Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 15, 1990 TAG: 9003152059
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: BUS1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mag Poff Business Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He grew up in Bedford, which figured in his decision. Still, his advertising career had taken him to Maryland, Florida, New York and California.
What he found in those places, Thomasson said, was heavy traffic and expensive living.
As executive vice president of Edmonds Packett Group, he said, "I do what I want to do--and live in a place like Roanoke. I have the best of both worlds." Holly Smith, an award-winning creative director, said people at Edmonds Packett do the same work as Madison Avenue without the two-hour commute.
They have a lot of fun, she said, and they avoid the "crap and politics" of a New York agency.
In New York, she said people "lose the essence of creativity" because work must pass through layers of bureaucracy. Smith likes it here because quick response to hew work provides "immediate gratification."
Opportunities in New York have tempted Robin Chalkley. He says without bravado that he knows he could "make it" there as a copywriter.
He's in Roanoke because "you have to set priorities. It's a great place to raise a family. My family's happy here. I'm happy here."
Shawn Murray joined the staff last May because he believes Edmonds Packett is superior to the agency where he worked in Tampa. "I came to be closes to quality."
The market here is small, he said, but he plans to "stick around" if Edmonds Packett keeps growing at its present pace.
They all work for the agency that has dominated Roanoke's Addy Award contest for the last three years.
Edmonds Packett Group took 28 Addy prizes last month, including 13 golds and both best-in-show awards.
One of the three judges for the event praised the creativity of local entries, but said markets like Roanoke have a problem retaining talented people.
Sandy Nelms, creative director for many of those awards, joined the agency six years ago as an art director. She's been busy ever since working her way up in the agency to senior vice president.
Edmonds Packett Group has always been well known for the freedom it gives its people, Nelms said. That's one reason so many of them stay, she said. Another is the agency's growth and diverse clientele.
But even those who want to live in Roanoke have done some job hopping, usually moving from smaller to bigger agencies.
Nelms and Holly Smith, another creative director whose work garnered many Addys, both went to Edmonds Packett from the Maddox Agency.
Chalkley also began his career with Maddox and then worked until last year for John Lambert Associates.
Howard Packett, president of Edmonds Packett Group, said people in the industry here watch young talent develop.
Agencies compete to lure the most promising artists and copywriters, he said, and no house is immune from a raid.
A higher salary is part of successful recruiting, Packett said. Another inducement is the potential for working on many different accounts.
Edmonds Packett Group employs 21 people, including three client service representatives at a sales office in Richmond.
One-third of the 18 people at the office on Jefferson Street work in creative fields. They are two copywriters and four art directors.
Packett said Nelms assigns a creative team - an artist and a copywriter - to each account.
This is unlike the practice in the largest cities, where creative individuals work more anonymously on multi-member teams.
After a year or two, Packett said, Nelms is likely to switch assignments for a fresh approach.
The agency was established in 1963 by Cecil Edmonds and Packett as the in-house marketer for Stuart McGuire, then a mail-order shoe operation in Salem.
Packett handled the accounts and Edmonds, who is no longer active in the firm, was creative director.
From the start, they worked for outside clients as well. And their first account was Roanoke Memorial Hospitals, a pioneer in hospital advertising.
The agency turned totally independent and moved downtown when Home Shopping Network purchased Stuart McGuire.
The agency's owners are Packett; Carilion Health Systems - which operates Roanoke Memorial; and INOVA, which operates Fairfax Hospital.
Even though it's an owner, Carilion is only the agency's third largest client behind United Cities Gas of Nashville and Medeco Locks.
Packett said the agency serves more than 20 clients, half of them with "good size" advertising programs.
Money doesn't necessarily buy creativity, Packett said, but clients must be willing to spend money on production.
St. Mary's Hospital of Richmond, for instance, put up $35,000 just on production for the television commercial that was best-in-show for the Addy Awards.
He estimated that the agency works 25 percent of the time on television commercials and an equal amount of time on print media.
Another 20 percent is devoted to radio. The balance of 30 percent is spent producing collateral materials such as billboards and brochures.
Packett said marketing is overtaking creativity as the industry's driving force, requiring development of a marketing strategy and a plan.
The plan governs the type of advertising to be created and how the results of the campaign will be measured.
That's why Thomasson, whose background is in marketing, was hired in November.
Thomasson said it's no longer enough to produce an ad and hope that it works. Clients are more sophisticated, and they expect more from their advertising.
Thomasson said ads must fit into an overall strategy that is supported by tangible market research.
Advertising is an expensive line item in a client's budget, he said, so the company and the agency must be smarter than their competition.
by CNB