Check Out Our Most Recent Work

No doubt you have heard the news. Check out what Gaudio & Friends have been up to at Micah’s personal site www.MicahGaudio.com

Win A Treat A Week For 40 Weeks at Dairy Queen Route 40

Visit Facebook.com/DiaryQueen40West

Webster Marine Gets A New Look

GO designed a new look for all Webster’s print and digital initiatives check it out at www.WebsterMarine.com

Client Success Stories from GO Digital

2010 was a banner year for GO. We added a record breaking number of new clients, which indicates that the economy is recovering at a steady pace. We thought we would inspire you through other clients’ success stories to make an appointment with us for an annual meeting and media budget review.

	Bridgewater Point Sells Out In 4 Weeks The creative genius of a lottery brought in 721 contracts for 46 units. GO Digital produced media buys for billboards, television, radio, print, Facebook and Google. As an added bonus, the Go Agency and The Willard Companies won a Gold PRSA Award for the effort. Read More
	Wake N’ Skate Hits 10,000 Fans On Facebook With less than a $1,000 Ad Spend on Facebook, WNS hit the 10k mark targeting competitors and similar likes and interests. GO is now deploying these tactics to help other clients increase their customer base. Find Out More
	Lights For Life Reaches $240,000 Mark GO was contacted by the founders of this organization to design a logo and create community awareness through traditional and web-based media. Exceeding expectations, the county and city will be able to outfit its traffic lights with safer technology. Visit the site
	New Parrot Cove Website Producing Results With double the web traffic from the previous year and booking sales up – GO helped develop online marketing systems to track results and target potential customers through Google & Facebook while upgrading the online and offline company website and customer mailings. Visit the new site
	Apptech Solutions Product Launch GO developed a logo, comprehensive technical website, product video, and social package to help this advanced startup company launch their one-of-a-kind, pioneer product that is poised to revolutionize the wastewater treatment industry. Visit the new site
	DAM LAGER Builds A Booming Brand GO produced a logo, website and social media campaign to help launch this successful lake branded beer. A Facebook campaign and a Poker Run sponsorship helped this beer acquire over 600 fans in less than two months. Dam Lager had broad distributorship and a great taste which made it one of the most sought after SML brands this past year. Read More
	Franklin Community Bank Sports A New Look A desire for increased online banking users and core deposits spurred a new creative approach for this local banking establishment. GO helped rebrand FCB with fresh new print ads, a user-friendly website, and social marketing tactics that resulted in 127,864 unique visitors in 2010. Visit the new site

SML Yacht Club Launches New Website & Social

This is a site we acquired from another web developer in 2004 – about time they had a face lift. Congrats Lee on finally coming around – may you be blessed with new business in 11.

Micah Featured In 10 Year Anniversary of Laker Magazine

Micah Gaudio

Micah Gaudio’s love of Smith Mountain Lake was cultivated nearly a decade before he published the first issue of the Laker. While attending nearby Liberty University from 1992 to 1995, he often would visit SML to wakeboard on its quiet waters.

After graduating with degrees in advertising/public relations and media production, Gaudio moved to Florida, where he worked for some of the largest advertising agencies in the state as well as GE Healthcare. He married Shannon Owens in the backyard of her parents’ home on the Blackwater in 1998, and the couple soon began toying with the idea of returning to the SML area.

After making the move in May 2001, Gaudio started GO Agency, a full-service advertising agency, and launched the first issue of the Laker later that summer. For the next seven years, he served as the magazine’s publisher, chief photographer, ad salesman, creative director and graphic designer while building an in-house staff and corps of freelance writers and photographers.

In May 2007, Gaudio sold the publication to The Roanoke Times. The company merged operations with the newspaper’s weekly community publication, The Lake (now Laker Weekly), to form Laker Media.

Since then, Gaudio, 36, has been busy ramping up his ad agency and Wake N Skate, a board and apparel shop at Bridgewater Plaza he purchased in 2008. In addition, he was instrumental in the startup of Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy, the non-denominational private school his children – McKenna-Kate, 8, and Cash, 5 – attend. He continues to serve on the school’s board of directors.

As the Laker heads in to its second decade, we thought it appropriate to check in with the man who started it all.

