About

Founded in 1974 by Gary T. Smith, SMITH is a consumer agency with concentrations in the travel and tourism, healthcare, financial and real estate sectors. We are based in Fayetteville and have locations in Raleigh, Hilton Head, SC and Sarasota, Florida

Situation•Methodist University in Fayetteville, NC, is one of the top private universities in the country. Yet with all of the options available today with regard to higher education, including online and distance education, traditional approaches to post-secondary education are increasingly challenged.

Solution•Methodist University sought SMITH’s expertise to strengthen its brand and put strategies and tactics in place to position the university to tell its story better with respect to the educational opportunities and delivery methods offered. SMITH’s ongoing comprehensive awareness campaign involves public relations, interactive media, and mainstream media, including billboard and broadcast media.

Outcome•Enrollment at Methodist University is at an all-time high. Its acclaimed nursing program is at capacity, with an extensive waiting list for the program, and SMITH has been instrumental in launching the subprogram of the nursing program. The university is responding to this surge in growth by expanding infrastructure to accommodate a growing student population.

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Situation•SMITH has been the agency of record for Brunswick County Tourism Development Authority (TDA) for over 15 years. And in today’s challenging economic environment, we continue to seek out ways to drive tourists to this unique destination.

Solution•SMITH has been instrumental in assisting in the architecture behind Brunswick County’s database marketing programs, and it is one of the few destinations in the country that really works its database as it should be used. SMITH has helped create a national brand – North Carolina’s Brunswick Islands – and develops and leads all marketing, advertising, research, digital, cooperative programs, and public relations.

Outcome•As a result of our comprehensive approach to marketing and our agency-client relationship exceeding four times the industry average, tax revenue from tourism in the Brunswick Islands is consistently up year after year.

Situation•ZipQuest, a unique blend of ecotourism and adventure in the Fayetteville, NC, area, opened up a pristine natural environment to the public for the first time. Because experienced guides lead ZipQuest zipline and canopy tours, each tour lasts 2.5 to 3 hours, and individual tour groups are limited to 8 participants, admission requires advance planning, and at first glance, may seem a bit pricey. As a totally new attraction, ZipQuest needed to build awareness of its existence and opening, as well as explain what ZipQuest offered in the way of an eco experience and adventure attraction at its price point, on a limited marketing budget.

Solution•SMITH approached ZipQuest’s multiple challenges by actively engaging in PR, including hosting a media day initiative, which proved very popular with the media and provided a great return on investment. PR enabled ZipQuest to share the compelling story of how the attraction’s owners decided to develop the land they had owned for 50 years in an environmentally sustainable way and share Fayetteville’s only waterfall with the public. SMITH also employed traditional media, such as billboards and rack cards for distribution in accommodations and visitors’ centers.

Outcome•SMITH’s recommended budget-minded PR-based approach generated over $500,000 in media exposure coverage locally, regionally, and nationally, to include USA Today. ZipQuest has garnered extremely positive attention online, in print, and on TV, leading to increased bookings and the expansion of its marketing efforts into Raleigh, Durham, and surrounding areas.

Situation•Take advantage of a great opportunity to promote Papa John’s during the annual football game between the University of Florida Gators and the University of Georgia Bulldogs capitalizing on hundreds of thousands of people focused on one of the Southeast’s largest annual sporting events and a sport consistently tied to increased pizza consumption by spectators. The target audience included between 80,000-84,000 fans . The day of the game has been hailed as "The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.“

Solution•SMITH created an entirely electronic, low-cost promotion targeting the social aspect of the game via a cost-per-click Micro Ad on Facebook within the Jacksonville DMA (potentially 554,120 users), two eBlasts (at no cost) sent to all users registered to receive promotional offers in Jacksonville through corporate marketing (~50,000 registered) and an eDeal at PapaJohns.com under “Specials” available to any user in the Jacksonville area visiting the website. The Game Day Special promotion offered a two-pizza package, one Large Specialty pizza PLUS one Large Two-topping pizza, for only $18.99. Promo Codes for the event, DAWGS and GATORS, drew upon the intense rivalry that surrounds the game.

Outcome•Facebook Micro Ad generated 1,600,051 impressions – the number of people who saw the ad/number of Facebook Profiles on which the ad appeared. Sales for the weekend reflected not only the actual uses of the promo code, but also the number of people who went to the website as a result of the ads and eBlasts (over 10,000 emails opened) and ordered an option other than the Game Day Special. Papa John’s Regional Marketing Director was impressed with SMITH’s proactive approach to taking advantage of a major event in the local market and turning it into a great activation piece. SMITH continues to support the local online effort in the Jacksonville DMA by capitalizing on the huge opportunity for online growth as revealed in their primary research. A mix of banner and display ads on sites such as YouTube, Facebook and Yahoo have generated over 4 million impressions and over 1300 active clicks for Papa John’s.

At SMITH, each of us showcase the clients we’ve served as a badge of honor. The success of these brands can be best

measured by their instantaneous name recognition. We put an incredible amount of commitment, creativity and ingenuity into each and every brand we’ve had the pleasure to work with. And,

we’d love the opportunity to do same for you.

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Please contact Gary Smith for all inquiries910-303-0920

gsmith@smithadv.com