Longbow is a Boutique Marketing Agency | Branding, Creative, and Web

Category: Blog

  • Creating a Contagious Brand

    American Advertising Federation Space Coast collaborates with Founder’s Forum to talk about Branding

    On February 23, 2016, the Space Coast chapter of the American Advertising Federation joined Founders Forum for a joint program, focused on the power of branding. 

    “As President of AAF Space Coast, we appreciate the opportunity to participate in this joint meeting with the Founders Forum.” Eric Needle said.

    We had a great time at the event. In addition to networking between the groups, with over eighty in attendance, three programs were in play.

    Delivering on Brand Promise

    The main event was speaker Kennan Burch talking about Brand Promise in Creating a Contagious Brand. Kennan is the founder of Brand Catalyst Partners, an Orlando-based marketing firm whose mission is to help companies create a brand that inspires, aligns and creates organizational conviction.

    Kennan led a powerful presentation that explained with many examples that a brand is not just a logo, but rather a promise that keeps companies on a course for success. He suggests that the Apple brand promise represents their technology—and like Eve in the garden, once you bit into it, you’d never see the world the same again. That explains Steve Job’s driving passion, laser attention to detail, and his belittling of staff who didn’t understand that promise. Anything that doesn’t live up to that promise is not good enough.

    In the same way for us, when our brand becomes a promise, it drives every person, every product and service to delivering. Kennan calls himself a coach who inspires awareness in his clients to better understand, lead and motivate their organizations.

    Addy Gallery Night

    AAF-Space Coast presented Gallery Night, an exhibit showing work submitted for our annual ADDY Awards.

    The American Advertising Awards is the advertising industry’s largest and most representative competition, attracting over 50,000 entries every year in local ADDY competitions. The mission of the competition is to recognize and reward creative excellence in the art of advertising.

    Our awards ceremony is to be held on Saturday, February 27 and themed, “ADDY-CON”. We will recognize our members and their achievements at our “Creative Super Hero celebration.”  The Gallery is a preview of this year’s awards.

    Branding Exhibit

    Several of our members set up displays to show the brand work we provide. These included Bill from A Cut Above Video; Josh, Scott and Russ from Rock Paper Simple; Madison and Cathy from Your Logo by Geiger, and Eric showing branding work for Artemis IT—by Longbow.net.

    For more information visit:
    AAF Space Coast and Founders Forum

  • AAF Space Coast Reaches Out to the Business Community

    The American Advertising Federation is made up of Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations professionals, media and business owners.

    By Ken Datzman, Brevard Business News

    As the advertising industry begins to strengthen across the various platforms, the local affiliate of the longstanding American Advertising Federation sees this as an opportune time to make a push to grow its membership by appealing to a broader base of businesses in the region.

    The Space Coast Chapter of the American Advertising Federation has had a presence in this market for more than 30 years, long being the association known for bringing together area professionals within all facets of the industry. Chapter members represent advertising agencies, marketing firms, web–design businesses, print publications, video–production companies, promotional products retailers, information technology ventures, and other types of entities.

    “Our tagline is, ‘If you are in business, you are in advertising.’ The Space Coast Chapter’s focus this year is to reach out and try to pull in a broader base of the business community as members of our organization,” said Eric Needle, the 2015–2016 president of AAF Space Coast and the marketing director for Artemis—The IT Company.

    AAF Space Coast’s Madison Conradis (President Elect), Eric Needle (President), and Bill Williams (Government Relations) at Artemis IT in Melbourne, FL.

    Needle added that AAF Space Coast “has been around for over thirty years. The landscape within our industry has changed and I don’t think the business community is fully aware of who we are. Fifteen years ago a lot of people knew about Ad Fed—where to go for advertising, and the organizations that support it. So we’re looking to raise our visibility in the business community and hopefully attract new members as well as former members who have drifted away.”

    Annual membership in the Space Coast Chapter starts at $80.

    He said his vision for the organization, which is part of the American Advertising Federation’s 4th District, is
    threefold: to see area businesses use the chapter as a resource; to see the sizable businesses in the region contribute “time, talent, and treasure” to gain value; and to offer scholarships to area students seeking degrees in marketing, communications, and advertising–related fields.

    Through the recession, a lot of businesses tried their hand at crafting their own advertising strategies and producing their own marketing and promotional materials. “As the economy improves, I think the day of ‘do–it–yourself advertising‘ is over,” said Needle.

    “If you are building a website, for example, you need a professional to help you be found on search engines. There is so much noise and competition that it is hard to be found in the marketplace — and people are waking up to this reality. Ad Fed is the place to start when you are ready to grow your business. I think the need for AAF–SC has never been greater.”

    Madison Conradis, marketing director of Your Logo by Geiger, a full–service promotional products company in Melbourne, is the president–elect of AAF Space Coast. Conradis is a second–generation Ad Fed member. Her mother is longtime area entrepreneur Cathy Bell, owner of Your Logo by Geiger.

    Conradis said the association “is trying to provide more value to its members. And part of that initiative centers on bringing in very informative and enlightening speakers for our events. We’re also working to make our events more fun. We have a lot of projects going on right now that we think will help our organization appeal to more business people in the county.”

    As chapter president, Needle says his organization is inviting, “those who are in business—and those in the business of advertising—to get more closely involved with the Space Coast Chapter of the American Advertising Federation. Our goal is to grow business and opportunity by connecting companies with the talent Brevard County has to offer within this dynamic industry.”

    For more information, visit aafspacecoast.org.


  • Florida Advertising Execs Meet with Legislators for Ad Day

    The American Advertising Federation attended Ad Day in Tallahassee on October 6, 2015, during legislative special session, meeting with State Senators and Representatives to advocate for the advertising industry.

    President Eric Needle, President-Elect Madison Conradis and Government Relations Chair Bill Williams represented the members of AAF Space Coast along with leaders of AAF District 4, and delegates from Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa. Our district represents over 1,500 people—agencies, advertisers, creatives and those who support the industry through services like printing, web design, audio, video, promotional products and so much more. News media, print publications and magazine publishers are also a huge component of our membership.

    (more…)