35th Anniversary

Over the years, we have tried to identify companies and organizations that we felt might make great partners, based on our experience, expertise, values and interests. When we have found one, we want them to know so they can get to know us, hopefully like us and eventually trust us with a project or business.…

When it was first announced that Nucor Steel was coming to town, it was a big deal, and the entire community was excited at the possibilities of what this might mean in growth for the region. The Nucor folks came in slowly and it was obvious that they were committed to selecting the right people…

We are strong proponents of niching down and focusing on your core competencies with your products and services. It makes you better at it, it increases your efficiencies and you become known for it. But from time to time, you should look outside your core for things that you could make or offer that just…

Whenever we have the opportunity and budget to do research for a client, we’re enthused! It makes the results of our job so much better. Of course, not every project demands research and not every client can justify it. One who does though is Bothwell Regional Health Center. We’ve been working with Bothwell for many…

We’ve found over the past 35 years that you can’t communicate too much. Sure, you can wear people out with boring stories about all your travels, but when you’re working on a project, especially highly-technical and complicated ones like we work on, you can’t communicate enough. Going back a few years, we were fortunate to…

Back in 2015, our city faced the need and the opportunity to pass a Use Tax that would be used to fund needed infrastructure and services. The issue made a lot of sense, and in fact, we had worked with their state association a couple of years prior to create a templated campaign that all…

We find many times in business that our clients face the same types of opportunities and challenges that we do. We see business models that are similar to ours. We learn how our clients’ business development and sales cycles parallel ours. Maybe that’s just the B2B world, but it’s uncanny. LammTech is one of those…

Over the years, we’ve had literally hundreds of opportunities to pitch ideas and new business. Most times, we’ve gone above and beyond, but unfortunately, there are times we have fallen short. The key is in preparation. Borrowing from the Boy Scout motto of “Be Prepared,” we’ve always tried to be overly prepared for every presentation.…

At Callis, we’ve always had the philosophy that we should give back, whether that’s in the community, the industry or an organization that does great things for good people who need their help. Over the years, members of Callis leadership has been involved in the volunteer leadership for the Center for Human Services, a Missouri…

In our agency, we use a strategic insight process we’ve learned and perfected to identify the one key message point that will really stand out and resonate with a target audience. We’ve used it many times and one of the most recent is with our work with the City of Sedalia, Missouri. We’ve been fortunate…

Over the years, we’ve built our business on the rural American lifestyle. Sure, we’ve had lots of clients who didn’t necessarily fall into this category, but for sure, it’s been our bread and butter and where we focus our efforts today. Some of our earliest experiences in this market focused on marketing outdoor sports products…

We started hearing about Facebook back around 2010 as the college students we knew shared the ways they were using it. It sounded interesting, and valuable to an extent, but we had no idea it would become what it has. When the opportunity came along for us in the non-academic world to start using it,…

Back in 2020, many businesses recognized the need to pivot to either survive or capitalize on the effects of the pandemic. I think most marketers would agree that the word “pivot” became greatly overused, but it was the right term and the right thing to do at the time. But pivoting can also be needed…

One of the many things we love about our business is the opportunity to work with a variety of clients in a variety of industries. One of the coolest things we’ve learned over the years is that every industry is quite different, yet the same principles of marketing apply to each one. Back a few…

Every now and then an opportunity comes along that makes you slow down and think it through. Back in the early 2000’s, Aquila, the region’s public utility, approached us about a public outreach project surrounding the construction of a power plant. At first, we were apprehensive. But this was different, way different, and we’re glad…

The marketing business has elements of big idea thinking and lots of details, and both are vitally important. Clients need big ideas that will move the needle in their marketing and advertising and you must pay close attention to detail to make sure everything is accurate and right. We started working with ProEnergy Services before…

Through relationships developed while in Iowa, we got the opportunity to work with a family auto dealership in Pella. The Vander Waal family had recently purchased Ulrich Ford and was considering changing the name to help the community know it was now their family business. They retained Callis to research the market and help them…