Category: Image Associates News
iA recently had the privilege of working with Dan and Mary Kerns and their great staff at Mountain State Agency Alliance, an area insurance organization. MSAA approached Image Associates about producing two videos for their website. The videos feature testimonials from MSAA agents talking about the benefits a partnership offers and also includes MSAA staff members highlighting the services and benefits they offer participating agencies. The video will be utilized as a recruiting tool for prospective new MSAA member agencies.
MSAA was very pleased with the finished products and has asked Image Associates to produce another video later this year.
There has never been a better time to improve the effectiveness of your company’s website than by adding video. Call us today at (304) 546-2583 to learn more.
iA was chosen again by United Way of Central West Virginia to produce their annual Community Impact Fund video. 2011 marked the fourth consecutive year the agency has called on Image Associates to produce this integral part of their annual fundraising effort.
Regarding working with iA, United Way President John Ballengee commented, “United Way of Central West Virginia has worked closely with Image Associates over the past several years to produce our annual campaign video. We need a message every year that is both educational and inspirational. Bill Hogan and the production staff at Image Associates have never let us down. From script writing to editing to the final product, IA produces quality work that we are always proud to share with the community. We look forward to working with the iA staff well into the future.”
United Way’s Janice Amspoker added, “In my position as Resource and Development Director for United Way of Central West Virginia, I work closely with the staff at iA and appreciate the personal attention given to our projects. iA takes a basic concept or idea and truly makes it come alive on film.”
The Steven Spielberg/J.J. Abrams blockbuster “Super 8” roared into theatres this June and with it months of secrecy concerning the role of Charleston’s iA Productions finally came to an end. When iA first began talks with Paramount Pictures in August 2010, the company was sworn to secrecy. In fact, the producers were so concerned with secrecy that the production had two working titles before adopting the “Super 8” moniker.
Now iA can tell all. iA served as the film’s production services company, providing almost everything the production used while shooting in West Virginia – from filmstock to flamethrowers, from hair extensions to explosives and everything in between. From August 2010 through January 2011, iA staff interacted daily with the Paramount crew, both in-state and back in Los Angeles. Long hours were spent making purchases, overseeing expenditures and making certain every last item would arrive on time for each day’s shooting in Weirton, WV.
What can we do for your next production? Anybody need a slightly used freight train?
The winners of the 32nd Annual Telly Awards have been announced and Image Associates’ iA Productions received two Telly Awards for its television commercials for the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care and Ghareeb Dental Group. “With nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries, it’s quite an honor to be selected,” said iA Productions Creative Director Bill Hogan. “It is especially gratifying that the concepts for these award-winners were crafted by our advertising division – Image Associates, LLC.”
One thirty-second spot for the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care brings home its message, urging West Virginians to declare their end-of-life wishes, with an electrifying conclusion in which a medical device called a defibrillator is seen from a patient’s point of view as it discharges, complete with jarring sound effect.
In direct contrast, the imagery found in the Ghareeb Dental spots features actual patients simply smiling at the camera in extended close ups, is upbeat and fun and supported by a light and airy Indy-style music track.
The new awards bring iA’s Telly total to twenty-one since 1996. “No other West Virginia production company even comes close,” said Hogan. “Our dedication to quality and creativity have always distinguished us from our competitors. Being recognized by the Telly’s is simply the icing on the cake.”
Image Associates, LLC has announced that Leland Steele has joined the firm in the role of business development representative. He will be responsible for attracting new clients for the agency and its production company, IA Productions.
Most recently, he worked as a Retail Account Executive for The Herald-Dispatch and has over 20 years of sales and marketing experience in advertising, financial services and healthcare. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marshall University in Journalism/Advertising and Master of Business Administration degree from Liberty University.
The West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care has renewed its contract with Image Associates for a third year in a row! Image Associates is grateful that our work has produced substantial results for the non-profit organization, and we are honored to be chosen yet again as the Center for End-of-Life Care’s Agency of Record.
The West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care provides assistance to West Virginians so that at the end of life they know what medical treatments they want and their wishes are honored and respected.