- Andie Gibson, Editor

Q: What factors led to your decision to move to SML and start the magazine?

A: At the time, I was working for the second largest ad agency in Tampa. I felt like I was achieving everything, and it wasn’t enough. There was so much paperwork and red tape. It was so inefficient. But it was really the evolution of desktop publishing and digital photography that allowed us to put out this magazine in a small market. It drove down the hard costs. I saw this technology evolving and knew I could do it at SML.

Q: What was your original vision for the magazine?

A: Originally, I wanted to connect the lake. I was doing research and realized it was very fragmented, so I wanted to bring it all together. It also was going to be a heavily online project. I truly thought in three years we would reduce the print version and it would mostly be online. But people really came to embrace the print version, and it just got bigger and better. And that was my goal, to make each issue better than the last. The bonus is that I got to meet new people and have fun doing it.

Q: Does it surprise you how the magazine has evolved over the past 10 years?

A: I was challenged right off the bat. I remember the very first night we were here, I was talking to some locals at the Dudley Mart, and they were laughing at the prospect of a magazine dedicated to Smith Mountain Lake. I knew it wasn’t going to be an issue to find unique people to meet here. I knew there were always going to be great things to write about. … It’s a brand that has survived when other publications have come and gone. It’s been able to hold course even in the down economy, and that’s because the staff has been able to maintain consistently high quality.

Q: What did you enjoy best about your years as publisher of the Laker?

A: Taking photos and working on covers. I also enjoyed meeting new and interesting people at the lake, any kind of photo shoot on the water, and publisher’s rants!

Q: What have you enjoyed most about life since selling the magazine?

A: Spending more time with my family, helping out the community with the school and exploring other interests I didn’t have the time to do before. I’ve also enjoyed growing the ad agency.

Q: What is your focus now for GO Agency?

A: It’s all about social media, Google, Facebook, building websites that people can manage themselves. And it’s working. Businesses are seeing results. I’m a marketer at heart, so whenever there are results, I’m happy.

Q: After selling the magazine, you poured a lot of effort into getting SML Christian Academy up and running. How has that experience been?

A: That’s probably been the biggest challenge of my life, keeping that going. But it was needed at the lake. I saw so many great young families leaving the lake because of the proximity of the upper-grade schools [in Rocky Mount] and the fact that there was no Christian-based alternative. In addition to expanded healthcare, I think the school was the thing most needed to balance out this community.

Q: You also indulged your passion – wakeboarding – by purchasing Wake N Skate. Is operating a retail shop all you imagined it to be?

A: I’ve been on all sides of business except retail, so it’s been great getting that experience. I’ve been able to apply what I’ve learned to [GO Agency] clients so that has been positive. And it’s kept me plugged into the lake.

Q: How has the business climate at the lake changed in the past 10 years?

A: In the beginning, there was a good-old-boy network. People were hesitant to do business with you if you weren’t born and raised here. Some didn’t want growth at all and would fight it. Now, that isn’t the mindset. It’s changed tremendously, especially since 2005 and 2006. There’s not that anti-growth mentality. It’s more of a feeling that growth is going to happen, let’s make the best of it.

Q: What are your predictions for the lake for the next 10 years?

A: I can’t really give any predictions, so how about a wish list? At some point the construction will have to start back up, we’ll have a wakeboard cable park, SMLCA will include K-12 grades, the second Bridgewater Pointe tower will be built and the Laker Magazine will be 200 pages.

Read The Full Article

Attorneys Gilbert & Bird Re-Brand Their Firm

Bridgewater Pointe Condos Client Success Story

The Willard Companies and Prudential Waterfront Properties: Bridgewater Pointe

BACKGROUND/RESEARCH:
The Willard Companies – a pioneering and highly reputable building, real estate and residential development company at Smith Mountain Lake (SML), Virginia – was approached by BB&T, a financial institution based in Winston-Salem, NC and the Atlas Companies (BB&T’s bank owned real estate division) to take over marketing of Bridgewater Pointe, a distressed 48-unit waterfront condominium complex. While researching the history of Bridgewater Pointe, The Willard Companies discovered that the perception towards the project was poor, influenced by negative media coverage of the original developer’s inability to continue meeting financial obligations resulting in foreclosure. Unfamiliar with marketing real estate developments in such a state of failure, The Willard Companies first considered an auction format, which is a process of offering real estate for bid. Further research revealed that similar auctions held locally failed to bring in an influx of buyers to sell bank owned properties. In addition, The Willard Companies decided a traditional auction platform lacked the urgency and aggressiveness needed to obtain the desired results. Instead, The Willard Companies and Prudential Waterfront Properties turned to a unique, custom designed method that would draw attention with its originality and create buying urgency – a competitive lottery drawing. Area sales data from the past 10 years revealed a geographic trend of potential buyers, which was used in planning and campaign execution.

