A New Campaign and a Whole New Image for City Furniture.

By Dorn Martell

City Furniture is unveiling a new series of commercials for the South Florida market today, but the thinking behind them was a long journey that looked at the market from a global perspective.

“We analyzed world trends and studied how people interact with their surroundings and found that home was more than just product and price, it was the universal center of family life”, said Mike Lennon, Senior Vice President of Marketing at City Furniture.

This new 5 spot campaign is the culmination of several years of some deep soul searching by the marketing team at City Furniture and a new collaboration with Tinsley Advertising.

City Furniture has a deep commitment to the environment, philanthropy and doing the right thing for their workers and the community. We felt that by focusing on these values, the consumer will see that they are a different kind of company, and that most people would rather do business with a company that really cares.

The campaign has a decidedly mellow vibe with soft focus and original, acoustic music. This is in stark contrast to the hard sell environment that furniture is often sold in.

The first spot is called “Habitat” and highlights the diversity of architectural styles and unique interiors that make up the South Florida lifestyle. Look for more new spots by Tinsley for City Furniture in the coming weeks.

Tinsley is honored by the Key West Business Guild

By Dorn Martell

Tinsley Advertising was honored Wednesday at the Key West Business Guild luncheon with a beautiful statuette. I was lucky to attend and it was great to see so many friends and to feel the excitement as Key West Pride 2012 kicks off. We’ve been so fortunate to have The Monroe County Tourist Development Council (“The Florida Keys & Key West”) and the LGBT community as clients for so many years and have won more awards for this target than any other in the agency’s history.

A heartfelt thanks goes out to Harold Wheeler, Monroe County TDC Director; George Fernandez, Monroe County TDC; Jon Allen, Key West District Advisory Chairman; Rebecca Tomlinson, Executive Director of the Key West Business Guild; Steve Smith, Outreach Director of the Key West Business Guild; Darren Paugh, President of the Key West Business Guild and all the members of both the Key West Business Guild & the Key West District Advisory Committee.

We love working for you all and look forward to creating great marketing for Key West for years to come.

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Wild Times in Big Pine and the Lower Keys

By Dorn Martell

Our new spot for Big Pine Key and Florida’s Lower Keys is all about contrast. One person’s interpretation of “wildlife” can vary greatly from another’s. In this commercial we offer a different take on hot nightlife, top notch cuisine and hanging out with the stars. We shot everywhere in the Lower Keys from Bahia Honda to the National Key Deer Refuge and witnessed some breathtaking scenery. If you want to find a quiet spot away from the maddening crowd, Big Pine Key and Florida’s Lower Keys is the place to chill.

So Many Great Experiences in New Marathon Spot

By Dorn Martell

Marathon, in the Florida Keys, is the subject of our new spot. Here, you can swim with dolphins, head out on a boat into the blue Atlantic, go diving, fishing or just chill with the family at a seaside cottage. The world’s freshest seafood is here in abundance. There’s even a hardwood hammock at Crane Point for a little soft adventure or you can try out the new JetLev rocket pack at Hawk’s Cay for a real blast.

Everything You Need To Learn About The New Facebook Pages

by Gio Gutierrez

Facebook is changing all the Pages to the new timeline format starting on March 30 and its NOT optional. You can however upgrade right now and check out some of its features. So here’s what’s new:

Facebook Timeline replaces your Profile and your Wall. When you log into Facebook, that feed page of Recent Stories will still be the same. But, when you or visitors go to your unique Facebook URL, such as facebook.com/tinsleyad, they’ll be able to see your Timeline that now consolidates your profile information and your wall.

The Default Tab is gone. Yes, Facebook has removed the option to choose your landing page for non-followers. Everyone lands on your Timeline and you can’t change it. But Tabs are still there, now just called Views & Apps! Not only that, but they are now 780 pixels wide (as opposed to 520 pixels) so you can still have branded tabs with even more room.

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Views And Apps (which include Likes, Photos and Events) are at the top of the page with 4 being shown by default and 8 others hidden below a drop down menu, so make sure you display your top favorites in the first 4 slots. The image for each of these is also customizable as long as they are 111 pixels by 74. You can also change the order of all these, so people see what matters most EXCEPT for Photos, which are pinned to the first slot.

