Using the Three Kings to market your business
Beber Silverstein Group has used the iconic thought bubbles on its Coral Way office façade to promote its marketing and advertising business with a variety of messages that reflect current events, fund-raising for natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, holidays, and even its Twitter feed @thinkbsg.
For example, a holiday one in 2009 read “Madoff is in Prison, Healthcare is in Debate. 2009 is almost over… Happier Holidays, from Beber Silverstein.”
Since last month, BSG has been using the Miami Heat’s offseason acquisitions of LeBron James and Chris Bosh joining Dwyane Wade to gain attention.
One bubble says “If you had Wade, Bosh & James on your team, you could sell out without advertising” and the other points out “But you don’t, so call 305-856-9800."
A clever message considering the Heat sold out its season ticket inventory hours before James even announced he was definitely coming to Miami.
“We’ve certainly gotten a lot of attention to it. More compliments than on any in a while,” said Joe Perz, the company’s executive vice president, creative director. “I like that it was a little arrogant. Everybody was talking about the dream team coming here.”
The bubbles have also spurred some business, Perz said.
The company changes the message every few months, which isn’t easy to do these days. In the era of digital signage and laser printing, BSG still has the signs hand-painted by a Miami man who works from a cherry-picker and only on weekends.
Mike LaMonica, BSG’s senior vice president business development and director of social media, says the company has become known for its bubbles, which were started in the early 1990s.
“Our clients love them. Prospects who come and visit us love them,” LaMonica said. “People who drive by love them. We’ve gotten many compliments on our Facebook page, on our Twitter page. I’ve gotten many phone calls with compliments, also many phone calls with submissions. I’ve also gotten many phone calls from people who wanted to advertise there.”
The company has yet to allow anyone else to advertise there or taken submissions, although it might consider submitted suggestions in the future, LaMonica said.
CRAIG DAVIS In more than 33 years at the Sun Sentinel, Craig Davis has written about a wide variety of sports topics from baseball to yachting, fishing to triathlons, and also worked as a copy editor and page designer. Recently he reported on local sports, including running, swimming, cycling, equestrian and beach volleyball. He enjoys sports as a participant as well as a spectator, is active in the South Florida running scene plays in the curling club at Saveology Iceplex. This blog offers a glimpse at the business side of sports in the interest of enhancing enjoyment of the games and sporting options as a spectator as well as a participant.
