Advergirl is one savvy marketer. On her blog, she's recently been doing a series called "The Media Crisis." Here's a link to Part One. Be sure to navigate forward to read parts 2, 3 and 4.

These are interesting times to be in advertising. As a Milwaukee Ad agency with 40+ years of history, we can remember the advertising renaissance of the 1960s, and the the effect the internet first had back in the 1990s. Now, we'd like to be around for another 40 years or so, and that will involve navigating another sea change in the way advertising is done. Advergirl is on to something here. Read it, and comment below if you'd like.

Milwaukee has an interesting newspaper history. Though many might consider us a "small" city, Milwaukee had two rival newspapers for decades — The Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel. They merged a few years ago, and the Brew City no longer has two papers vying for our attention.

But that's neither here nor there when it comes to these interesting infographics from Mint.com. I guess the amount of information Mint has aggregated to pull these stats together makes this one of the most comprehensive views of the newspaper industry so far:



Okay. It looks like 24 of the nation's top 25 papers are DOWN in circulation. (Good job, Wall Street Journal.) But this graph didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know.

Then I saw this part:


Sure, in this graph you can clearly see a sharper decline in circulation starting in around 2004. But the most interesting thing — to me, anyway — is the fact that newspaper circulation basically peaked in the mid 1980s.

The 1980s!?!

Alright. I'll allow that the internet has taken a healthy bite out of print news in the last few years. But since 1984?? I think not.

I think newspapers have something besides the internet to blame lower circulation on. I think it's a marketing problem. How do you sell a newspaper to a generation that grew up with more alternative sources for news than any before it?

You know, these days, everyone is clamoring to brand themselves as an internet ad agency. But the internet is doing fine. Looks like print media is the one that needs some help, and we've got some ideas. Meyer & Wallis has been a turnaround specialist since our inception, and we think we know how to improve newspaper circulation. More on this in the future. In the mean time, check out the whole infographic here.

I like beer. In fact, Meyer & Wallis likes beer. While our intake falls far short of the kind you see on Mad Men, we've been known to wrap up a busy workweek with a round of ice cold "art supplies." Clever, we know.

And it makes sense, too. Meyer & Wallis started over 40 years ago here in Milwaukee — home to four nationally recognized breweries at the time: Schlitz, Pabst, Blatz and Miller.

But where are they now? Schlitz has just recently returned to brewing in Milwaukee, but is owned by Pabst, now headquartered in Illinois. Blatz is being brewed once again by Miller, but Miller has merged with Coors, and, you may remember if you follow marketing blogs like this one, has moved their marketing headquarters from Milwaukee to Chicago. Yup, of the original four independent, local breweries mentioned above, not one remains. The largest domestic brewery left in the US? Sam Adams.

Now I'm sure these breweries have good reasons for merging and moving as they have, and I'm also sure that product quality, not profit, remains at the top of their lists. (Wink.) But how have consumers responded to the mass production of beer that's happened over the last few years. Well, have you been in a Whole Foods lately?
 


Sure, there's a section for your Big Name Beers, but a gloriously massive amount of space is devoted to smaller, local, craft beers. Why? Because they taste better. Because they manage to get something right that the bigger breweries can't.

What does this have to do with Meyer & Wallis?

There's this assumption that bigger is better, even with Ad Agencies. Bigger means more resources, more talent, more sway. Or so it seems at first. But really, when it comes to Ad Agencies, bigger means that your account is only one of dozens. It means if your ad budget isn't in the tens of millions, your campaign gets crafted by inexperienced interns. It means you get to pay for all that a big agency says they have at their disposal, while getting none of the personal attention required to leverage those benefits for your brand. To revive the metaphor, it'd be like paying $5 to drink a bottle of Schlitz when you could have a bottle of Lakefront East Side Dark Lager for $3.50. You haven't heard of it? It's delicious.

