Prior to joining forces, Davies Rourke and MMG both submitted proposals in January for the media planning services for the Idaho Transportation Department’s Office of Highway Operations and Safety. We both finished in the top three and Davies Rourke was awarded the contract based on achieving the highest overall score. Following the merger of our agencies, we discovered we had a lot in common in our respective approaches to providing the Idaho Transportation Department the most bang for their budget. No wonder we got married. Now that we’re all on the same team, we’re raring to get started on this exciting new piece of business.
Jeff Nielsen, Leo Morgan, Brooke Smith and Vicki Ward recently represented the agency at our first meeting with our newest client. DaviesMoore will provide Public Service Announcement (PSA) media planning and buying services for a number of campaigns designed to improve highway safety throughout Idaho. The messages we’ll be working on include seatbelts, impaired driving, aggressive driving, motorcycle safety, and bicycle/pedestrian safety.
As kids growing up, many of us at DaviesMoore saw life like a television show or a movie.
Early in our first brainstorm, someone threw out “sexy” as a joke to describe the new agency. After the laughter quieted, something about it resonated (we have no idea why). Later, during the strategic phase, we identified a goal to be bold. And part of being bold is taking risks.
We knew we wanted to do something totally different than either MMG or Davies Rourke had done before. We wanted to pay homage to the classic, quintessential ad agency since our agency dates back to the early 1950s, but do it with a contemporary twist.
During the creative direction phase, we got really excited when someone mentioned the television series, Mad Men, as a source of inspiration. Using images from other popular television shows, we let the inspiration of the archetype ad agency craft the spirit of our photo shoot, as well as the art direction of the site. We each portrayed the character of our position at DaviesMoore as if we were in a television drama—paying homage to the ideal of a modern, yet classic ad agency that is a bit, well, sexy (don’t laugh!).
Yes, we may seem a little moody with our bright key lights and warm colors, but we believe this art direction will help set us apart from the previous agencies that MMG and Davies Rourke were before. Sure, posing like rock stars is a little risky, but so is launching a new brand. And who doesn’t like to feel sexy?
The DaviesMoore Creative Team (top: Michael Reagan, Ernie Monroe bottom: Jason Sievers, Aaron Grable)
The DaviesMoore Media Department (left to right: Nikki Reynolds, Leo Morgan, Brooke Smith)
The DaviesMoore Account Team (top: Tyler LaDouceur, Jory Sutton bottom: Edward Moore, Jeff Nielsen, Carolyn Sali)
The DaviesMoore Finance Team (Roger Finch, Vicki Ward)
Taking these photos was a lot of fun. Getting everyone together to hang out in the dark was yet another great bonding exercise, and we’re pleased with how these images turned out. Congratulations to Jory for his time and talent to make the photo shoot a success.
Also, we’d like to especially thank the folks at c308 for all of their hard work to make our website sing. Thanks to On The 45 for their assistance with ux and search engine optimization. Thanks to Brian Harrison of Idahoadagencies.com and our followers on Twitter for playing along.
Getting everyone at Davies Rourke and MMG together for the first time was a lot like a first date. We were all a little nervous and had lots of questions about the logistics of combining two companies. As we went around the table and introduced ourselves, we laughed and we learned about each other as individuals and the future of our agency. The more we understood, the more excited we became. We left that first meeting thinking, “This is going to work.”
Rather than jumping into the fun stuff like naming and logo design, first we took a step back. We developed a creative brief, just like we always do. We find that sometimes agencies forget this step because they know their business so well. We wanted to make sure that our new brand was rooted in the right strategy.
Our next challenge was to come up with a name for our new entity. Our solution was to leverage the equity in the name Davies – Ken Davies was Idaho’s original ad man – and combine it with the name Moore, as in our president and fearless leader, Edward Moore. We had tossed around other ideas before someone suggested DaviesMoore and when we heard it, it just felt like the right name because it perfectly communicates the idea of old and new. Once the name had been decided the next step was to come up with a logo and start making some decisions about the look and feel of our new company.
It was a truly collaborative process as the creatives at MMG and Davies Rourke sketched, brainstormed and explored visual solutions for our identity. As a group, we decided which ideas to throw out and which to continue to develop. In the end we had a couple of logo options that bore the fingerprints of the entire design team and we gathered the larger group to make the final decision. It wasn’t easy, but when the dust settled an early version of the logo you see on this page was decided upon.
Since the launch of the Legacy of Leading campaign just 18 months ago, the University of Idaho has seen a rise in overall admissions and applications in both the undergraduate and graduate programs. DaviesMoore and the University have also recently received multiple industry awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and from the Admissions Marketing Report.
In the undergraduate sector for Fall semester 2008 overall applications for admissions were up 8 percent for in-state applicants, while non-resident applications were up 20 percent. Graduate admissions also experienced an increase with overall applications up 15 percent; with an increase of 8 percent for Idaho residents and 16 percent increase of non-Idaho residents.
From CASE, the University and DaviesMoore received awards in the Video and Multimedia category (Advertising Spots and Public Service Announcements) for its 60-second television spot titled, “I am more than the University of Idaho,” and also in the Web Site category (Web Site Special Feature) for the University’s innovative degree finder. CASE’s District VIII is made up of colleges and universities throughout the Northwest (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana), Alaska and much of Canada, including British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavat provinces.
Admissions Marketing Report, which has been for twenty-five years the nation’s leading marketing publication for higher education, honored the University with 10 awards, more than any other university, including Best of Show. The monthly publication is read each month by thousands of admissions marketers at colleges and universities throughout the country. Representatives from across the nation made up the judging panel and included admissions’ marketers, advertising creative directors, advertising professionals and the editorial board of Admissions Marketing Report. Over 2,000 entries were submitted this year to the Admissions Marketing Report.
2008 AWARDS AT A GLANCE: Best of Show: Total Advertising Campaign, Admissions Marketing Report Gold: Total Advertising Campaign, Admissions Marketing Report Gold: Newspaper Ad Series, Admissions Marketing Report Gold: Web Site Special Feature, Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Gold: 60-second TV, Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Silver: Television Ad Series, Admissions Marketing Report Silver: Poster, Admissions Marketing Report Silver: Magazine Ad Single, Admissions Marketing Report Silver: Newspaper Ad Single, Admissions Marketing Report Merit: Website, Admissions Marketing Report Merit: TV Ad Single, Admissions Marketing Report Merit: Other/Special Publications (Banner System), Admissions Marketing Report Merit: Total Recruitment Package, Admissions Marketing Report
Thanks to all of our partners, including c308 for their web work, and everyone at the University for helping make this campaign a success.
