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In order to encourage students to support the university they actually attend, Akron decided to do a UA Pride night and the first 500 fans who brought any lightly worn Ohio State t-shirt would receive an Akron t-shirt in exchange.

Akron gave away all 500 t-shirts by the time the soccer match started. People were still donating t-shirts after we ran out of an Akron t-shirt to give them.

It was the most successful promotion Akron has conducted so far this soccer season.

The promotion even caught the attention of CNBC sports business analyst Darren Rovell.

Television Commercial

Baltimore Orioles - Oriole Park at Camden Yards Signage Sponsorship

Billboard

Print

A special congratulations goes out to the lead designer Jeff Sewell!

2007 Total Season Tickets - 8,184
2010 Total Season Tickets - 18,837
Percentage Change = 131% increase

2007 Total Revenue - $1,891,085
2010 Total Revenue - $5,934,903
Percentage Change = 214% increase

They are a true team and what comes out is the principle work of one of them, but the collective genius of the group. Here is the difficulty of the challenge, however. Do the same logo differently enough each year to sell merchandise, but include certain elements and make it look traditional, appealing both to the classic horse racing fans and the expected general public that comes 100,000 strong to the event like a pilgrimage each year.

Look at a lot of sports event logos. There really is a sameness about them. A big splash of name with elements carved in to absolutely fit embroidery. The Preakness logo has the same demands. But, the Leffler professionals, looking to depart from what is so common now, try NOT to fit in with the current sports event logo genre look.

They create other special event and campaign logos for our 40+ sports clients with the same goal in mind. The Army-Navy game logo, now a staple, was a creation for our Navy sports client a few years back. It's a football, what else is needed!

Am I sounding like a proud papa or grandpa in this blog? You better believe it! But I'm basing it on what I see and on how we seek to meet a difficult challenge without losing strategy and without getting stale or predictable. As a pre-computer graphics designer myself, I light up every time I see one of our design products on TV, on a billboard or in print because I know it is the product of thought rather than impulse!

We're very proud of the creative portfolio that we've been able to develop over the years (feel free to check out some our work in our PORTFOLIO tab). However, it's always a surprise when a piece that you created over 10-years ago shows up again in present day media.

The NFL recently announced its top 100 players of all-time. Rightfully so, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis came in at #18. Check out the segment here, and take notice of the Ravens outdoor advertising billboard featuring Lewis at the end of the piece. That's a Leffler Agency design, complete with creative principles that helped establish the Ravens brand in Baltimore during the teams early years in the city.

Jason Snapkoski
New Media Consultant

RESULT OF THE CAMPAIGN
2,135 Football tickets sold
4,270 Basketball tickets sold

WHY DID THE GROUPON DEAL SUCCEED?

Consumers received three tickets to two separate sporting events for only $25, saving $57 when they take advantage of the limited time offer.

Arguably UC Football's biggest game of the year against Oklahoma is included in the deal along with a Men's Basketball game which will generate revenue for the football season and fill the customer pipeline which can be followed up with at a later date with additional marketing incentives for both football and basketball.

All UC Bearcats social media websites were used throughout the day to garner additional publicity for the Groupon offer.

We get calls to "sell" ads for people, hire ad sales people for companies, sell sponsorships and promotions, but rarely do folks cold call us and know what we actually do. Now most of our new business comes via referral and because of our reputation for productive campaigns. But the base folks off the street who we talk to just have no clue about the "cause and effect" process that advertising really is.

How do can we fix this? It's really a very basic five step process.

1. You have a great product.
2. Few people know about it.
3. Few people buy it.
4. Then you tell a lot of people about it
5. More people buy it.

Why? Because NOW more people know about it. That's as basic as I can get!

By Bob Leffler
Owner/CEO

1. Give your campaign a chance. Knee jerk changes and cancellations to a campaign is dangerous. It takes time for a campaign to build. A consumer usually needs to see your ad several times before they will act.

2. If your campaign is successful - don't mess with it. Many times people see something going well, and they want to change it, "just because". The old saying, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" fits here.

3. Don't get sold. Advertising sales people will often come to you with packages that better benefit their company's financial goals than yours.

4. Don't mix advertising messages. Keep each message simple so you're not bombarding the customer with too many calls to action or overwhelming laundry lists.

5. Don't overcrowd your ads. Too many small words on a page or billboard causes the reader to gloss over the ad, thus ignoring it.

6. Don't spread yourself too thin. Unless you have a bottomless advertising budget, it doesn't make sense to advertise in every single small publication. As long as you're using a mixture of media outlets (TV, radio, web, print, outdoor) and targeting your audience, your message will get to the people you want it to get to.

7. Don't think your sales reps are all your friends. Some actually are friends, but at the end of the day everyone is working for their own paycheck and often times sales reps have monthly goals or contests they must participate in. Never lose sight of your own goals and needs.

1. Make sure your campaign is made up of a media mix. (TV, radio, interactive, print, out-of-home, mobile). In today's world, there are so many mediums that it's almost overwhelming. Now, more than ever, you have to make sure you advertise in different areas to reach the most amount people.

2. Keep your campaign image consistent. Do not revamp your look too often. The more a consumer recognizes your product, the better chance they have of remembering it and making a purchase.

3. Practice the art of repetition. The customer needs to see or hear your product name a minimum of 3 times before it's ingrained in their memories.

4. Make sure you properly research your target market. You do not want to waste precious advertising dollars reaching the wrong people.

5. Remember who your target customer is and try to speak to their needs rather than alienate them by trying something too newfangled. Change is good but change for the sake of change could end up costing your company/product more than money.

6. Get your product/company involved in community events. Involvement shows people you care about your/their community and leads to word of mouth advertising because of your great reputation.

7. Include social media in your campaigns! Blogging, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are powerful tools that can spread the word about your product, event or service to create invaluable two-way communication directly to your customers.

Traditional media, most notably print media, has taken a hit to online reading and consumption. Radio and TV consumption have also been reduced by various other devices and modes of auditory and visual communication. But, they still command large audience attention. Outdoor still rules in mass instant impressions even though it continues to fight the visual environmentalists.

Social media is now drawing more and more attention. A Facebook or Twitter page with 5,000 followers is powerful. But it still does not equal a radio station with a weekly cumulative audience of 150,000 or a TV spot that hits a few million people nationally. Because viral and social media takes time, it is not real mass media which can hit many with a message in an instant. Large internet sites such as Yahoo, AOL, as well as ad networks are mass media and as such have joined the product line.

But there are "experts" who are selling social media as a replacement for mass media. Social media is an activation of and an adjunct to the mass media message, but it is not an effective brand builder over a short time because its "some-at-a-time" nature makes the short-term audience limited. The long-term audience potential is great, but to put all of the budget against this and to abandon a mix of real mass media is very short-sighted and is the thing that the irresponsible marketers do because it all sounds so good.

Success comes in the volume of messages over the shortest time period. And the campaign with the greatest number of impressions brings the best results.

By Bob Leffler
CEO/Owner