Meyer & Wallis is a small, independent, local ad agency with offices in Milwaukee and Indianapolis. We aren't owned by another company. We have relationships with the media going back decades. Our experience in retail marketing management is second to none. Our UK style account planning approach means every campaign is carefully researched and and planned and executed by the same team of people, utilizing a proprietary planning process. We come to know the unique needs of each of our clients as only a small agency can.

So if you're sick of the watered-down taste of your current ad campaign, and yearn for the full-bodied, unique flavor that only comes from a local agency, give us a call. We're the ad agency that made Milwaukee famous.

Sometimes being an internet ad agency isn't about flashy animated websites. Sometimes the most effective interactive media is the easiest to find, and that has more to do with playing by Google's rules than outside-the-box creative. Yes, sometimes the most important tweaks to your website can seem downright ho-hum. But they make a world of difference. There's a nice summary of the kind of things you need to think about in order to make your website "more than just a website," as we like to say. Check it out here.

It doesn't take a complete redesign to make your website work harder for you. Talk to Meyer & Wallis about ways we can help you improve your existing site today.

Though we're but a local Milwaukee ad agency, we've had several supermarkets as clients over the years — located throughout the midwest and beyond. You could call retail marketing one of our core competencies.

Anyway, many of them offer private label brands along side the local and national ones. As private labels are less expensive by nature, the recession has caused many to consider them. And a new study indicates that 91% of people who have recently switched to store brands because of the economy think they'll make the switch permanent.

WOW.

now if only supermarkets actively advertised their private labels.

Meyer & Wallis has set up shop in some pretty cool spaces over the years. Our first office was in the oldest building on Wisconsin Avenue in downtown Milwaukee. Twenty years and three offices later, we find ourselves on the corner of Jackson and Mason.

This is the first space we've had that we've been able to build to suit. It's pretty cool. With in-house facilities for everything from media buying to broadcast production, we really are a full service advertising agency.

The first space you enter off the elevators is our reception area.



Behind the hiding receptionist, and below our target logo, you can see a few of the awards we've won over the years.

There are more of these. In fact, we have a couple "walls of intimidation" throughout the place.



And another:



In fact, we've won so many awards, they can be found throughout the agency, anywhere there's shelf space. Like here, with our software manuals:



I'm not trying to brag. It's just that, well, we've won a lot of awards for our work. Anyway...

Our walls are covered in galvanized steel on which we can display our work however we wish.



We've also been known to display some personal "Flair" outside our offices, as well.



The floor really feels like a creative space. Even our common area feels fun and inviting. On the back wall: the famous Meyer & Wallis Christmas Card Retrospective.



And, finally, throughout the agency you'll find these unique displays representing beliefs that our company has been built on:



They remind us why we do what we do, and why we do it better than most.

If you'd ever like to get a closer look at the place, Bob Meyer loves giving tours. Just a warning: he'll probably want to talk about your advertising, too.

I'd be willing to bet a fair amount of money that you've seen a video of Susan Boyle's first performance on Britain's Got Talent. It's basically the most popular internet video in history, with an untouchable 220 million views since April.

But the company that produces Britain's Got Talent and owns the rights to her performances has struggled to make any profit off of her popularity on the internet. Read the interesting article in the New York Times here.

Interactive Media is a funny thing. We all know the internet is hugely popular, and the place more and more people turn to for fresh content. But they rarely want to pay for it. What to do?

As has been discussed on this blog before, there isn't really a formula for making a viral video. We've seen more than one internet ad agency claim that they can virtually guarantee a viral hit. Even if that's true, ensuring that the effort somehow pays off for the advertiser also matters. A lot.

Meyer & Wallis is a full service advertising agency with the interactive know-how to create hugely "viral" campaigns — even before the help of the internet! (click here) But we also have 40+ years of marketing experience that helps us keep the success and growth of your brand as our top priority. Contact us to find out more.

Okay...

I read this article earlier this week at Advergirl, and have been thinking about it and alluding to its content ever since. But it's so good, I figured I'd just post it and share the love.

