Newest Karshie: Jill Muller, The Nicest Digital Taskmaster You’ll Ever Meet

If you look around when everyone’s hair is on fire, you will see Jill calm, cool and collected. She is as down to earth as they come and understands that the world of digital advertising is always moving–fast. Jill thrives by being constantly challenged. In fact, it is her passion to keep everyone on track, budgets balanced, navigating milestones and cross-departmental collaboration with grace. The way she understands every nuance of projects and people, it’s no surprise her favorite subject in college was Anatomy & Physiology.

Jill is an Iowa native, who loves Hawkeye football; any song by Johnny Cash and says, “she could eat good quality cheese every day of her life.” Lucky for us, her Hawkeye love didn’t keep her in Iowa. Colorado’s sunny blue skis lured her away and you will find her skiing in the mountains in the winter and boating on a lake in the summer.

Jill has worked with many of Colorado’s financial giants where she learned the importance of business analytics and to take each and every little detail to heart. The energy and creative client work brought Jill to Karsh Hagan and her integrated project management expertise made her a perfect fit.

Colorado History Goes Interactive

All history museums face the same challenge: making the past feel relevant in the present.

The brand new History Colorado Center opens on April 28, 2012 with a solution. Have fun. The exhibits are fully interactive and have a sense of humor. Keep the kids happy and parents will be happy too.

The first stop is a steampunk time machine you can move across a 40’ x 60’ terrazzo map of Colorado. Created by renowned artist Steven Weitzman, the map is made of 234 handcrafted tiles and features 11 interactive stories, from the Tollbooth Sheepdog to the Leadville Ice Palace.

From there you can learn about early ski jumping in Steamboat Springs. And then try the virtual ski jump that simulates the rush of flying over Howelsen Hill.

The exhibit on Silverton mining features an elevator ride down a shaking mine shaft. And a touch screen game where visitors have to use dynamite to find silver.

Along with all the fun and games, the History Colorado Center covers serious chapters in our state’s history.

The exhibit on the Sand Creek Massacre captures the points of view of American Indians, soldiers and early settlers. And the Borderlands section sheds new light on the current immigration debate.

The second floor is home to the Colorado Stories exhibit. Covering over 9,500 square feet, this gallery features eight different Colorado communities and represents diverse times, places, and perspectives. The stories highlight the courage, persistence, triumphs and tragedies that helped to shape the Colorado we know today, and may even introduce you to stories you didn’t know happened here.

History Colorado Center is located at 1200 Broadway in Denver’s Golden Triangle Museum District and Civic Center Cultural Complex. The building team incorporated recycled and local materials, including beetle-kill pine, strand-woven Aspen, and Colorado sandstone. It’s on track for meeting LEED gold certification. And the fourth-floor balcony offers a great view of the Front Range.

The new museum is not only a welcome addition to the neighborhood, but it embraces new ways to learn about Colorado and our role in Western America.

Post By: Dave Fymbo  Copywriter

Denver Post names Karsh Hagan #39 on Small Biz Top Workplaces List!

The recognition came from the Denver Post which interviewed employees at 1,000 companies before naming the top 55 workplaces in Colorado.

Criteria included: employee appreciation, clear sense of direction; opportunities for advancement; values and ethics; fulfillment; work-life balance; pay, benefits and perks.

Overall, the winners were companies that created a culture that genuinely values its people, as explained in surveys of actual employees (anonymous responses). KH was the only advertising agency chosen.

Karsh Hagan was created in November, 1977 with four employees. Today, there are 60 full-time workers and growing. For nearly 30 years, Co-President Pocky Marranzino has said that the agency’s mission has been a catalyst for like-minded people who want to “Do Good Work, Make Money, Have Fun and Build our Clients’ Business” .

That may sound simplistic, but KH invites all employees to participate by utilizing their individual talents. Everyone’s ideas are respected and everyone’s voice is heard. Regardless of title, there is a commitment to ideas that solve business problems for our clients.

If that implies a lot of freedom and independence, the management team would all agree that that’s the MO here. This independent attitude and the culture at Karsh Hagan allows for a very talented group of people to collaborate across multiple categories–every day.

We’re honored that our mission has been validated beyond a phrase that has been alive under the banner Karsh Hagan for 35 years now. Thank you to every employee, every client, and every partner we work with.

What It Means To Be A Sophomore At SxSWi

It’s official. I am a sophomore at SxSWi. It felt good not to be dumbfounded by the sheer volume of information that ‘Southby’ throws at you for once.

What it means to others that I’m a sophomore at SxSWi is that I should know just about every cutting edge thing that there is to know — be the resource for my agency and Clients on interactive ideas, technology, trends, best practices, etc.

But what it really means is that I am starting to see through the tactics and am able to get down to the nuts and bolts of what is really happening. I’m no longer amazed by the flashy bells of the newest app (most of the time, at least), but rather, I’m now looking at the flashy new app as a band-aid for some basic human need that is not currently being met in our technologically advanced world. That’s all a successful technological advance is – something that is now meeting a need that people didn’t know they even had.

Sure — it’s helpful to know that Highlight is the newest location-based, social network app that utilizes geo-fencing to identify mutual social connections with strangers around you. But what it really means is something bigger – that despite the platform, despite the company who’s backing the launch – technology is closing the loop on one-on-one human connections. We’re going back to basics. I’m talking about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Basic human psychology 101.

