Today’s class involved a field trip to the offices of Post No Bills, which is a creative agency that generates imaginative promotions for clients including movies like Shrek, Disturbia, National Treasure 2, and Madagascar. It’s inspiring to know such inventive campaigns are born right here in South Carolina. Our tour of their building was like walking through a toy store for grownups with all of their nifty promotional knickknacks on display.
Doreen Sullivan, the owner of PNB, spoke with the students about how she started the business and explained the types of things they do for clients using plenty of fun show-and-tell examples. She stressed the importance of presenting an intriguing package in promotional mailings, even down to the container. She also talked about identifying the taste makers and targeting them, since those are the folks other people listen to.
When we told Doreen our movie had a cat in it, she started firing off ideas about promotional items and campaigns almost faster than we could write them down – catnip, lint brushes, cat food, collars with bells, even a catwalk with models wearing cat ears – and this was all off the top of her head. She mentioned how important it is to involve as many of the senses as possible and suggested we go to a pet store to immerse ourselves in the cat aisle to see what ideas it sparked. So many fun things to think about!
Doreen did point out that our title might be too much of a downer, and that some people might be turned off because it sounds like a sad movie from the start. She suggested we change it to something more catchy or intriguing. Brian’s latest idea is Kitty Killed My Granny. So what do you think? Keep Saying Goodbye or go for something else? Any suggestions for a new one?