Just remember this before you read it: A good ad agency doesn't just make you ads, they help you make your brand and find your brand's authentic voice. This is something Meyer & Wallis is tremendously skilled at, having helped a bank and a realty company (among others) completely redesign and then relaunch their brand with staggering results. We're good at this stuff.

So read the pdf. If the possibility of connecting with consumers via social media in such a powerful and authentic way sounds appealing but out of reach, call us. We are an interactive marketing agency with a firm grasp on what it means to present an authentic brand to consumers.

MediaNews Group has made the latest in a series of announcements by major newspaper publishers that they are going to start charging for their online content. News Corp. was one of the first to make such an announcement, at which time CEO Rupert Murdoch declared, "The current days of the internet will soon be over." He, along with the rest of the news industry, seems to see this economic downturn as the last reason he needs to try something different when it comes to making money.

We live in very interesting times. Just as the initial popularity of television was seen as a threat to the radio industry, so now all traditional media are struggling to discover how they and the internet can peacefully and profitably coexist. If you listen to the news, it sounds like no one really believes that newspapers could ever completely "go away." But what will the compromises and innovations needed for them to stay viable look like? Sounds like we'll all have to stay tuned to find out. And maybe pay, too.

While they are the most visible example, newspapers are certainly not the only industry in transition. Brands are constantly reinventing themselves to survive. Some do it very well (e.g. Apple, in the late 1990s). Some leave us wondering what they were thinking (e.g. Tropicana, see below!). Toying with your brand is a task best handled by an ad agency, and even better handled by a good one. We're a good one. We've helped banks, realtors, cafes, colleges, and supermarkets rebrand themselves, each and time with truly wondrous results. Really.

Will "the current days of [insert your industry here] soon be over?" Contact us at to the right to find out how Meyer & Wallis can help.

My wife is obsessed with Pinkisthenewblog.com. My brother, on the other hand, would rather visit PerezHilton.com. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, these are celebrity gossip websites. They're a big hit with consumers as well as advertisers. And, for the most part, they're a stable and established bunch.

But recently, a new player has emerged. Unlike the aforementioned blogs, this one is run not by an enterprising individual, but by MSN. But, despite its corporate backing, wonderwall.com's look and feel is decidedly cool.


As its name suggests, Wonderwall.com gives you with all the celebrity gossip you can stomach, presented in a mosaic of pictures that expand to reveal an abstract or the full story as you roll over and click then, respectively. The whole site scrolls horizontally, setting its functionality apart from virtually every other celebrity gossip site in a standard vertical blog.

While I have almost no interest whatsoever in celebrity gossip, I found myself poking around wonderwall.com much longer than I planned on. The layout allows you to see many more stories at once than in a vertically scrolling blog, and allows you to read little snippets about each story without clicking to commit to reading the whole thing.

Here at Meyer & Wallis, and especially on this blog, we regularly argue that content drives the internet. Content brings customers to your website. New content will bring them back.

But it also helps to have a slick interface.

Only a few months old, wonderwall.com now ranks 4th in traffic among celebrity gossip sites, and the length of time that visitors spend at wonderwall.com puts other gossip sites to shame.

So it seems that wonderwall.com's winning combination is great, regularly updated content, and a quick, appealing, informative interface. That's harder than you might think, and as an internet ad agency, it's fun to see it done well.

If you're struggling to find the right balance of style and substance to bring new and returning customers to your website, we can help. Click to the right to shoot us an email, or give us a call today.

You might think that question is better directed at your kids. But you'd be wrong.

The 2 fastest growing demographic groups using Facebook are users 26-34 and 35-44 years of age, followed closely by 45-54.

In fact, it's largely because of these users that Facebook can now claim over 200,000,000 active users. That's HUGE.

So if your company is still just concerned with your website, or whether you show up in Google search results, maybe it's time to talk to an ad agency who can help you also tap into the huge community of consumers talking to each other 24 hours a day on Facebook and other similar social networking sites. Not sure what social networking is? Then we REALLY need to talk.

