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One of our favorite activities is hosting food and travel writers from across the country and getting them to experience Union Gap, WA.
The summer of 2018 we hosted two writers from New Hampshire and Alaska and this is the story written by our own Eric Patrick that appeared in the Yakima Herald.
One of our favorite activities is having the opportunity to host travel writers from across the country to showcase Union Gap and the Yakima Valley. Here is story from the summer of 2018.
I pay attention to marketing throughout the year, and to things that catch or maintain my attention. Here are the top 10 marketing brands, people or events that caught my attention in 2016. It is also important to note, I didn’t say these were all successful, but they certainly made me look and either refer, recommend or suggest to someone. I brainstormed these 10 in one brief session as quickly as I could, just the top names and brands as they came to my mind. They weren’t based on research, just my impression – and I also steered clear of the fruit industry as I didn’t want to be influenced by my varied relationships in the industry.
10. Cinch. One of my associates occasionally wears Cinch branded shirts, and I had no idea what it was. Then, my wife and I went to Las Vegas in December and happened to be there when the National Final’s Rodeo happened to be in town. I then saw Cinch everywhere! Shirts, hats and the logo with a wide variety of cowboys in town for the rodeo. I then asked for a Cinch shirt for Christmas. I wanted to be part of it – although my wife warned me I won’t look like one of the cowboys!
I had never heard of this brand, I'm not a rodeo person at all, and then all of a sudden I started seeing it everywhere and now I want a shirt or two.
9. Hoka (and Brooks) running shoes. I’m a semi-avid runner, and on average run 3-4 times a week and do a handful of 5k’s and other races throughout the year. Including my first ever ½ marathon this past October! During one of the races, I noticed a couple of runners wearing Hoka running shoes, and then all of a sudden they seemed to be everywhere. One of the local running shops, Vaux Shoes has been carrying them, and I was on a Twitter live event and running shoes came up and someone mentioned they loved their Hoka’s. Now, I’ve been wearing Brooks for the last few years, and even made it to their great showroom over in Seattle a few times. I love their shoes, and even their packaging and shoe boxes with their innovative map art. And, I did my first half marathon in forever in Brooks this past September. So, it’ll be tough to get me to switch, but, my curiosity has been caught.
I love my Brooks Running Shoes, and am committed to them. But all of a sudden I'm seeing Hoka shoes everywhere.
8. Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches – This one is a bit odd. It isn’t for the sandwiches, which I do enjoy, but it is for their restrooms. If you’ve been into a Jimmy’s Johns you know what I’m talking about. They have these witty tiles showcasing the different style of bathroom users. It cracks me up. Especially if you have a teenage son and have someone to share this lowbrow humor with.
These bathroom signs in Jimmy John's crack me up!
7. Snobikes – I love snowmobiling, and during the winter it’s one of my favorite activities. Early in 2016, when snowmobiling near Wenatchee, WA, I noticed an abundance of snobikes. I’d maybe seen 1 or 2 a year for the past several years, but this year I saw a group of at least a dozen riders, and then another time out saw a large group. Then, during a meeting today with a friend who is a great snowmobiler I was shocked to hear that he’d sold his sleds and purchased two snobikes. So, I imagine I’ll test them out myself for the first time this year.
I went from seeing one of these a year while snowmobiling to seeing large groups of riders this winter.
6. Shark Tank – I love this popular show on ABC. I love seeing the incredible inventiveness of people and the ideas they come up with. One day, I’d love to have a product and appear on the show. I have one random idea I’m kicking around, we’ll see if I develop it. But in the meantime, “I’m a fan” and faithfully DVR each episode. I like the personalities of the Sharks, how they interact, and enjoy seeing the success stories. It’s also a great place to go for ideas and to inspire brainstorming. I like seeing the new products that are released, and then watch how their branding and digital presence changes. To me, it is almost like attending a marketing class. If I ever make it on the show, I’m hoping for a deal with Robert! He’s feeling a bit like the underdog to me lately. I love when I see one of the products that have made it on the tank in real life also.
I have my DVR set up to tape all the new episodes. It's a must for me.
