Burford Blog

Ad executive isn’t slowing down

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 08:56:52 -0400

Happy Holidays!

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:10:36 -0500

Burford recently wrapped production on new campaigns for The Supply Room Companies (see “Supply Room Man” TV) and Tronfeld, West & Durrett, Attorneys in Personal Injury Law (see “10,000 Victories” TV), a series to which Doug humbly refers as “the best damn lawyer spots in America.” (Of course, the veracity of this statement will remain in question until the actual “Best Damn Lawyer Spot Awards” are held in Tulsa next June, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.)
In other Burford news, Doug was just elected to Head Start’s hall of fame for his and the agency’s work in helping disadvantaged children. These print ads for Head Start’s Preschool Initiative were shot in Hanover by Bob Jones, Jr. and will soon be on display in poster form at the various retail establishments that support Head Start. (Click here to see sample)
Several exciting projects are on tap for early ’08, including new creative for Farm Fresh, ECPI, Beltone, Dominion Auto Group and USA Baby, so be on the lookout for more frequent updates.
Happy Holidays!

City advertiser says bring your friends to Richmond

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:46:53 -0400

Doug Burford is at it again.

The veteran adman and relentless Richmond cheerleader is digging into his own pocket to promote another idea for boosting the hometown.

This time, he’s getting some help from local television folks.

You might have seen the commercial: “Hello, Richmond. Please invite your out-of-state friends to spend 400 years with us.”

Burford figures the 400th anniversary of Jamestown’s founding presents a great chance to introduce Richmond to the world, because a lot of folks will be passing by next year.

“We don’t have the money to run something on the History Channel or the national networks,” he said “My idea was to take the million people in this area and make them into walking, talking testimonials for Richmond.”

Burford has come up with a thousand ways to sell Richmond. A lot of them never got off the ground.

“I’m like Patton without tanks. I keep moving ahead, but nobody’s following.”

Well, not always. Burford Co. Advertising is known for its heart-touching commercials for the Christian Children’s Fund, its quirky ads for innumerable local businesses and its funny founder, who never says never.

Burford made the 60-second spots this summer and paid the production costs himself, with help from a few friends.

Next, he needed a way to get them on the air. That's where the local TV folks jumped on board.

The commercial has been running – at no charge – on Channels 6, 8, and 12, as well as Comcast Cable.

“We liked the concept – bring your family and friends to Richmond,” said Peter Maroney, general manager of WTVR Channel 6. “We think that’s a great idea. We’d like to see it get off the ground.”

Plus, Maroney just liked the commercial, even if it didn’t cost a fortune to make. “We thought the creative was very good on the spot. We’re giving it a pretty healthy schedule, including some primetime spots.”

Burford’s unofficial campaign should complement the marketing efforts by Richmond Region 2007, a nonprofit group promoting the area in connection with the Jamestown celebrations.

Burford estimates his commercial cost at least $25,000 to make the spot, including the money and time spent producing it. The combined value of the air-time being donated could stretch will north of six figures, he said.

The commercial mentions Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and L. Douglas Wilder and proclaims Richmond as “America’s Most Historic City.”

That’s one of Burford’s favorite lines.

Local ad agency scrambled when national charity called

Mon, 6 Feb 2006 14:12:30 -0500

Doug Burford has played the ad game for more than three decades, but he can still move fast when opportunity calls – especially if it involves a good cause.

It’s not every day that a national charity asks a little Richmond agency to pitch its account.

“Out of the blue we got this call: Would we make a presentation?” Burford recalled. “We had two days to do a demo. I felt like David without a slingshot.”

The Smile Train, with headquarters on Fifth Avenue in New York, is dedicated to helping children in underdeveloped countries who are born with cleft lip and palates, a disfigurement that can threaten their health – and their chance to live a happy life.

The organization teaches doctors and hospitals in those countries how to repair clefts. It provides free equipment and financial aid. Overseas, the life-changing operation can cost as little as $250. Often, it takes just 45 minutes.

Since 1999, Smile Train has helped more than 156,000 children 60 countries.

A perfect assignment, in other words, for Burford Co. Advertising.

The downtown agency had made its fortune creating ads for car dealers, furniture stores and hospitals. But it’s probably best known for its heart-wrenching spots for Christian Children’s Fund, another Richmond outfit.

Burford has built his reputation on humorous, sometimes slightly goofy ads. He’s a successful businessman but a bit of a softy, too.

Watching a new set of CCF ads that he shot in some of the worst slums in Brazil late last year, Burford slumps down into his chair. He’s a little misty-eyed.

* * *

The Smile Train was ready to test its first TV Campaign, which will probably have a national reach. It talked to nine ad agencies, including major-league Manhattan firms.