Our new President has just done a remarkable thing.

Before he suspended hearings at Guantanamo (that came on Wednesday), before he got his Secretary of State sworn in (also Wednesday), before he froze the salaries of his senior staff and enacted new lobbying rules (Wednesday), President Obama rolled out a completely revamped whitehouse.gov at noon on Tuesday, the moment he took his oath of office.

Don't go there yet.

Reflect with me for a moment.

Now, I actually visited whitehouse.gov about a week ago. I was curious if Obama had somehow made his mark on it yet, but it still read and navigated like your local municipal library's website. From 2001. It was moderately attractive, but there was lots of legacy content that seemed to have been carried over and over and over. It was a patchwork quilt of a website, some content seeming relevant and interesting, but other content seemingly outdated or shoehorned into an awkward place. What's more, that was probably the second time I'd been to the site during Bush's entire presidency. It looked something like this:



Okay. Now visit the new whitehouse.gov. Then come back so we can discuss.

"What's this?" you say. "A modern website? In my government?" It's attractive. Clean. Organized. Navigable. Dare I say "cool." Chock-full of up-to-date content.

Clearly, since winning the election President Obama's team has been hard at work preparing this site for a January 20th launch. Before he started flexing his executive powers in any way, he wanted the site in place so the American people would have a place to follow his actions.

If you look for it, you can still find the obligatory but appropriate info on past presidents, White House trivia, etc. That stuff's like the "About Us" page on your website. People will come once to read it. Once. If you want them to come back, you need to give them something new every time they come.

So far, the President's blog — which has been up for two days — has FIVE entries. His first weekly video address will come this Saturday.

I predict that the new whitehouse.gov will see traffic the likes of which it's never seen. Sure, it's a really good looking site now, but it's the fresh, timely, relevant content that will keep people coming back again and again. There are other great interactive features of the site I didn't even mention here. Go explore. You'll probably find a feature you'll want to check again in the future.

So how's your website doing? Are you giving those who would love to know more about your company and the services or products it offers fresh information all the time (and working with an ad agency that's downright passionate about doing the same)? Or are you just hoping people will return again and again to reread your eloquently worded Mission Statement?

There are lots of ways to run a blog, especially when it's a corporate one.

If you allow commentary by outsiders, a blog can challenge the control companies have historically had on the environments and experiences they create. If you're an old-school kind of company, this can seem very threatening and entirely unwelcome. But, companies that fancy themselves forward-thinking and accountable to their customers are increasingly foraying into the blogosphere. Hence, several big companies have tried to maintain a corporate blog (e.g., Dell, a couple years ago) while most don't (e.g., Dell, now). You need to start with a solid philosophy of blogging in order to pull it off.

Our blog here at Meyer & Wallis, in its present form, is relatively young. A post  goes un-commented on pretty often. I like to attribute this to the newness of the blog. This is not how we'd like it to be. Sure, blogging helps Meyer & Wallis increase visability on the web, but we believe that interactive technology at its best is just that: interactive. And since we're trying to be the best internet ad agency around, we're intent on practicing what we preach.

So, here's our corporate blogging philosophy. Blogging can be a tremendous tool for a company. Even before any human interaction, blogging can help increase your company's online presence. It helps get your company's website higher up in search results. From a business perspective alone, that makes sense. But beyond that, the internet has introduced the potential for unprecidented interaction with your consumers and clients. Think of all the time and energy that's been spent over the years in research, surveys, interviews, and questionnaires so that companies could get a glimpse of what others thought about them. Today, all that information is being tossed about daily in online conversations. If a company doesn't just want to eavesdrop, but would rather participate, a corporate blog is a great way to forge a new connection with your customers.

