Monday, June 29, 2009

Christa's Big Project

In the web division, Christa did a mini celebration last week when we launched the new web site design for Beefmaster Breeders United. This project has been in development for about a month and has been keeping Christa busy! We are really excited to be working with the Beefmaster group and invite you to check out that site.
http://www.beefmasters.org/
When the Beefmaster group talked to us a few months ago about a proposal - we were really excited because we also do the Charolais Association web site and Brahman Association web site, and we love it! Working with these organizations is such a pleasure because of their talented staff. We're on a daily communication schedule with Chris Shivers and Armi Ibarra at the Brahman Association. I have Molly Mader's email address memorized and we can pretty much quote you any detail or upcoming event of the Charolais Assn from memory. And so now, we are happy to be working with Dr. Perkins and Collin Osbourn at Beefmasters.
I have to say -- I've really become a fan of Beefmasters over the past few years. A couple of years ago I purchased a pair of Beefmaster E6 replacement heifers from Collier Farms. They are just about the coolest recip cows I have on the ranch -- their chocolate colored motley faces and they are best friends. I loved them so much I went back and bought a few more last year too! So Beefmaster E6's are top of my list.
Plus -- two very important friends in my life - Kim Candler McCuistion and Matt Karisch are both Beefmaster enthusiasts. :)
So, we invite you to check out the new site and leave us your comments on what you think!

Friday, June 26, 2009

August Ad Reminder

It's that time of year again when all of our midwest clients are busy snapping photos of their calves and getting ready for the fall bid off sales.

This is our favorite time of the year in the print division because for about the past month we have been in super ad design mode working on ads for August publications. We made an in-office rule that if the number of ads to design on our list gets over 100 that we aren't going to take any new ads until we get it below 100 again. But lucky for us (and our new clients) we are managing to get several approvals per day so we're getting ads off the list as soon as new ones come on the list. Last week our ADC (Average Daily Count) was around 76, and this week we've got it around 45 -- so we're making a lot of progress! With the July 1 deadline for most major magazines like Show Circuit and Livestock Plus and The ShowTimes -- we do see an end in sight!!

About a month ago when Travis Pembrook was down at our house he asked me if I had to can I just get into an "ad design mode" and just start cranking things out. And I replied to him -- um, yeah, every month! But to be real honest, I love it. The way we have our print division set up is that as soon as we have the clients information, we put them into our production schedule, and they usually get a proof in a day or two. Then each day I schedule X number of ads to work on. I do all the major design work as far as design, concepts, and layout. Once I have the 1st proof on the ad started, I turn it over to Liz, who is the one who sends the proofs out to the clients and then makes any necessary corrections.

So, the only thing that is kinda bad now is that it's June 25th and I personally know what ads I like, and which ones I think are the "cool" ones -- but we have to wait 5 weeks until they actually come out in the club calf handbook aka August Show Circuit. It's a little anti-climatic but it's still fun when you actually see them come out in print.

This is just a reminder to those of you who haven't send in your ad information for your August ads -- go ahead and get it sent in. There's a few days left til the ads are due on next Wednesday so call us or email us and let's get it knocked out before the deadline!