Benedict Advertising - Business Building Solutions

Online dating is becoming a more popular way to meet a compatible partner. Some people may still stick to old ways, but with some intellect and commonsense to screen good from bad, online dating can work.

The number of online dating sites that exist is enormous. While you should be relatively picky, you can be turned down on some sites if your standards are too high and no one fits the criteria. Screening is very important when it comes to online dating. Different people have different intentions. There are few that are serious about a relationship and want the “real thing”.

I have been on these sites for over 2 years now and found a lot of people that were not for me. I was almost ready to give up, but when I least expected it, there he was. I knew immediately this one was special. We live 120 miles apart but in the first week he made the trip 3 times. What a catch!

If you are looking to find someone special, give it a try (Singlesnet.com; Plentyoffish.com; Eharmony.com; Fitsingles.com; or Seniorpeoplemeet.com). Be careful, screen everyone and always meet in a public place.

Good Luck!

-Gail Moore

As part of my job, and most of my coworkers’ as well, I travel to client meetings a few times a month. These trips aren’t always as cut and dry as they seem, and sometimes I will be on the road for a few days attending back-to-back meetings. Against my wishes, the world does not stop when I am out of the office so I still have emails to respond to and voicemails to return and client jobs that need to be opened or dealt with!

This is where technology comes in and thank goodness for it! Through the wonders of the Internet and other gadgets, I am able to stay informed and up-to-date even when I am out of the office! I am lucky to have an iPhone that I can use to keep up with emails and return phone calls. I can even use the Map application if I get lost on my way to a meeting. We also now have a program that allows our internal job tracking system to be accessed online, which is a huge help! If anyone out there is in need of something like this, check out CurrentTrack. Through this program, I can approve artwork, send artwork to clients and communicate with other staff members on the status of jobs. This is very helpful so everyone is aware of what needs to be done at that moment and nothing falls through the cracks!

I know we all complain about technology every now and again when our email isn’t working properly or the Internet is down, but in the scheme of the things our lives are greatly improved by technology and all of our gadgets!

- Annika Elston

Being creative is a challenging daily requirement with sub-layers of focus; depending on what projects I am working on, there is the occasion where a creative block will drop right before the juices start flowing. Leaving a crusty, dry, inhabitable thoughtless mind. There are a few things that I have tested/proven/failed/ and finally perfect to destroy the unwanted dam. I won’t bore you with the mundane details, instead I’ll break down quickly how i decompress  in four different ways:

#1 Morning coffee: This ritual applies to work, home, commuting, meetings, face booking, chatting, surfing the web and most importantly brain storming.

#2 Video games: Now before you start to shout out “nerd” all too quickly, there is something mellon collie about unwinding while remaining solely focused playing a video game. The games can range from a simple round of Uno to shooting the shit out of someone via Xbox live. 

#3 Bike riding: This is my favorite way of resupplying the creative nodes.  Ripping through the trails allows me to express creativity within a different medium, using talent that is only limited to the fear of losing focus. Thinking of anything else causes a crash or a missed opportunity to hit a hidden jump.

#4 Shots, shots, shots! If all else fails, then it’s time to hit up a good bar for some forced mind erasing. Numbing the innards of your skull is pretty easy once you throw back a few shots of jager. Or, if you prefer a bit more of sophistication, then I suggest a few glasses of red wine. I usually go for the house red, but after a few glasses it’s okay to mix and match.

There you go. I hope that I have helped you expand your methods of decompression. 

-Joey Ramos

The plan was to have a nice little video player here to show you all how to install Wordpress.  After some fiddling, we need to send you over to the man who created the video.  Expect a wonderful video cast focusing on the basics of Wordpress development from one of our more agile minded Social media peeps: Braden Douglass

Smart consumers, technology and mobile devices (like my iPhone) have leveled the commercial playing field.

I love my phone and understand it’s a one way relationship. But, I am in awe of the consumer revolution that is under way in App warfare. New programs like RedLaser and Kooaba are not only modifying a new breed of consumer they are empowering shoppers. RedLaser is an App that allows you to take a photo of any bar code and not only will it find the product, but it will find you the cheapest price as well as deliver consumer reviews.

What does this mean for store owners and doo-dad sellers? This means we as consumers hope you marked your products fairly. Because if not, we know 10 others stores who have it cheaper and the wrath of feeds, blogs and posts about how lame you are will quickly ensue.

We have quickly become social bulimics, ready to use our finger to vomit content whenever the mood strikes. I heard a great story the other day that someone leaked Wal-Mart’s Black Friday prices and every competitor already has matched their prices. This was Twittered, Facebooked & Digged quicker than a Brad and Angelina Jolie divorce update.

Like it or not, social media, technology and mobile devices (Like my iPhone) have changed the way we do business. It’s a new world my friend and like it or not you have to recognize. We’re here, we share - get used to it.

- Text you later -

Chris LeBlanc - Creative Director

We all have them. You can’t deny it. Whether it’s buying expensive shoes, listening to Barry Manilow, playing Farm Town on Facebook or eating cheese whiz and bologna sandwiches, we are all hiding something that we’re terrified others will find out about.

I’m about to oust myself, so judge me or judge me not. I, Julie Coln, a grown woman in her, well, uh, mid-thirties; watches Gossip Girl on the CW. As a media buyer, I know the show does well with women in the 18-24 range, which is their target audience. Don’t ask me why I like a show about a bunch of outrageously rich, self-obsessed and status-hungry teens gallivanting around NYC.