We need to remember that despite all the tracking capabilities, the metrics, the primary and secondary research we have on our customers and targets, that they are just humans. The Golden Rule applies. Basic human needs still exist. Privacy, relevancy, and the need to reinforce who we are, what we want, how we define ourselves will never be topics that are solved by technology, but rather, we need to harness the good in ourselves as humans, as marketers, and remember that we’re talking to other humans.

 

Post by: Lindsay Koehler, Account Supervisor

Newest Karshie: Lauren Morales, The Chameleon

Lauren is a digital rock star that can construct conflict-free and squeaky-clean processes. She has the gift of adaption, knowing how to best communicate with and accommodate different work styles. This gives her the ability to not only best support her team but also enhance her team’s work.

Lauren is a Colorado native, she ran away to Ohio to attend Xavier University but has returned home to Colorado after college. Lauren’s passion for advertising started at a young age. “It just felt like something I could relate to and understand because I am a consumer,” says Lauren. Although her career choice has stayed strong, her focus has changed over the years.

She began her career on the account side and soon realized her passion was in another department. She was interested in interactive and how things were being created and the process behind it all. This curiosity served her well and she quickly picked up the skills to create brilliant and seamless frameworks.

Lauren’s favorite season is summer, and being the outdoorsy person she is, Colorado summers are her heaven. Running, hiking or camping, you’ll find her spending most of her time soaking up the 300 days Colorado sunshine, listening to Eric Church.

Lauren loves to see how technology is constantly evolving and changing, the complexity fascinates her. Apparently that love for complexity rolls over into her food choices as well – Indian being her favorite because of the vast amount of flavors and spices.

We are thrilled to have Lauren here – she is the perfect complement to our team.

A Colorado Story: The making of “Come to Life”

Colorado is not a state. It’s a symbol of what it means to get off your couch. To live your life. To believe that happiness is out there, waiting for you to find it.

We set out to tell that story with a team of writers, designers, photographers, filmmakers, musicians, composers, actors and recording artists. Along the way, we built a Colorado story of our own, as hundreds of Coloradoans all over the state came together to help us tell the whole nation how it feels to visit Colorado.

Our shoot was in September of 2011. The crew was led by Forge Motion Pictures director of photography Anson Fogel and director/photographer Tim Kemple. The team was given a blank canvas. And we made the most of it. For eight days we filmed in the mountains of Telluride, across the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, through Colorado Springs and Garden of the Gods, and on the sidewalks of Fort Collins.

During the shoot, we started thinking about music. We needed a score that was as big and epic as our state. So we reached out to the biggest, most epic band we could think of - the Colorado Symphony. They put us in touch with Charlie Denler. The Littleton composer is working on a symphony about the glory of the Colorado sunrise. And he agreed to let us use movements from his symphony for our films. On January 8, 2012, we gathered with 70 members of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, 100 members of the Colorado Chorale, and conductor Scott O’Neil to record rehearsals of the symphony.

Voiceover and sweetening was done at Rocky Mountain Recorders in January of 2012. The scripts were read by Rich Liccardo, a Denver-based, Shakespearean actor.

The ads went through two rounds of testing to make sure they resonated with people in our target markets. We completed the film edits with Forge in February of 2012. Friends of Mine capped off the video with a beautiful motion graphic version of the state logo. And Monday, April 2, 2012, our work debuted nationally. Print, out-of-home, digital and film content will be seen 238 million times across America.

Pick up these videos and share them on Facebook. On Twitter. Email them to your friends. Tourism helps drive Colorado’s economy. And this is our chance to tell the world that when people come to Colorado, they come to life.

CD/CW Matt Ingwalson and ACD/AD Jeff Strahl on location at Bridal Veil Falls in Telluride Colorado

Newest Karshie: Nikki Burmaster. Numbers have feelings too.

Nikki has a knack for finding the story within the numbers. Maybe that’s the reason why her favorite subjects in school were English and Literature, but it is definitely the reason for her success as our maestro of data and analytics. Karsh Hagan is excited to have Nikki as a Media Planner and SEM Specialist.

Nikki’s entire career has been wrapped around planning and purchasing digital media, driving conversation and pulling business insights out of campaign after campaign. Nikki gives the numbers a voice and gives her team a deeper understanding of how everything comes together.

Nikki most recently came to us from 90octane where she was an account manager, working on the Globus family of brands and VISIT DENVER. Besides for her extensive work experience in the travel industry, Nikki also enjoys traveling herself. She has been to 48 states – you might be able to guess which on is her favorite! Her expertise in travel and search engine marketing made her a perfect fit for the Colorado Tourism account. She has the ability to take data and shape it into something her team can easily understand. Nikki actually has a past with us at Karsh Hagan (she was a media intern while still in college) and we couldn’t be more thrilled to rekindle our relationship with her.

Nikki loves the digital world and how it is always evolving, it keeps her on her toes. She’s passionate about discovery and loves the challenge of learning and mastering all the new advances in the industry.

Nikki said if she couldn’t work in advertising she would probably become a florist. She thinks she’d be pretty good at it, slash doesn’t think her talent for blowing bubble gum bubbles would pay very well. Although we definitely hope she sticks around, her ability to tell stories would serve her well in the floral arranging business, just as well as it servers her here.