Small market, big creative: this Little Rock agency balances national and regional work - Commercial Creatives - Stone and Ward - Brief Article

Post, June, 2002 by Matthew Armstrong

LITTLE ROCK, AR -- While the advertising world is still centered largely in NewYork, Chicago and Los Angeles, smaller agencies throughout the country are being recognized for their high quality concepts on regional commercials and, in turn, are winning more national campaigns.

Founded in 1984 by husband and wife Larry Stone and Millie Ward, Stone & Ward (www.stoneward.com) in Little Rock is one of the best examples of how an agency can thrive on a steady diet of regional work and a handful of national campaigns as long as the commitment is there to produce topnotch creative concepts.

Of course, a little luck didn't hurt S&W's success early on either. In I 987, one of its early clients, Monroe Shoes, signed a licensing deal with Nickelodeon to market "Shoes For Kids." Virtually overnight, S&W's local spots were airing on national cable and the agency was soon working on various projects for the network Along with a few high-profile regional clients that afforded them the creative freedom to produce imaginative and unconventional spots, S&W built up a strong reel early on. "A lot of things fell into place at the right time with the right clients, and that helped us get established," recalls Stone.

For the past few years, S&W has handled national campaigns for the Arkansas Department of Economic Development, TCBY and Terminix, as well as regional work, which brought them 11 regional Telly Awards in 2000 and seven more in 2001.

In an effort to add to the creative pool and attract more national clients, last year S&W hired creative director Jay Cranford, who had been with LA's TBWA/Chiat/Day for nine years, most recently serving as senior copywriter. "When I joined Chiat/Day [in LA], all the big agencies were in NewYork or Chicago. Chiat/Day was seen as a bastion of creativity on the West Coast," notes Cranford. "That's what I'd like to do here... make it a southern outpost that's known for great national-quality work. That's why I got so excited with the Terminix campaign."

The Terminix spots, which began airing in March, have garnered the agency significant interest from the ad world thanks to its comedic take on pest control. Directed by Jeff Gorman of LA's Jeff Gorman Films, and edited by Gordon Carey of Santa Monica's FilmCore, the spots show the extremes homeowners will go to in order to protect against infestation.

CONCEPT TO COMPLETION

One might not expect to have much of a choice when it comes to high quality facilities in Little Rock, but this is not the case says Stone, pointing to Dempsey Film Group and Waymack & Crew, among others. "For the size of this city, it's got an inordinate amount of quality production companies. We can work with top facilities at a budget that you can't get in New York, Chicago or LA."

And these facilities offer one-stop shopping -- from production to editing to visual effects and animation, sound design and mixing. In fact, all that is lacking in Little Rock is telecine capabilities.

This all-in-one approach is extremely advantageous, says Stone adding, "You can accomplish the same thing quicker, at a lower cost and often better [quality] because everybody's in the same house. Everyone's familiar with the project from the beginning. The sound designer can sit in on the offline and get some ideas instead of just having it dumped in his lap one day."

Even when working locally with the all-in-one production approach, S&W tailors each production differently. The TCBY national spots, which are now being offlined, were shot by Waymack & Crew and edited at Dempsey Film Group, which also shot the tabletop product sections. "These are humorous spots and [director] Dan Waymack has a knack for shooting humor. Dempsey has strong animation, graphics and editing capabilities, so we used the talents of both companies to best the projects," explains Stone.

This doesn't mean S&W won't look elsewhere for production or post. "On the large accounts, we try to get at least 10 bids from production companies and directors," explains explains director of broadcast services Tommy Walker. "We go through the reels and narrow them down to three. Then we go back to the client, go through the review process and determine the top company/director. Of course, money plays into it, but the key factor in any negotiation is if you have a great creative concept, production companies are more willing to work with you on the budget because they want [the project] on their reels." S&W then allows the production company to recommend a number of post studios and talent, "We want to get people that the director is comfortable with," explains Walker.

SOUTHERN OUTPOST

Whether it's the Big Apple or Little Rock the secret to success is the same. "It's all about what's on your reel," notes Cranford. "The Terminix spots have certainly generated interest. A lot of production companies from New York and LA have called up just to say that they'd like to work with us in the future. Hopefully, it will open some doors for us."

While thirsting for more national clients, Cranford notes that regional campaigns are also alluring because, many times, more creative latitude is allowed. "I love that aspect [of regional work]. The fewer layers of approval process the better chance you have of getting a great ad produced."