PLANNING:
Due to a continued downturn in the local and national real estate market and a number of legal problems related to the foreclosure, The Willard Companies, along with its subsidiary real estate company, Prudential Waterfront Properties, faced many challenges. BB&T set forth a sales goal of generating 24 contracts (50%) of the condo project. The Willard Companies and Prudential Waterfront Properties decided to use a “lottery” format to encourage high-volume sales at Bridgewater Pointe by creating a small window of opportunity for buyers to invest in waterfront condominiums reduced in price by 60 percent. To be eligible for the drawing, interested buyers were required to make reservations within a limited time frame. To make the lottery sale successful, The Willard Companies and Prudential Waterfront Properties called upon its long-time advertising partner, GO Agency, to develop a multi-media public relations and marketing campaign with a budget of $XXX,XXX. The goals of the campaign were to raise awareness of and excitement for the lottery drawing event, launch the campaign by the lake’s Memorial Day season kickoff, capitalize on The Willard Companies’ long-standing reputation in the Smith Mountain Lake community, and generate an influx of reservations to meet the sales goal. The campaign would start by Memorial Day weekend and run through the drawing event date of June 27.

EXECUTION:
Working under a tight two-week deadline, The Willard Companies and GO Agency quickly generated a strategic and compelling collection of public relations and promotional materials. To encourage a positive local attitude toward the property, a series of press releases were sent to 25 regional media channels establishing The Willard Companies’ total support of the property’s sale. Communicating the approval of one of the community’s most respected companies was an essential aspect of the project. Real estate trade writers throughout Southwest Virginia were also pitched. Social media outreach included use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and blog posts. Advertising included $XX,XXX spent in print media (Washington Post, Raleigh News & Observer & Virginian Pilot to name a few), $XX,XXX in collateral and direct mail, $XX,XXX in billboards and signage, $XX,XXX in television (network and cable), $XX,XXX in radio spots, $XX,XXX on Facebook and Google Pay Per Click ads and $XX,XXX in advertising agency fees. All deliverables communicated an urgent message to seize the lottery buy opportunity, unprecedented in the SML community. All materials described the substantial price reduction coupled with the attractive benefits of owning a Bridgewater Pointe condominium.

EVALUATION:
The campaign far exceeded every expectation. Nearly all regional print and electronic media resulted in positive coverage, including front page exposure in The Roanoke Times, Smith Mountain Eagle, Franklin News- Post as well as multiple broadcast features on WDBJ7, WSLS10, WSET13 and FOX21/27 news. Coverage resulted in more than 1,472,000 online impressions. In addition, all materials were delivered on time and within budget. Over the three week period beginning Saturday, June 5 through Saturday, June 26, Prudential Waterfront Properties accepted 721 contract reservations that were entered into a drawing held on Sunday, June 27. More than 300 people attended the drawing event. Within 2 ½ hours, all 48 condos were under contract with a scheduled 30-day closing. As of September 20, 42 units have officially closed. Further proof of the campaign’s success can be measured in the chart below by the number of unique visitors to the Bridgewater Pointe landing page on the Prudential Waterfront Properties website. The website’s bandwidth limitations had to be increased in order to accommodate the high volume of traffic. Success of the campaign has since resulted in The Willard Companies and Prudential Waterfront Properties again partnering with BB&T and the Atlas Companies to market a second distressed community, Emerald Bay, using the same public relations model.

AppTech Solutions Launches New Website

This site is another WordPress CMS, the first to be set up with user permissions allowing user access for company CAD files and knowledge center. Custom video and tabs make this a great technical site for a groundbreaking new product.

WakeNSkate Hits 10,000 Fans/Likes on Facebook