This is where we're coming from at Meyer & Wallis. To a follower of this blog who expressed concern that a post he made never showed up on the blog, we're sorry, and we're just as confused as you are. So far, we haven't had any reason or inclination to censor our blog, and every comment on our posts that we've received has made it to the blog. We truly want our blog to be a place for conversations to take place: conversations between M&W and our clients and other consumers, and conversations among this blog's community. We don't believe you'll close your Facebook account because of what you find here, but we do want to have a reason for existing.

So, please, comment on our posts if you have something to say. It's your input that will make this blog great. Meyer & Wallis has built its 40-year track record of stability and success on our flexibility and adaptability. Being a full service ad agency doesn't mean the same thing it did in 1967, and we want to use this blog to not only keep you up to date on the ways we're changing to stay current with the needs of modern marketers, but to hear from you in the process.

Now, someone please comment on this post!

I just happened upon an article that is not only written by a company whose logo bears a striking resemblance to a slice of our own, but contains some well articulated truths about one of the ways marketing is being affected by the digital cultural shift we find ourselves in.

In the recent past, as the article suggests, it was the norm for marketers to tell consumers stories about themselves. When life was about keeping up with the Jones's, telling us that the Jones's want what they sold and we should, too, was basically enough. But, as the article asserts, we are increasingly less concerned with what the masses have and more concerned with niche products and services that fit our unique wants. This shift is powerfully supported by our present ability to get information about niche interests and needs like never before, via the Internet. Within the vast community of the World Wide Web, we find others using the same products or services we're interested in, so we can find out about them and research them in unprecedented ways. But as we've turned to virtual communities for information about these niche interests, we've come to trust them immensely, often more than the marketers themselves. I'm pretty sure I've blogged here before about the rising percentage of consumers who consistently research significant purchases online instead of in person — like reading several user reviews of a Toyota Camry before ever considering an actual test drive. Thus, when we hear advertising messages from marketers, our instinct is increasingly to go corroborate what we've heard with stories from consumers like us. The article puts it pretty well:

As more brands (have to) go niche and therefore tell stories that aren't known to the masses, and as experiences and non-consumption-related expenditures take over from physical (and more visible) status symbols, consumers will increasingly have to tell each other stories to achieve a status dividend from their purchases. Expect a shift from brands telling a story, to brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers.

What a fascinating thing to say: "Expect a shift... to brands helping consumers tell status-yielding stories to other consumers." But I'd argue the shift isn't just in who's delivering the message, but it's also in the content of the message itself. As consumers, we're moving from a sales-pitch mentality to a narrative mentality. So if you're an awesome Milwaukee ad agency like Meyer & Wallis, you see double opportunity here. I'll explain.

First, we excel at telling stories. That's what much of the best advertising has always done — given the consumer a narrative picture of what their world would be like with you in it. I'd argue that, given our vast experience and exemplary creative department, we get this better than virtually any full service advertising agency our size.

But second, our understanding of interactive media and online advertising strategies are second to none. Our VP of Interactive is one of the most forward thinkers when it comes to utilizing digital media, and I'm not just talking about websites. Several of our recent campaigns demonstrate there are plenty of ways to use digital media to get your message out, including, in more than one instance, giving consumers a chance to tell their stories on behalf of clients.

And when these two competencies are married into one integrated campaign, our results are consistently remarkable and measurable.

So check out the article linked above. The trend they're talking about is very real. If you have the slightest suspicion that your ad agency doesn't get how to use digital media for all it's worth, maybe you should give us a call.

At Meyer&Wallis, we know a thing or two about hospital marketing: How to differentiate a facility from its competition, how to identify unique services or characteristics and claim them in the marketplace... but, in this economy, it seems like the task of healthcare marketing isn't just about which hospital anymore, it's about going to the hospital at all.

