ROOFTOP banter

Club Secrets: How Learning to Golf Improved My Business Game.

Posted By: 

Sara

Date: 

August 4th, 2011 /// Industry Insight, Keathley Culture

When I got invited to golf school in Palm Springs two years ago, I wasn’t expecting to like it so much. I thought it was an old-man-in-funny-pants sport. Of course, I was dying to wear the funny pants, but initially only accepted to escape Ohio’s weather for a week. I decided right away that I liked A) to drive golf carts and B) having a cocktail in the sun during business hours. In the end, I uncovered an intriguing game, atmosphere and society that are ultimately making me a better Account Executive.

I quickly learned that golf is a natural networker. As a 30-year-old woman, it felt a little awkward stepping into this men’s club, but I realized that by becoming passionate about golf, I instantly had something in common with these people. It’s a very comfortable and natural way to develop relationships with clients and prospects. You’ve probably heard the statistic that you can find 90% of key business decision makers on the golf course.

I also learned to use this connection off the golf course. Take this example for instance. I was trying to gain some common ground with a new client who had two months until retirement and no interest in conversing with me. I asked him about his job, grandkids, travel plans, even favorite colors, and he didn’t look up from the table. Then I asked him if he golfed, and shared a few stories with him. His whole attitude changed.

I’ve also observed that, as a female golfer, it is easy to bond with other female golfers. Because there are so many less women on the golf course, we seem to embrace each other and instantly have a conversation-starter. This comes in handy in meeting perspective female clients or entertaining existing ones. I’ve created long-term relationships with clients, colleagues and suppliers just by learning how to play golf. It even got me invited to Masters last year.

It’s also been said that by playing a round of golf, you can really get to see who that person is. Whether they are a good winner or loser, how he or she handles a challenge, if they cheat, how competitive they are, if they can laugh at themselves and handle pressure. One round of golf could be a great indicator up front whether the partnership is a good match or not.

So, ladies, get yourselves some sweet golf shoes (and maybe some pink balls), and get on the green. My only suggestion: Before you step on the course with a client, take a lesson or two and learn the etiquette.

Here’s a good place to start: The 8 Rules of Business Golf

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The Executive Creative Director: What the hell do you do all day?

Posted By: 

Tom Keathley

Date: 

March 28th, 2011 /// Industry Insight, Keathley Culture

I’ve heard this question quite a few times over the years. Sometimes it’s because someone is curious about what my job entails, and sometimes it’s because, to the untrained eye, our office environment seems too good to be true. Recently, I thought that maybe I should keep track of what a week as executive creative director of Keathley Advertising looks like. So, that’s what I did one particularly busy week last fall.

A Week in the Life of an Executive Creative Director

Sunday
Relaxed at home while reviewing artwork that needs creative direction and approvals while I’m traveling Monday morning. Basically, work left over from Friday afternoon. Some may call it procrastination, but I call it strategic planning for a focused state of attention, because “focused” is not a typical Friday-afternoon mindset.

It’s 3:39pm. Packed my luggage in 9 minutes. Took a little longer than normal, because this trip requires two stops before heading back to Cleveland.

6:00pm flight to Las Vegas. Could be going to worse places, but there will be little time for fun. We have a PR event to throw for 60 members of the press on Tuesday, as well as multiple meetings at the second biggest trade show in the world.

Monday
Woke up at 7:00am to my phone beeping. It’s 10:00am back home. I work from my room for a while. Early morning emails. Phone calls creative directing a pitch for a new client due on Thursday. Conference with my associate creative director discussing a photo shoot she’s covering while I’m out of town.

Breakfast with the client at 9:00am. Then pre-event planning with the Hard Rock to art direct the stage and venue set-up.

Met with our account exec and event planner in the afternoon to go over final details and trade show logistics.

Dinner with the client. Played some cards before going to bed. Not a bad day.

Tuesday
Spent the entire day working from my iPhone and paying attention to the details of a client and her business. My mobile devices make it nice to be able to manage an ad agency, as well as view and provide feedback on projects day and night from any location.

Wednesday
Met with a new business prospect for breakfast. Sounds like Keathley’s ability to grow his business is a perfect fit for his marketing aspirations. I promise him a discovery process and strategy in two weeks.

PR event went off without a hitch. Spent a lot of the day making decisions that sometimes seem silly, but all the details are integral to building the brand at every artistic and strategic opportunity.

Celebrated with the staff and clients over a late sushi dinner. Yum.

Thursday
Flew directly to Chicago at 8:00am. New business meeting. Three meetings with potential partners. Meeting with our web team about the final stages of a groundbreaking site. Straight to a commercial pre-pro for one of our biggest clients. Already feels like a full day.

Met my associate creative director and our senior creative writer. We planned out the shoot over dinner and drinks. I’m very comfortable with our team and the spokesperson that we’ve developed. I’m sure it will go smoothly. I drag myself to bed preparing for an even longer day tomorrow.

Friday
16-hour shoot. Location was very upscale and allowed us a breathtaking view and easily designed sets. My day was filled with creative decisions and creative direction that empowers others to run the show. It was a great shoot and we got tons done. Client was thrilled at how much we accomplished.

