One common phrase used in the creative biz to describe the challenge of reaching your target audience is “cut through the clutter.” In a world of flashy, full-color ads, in-your-face “SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!” radio and big-budget TV, getting your message heard is a pretty tall task.

But what about in the Public Relations (PR) world? Everyone knows sending out press releases can be a great buzzbuilder for an upcoming newsworthy event, and between TV, radio and print media, there are plenty of outlets to help spread the word. But talk with Armstrong|Shank Director of Marketing Mark Chamberlin, and you might see that where PR is concerned, “cutting through the clutter” is often more of a literal challenge than a metaphorical one.

“Sometimes the editor’s desk is like a trash dump,” says Chamberlin, who served as assignment editor at KAKE-TV for five years. “Just stacks and stacks of papers and press releases and other leads. You may have crafted the greatest press release ever, but if the editor has 400 others to go through before he gets to yours, you may not get the timeliest of press coverage.”

That’s why Chamberlin recommends taking some of the creative thought that you’re used to putting into your other marketing efforts and applying it to your PR projects. For a desk editor who spends day after day sorting tediously through stacks of black-and-white letter-size printouts, that glow-in-the-dark paper maché octopus with your PR inside of it is not likely to get lost. When presenting at Armstrong|Shank PR seminars, Chamberlin’s favorite analogy is that of a tire in a landfill.

“Throw a tire into a trash dump, and what happens? It may start out buried, but it’s so hardy that amidst the constantly shifting landscape, it always works its way to the top.”

Example: When Wichita Mid-Continent Airport was holding a press conference after the launch of their “It’s A Breeze” campaign to introduce the new Courtesy Crew, Chamberlin and the Armstrong|Shank Advertising creative team wanted to make sure this customer-friendly move got the attention it deserved. They started by designing a colorful invitation, folded it into a paper airplane and inserted it into a plastic tube filled with cottony clouds to create a piece that captured the freedom of flight. They then delivered it to media outlets, along with an updated PR packet. It was a bright, fun piece, and judging by the attendance at the press conference, it successfully garnered attention.

While we encourage you to be a little creative with your PR, remember that the basic rules of PR still apply. The topic of your news release needs to be newsworthy, and there is no substitute for a PR practitioner who has a good and ongoing relationship with the media.

Our agency sets out aways from the hustle and bustle, on a nice patch of wooded area.  If you think about that Robert Frost poem about the two roads diverged in a yellow wood, the path to our agency is definitely down the road less traveled by.  Whether “that has made all the difference,” I’m not sure.  But it does make for a great creative environment.  For some reason, the ideas flow a little better when you look out your window and see a stand of  trees–or a family of raccoons, like in footage below captured out of one of our office windows.

What is certain is that, when it comes to effective advertising, it just might pay to take the road less traveled by.  Sure, there are plenty of ads out there that try to claim the same great things, and attempt to shout louder than the others.  For me, the most memorable ads, the calls to action that strike me, stand apart from the rest and go places the others don’t.

I’m a lucky guy. In my career I’ve had dozens of interns, and nearly every one of them has been a joy to coach and an asset to my employers.

Maddie Marney, Armstrong|Shank summer intern from May to August 2009, raised the bar for intern performance and pleasantness. She was fearless when challenged to do a task and voraciously receptive to any learning opportunity. We trust she found her time with us equally rewarding.

We asked Maddie to reflect on her summer with us, and here’s what she had to say.

Mark Chamberlin
Director of Marketing Services and New Marketing Development

By Maddie Marney

Before starting my summer internship here at Armstrong Shank, I had little knowledge of what it really meant to work in advertising. Of course, I have seen the movies and TV shows featuring fake all-powerful ad agencies that snag every nationwide billion dollar budget campaign, but no one tells the real stories behind this business.

Through my years of college classes as an advertising major, we are taught to think out of the box and how to work in an effective team. Though these are great things to learn, they are not the biggest challenges to face in this business. We should rather be taking classes such as, “Stubborn Clients 101″ or “Navigating Through Millions of Files,” which would seem more appropriate for the actual working world.

When asked to sum up my experience here, I dug through my brain for a way to do so that did not consist of just listing the amazing things I have gotten to do. I figured the only way to get my point across was to come up with some guidelines, or commandments if you will, for those interns that may follow me in the future.

1. Advertising is somewhat of a compromise between clients, account executives, and creatives, all who have different visions of what the ending product should be.

2. Always bring a sweater to client meetings; you never know when you are entering an icebox.

3. Good research is the key to any project put in front of you whether it is a print ad, a PR project, or anything else that comes your way. You may learn something you never thought you would know.

4. Always ask questions, whether they seem dumb or not, you might actually learn something valuable.

5. Always bring your lunch, because of the limited food options. The workers at the Sonic down the street have gotten to know me a little too well.

6. Don’t be offended when your projects go through several revisions, because you will be so much prouder of the end product.

7. Embrace the new technology, you may learn how Twitter really works.

8. And finally, be careful when asking someone if they need help, you may soon regret you asked.

Regardless of these words of wisdom, my time here at Armstrong Shank has allowed me to gain some insight into this exciting and fast-paced industry. I feel like I now have the knowledge to talk to future employers with ease, as well as finish off my senior year with gained enthusiasm for entering into the “real world of advertising.”