Each year at the Day of Love, our pre-Christmas celebration, we recognize team members who have reached significant landmarks in their careers at L&S. This year, three employees were honored for 10 and 25 years of service.

John Pohlman

Twenty-five years ago, John impressed the leadership of Lawrence & Schiller with his professionalism and intelligence when he assisted Scott Lawrence as a producer on a commercial shoot. Shortly after, he joined the L&S team and has worked his way up to executive vice president.

John’s leadership, wisdom and composure have proved invaluable to L&S over the years.

Shelly Johnson

As an account service team member, Shelly has proven her ability over the past 10 years to produce the best outcomes for her clients. She successfully manages a substantial flow of projects, primarily for Midcontinent Communications. Her leadership and foresight are assets on the account service team.

Chris Matheson

Ten years ago, Chris was living in Sioux Falls but traveling to Los Angeles to produce commercials for Boston Market. He was hired to take the quality of Lawrence & Schiller’s broadcast production to the next level. With hard work, creativity and humor, Chris has done just that. By surrounding himself with talented individuals and ensuring L&S stays true to its brand, he has helped our agency produce effective and award-winning work for clients.

The entire L&S team wants to thank John, Shelly and Chris for their continued dedication and leadership. Feel free to congratulate them on their accomplishments in the comments section below.

Paul Schiller & Craig Lawrence

The Lawrence & Schiller staff also honored Paul Schiller and Craig Lawrence, the founders of Lawrence & Schiller, for their 35 years of partnership. A plaque with the four logos that have represented L&S over the years was given to both men.

What makes great creative? Most people have their own definition, whether it’s attention-grabbing, award-winning or results-getting. At L&S, we believe it’s all of the above. Which explains why truly great creative is so hard to find. A lot of advertising is just plain bad. But with the right processes and guidelines established, you can get great creative from your agency – work that not only wins awards, but also moves the needle.

In June’s L&S Boot Camp Webinar, John Pohlman, Executive Vice President, and I presented what great creative is and how everyone can play a role in developing it:
•    What are clients’ jobs in the creative process versus the agency’s job?
•    What is the difference between “good” creative and truly “great” creative?
•    How can clients and agencies better work together to develop ideas?

By knowing the importance and impact of your role in the creative process, you can ensure you’re getting the best work and best results . Take the first step to getting great creative, and watch our webinar.

While you’re at it sign up for next month’s webinar, “Selling Ideas to Your Team” at www.l-s.com/bootcamp.

Traditions. Lawrence & Schiller is full of them, and offering top-notch internships is only one.

After a few short weeks on the job, it’s clear to me that L&S is more than an office. It’s more than a business with clients and jobs. L&S is a place where people matter.

One of the traditions at L&S is greeting people by name.

Last week, Director of Public Relations Dave Haan and I were chatting about success. We were talking about how to be successful at L&S and how to make a lasting impression. He told me that when he began at L&S, John Pohlman, executive VP, gave him a rundown on the 101 ways to find success at L&S. Apparently, the 101 ways was only a one-page list of 35 items, but nonetheless one of the tips that stuck with Dave was, “greet people by name.”

Nearly 15 years later, Dave shared with me John’s piece of advice—the advice that has since become a tradition.

Greeting people by name says so much about a workplace. It proves that people care about who you are as an individual. It shows that your presence truly matters, and that whatever your specialty or skill set others know about you. They know about you even if they work on different teams or within different disciplines.

The etymology of the word agency is, an “active, effective and powerful establishment where business is done for another.”

L&S embodies this definition. It’s an establishment where great things get done for clients, but also for other employees. Things are constantly being done for one another, and L&S wouldn’t have it any other way.

As L&S celebrates its 35th anniversary, I’m excited to be a part of an agency—this agency. I’m excited to be a part of a place that serves people in creative, strategic and fun ways, and I’m eager to learn. My experience at L&S will teach me more about what goes into marketing, advertising and public relations, but more importantly my experience will teach me about people.

30 films and counting.

That’s how many entries Greg Johnson has received for the first Reel Dakota Film Festival, September 24-25 at the Washington Pavilion in Sioux Falls, SD.

“I’m getting submissions every day now, one from Belgium today, and others from Canada, the United Kingdom and Spain,” reports Johnson, the Festival’s founder. “We’ve even gotten one from Hong Kong!”
Collecting enteries is just one item on a long “to-do” list. A festival name had to be selected, a logo created, marketing plan and collateral materials developed, sponsors recruited, website programmed and promotion information written. To get it all done, Johnson and his team of volunteers are working with Lawrence & Schiller.

“A lot of people at Lawrence & Schiller are film buffs. We’re passionate about the art form,” says John Pohlman, Executive Vice President at Lawrence & Schiller. “In fact, Nick Simon, one of our team members at L&S is a graduate of AFI (the American Film Institute) in Los Angeles, CA.”

Simon is also the director of “Removal”, one of the films accepted into the Reel Dakota Film Festival. The full-length thriller stars Billy Burke from the “Twillight” series, Elliot Gould and Emma Caufield. Simon is a 1991 graduate of Washington High School in Sioux Falls.

Another Washington High graduate (class of 2000), Chris Ordal, has also been accepted by Reel Dakota. His “Earthwork” film is about Kansas artist Stan Herd’s unusual approach to artwork seen from the air.

Anyone interested in submitting a film still has time. The deadline is August 15, 2010. The official entry form to Reel Dakota Film Festival can be found on the Withoutabox website.

Related Story
Washington Pavilion will host first Reel Dakota Film Festival this fall
Sioux Falls Argus Leader

Webinars are easy to come by. If you’ve shared your email address with any kind of marketing or advertising website you probably have an invitation to one sitting in your inbox right now.

Presenting a webinar on the other hand… that’s a different story.  Preparing, practice and producing a 60 minute “show” can be hard. But in the words of Coach Jimmy Dugan from A League of Their Own,  “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”

Take a listen as The Extra Minute sits down with John Pohlman, VP of Creative Services at Lawrence & Schiller, to discuss the challenges and rewards of hosting a webinar.