Seriously, high school kids with the last names of Archibald, Waldorf and Van der Woodsen, meeting up in their favorite bar for a dry martini after a hard day of prep school and riding around town in stretch limos. How pretentious! I tried to watch the “reality” show, NYC Prep, to see if there were comparisons to “real” high society NYC teens, but it was lame and the kids were real whiners. Boring!

I just keep telling myself its research. I mean, I am a media buyer and I have to be up on current and trendy shows, right?

And while I’m confessing, I also listen to the soundtracks from GLEE and One Tree Hill (the first season). I have them in my office if anyone wants to borrow them. Your secret is safe with me!

Until Next Time…

- Julie Coln

Being in the advertising business, especially on the design side of things, really has it’s rewards.

Not so much the kind of rewards like bonuses, new cars or even a pack of M&Ms, but the kind of rewards that give a person a sense of accomplishment and pride. It’s a unique feeling to see a business doing well because of their advertising, but even more so, it’s a thrill to see something that was once sketched in a series of thumbnails come to reality. A billboard on the side of the interstate. A colorful rack card at a resort. A glossy version of the magazine advertisement that up until that point had only been seen on a color print out. Even a logo beautifully lit up in lime green. These are the kind of rewards that are truly one of the biggest reasons I chose this profession for myself.

It doesn’t come without a lot of hard work, thought and planning though. And without all of it, the “reward” wouldn’t be as sweet.

So many visions and ideas never make it past the agency doors, and what does qualify will get reworked, some additional thought and tasty improvements. Every modification made is like the swipe of a cloth loaded with Turtle Wax on that shiny red sports car… Scouring through fonts, assembling a team of vendors, coordinating photo shoots, working with copywriters, planning with our media buyers, late nights with the account service team, wax on, wax off.

And in the end? Well it’s not a shiny red sports car I’m driving, but it’s certainly a buffed feeling of pride that I’d like to call the reward.

Kym “soon-to-be” Kozak

Software is an integral piece of the puzzle that allows us, as users, to interface with the little computers that sit in front of us each day. Who remembers the days before windows 3.1 where everything was a simple black screen and a blinking cursor? Perhaps you don’t, but this is the very moment when software became an integral part of our every day lives. How would we be able to modify documents, spreadsheets, surf the web and play games without the “awesomeness” of software?

Jumping from then until now, lets focus on something that makes this new wave of social media marketers tick. How can you interface with twitter, facebook, or the next big wave without the requirement to have a million different tabs open at once? Moreover, when you log into these services you need to actually log out of a previous user account . This can be an excruciating process for the individual who craves productivity and automation. So what is the point you might ask? Well, lets attempt to save you a little time and make your day a lot more fun. Software was king when computers were young and it frankly, still is. If you are going to the web every time you want to update twitter, you are doing it wrong (sorry but absolutely true). Many web applications are built with something called an API (application protocol interface). This “API” allows software to interface with the web and do certain tasks right from the desktop as long as a proper connection is maintained. Without further ado, lets jump right in and talk about the software you need to be using.  In addition, all of these programs will cause no direct economic strife on your body, due to them all being absolutely free.

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Ever wonder how Web sites become popular? How they get discovered, shared, talked about? No one can answer that question exactly, but I can tell you that People of Wal-Mart caught on and it is sure good for a laugh.

What can I say about People of Wal-Mart that hasn’t been said already..It’s a guilty pleasure. It’s almost as good as seeing the guy you thought was so hot in high school, married to a 400lb elephant. It’s that good!

When you are work in social media all day (like one of our employees, Sarah) you are bound to find Web sites like People of Wal-Mart. She came over one Friday and said “I found this website and you’re going to love it” and boy did I! There were only about 4 pages of geek, freaks and weirdo’s galore. I immediately became friends with People of Wal-Mart on Facebook and posted it to share with my other friends.

Next thing I knew, People of Wal-Mart was being covered by Ad Age, CNN and Time. All I could think was, WOW an over night phenomenon of making fun of people at a retail store, who would have thought?

The site has grown to over 50 pages of hilarious photos and captions. This is a great example of how Social Media works. I posted the Web site on my Facebook, my friends did the same and BAM! CNN is calling! That is the kind of publicity you can’t even begin to pay for! This should show everyone the power of Social Media.

-Sonja Dewees

Who knew that 26 years ago when I first started my advertising career that I would end up buying media and overseeing a media department at Benedict Advertising.

I was in college when I began my first job in advertising.  I started as a secretary at the local Lamar Outdoor Advertising plant in Daytona Beach and worked my way into various positions including sales and operations during my 7 ½ years at Lamar.

My next job was at Champion Rent to Own, based in Daytona Beach.  Yes, it’s true when you work for an in-house agency you get to wear many hats. I learned a lot in this job from TV production and editing to Quark Xpress and laying out flyers for weekly specials. It was my boss at the time that asked after a couple years, “So, what’s your favorite part of this job?”, as he was asking our staff to specialize in positions that we really felt passionate about and enjoyed.  You may have already guessed it, but mine was media buying. I had already been buying some of the media for the company and this was an area where I felt challenged and was eager to learn more about.  The company sent me to various media buying schools where I honed my skills.

The company was eventually sold and I was left to ponder… “Now what am I going to do with my career?” That’s when I received a call from Mr. Jim Benedict asking me to come in for an interview for a media buyer.  A week later I started at the agency.  I still had lots to learn as a buyer and had a great mentor in Mr. Benedict who shared his sharp negotiation skills with me.  Now, 11 years later with a full media department at the agency I am sharing what I have learned over the last 26 years with others that have chosen media as their career.