help employers, educators and peers of individuals with these kinds of disabilities learn ways to communicate more effectively with them.
ICLASP focuses on the effects language has on social behavior, and serves in the exchange of ideas, the facilitation of collaborative research projects, and the publication of articles and books.
About MLT Creative
MLT Creative, based on the east side of Atlanta, GA, with a Northeast office in Rhode Island, was founded in 1984. Known as the idea launch padTM for B-to-B marketers, MLT Creative's services include strategic planning, positioning, brand development, advertising and sales promotions.
Contact:
Chase Mitchell, Public Relations
MLT Creative, 404-292-4502, chase.mitchell@mltcreative.com