According to a recent survey of adults 45 and older on The Best Life, by Philip Moeller:

• 22% have delayed seeing a doctor or other medical professional;
• 16% have cut back on preventive care activities, such as flu shots or annual screenings;
• 15% have either skipped doses of their prescribed medications or taken less than the prescribed dose;
• 14% have decided not to fill a prescription at all;
• 14% have cut back on their medical care;

Virtually every provider of healthcare is facing a downturn in traffic in this economy. That's not only bad for business, it's bad for our health!

So, if you're an individual, remember that one of the best investments you can make is in your own health. Don't stop taking care of yourself, even in this economic downturn.

And if you work at a hospital or other healthcare provider currently experiencing the phenomenon described above, maybe we should talk. Meyer & Wallis is a full service advertising agency with years of experience working on behalf of hospitals, blood centers, etc. Let us help you not only keep patients coming to your hospital, but choosing you over your competition.

Meyer&Wallis has been named the agency of record by Carpet Town, one of the leading purveyors of flooring and interior design in the Milwaukee area for more than 35 years. Meyer & Wallis will provide Carpet Town with marketing and advertising services.

Founded in 1971, Carpet Town quickly grew from a “cash-and-carry” carpeting warehouse to one of the largest retail flooring stores in the greater Milwaukee area. It has repeatedly earned The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Consumer Analysis Award as the number one choice for flooring. It has also won multiple awards from the Metropolitan Builders Association, and is proud to be one of 200 retail stores nationwide chosen as a Stainmaster Flooring Center.

Throughout our 40-year history, Meyer & Wallis has built up a rich foundation of experience working with a wide variety of retailers. And, despite our being a midwestern ad agency, many of them have been from all over the country, including supermarkets, realtors, manufacturers, and several specialty retailers. Through our prorietary planning methodologies, award-winning creative abilities, and innovative media buying strategies, Meyer & Wallis intends to help keep Carpet Town on a trajectory of success and growth!

Visit Carpet Town by clicking their logo above, and visit our main site to see what else we've been up to.

You might be interested to know that, despite our economic conundrum, "Online ad spending approached $5.9 billion during the third quarter, an increase of 11 percent versus the same quarter in 2007 and up 2 percent versus Q2 of this year." Read the full article over at Media Week here.

You know, the ad industry in general still hasn't quite figured out what to do with online advertising. We don't seem to trust it the way we trust a nice 30 second TV spot or the safe simplicity of a billboard. But lots and lots of people — looking for news, or new jobs, or an entertaining escape from the real world — will be heading online in the months ahead. This is a GREAT time to advertise online (if you've got an agency who knows what they're doing). Want some help with that from an established yet unbelievably digitally-minded midwestern ad agency? Give us a call or write to us today.

Just saw this on another blog, and it turned me all reflective on the work we do here at Meyer&Wallis.

So often, when trying to differentiate yourself in the marketplace, the impulse is to talk about your brand, your method, your product. After all, you truly believe it's superior!

But consumers don't want to hear how much you know about what you're selling them; they want to hear how well you know them. Which is a great argument for the existence of ad agencies in the first place. It's your job to know your product, and it's our job to know your customer. We're the ones who take all the effort and passion you've put into your product(s) and try to communicate that to the heart of your customers. There are plenty of ad agencies who can make compelling claims about your product. There are far fewer who can confidently, accurately talk directly to your potential customer. This is what we've been specializing in for 40 years.

Retail marketing is all about insight about the consumer. With proprietary research methods that have been perfected over decades, we're confident at Meyer & Wallis that we have the edge when it comes to knowing who you're talking to as an advertiser.

One of my recent posts was about our work on behalf of Meijer. They were facing a huge full-on attack by Wal*Mart in most of their markets, and bracing for tremendous losses. We told them that we had some ideas, but first, we needed to talk to some of the consumers who chose to shop and chose not to shop their stores. After several quick focus groups, our strategy changed in light of what we found. Based on the numbers, the only way Meijer could survive was if they spoke directly to those who had already rejected them. And how do you talk to a consumer who has already decided she doesn't like you? You talk about her. And it worked.