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Pin and Highlights You can now Pin your favorite Post to the top for the next 7 days. Love this feature as you can have the pinned post be first thing. Highlights allows you to have a post go full-screen/widest available so it can really stand out (great for movies and pictures. However you CAN’T have a post Highlighted and Pinned.

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New Administrator Panel to help you keep track of your activity from within your page, view your latest insights and respond when people write on your timeline.

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Message fans Directly will let you contact people and privately message them only after they initiate the dialogue.

Cover Photo is a huge area where you can really make your brand shine with an image that’s 851 pixels by 315 but it CAN’T contain any of the following (even though I see some brands doing it):
• Price or purchase information, such as “40 percent off” or “Only $9.99”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Thumbnail/Profile Photo is now bigger at 180 pixels by 180.

Finally, Facebook also has re-allowed Page Names to be changed upon request by clicking here.

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What do think of the changes?

Islamorada in Living Color

By Dorn Martell

Our latest spot for Islamorada, in The Florida Keys, captures the beauty of sunrise at Whale Harbor, quiet moments at Anne’s Beach and dining with a gulf view at the Zane Grey Lounge. We were amazed by the technique of the best back-country fly fishermen in the world and astonished by the incredible sea life in the Atlantic Ocean. I’ll never forget the Frigate Birds at sunset and the amazing colors of Islamorada.

New Television Spot for Key Largo

By Dorn Martell

Our new spot for Key Largo took us from the edge of the Everglades to the bottom of the sea. Key Largo has long been known as the Dive Capital of the World, but our mission for this new spot is to show the world that it is much more. Key Largo is home to eco-adventure, world-class fishing, incredible ocean-front dining and some great places to just chill. This new spot encourages the viewer to “look deeper” into Key Largo.

New Television Spots for the Florida Keys & Key West

By Dorn Martell

Our first new spot, launched this winter, for Key West is all about art. And not the kind of art that’s all about matching a suburban couch. It’s the kind of art that makes you think, makes you feel and definitely gets your attention. In Key West we find that art and life are wonderfully intermingled and that everyone here is part of a massive performance piece.

Our new spot, “Island Made of Art”, is part of a 7 spot package that was shot over several months in 2011. Capturing the beauty and unique environments of the Florida Keys – from the Everglades to the Dry Tortugas – One World Productions and our team shot from ultralights, underwater, from sea planes, power boats, canoes and waist deep in mangroves. We met some very knowledgable and dedicated folks, as well as some truly strange people. But it was all an amazing adventure and we couldn’t be happier with the final product. The music was created by Audacity Recording in Hollywood, FL. Editorial & finishing by I Think Studios.

The results of this shoot are some of the most inspiring images we’ve ever captured. Stay tuned for more new spots over the coming weeks.

How Bad Creative Can Kill a Whole Medium

by Dorn Martell

I tried to listen to commercial radio this weekend, I really did. My wife and I were working in the garden and plugged in a boom box with no iPod dock and turned on the radio. I know, I know – no one does that any more. But we just thought that we could listen to some light holiday music to get us in the gardening mood. But after a couple of songs it started. An incessant barrage of horrific retail spots with “chain saw” voice announcers and horrible, aggressive sound effects and “music.” There were endless blocks dedicated to a new electronics retailer and a car dealer who is still ripping off the Ghost Busters theme song. Every single spot started on “11” and went up from there. We tried to tough it out, just to get through to something listenable, but the endless stream of mindless scripts read at a scream level got the best of us. ” The radio is all crap, Baby”, said my wife Adriana. “Yes it is, Honey, they must think we are all morons”, said I as I yanked the plug out of the wall. But, I couldn’t help but feel sad. Radio was such an important part of my childhood and it can still be an amazing medium. Some of our classic radio spots like “Michele” and “I love food” prove you can make a radio spot that people actually like and our retail advertising for the Huizenga School of Business got great numbers while refusing to wallow in the ditch of cliche retail radio tactics.

If commercial radio wants to stand a chance against iTunes, Pandora, Spotify and XM it will have to come to terms with the fact that some of the advertising they air is so abrasive and condescending that listeners will simply opt-out and choose to listen to the neighbors’ weed wacker instead.