We build brands that play big. From the vantage point of top-tier universities down to the roots of regional agriculture, we are an expansive agency that creates impact through sophisticated design and storytelling. Want to play big? Get in touch.
This year, in our annual meeting, we focused on impact. The impact each individual makes, the impact we, as an agency, can make for our clients, and the impact and opportunity our clients can make in the world.
As a team, we recognize there are individual contributions that lead to the success of the team. For this reason, we make it a point to celebrate personal growth and foster a culture of continued learning.
Westies are empowered to make a difference; we love seeing it happen. We were pleased to celebrate a few of our creative, strategic thinkers who make 116 & West such a special place.
A new face, lighting it up! Aaron Ellis, a designer based in the Boise office, came to 116 & West ready to take on the world. From the day he stepped through our doors, he was eager, willing, and consistent. His work was solid from the start, but he kept an eye on growth, learning new skills over the last year and earning himself the title of Senior Designer. Aaron’s smile is contagious, and his laugh is even better. The winning combination of a great attitude and growing skillset make Aaron our Rookie of the Year.
This award is a throwback to our previous brand, DaviesMoore, which gave a nod to our founder and the founder of an agency we acquired in 2009. This particular award celebrates the value we place on continued employee development. We have enough of this inside the walls of 116 & West that we were fortunate to award two employees this year.
Sara Timberlake, an Integrated Media Specialist working out of the Boise office, is all things strategic. She has embraced the values of our agency, showing a hunger to understand new platforms, trends, and processes. She has demonstrated that she is coachable, eager to take on new responsibilities, willing to work hard, and excelling in ways that have earned the trust of the leadership team.
Ryan Davidson, one of our Graphic Designers out of Spokane, might be the kindest human we have ever met. His encouraging attitude, coupled with his talent, has made him an incredible team member. He was recently asked to work on our largest account and took advantage of the opportunity to grow his skillset. We are so proud of his growth and love seeing him take on the world.
All 116 & West employees vote on the Westie of the Year award to identify the person who stands out on the Westie team, constantly goes the extra mile, works their little fingers to the bone, and represents 116 & West the best. We’re looking for the person our staff feels should be recognized for their contributions to the “Westie Way.”
Annie Stillar, who is out of our Spokane office, received this award this year. We saw her strengths very early on and gave her the great responsibility of being the Spokane Lead. In this role, she has acted as the go-between, helping us share the agency’s philosophies, priorities, and processes and ensuring we didn’t skip a beat. She is an incredible creative mind, a master at relationships, and a true marketer in every sense of the word. Annie exemplifies our core values and is hungry for a challenge every day.
One thing became abundantly clear as we reflected on where we have been for the last ten years and where we are going. When speaking of agency impact, no one has had more impact than Kallee Mendonca. She has managed our largest account for over a decade, making an extremely complicated, busy workflow look like child’s play. She is a master at all things 116 & West – owning the processes and approach that make us who we are. In one year as the Director of Client Services, she made changes and implemented training that has had lasting results. She is competitive, showing up with a hunger to make us all better at our craft. Her competency, character, and consistency are unmatched, making her stand out in any crowd. All of this has earned her a spot as a Vice President, serving on our Executive Leadership Team, and this year, as the recipient of our first-ever Agency Impact award.
Congratulations to our entire team and these individuals for their stand-out performance over the last year. We are so proud of this team. Bring it on 2024!
PANTONE Color of the Year Eve, aka December 6th, is like Christmas Eve for designers and all color enthusiasts. Giddy with anticipation about which color would be chosen, our team made predictions about which hue the PANTONE Color Institute would select for its 25th year. Though none of us got it right, it didn’t temper our excitement for the 2024 winner, 13-1023 Peach Fuzz. PANTONE has rightfully earned its place on the cutting edge of color forecasting, and this year’s winner is shaping up to be no different.
Twenty-five years ago, the PANTONE Color Institute began a global conversation around the universal language and perpetual power of color. Each year’s selection acutely captures the zeitgeist. PANTONE Color of the Year 2023 was 18-1750 Viva Magenta, and as we all know, we couldn’t escape the magenta color that dotted our screens big and small during the summer of Barbie.
Global color experts at the PANTONE Color Institute seek what influences entertainment, art, fashion, design, technology, and sports. These “color anthropologists” hail from various backgrounds, but all possess expertise in design. Research, trend analysis, and consistent conversation over the year result in a Color of the Year that rises above the rest, universally agreed upon by all members.
The PANTONE Color of the Year is a collective mood, a snapshot of a moment in time. The impact of color is universal, evoking a range of emotions. Peach Fuzz, in particular, conveys kindness, warmth, and compassion. It is comforting and modern, calming, and soft. Peach Fuzz has a vintage feel yet is elevated enough to live in this contemporary space. Some may point out (I will) that we experienced a foreshadowing of Peach Fuzz in October with the tangerine vinyl of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Tangerine will henceforth be known as the 2024 PANTONE Color of the Year (Taylor’s Version).
Though none of us predicted the color, we still have thoughts on what it means and how we plan on using it in our work. Here is what the team had to say about the 2024 pick.
Graphic Designer and man of few words, Kameron Simpson thinks Peach Fuzz is “very Wes Anderson,” especially considering the color grading of his 2023 film Asteroid City.