Or work for Meijer was a huge success. They have expanded their business and continue to thrive, even though they were once bracing themselves for extinction.

This is why we consider Meyer & Wallis to be a turnaround specialist. When time is of the essence and options seem slim, there's no one with a more proven ability to identify your key strengths, communicate them to consumers in a way that feels focused on them, and generate immediate, mesurable results.

That's our slogan.

Think inside the circle.

And our logo is a target:


It's like there's a theme going, here.

Take some time to look around the web at some other ad agency websites. (Go ahead, it's okay.) There are a lot of (younger) agencies out there that pride themselves on being able to think up the most outrageous, off-the-wall, outside-the-box ideas. And they'll prove it to you. Check out their sample work: lots of ads with images and headlines that are often more memorable than the message given about the brand being advertised.

See, "creative types" are born creative. It doesn't really take a whole lot of experience to think up an ad people will notice. What comes with experience is having seen hundreds of successful and unsuccessful ad campaigns and figuring out what makes them different. What comes with time is the discipline to think up outrageously creative marketing that ALSO adheres to a specific brand strategy.  Did you know Meyer&Wallis uses proprietary research techniques that we've perfected over the past 30 years? Only after we feel we've nailed the ideal marketing strategy do we start working on the ads. And if there's one thing we feel sets us apart from other ad shops, it's that our campaigns are consistently successful. They may not all be funny or famous, but they work. And what's more important to an advertiser than that?

So we think the essence of great advertising is execution to a precise strategy. Go check out our sample work if you haven't already. Some of it might make you smile, some of it might make you think, but all of it should tell you something about the brand being advertised.

Thinking outside the box may get people's attention, but often misses the mark when it comes to achieving a marketing goal. We'll let the kids do that stuff. After more than 40 years, we prefer to think inside the circle.

Meyer&Wallis is a Milwaukee ad agency. It's also an Indianapolis ad agency. Since 1990, we've operated two offices, allowing us to serve clients from a wider area.

But with one office in Milwaukee and another in Indianapolis, how do you suppose Meyer & Wallis continues to move forward as one company, sharing talents, ideas and responsibilities?

Technology, you might say. And it's true. I have a video conference at least once a week with one of my coworkers in Indianapolis. He and I can easily work on the same project because we have access to the same file servers in each office via a dedicated, high-speed connection. We also have an agency wide conference call every Monday morning to talk about open jobs, work coming down the pipeline, and the latest Colts-Packers match-up. Well, that was just this Monday. But did you see that game?!?

So while we're separated geographically by 275 miles of Midwest earth, we're able to work quite closely as one team dedicated to your brand.

But this doesn't set us apart from anyone. Any agency with multiple offices that can't videoconference and share files between them these days probably has bigger things to worry about (like whether there's a fresh ribbon in the secretary's typewriter or if the president's dictaphone has recently been oiled).

No, what I think sets Meyer & Wallis apart is that, even with all this technology at our disposal, there's usually at least one of us — if not three or four — driving between Milwaukee and Indianapolis each week. Why? To make a delivery? No. FedEx does that. Super-important meetings? Not really — we have important meetings all the time over the phone. I think we just really like connecting with each other. Advertising is about making connections: between your company's goals and your brand's development, between your brand and consumers, and, most recently, amongst consumers via interactive media, where many of them connect about your brand via social networking and blogging. Connecting is what makes an ad a compelling message, and our passion for helping you connect with your customers is matched only by our collaborative desire to connect with each other.

Know that with Meyer & Wallis as your advertising agency, you have at your disposal a group of people who love making connections. If we'll regularly drive 275 miles just to stay in sync with each other, imagine the lengths we'll go to for your brand. (Or call and ask. We'd gladly share some success stories.)

If I didn't see that coworker from Indy that I work closely with in person at least once every other week, it wouldn't be normal. And if I don't, I can only assume the perpetual construction in Chicago must be especially bad, or the Colts got spanked by the Packers again. Did you see that game?!?