Image Associates produces print, radio, television and website creative content for the West Virginia Center for End-of-Life Care, and our television and radio spots are currently running throughout the state.
New River faced a variety of challenges in its attempt to carve a niche among southeastern West Virginia’s institutions of higher education.
Image Associates, LLC worked with New River as its marketing and public relations firm to brand the college for the emerging infrastructure in southern West Virginia. Through thorough study and evaluation of the college’s operations, Image Associates identified the single largest impediment to the success of the college as the absence of a clear identity for the institution. This should not be surprising given the fact that New River Community and Technical College was created, in part, with pieces from existing institutions.
Image Associates created an identity for New River Community and Technical College through a coordinated advertising and public relations plan. We postulated that advertising would help raise consumer awareness through a targeted media buy aimed at increasing enrollment for the coming semester. Advertisements were placed in statewide newspapers and billboards were designed and displayed in the college’s target areas. The public relations activity served not only to support the advertising campaign but also to provide a consistent awareness level throughout the college’s nine-county area of responsibility.
As a result, fall enrollment figures at New River’s four campus locations increased 33 percent over last year’s enrollment. The figures reflect enrollment at all four campus locations. The most significant increase in enrollment occurred at New River’s Beckley campus; high school graduates represented a large portion of the increase.
“Seeing an enrollment increase among recent high school graduates is directly attributable to our increased visibility,” says Dr. Ted Spring, president of New River. Image Associates’ campaign thrust New River Community and Technical College directly into the public’s eye, ultimately creating an increased awareness throughout southern West Virginia. The result: 2007 enrollment increased 33 percent and New River prospered. Administrators believe the continued campaigns of Image Associates will sustain and even increase the upward trend of enrollment in the coming years.
Image Associates has entered into a contract with the West Virginia University Center for End of Life Care to provide public relations representation. The contract took effect on Oct. 5, 2007.
The Center for End of Life care was entertaining offers from agencies around the state to provide PR counsel and improve West Virginians’ general knowledge of the services they provide. The center provides information and forms for advance directives aimed at ensuring that those who are expected to pass have their wishes honored by physicians and medical care providers.
“Securing this account is a wonderful opportunity for Image Associates,” said Image Associates Public Relations Representative Michael A. Lucas. “With our extensive experience in public awareness campaigns and the spectacular service offered by WVCEOLC, we are confident that we can grow the program’s recognition in West Virginia extensively.”
iA Director William F. Hogan will be featured in an upcoming issue of Markee magazine, a trade publication aimed at reaching executives in the film industry.
“I am honored to be chosen as one of the subjects for an issue of Markee,” said Hogan. “Opportunities to show the nation what we can do in the West Virginia film industry are rare, and when one arises, we have to take advantage.”
Hogan’s decades of experience in the film industry and his wide array of both shooting projects and clients are the focus of the piece, according to writers at Markee.
When Beckley-based New River Community and Technical College decided that the school needed professional help to help it raise its public profile, West Virginias newest independently accredited higher education institution selected Image Associates to develop a marketing strategy.
The West Virginia Legislature created New River Community and Technical College in 2003 by combing one community and technical college component of Bluefield State with another from Glenville State. New River currently operates campuses in Beckley, Bluefield, Lewisburg and Summersville but suffered from an identity crisis because those four-year baccalaureate institutions previously operated its campuses.
Image Associates was asked by the college to provide immediate help in several key areas. During the first 45 days after signing an agency of record contract, Image Associates worked closely with New River officials to develop a short-term marketing plan which included launching the colleges first advertising campaign geared toward recruiting students, redesigning the college logo and corporate identity package, publishing an Annual Report, creating a multi-purpose descriptive brochure, staging press conferences, writing press releases, planning media tours and providing ongoing public relations counsel.
We couldnt be more pleased with our relationship with Image Associates, said Libby Belcher, assistant to New River President Ted. D. Spring. They were able to assess our needs quickly, meet impossible deadlines and deliver products and services in an enthusiastic and professional manner. We are looking forward to a long and rewarding relationship.