5. Golden State Warriors – I’m an avid sports fan and for the most part my favorite teams are the New England teams from my hometown and the Northwest teams from me calling Washington State home for over 20 years now. The Warriors team was so exciting to me though, and I found myself watching several regular season games for the first time in years. My first love is the Celtics, in particular the Bird, Parrish, McHale, D.J. era. And, before you call me a Warriors homer, they aren’t my favorite team, I just enjoy watching them, especially Klay Thompson, which is why I started watching them in the first place. I’m a Washington State Cougar alumnus and fan and got to see Klay in a handful of games. My son and I were glued to this year’s finals, with him pulling for the Lebron James Cavs and me pulling for Warriors, it was the most fun I’d had watching basketball in a long time.
I was a big time basketball fan, then fell away, but Klay Thompson and the Warriors brought me back. I love watching them play, and I'm a WSU Cougar alumnus and started watching their games and then bam! Non stop excitement.
4. Jack Threads – I’m not a big clothing guy, but my son is, and he LOVES this site and has for a few years. Gets the coolest t-shirts from them all the time. Whenever he wears his 'Squints' shirt from the movie 'Sandlot' he gets a ton of complements. And his Kramer shirt in the Technicolor Dreamcoat outfit made his teachers laugh. I thought it was primarily for younger kids, but then I started hearing ads for them on a couple of the podcasts I listen to. Now I find myself glancing at their site. They’ve made an impression.
I thought it was a site for teenage boys, and then I started hearing about Jack Threads in my circle of influence.
3. Gary Vaynerchuk – Love this guy. Love his energy. I actively listen to his podcasts primarily and outside of my family he’s about the only person I look at on Snapchat currently. I need to change that. I love when his podcasts line up with my longer runs, the miles just melt away while I’m listening. I’ve read the books and drank the Koolaid, and most importantly, he’s helped to push me to new challenges. We’ve pitched a lot of new business this year and are seeing the results. He’s inspiring and gets me fired up. If you haven’t listed to him, and you love marketing, definitely check him out.
I had the great privilege of meeting Gary Vaynerchuk a couple of years ago. Listen/watch the podcasts, read the books, check him out on social media, I promise you'll feel an impact!
2. Matthew Berry (and Fantasy Sports). I’m a Fantasy Sports guy, love my Fantasy Baseball and Fantasy Football. I regularly listen to ESPN’s Fantasy Focus Football and have for years. I like the entire gang, Stephania Bell, Field Yates, Secret Squirrel and of course Matthew himself. Once every blue moon I’ve even had a retweet from Matthew and it puts a smile on my face for a few days. And the advice, I do what he says, listen to him and then try to make my own decision – most of the time. However Mr. Berry, I bought into your John Brown numbers for the Cardinals this year, instead of picking Fitzgerald and it hurt me a bit. Oh well. Fantasy Baseball is my other addiction. I play in a competitive league and love my daily dose of Eric and Tristan. So many little things that are now part of my daily nomenclature and I can't say without thinking of these two such as; 'chicken parmesan,' '#hashbrowns,' 'hey, it's a combo meal!' 'geekystatoftheday,' and many more! I’m excited that the new season is just around the corner.
I’m also hoping the football group does their road show in Seattle sometime next year and I can make a trip over and check it out. Keep up the great work everyone, you have a FAN! Final note, my son and I love to speak loudly and ‘Put it on the Board’ much to the dismay of my wife. LOL.
Fantasy Focus Football and Baseball are must listen to podcasts for me!
1. Pokemon Go! – Wow, what a trend that was. Our family got caught up in this for a few weeks and it was great fun while it was at its peak. What a cultural phenomena. We will always remember a weekend we spent in Bellevue/Seattle and all five of us went to the downtown Bellevue Park and were amazed by the hundreds and hundreds of Pokemon hunters in the evening. It felt like we were part of something larger and it was both fun and weird at the same time. Two of my kids were making mad dashes throughout the park to capture a new monster, I was a bit more subdued but nonetheless excited. We also enjoyed a road trip to Bend, OR from Yakima, WA and my wife drove and the three of us would all hunt as we passed through each town. I wonder what the next craze will be that captures the imagination of so many so quickly.
Thanks for reading along. I wonder what will jump out to me in 2017. I’m always on the lookout for something that’s new and captures my attention.