“We didn’t think they were a right fit,” said Priscilla Ma, the senior marketing manager.

Then she heard about Burford’s CCF ads – all highly emotional, direct-marketing appeals. So Ma decided to give the Richmond shop a shot.

When The Smile Train phoned in early January, Burford jumped.

In a day, he wrote a script, set up a production crew, hired an actress and pulled stories and photos from The Smile Train Web site – www.smiletrain.com.

Then things got complicated.

"For some reason, the talent couldn’t get there on time," Burford said.

Luckily, Beth Jones was in Buford’s office. She’s a makeup artist.

“I'm sitting there waiting to do makeup and he says: “Here, read this," Jones said. It was just a 60-second script. “To me, it seemed like Tolstoy.”
But she pulled it off, with some help from a teleprompter.

“If anybody had any idea how this was done, they would have died,” Burford, said.

He headed to New York with the demo the next day. “I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies on Fifth Avenue. One thing we’re not is slick. They could tell that when we walked in.”

He made his pitch and showed the spot, with Jones making an earnest, face-to-the camera appeal for donations. Afterwards, Burford glanced at the president of the charity. “He smiled, looked at us and walked out of the room.”

Burford flew home, figuring he’d blown the account. “The next morning, they called and said we were the agency they were looking for.”

Ma said The Smile Train needs ads that are “real, genuine and can pull people in emotionally.”

She declined to say how much the charity will spend on the campaign but stressed that 100 percent of donations go to medical programs. Start-up grants from the charity’s founders pay the marketing and administrative costs.

Burford is working on scripts now. And Jones is hoping for an encore in front of the camera.

“I would love to do another one.” That’s OK with the adman. He likes her sincerity.

“I get so emotional,” Burford says. “But I think they can tell when you care. I know it’s corny.”

Jones shakes her head. She smiles. “No, it’s not corny, Doug.”

By Bob Rayner
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

ChildSavers mission lives up to new name

Sat, 1 Jan 2005 16:49:02 -0500

Agency raises profile after quietly helping children for 80 years

The Memorial Child Guidance Clinic may be one of the most important institutions in Richmond that you’ve never heard about.

That will soon change.

The clinic perched on the precipice of Church Hill overlooking downtown, battles every day to heal young minds scarred by violence. Its mission grows more urgent every year. And finding the money to fulfill that noble but complex goal grows more difficult.

The nonprofit organization has been providing mental-health services for young people, mostly from low-income families, since 1924. Yet it is hardly a household name.

For years, it kept an intentionally low profile, quietly going about its tasks of providing counseling and treatment for local children caught in the kind of horrors one expects to encounter on the battlefield, not in homes and neighborhoods.

The 38 men and women who work at the clinic ferociously guard the privacy of young clients. But they are willing to discuss, in the vaguest terms, the stark challenges they tackle: Sometime, the children they treat have witnessed the murder of family members, even their own parents. Others have been physically injured.

“In the past 10 years, we have seen a tremendous increase in the number of children who have been impacted by community and family violence," said Mark Hierholzer, the clinic’s executive director.

But even when the wounds heal, young hearts and minds require careful attention as they struggle to recover form the memories and emotional trauma inflicted by violence.

“We can make a significant difference in the lives of children,” Heirholzer said.

They clinic is facing a different kind of challenge now, but also an opportunity.

For much of its history, the clinic did not have to worry much about raising money. Medicaid reimbursements, foundation grants and steadfast support from the United Way paid the bills.

These sources still play an important role in the clinic's funding, but they have been gradually declining even as the needs and goals expand.

“Children are needing the services we provide more and more,” said Janie Walker, the clinic’s chief of development and community relations. “Almost every time you read about a crime, you can be sure a child is involved in some way.”

The child may have witnessed violence or been a victim. Or a parent, friend or sibling may have been involved.

“We have become by default a trauma treatment center for children affected by violence," Heirholzer said.

The organization’s leader realized something had to change to meet the burgeoning problems.

“We made up our minds we were going to grow up,” Hierholzer said.

The clinic took a big step in 2003 when, thanks mainly to real estate developer Buddy Wilton, it was able to acquire the old WRVA radio building on Church Hill.

That allowed the clinic to consolidate under one roof it’s operations, which include, along with clinical services, training and educational programs and emergency-intervention teams that reach out almost immediately to children hit by violence.

“The building was a transformational gift”, “Hierholzer said But it also required even more money to make that transformation from a well-used radio station into a cheerful mental health haven for children. The job has barely begun.

So the Memorial Child Guidance Clinic was desperate for some marketing savvy. Luckily, marketing savvy walked right in the front door one day: veteran adman and frequent do-gooder Doug Burford, trailed by his trusty assistant, Katie Boyer.

