Tell your story…creatively.

Thanks for visiting our site.  Sean Tracey Associates (STA) is a full-service branding, advertising, marketing, and film & video production company.  We’ve helped North America’s finest and best known brands tell their stories, creatively, since 1985. That’s right…STA is 25 years strong!

Here you can learn about our unique, streamlined business model and how it can help you and your brand increase ROI while keeping costs low.  You can see samples of our work by clicking this “Creative” link.  Don’t miss our 3 Mood Videos at the top of this page that feature scenes from some of our favorite film & video productions. We’ll also keep you up-to-date on what we’ve got cookin’, inform you about the latest industry trends, and even provide a forum for you to interact and communicate with other savvy business and marketing professionals—just like you.  Go ahead and add to the discussion by commenting on our site.  And be sure to check out LatinLink, our division devoted to reaching the ever-more-important Hispanic market.

STA Top 10

Top 10

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Thanks to long-time STA collaborators Jim Meskimen (writer and voice talent) and Dan Serafini (original music and sfx) for creating this fantastic Top Ten List!

Good Men Sold Out Screening @ NHFF

Sean Tracey and Brian Connors at Good Men Q&A

After Screening Party

Over four full days, from October 13th to 16th,  from morning till night, the  New Hampshire Film Festival made Portsmouth “the film center of New England”.   Days filled with top notch films from around the world—popcorn (of course) and nights celebrating and rubbing elbows with filmmakers, producers, directors, writers and film lovers from all over the country.  The NHFF is always a great success, not only because of the excellent job that the organization does, but also  the nature of our picturesque town allowing walking distance to all the screening venues and dozens of great restaurants to cleanse your creative palate between one film and the next.  Our community is small and warm and has always supported the arts.   NHFF got validated further last year, landing Francis Ford Coppola Winery as a lead sponsor.  We’re happy to report that Good Men,  Sean Tracey Associates  latest film, starring Ed Asner and Mark Rydell and written and directed by Brain Connors, had over 600 people attend and a sold out screening on Sunday.   What’s next?  Stay tuned for news of our next film…until then

When Advertising Becomes Brainwashing

Citizens-Union Savings Bank and the Bank of Fall River‘s  ”Guess Our New Name” campaign and contest is officially over, and all the clues are in.  We are very happy to announce that the number of total correct entries is 12,000!  Just imagine all those people in the banks’ community that THOUGHT hard and cared enough about the bank’s new name that they took the time to go to a branch or online to fill out a entry form…and got it right!  Our target got the message 110%  exceeding our expectations.    Is it advertising?  Or brainwashing? (in a good way, of course)!   Click here for more information on this successful campaign.

Proven Social Media Numbers for Town & Country

Town & Country Federal Credit Union’s Facebook page has been exploding with activity as of late.
Sure, it’s easy to throw numbers around, but what is making such a big difference?  Why are so many people becoming so interested in a credit union in Maine?  Simply put, it’s because of The Better Neighbor Fund (BNF), a community outreach program STA conceived and created for Town & Country last year.  Through the BNF, T&C has been hugely successful at connecting to community organizations and their followers.    How does it work? Like last year, Town & Country Federal Credit Union is offering a total of $25,000 to 8 different local charities, and allowing people to vote for them via Facebook.  So not only are people visiting the page to vote, but each of the 65 nominated charities are visiting T&C’s page to promote themselves to the voters.  Add to that the people outside of the charities posting, encouraging  voters to choose their own preferred charity and you get exponential social media growth and activity.
How can you apply this information to your own cause?  Do something on your Facebook that involves and engages people.  No one wants to visit a company’s Facebook page that only talks about itself.  Ask questions.  Give prizes.  Talk about others and their interests.  It doesn’t hurt to promote yourself (that’s what the page is for after all), but if that’s all you do, you’ll lose interest fast.

Got A Clue? The Case of a “Secretive” Bank Re-Brand

Sean Tracey Associates has been working on an extremely top-secret project.  We  renamed, re-branded, and re-introduced two venerable banks that are merging, Citizens-Union Savings Bank and the Bank of Fall River.  Both are located on the south shore of Massachusetts.

After delving into quantitative research that showed a “dormant brand” and conducting our own quantitative “man-on-the-street” interviews/research, we moved to our process, Phase II:  Senior Management Brand Workshops to determine where the banks wanted to and should go with the brand.  Then, we formed a committee from both banks to rename the new, merged institution.  After coming up with over 300 possible names, narrowing to 70, then to about 25, we began research into the trademark-ability of the new names.  The final name was chosen by the bank executives, marketing department, and Board of Trustees.  But we wanted current and potential customers to feel they had some “stake” in the new name…

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Your Brand

By Sean Tracey

Originally published in the American Hospitals Association’s healthcare advertising publication, Spectrum in September/October 2005.

Is your advertising building or eroding trust in your brand?

A woman sits on a stainless steel table. She’s alone in an unfriendly, cold place, barraged by bright, unflattering lights. She looks vulnerable, wearing only a flimsy patient’s johnny. Suddenly, a disembodied hand enters the frame and begins to shave her head as we watch and as she weeps, petrified.

Is this a scene from a sci-fi or horror movie? No. It’s the opening of a TV commercial for a hospital. As the shaving continues, graphics appear: “Sharon has a tumor. Removing it will be tricky. One centimeter to the left…paralysis. One centimeter to the right…blindness. Not doing anything…death. Who can handle this challenge? We can.” Then the logo and name of the medical institution are revealed.

This ad was created by an award-winning advertising agency and produced by a respected commercial production company and a talented director. The hospital marketers who approved the ad probably believed that their surgeons would think it was “hard hitting.” But, in producing and approving such an edgy ad, the agency and its hospital client may have gone too far. In my opinion, this TV ad betrayed the trust of all who saw it, both consciously and subliminally, and ultimately undermined the hospital brand. 

How To Kill Three Birds With One Stone.

This past fall, Sean Tracey Associates created and designed a “win-win” way for Town and Country Federal Credit Union (T&C) to (1) launch their brand in social media, (2) conduct an online charitable giving campaign, and (3) grand open their latest, largest branch—all in one fell swoop!  The idea was to meet the new branch’s neighbors and at the same time do something really good for their new community, so T&C decided to give away $25,000 in grants to local organizations.  STA recommended the use of social media as a viral media platform to allow community members to vote for which charity they valued most, so that T&C didn’t have to chose themselves from among all the worthy candidates.