Saturday
Flying home this morning. Reviewed footage in the airport while waiting for a delay. Then reflected on the week while grabbing a coffee before boarding. It was a busy one. Most of my weeks actually include two days like this, and three filled with helping clients solve their business objectives and keeping the creative atmosphere in our studio at world-class levels. That requires a creative cocktail, and it’s a tricky dance. It consists of one part empowering creative direction, one part landing large brand strategies, one part of fun diversions from work, and one part not worrying what everyone does all day.

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Dear Santa

Posted By: 

Admin

Date: 

December 24th, 2009 /// Keathley Culture

The team at Keathley has been very nice throughout all of 2009. So good, in fact, that we kind of deserve to have all of our professional dreams come true. We promise not to be naughty for all of 2010. Well, most of it.

We present the following list for your consideration.

Yours truly,
Team Keathley

Julie & Brandi – Copy D.

The best Christmas present ever would be for the copy department to be able to brainstorm cool concepts for awesome projects (viral videos, sweet applications, songs, etc.) all day long. It would also be cool to do that in a lush copy department environment outfitted with the following:

• An assistant who would provide food and drink of any kind, at any time
• Comfy, overstuffed lounge chairs
• Hammocks for recharging
• A pool table, Wii and a huge TV (foosball for Brandi too)
• New laptops & 3Gs’s
• A media library that always has the video, book or magazine for the job
• Luke Sullivan
• A dog named sprocket that talks
• A magic “Yes” button to be used once a year (for each of us) on any concept we want
• A life-sized Zen garden sand box with a golden rake
• A saltwater fish tank large enough to snorkel in

Jesse

A stocking full of filled out time sheets and a box of extended timelines.

Zach

Every interactive department shares their love for one type of present: Gadgets. Lots of them. Digital this. Electronic that. If it requires electricity we like it. An endless supply of gadgets to play with would be super-sweet.

Jackie

Consolidate my three job titles into one super-sweet mega-title.

Jenn

• The greatest best planner/buyer EVER
• Ability to attend the hottest seminars in 2010
• Auto-fill time sheets
• Enough time in the day to accommodate all the invites received by our great media partners
• The opportunity to create and execute the GREATEST media plan in the history of my career that is featured on the cover of Adweek.
• Plan and execute an event that blows everything prior out of the water.
• A big fat raise!

Sara

• Land a certain client in Chicago and I get to work in the satellite office
• A hot new all business suit
• Project Plant-a-Bulb plants itself as a raging success story

Becki

To land a client that was in charge of every fashion week event internationally and be assigned the account to coordinate. This would, of course, involve me meeting every celebrity I’ve ever wanted to meet in order to reserve them seats at the hottest upcoming shows, help cast models, and include all the outrageous free gift bags and giveaways to keep for takeaways! Last but not least, this would require me to travel to at LEAST France, Italy, Greece, England and the Caribbean for pre-event visits and research!

Ralph

Time will write a 7,000-word piece on my rise to fame from Director of PR at a small advertising and PR agency in America’s gritty, blue collar Midwest to socialite and friend of all to our nation’s needy and poverty stricken.

As 2010’s Most Influential Person, I will be appointed Secretary of Humanitarian Aid to the United States, as well as liaison to foreign countries, including Rwanda, Sudan, Cambodia and many others.

In the end, many of the world’s leaders, including President Obama and several members of the U.N. will call for me to be presented the Nobel Prize as a result of my selfless work.

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Keathley Advertising Voted Among Top 99 Places to Work in NEO

Posted By: 

Copy D

Date: 

September 24th, 2009 /// Keathley Culture

I think I can speak for the Keathley crew when I say that we all love our jobs. Sure, there are those days when the snooze button is a bit overused but, for the most part, weekday mornings are a breeze when you’re walking in the office to amusing, gifted people…and in-office espresso. The NorthCoast 99 award simply proved what we’ve all known for a while – Keathley Advertising is one of the 99 best places to work in Northeast Ohio.

This award was bestowed on those companies that demonstrated merit through a grueling application process that involved dozens of questions on culture, innovation, success and training. We stood out in the area of employee growth; Inside Business magazine wrote an article on our own Brandi Hensler, who has carved out the opportunity to shine as our social media maven in her first few years as a copywriter.

Tie that in with agency-paid training, team building retreats, flex hours, and the option to bring your dog to work (oh, have we mentioned the rooftop patio?), and you’ve got a workplace culture that inspires extraordinary ideas every day.

NorthCoast 99 awards ceremony

Keathley’s illustrious award

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Finding Stachesperation for Kids

Posted By: 

Julie Jones

Date: 

September 23rd, 2009 /// Keathley Culture

Supporting charities within our community is an essential part of Keathley culture. In the name of that belief, Keathley is founding the Akron chapter of Mustaches for Kids. The guys in our office will grow their best mustaches this November to raise funds for children’s charities in Akron.

To inspire the mustache growers among us and fuel the excitement of their supporters, our staff has been passing around some stachetacular photos and videos. We can hardly wait to share the chapter’s success (and more shots of our staff rockin’ it stache style).

Where do you find stachesperation?

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