Burford Co. Advertising has plenty of experience helping nonprofit oragnaiztions get their message out. It has created commercials for the Christian Children’s Fund for years. Doug Burford has even been known to dig into his own pocket if the right cause comes along – say, promoting all the good things about his hometown.

He volunteered his services, and his many connections around town, to build a bigger name for the clinic.

“We didn’t have a strong donor base. We didn’t need to have visibility in the past. We had no money to pay a marketing person. But I always felt if people know us, they’d want to help,” Walker said. “Then Doug – the angel – enters.”

Right always, Burford saw a big problem: the clinic’s long name.
“There is nothing I could do, even if I had a couple of million dollars, to make Memorial Child Guidance Clinic a household word, “ Burford said. “That’s the hardest name to remember I’ve ever heard.”

The clinic wasn’t ready to change its official name, but it was willing to think about using a new one for its marketing

Burford came up with a good one: ChildSavers of Richmond.

“I asked them what name described what they do,’ he said. “It wasn’t brain surgery. It was just so obvious.”

Obvious or not, the folks at the clinic loved it.

Walker said, at first she “couldn’t process” what the name could mean for the clinic. But driving home, “it hit me like a lighting bolt. This could be big. This is the absolutely perfect way to describe what we do.”

Burford and Boyer are helping the clinic use the ChildSavers theme to power a fund-raising campaign with a goal of $5.4 million, including nearly $2 million to renovate its new home.

The clinic already has mailed out a newsletter explaining its mission and what certain donations will buy. For instance, $50 will pay for a psychiatric checkup or a child-care provider workshop, while $1,500 will cover a typical full course of treatment for one child.

Circle S Studio has designed a logo and Studio 108 helped film a 60-second television spot, which will begin airing early this year. (The children in the commercial, by the way, are volunteer actors, not clients of the clinic.)

“When I first saw that ad, I couldn’t speak,” Walker said. “We’ve invested about $10,000 so far in the marketing, if that tells you anything about how much help we’ve gotten.’

Corporate sponsors are signing up to help buy time on local television stations for the spot. Their names will appear at the end of the commercials they paid for. Burford is hoping the station will give a break on their rates.

So far, Alcoa Flexible Packaging, Bon Secours, Owens & Minor, Bank of America and UBS have made contributions.

“In the nonprofit world, we never think something this good is going to happen to us,” Walker said. Then you suddenly realize the gift you’ve been given.”

Playing catch-up Russian advertising professionals soak up American-style marketing

Sun, 23 May 2004 14:16:29 -0400

For a second, Jeffrey Wong can barely see his computer screen – obscured by a flurry of frantic female hands, pointing one direction, then the next.

“Down. Everything down!” Tatyana Shved instructs as she leans across Wong’s shoulder.

He nudges the computer’s mouse, and a piece of the advertisement that’s coming together on his screen shifts a little lower.

Shved stands back and whispers to Svetlana Adreyeva, who shakes her head.

Wong adjusts a spot of color in the ad.

“We don’t like it,” Shved says. “Stop! Stop!” Wong stops.

Shved pats him on the shoulder.

“We will remember you,” she says, laughing. “You are a very good specialist.”

She and Adreyeva retreat and launch into an animated discussion in rapid-fire Russian.

Wong, a designer for Circle S Studio in Shockoe Bottom, manages a smile.

“I didn’t want to be an American and just tell them what to do,” he says.

It’s doubtful the two women would have listened if he had.

Circle S is one many Richmond companies that showed off American-style marketing to a group of Russian advertising professionals during the past three weeks.

The 10 women and one man were here as part of the Productivity Enhancement Program, a State Department-funded initiative aimed at giving Americans a chance to show Russians the nuts and bolts of a free-market economy.

The program is run by the Center for Citizen Initiatives in San Francisco. The Kiwanis Club of Richmond handled the local trip, which ended May 15.

Russia, as part of the Soviet Union, had little use for advertising during most of the 20th century.

“Before, it was like: Go buy! It was like an order," said Irina Karaldina, a facilitator for the program.

There wasn’t much need for advertising anyway when “people are standing in line for sugar,” said Karaldina, who lives in St. Petersburg and is a professional translator.

But that has changed since the Russian economy began adopting free-market reforms. “Now, our grocery stores are no different from yours,” Karaldina said.

She and translator Valery Shekhter accompanied the Russian ad folks, whose English skills ranged from fairly fluent to nonexistent.

The Russian advertising industry, fueled by profit-hungry businesses, has been growing rapidly for 15 years. So a trip to Richmond, which boasts one of the most vibrant advertising industries in a midsize American city, seemed a natural destination for the Russian professionals.