Senior Designer Aaron Ellis tells us Peach Fuzz “is giving sensual, subdued vibes. At the same time, it’s also versatile and approachable. In past years, we have seen vibrant colors take center stage. Peach Fuzz can play in the background and be paired with countless other colors.”
Art Director Tiffany Patterson is “always excited for more complex and subtle/nuanced colors to gain popularity. I do wish it glowed more (mostly because I’m a huge fan of a florescent peach). It’s warm and cuddly, and its magic will emerge when paired with other colors.”
Designer Ryan Davidson said, “It feels very human, in the best ways—warm, welcoming, and kind. I could see myself using it in design work to communicate a welcoming or empathetic message. In some sense, it feels like the right color for a post-pandemic world attempting to reshape what it wants the community to look and feel like. It’s uplifting and positive.”
Integrating a color like Peach Fuzz that pairs so well with others has us coming up with endless marketing ideas. We are excited to potentially implement this color into our client work in the coming year. After the boldness of Viva Magenta, we are looking forward to a year that is lighter, cozier, and fuzzier.
Wanna have a fuzzy year together? Get in touch.
As marketing and advertising continually evolve, so should your toolbox of media tactics. SEO, Social Media, Programmatic Display Ads, OTT/CTV, and Streaming Audio are several possibilities to implement when it comes to media strategy. But how do you know where to start? Lots of questions begin to swirl…
“Should we be doing email marketing?”
“We’ve always run radio spots. Should we switch to Spotify?”
“People are on TikTok. Should we be on TikTok?”
Engaging with every digital and traditional media tactic can feel overwhelming, and it’s not necessary. One critical detail is important: remember your target audience, because the target audience always informs the media strategy.
When media strategy is informed by robust target audience research, the media tactics will come naturally. Follow along as we uncover the three essential steps to an audience-centered media strategy, and you’ll be ready to hit the ground running.
First things first, let’s define “audience-centered.”
When it comes to advertising, you must always keep the target audience top of mind, no matter what media strategy you implement. You may ask yourself, “Is a target-centric media strategy different from what I’m already doing?” Let’s find out.
A target-centric messaging approach reaches your audience where they are and when they need it. You can achieve this by tailoring your messages and content to the targets’ unique needs.
Broadcasting messaging widely and hoping to catch some of your intended audience is less effective. To create an audience-focused media strategy that effectively achieves your client’s marketing objectives and reaches the target audience, in-depth research is required to determine placement and tailor messaging.
“We are data-informed, not data-driven.” – Edward Moore, CEO, 116 & West
Edward says it beautifully: not all decisions need to be driven by data, and determining your target audience is often more nuanced. Combining relevant, accurate data with human insights results in a data-informed decision instead. More about the difference between the two is below:
Data-Informed – Describes the application and interpretation before decision-making. Data informs us, but it is not the only driver. The data is considered, but a human ultimately makes the decision, leveraging both quantitative and qualitative data. Source: Northwestern
Data-Driven – Describes data used to make or help make a decision. This approach ultimately means that the data drives decision-making. Source: Northwestern
To better understand your target audience’s motives, using a research tool such as MRI Simmons can help uncover consumer habits and inform decisions. The data below on current media habits across age groups will help us develop a target-centric media strategy.
*This data used responses from the Summer 2023 MRI-Simmons USA study, population (000). Start field date: 5/6/2022. End field date: 7/31/2023.
Now it’s time for the fun part: personas. Creating fictional characters to represent the target audiences selected during our data-informed process will help them come to life. Who are they? What do they like to do? A name, a list of hobbies, and developing a personality will assist in determining their motives and, therefore, which strategies will best reach each audience.
Now that your target audience is well-defined, it’s time to choose tactics that will reach your audience at the right time. With the rise of digital media, placement options are abundant, and media tactics are categorized as traditional or digital; both are used to communicate unique messaging to the target audience.
Traditional tactics include Broadcast TV, Radio, Print, Out of Home (OOH), and Direct Mail. Digital media tactics include running campaigns with OTT/Connected TV, Streaming radio, SEM, Programmatic display, and emerging platforms. Once again, a data-informed approach is best when selecting your media tactic, traditional or otherwise.
Other important factors include the target audience’s geographic location, the campaign budget, and the variety of creative assets. With some TV viewership moving more towards streaming ads on platforms like Hulu and Netflix, it is necessary to have an integrated approach, implementing both traditional and digital tactics.
As of September 2023, Nielsen reports that only 46% of U.S. homes access programming through a traditional cable or satellite service. Compared to September 2021, that’s a 23.6% decrease. With the decline in cable viewership, television is not as viable as a stand-alone strategy. Our clients successfully use TV ads as an integrated strategy with tactics like OTT and streaming audio. Kendall Auto Group, for instance, appreciates the appointment-based aspect of TV – knowing that people are attentive, not skipping commercials, while watching live sports and chandelier (special events or highly-rated) programming.
When it comes to media planning, choose the tactics that best suit your audience and their media habits – there is no one-size-fits-all regarding media tactics. Each client deserves a media strategy focused on their unique target and catered to their needs.
So, your media strategy is set. Now what? Learn how to Create Ad Copy that Sells.