I haven't played in months, but man, was it fun for a few weeks! And, one of the biggest cultural phenomenons I've ever seen.
My wife and I get a photo in front of the massive tree with its beautiful and massive Christmas ornaments.
Read moreOne of our accounts that we proudly represent is www.visituniongap.com and in early November we held our first Venues Open House. The purpose of this event was to make Union Gap and Yakima Valley residents aware of the venues that are right here in Union Gap, WA.
The venues that participated were The Barn and the Activities Center located in the Ahtanum Youth Park, the Central Washington Ag Museum, the Vine Venue and Conference Center and The Best Western Plus Ahtanum Inn. Due to some scheduling conflicts and unavailability, we held the event on a weekday and were pleasantly pleased with the attendance. We will help host another event early in 2017, and it will be held on a weekend.
What did we learn? First of all, the Facebook advertising and posts that we did created a ton of awareness. There was a steady stream of comments and replies with people inviting friends and family to come join them right in the comment sections of Facebook. I know a lot of people still question the validity of social media and its marketing ability, but it really does work - especially for a targeted event such as this.
A second major learning was that of appreciation by our guests. Many thought this was a great idea, they had wanted to visit these facilities but either didn't know how to get in contact with the proper parties, or weren't willing to invest the time to book visits at multiple locations. The ability to get out and see five venues in a few hours was very valuable to them.
A third major learning is that you can never take for granted what you know about your own community. We help promote and plan events at several of these venues, and know them inside and out, however, there are still a lot of people who weren't aware of them. This is so important in your own marketing, sometimes you need to take a step back and look at the simple things you might be missing. There is the big, red and beautiful 'Barn' in Union Gap, but unless you're taking your kids to soccer games at the park, or are attending another event in the park, there's a decent chance that some people in the Yakima Valley had no idea it was there. Now, by having a simple open house, thousands of people realize it is there, and we expect to see an increase in bookings for a wide variety of events.
Thanks for stopping by our site. My question and thought for you is what product or service do you offer to people that you are taking for granted. If you take a minute to think about it, I'm sure you'll come up with at least a few. Our concept for the Venues Open House was simple, and in hindsight oh-so-obvious. We had wanted to increase bookings at the venues, in hopes that more out of people would come and stay, shop and eat in Union Gap. The open houses made it easy for people to come see them, providing them a simple service that they appreciated.
So, that's your challenge. Find a nice piece of 'low hanging fruit' in your organization and see what you can due to increase the sales of that item. I bet you'll be as pleasantly surprised as we were.
The Barn at the Ahtanum Youth Park is great for a wide variety of events including weddings, quinceañeras, reunions, business meetings, small trade shows and more. The Venues Open House allowed people to come see it at their convenience, and it was the first time for many.
During the open house each venue had a different set of snacks, a collection of menus from Union Gap restaurants that are great for catering and a host with all the rental details.
We are glad to see you here at 'The Hunt - A Marketing Agency.'
You often hear of people who love their jobs, and we are those kind of people. We don't dread Mondays, we look forward to Mondays as it means we have another great week to inspire and create for our clients.
In some ways we are marketing nerds. We follow several marketing podcasts, read books about marketing and love to talk marketing. A Sunday spent grocery shopping might be a chore to some, but we are engaged by it - looking for new packaging and marketing that has been introduced to catch OUR attention. Just as we will help you create projects that will catch YOUR customer's attention.
This blog will most often talk about something relevant to marketing - either our own efforts, or other efforts that stand out to us. Our client projects are often diverse and take us across many industries, so the content we share will be equally diverse. In a given week you're likely to find us in a field or orchard on a Monday, meeting with a tourism group on Tuesday, shooting video on Wednesday, working on a new logo or product on Thursday and working on a creative brief for a new project on Friday. There is always something new and exciting and we love it.
Our goal is to provide enough interesting content that at least a few of you will be back from time to time. We know it is a competitive out there so we will see how we do!
During the 2016 PMA's Fresh Summit in Orlando the Tajin booth featured many alliance projects which we helped to create the partnership for.
We assisted in the booth design and setup of the Curry & Company booth at this year's PMA's Fresh Summit in Orlando, FL
Eric Patrick got to meet Nascar legend Richard Petty during the show