Posts Tagged ‘Articles’

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…

Back in the early 2000’s, our founder and current CEO had gotten much more involved in the construction business, moving to Des Moines to run one of Septagon’s companies. He wanted to try new things. While he was away, our team never missed a beat, keeping our clients happy while adding new ones. While he…

The marketing and advertising industry has been driven by the changes in technology which have made what we do harder and easier, but definitely more effective and more measurable. We’ve had to learn it from scratch, which we did, and that hasn’t stopped. It’s the same in every industry, including senior living. One of our…

As we approached the turn of the century and the year 2000, there were some people who believed that all the computer systems in the world that were in use at that time would crash when their internal clocks hit 1/1/2000. Apparently, they had not been programmed to function after that date. Frankly, people were…

One of the exciting things we’ve enjoyed at Callis over the past 35 years has been experiencing the digital revolution of media firsthand. When we started, everything we did was by hand. No computers. No internet. No technology. Today, everything we do is digital and technology is driving marketing more and more every day. We…

In 1998, we were rolling along and running very smoothly. We had an excellent, well-seasoned team and were well-positioned for growth. One day, one of our clients came to us with the idea to partner with them on a student planner. This wasn’t one of our traditional partnerships where we form a strategic alliance with…