And coming here, instead of a larger city, gave the group a chance to see “a real American city,” one Russian said. “A typical one.”

* * *

At Circle S, the Russians work on a fictitious advertisement dreamed up for them by veteran local adman Doug Burford. Their assignment: Design an ad for The Jefferson Hotel.

Burford, president of Burford Co. Advertising, is impressed by the visitors’ sophisticated approach to their craft.

“They’ve asked questions I wouldn’t want a client to ask. Very in-depth stuff – like, why did you lose this account?”

One of the Russians wants Burford’s opinion on an idea for a slogan: “Give me The Jefferson or give me death.”

“That’s hysterical,” Burford says. “I might steal it.’

The Richmond marketing community embraced the visitors, who spent time at more than a dozen businesses, including advertising and public-relations agencies, studios, a research firm, a bank and a television station.

Burford, watching the Russians work, breaks into a big smile.

“They’re thinking about things I wouldn’t think about. I wonder if any of them needs a job?”

Most of the locals were wowed by the Russians.

“They really wanted to know about tactics,” said Peter Habenicht, a vice president who over-sees strategy and account services for RightMinds, a marketing agency in Scott’s Addition. “They want practical information they can take back and use right away.”

At Barber Martin Advertising in Chesterfield County, Don Morgan, the agency’s president, leads Russians on a tour. He fields a barrage of questions about technology, commissions, the agency’s business structure and the relationship between art directors and copywriters.

A few of the visitors jot down notes. Some snap pictures with digital cameras while others record the tour on hand-held camcorders.

Morgan’s explanations are frequently followed by lengthy translations from Shekhter, who was born in the Ukraine but now lives in Texas. A debate soon erupts over the advantages of Macintosh computers versus PCs.

Planning the trip was a major logistical challenge.

Lee Williams, Elena Siddall and Tony Scott of the Richmond Kiwanis Club helped coordinate the visit, with help from groups such as the YMCA, which helped with transportation. The Russians stayed at the homes of Kiwanis Club members.

“They’re more stylish than we are,” Williams said. “My wife said they look like they’re from New York or L.A.”

The visit wasn’t all work – it included trips to Washington, Charlottesville and Virginia Beach, plus a nighttime jaunt to Shockoe Bottom and a few hours on the water in singer and songwriter Robbin Thompson’s sailboat.

* * *

The Russians live in different parts of their country. Most own their businesses. None knew each other before the trip.

The day before retuning to Russia, the group reviewed their trip to Richmond, with Karaldina, the program facilitator, handling translation.

“I’ve felt free as I’ve never felt before,” said Vera Buksha. “America gave me my wings.”

Yelena Gnetova was impressed by the professionalism of the Americans she met, as well as their optimism.

Tatyana Shved said “all the myths we had about America are gone. I’m thankful for the openness that you showed us. We found capitalism with a human face.”

The group said they hoped they had dispelled American myths about Russia.

“Sometimes I felt like we had all of Russia standing behind us,” said Alana Svetushkova. “And we were representing our profession.”

On those counts they clearly succeeded.

By Bob Rayner
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Ad agency is built on long-term relationships Burford’s business and their marriage now span 27 years

Mon, 2 Oct 1995 06:02:20 -0400

In some ways, Doug and Nancy Burford are opposites.
He likes summer sports; she likes winter sports.
He works in the creative side of advertising; she works in the financial side.
Despite their differences, the Burfords, who were married 27 years ago this week, have worked together in building an advertising agency that is highly regarded by clients and competitors alike.

They are co-owners of Burford Company Advertising, which, like their marriage, started in 1968. “Doug has done something that a lot of people in this business have been unable to do,” said Bob Barber, president of Barber, Martin & Associates. “He’s run a successful business for twentysome years. He has a great reputation all along the way. His reputation is well-earned, and reputation is important.”

Billings of $10 million

Today the agency at 125 East Main. has billings of $10 million, while employing a staff of only 10 people.

“We do a lot of big accounts for our size,” Burford said. “We have it down to a science. We don’t have account executives. We are pretty streamlined.”

The agency stays streamlined by using many free-lance workers on projects, his wife added.

“Richmond has a multitude of those, particularly for specialized projects,” she said.

The company offers complete marketing, creative, copy and design for print, broadcast, direct mail and infomercials.

“We are full service,” Burford said. “We’re not limited to public relations. We place all media. We do everything.”

Burford began his career at Martin & Woltz Advertising in Richmond.

“They put me in a bedroom with a desk and one chair and gave me 45 dockets to write copy for,” he said, shaking his head. “I hadn’t written anything before in my life! I thought to myself, ‘I really don’t enjoy this.’ So one day I got on the elevator, pushed the down button and never came back.”

Electronic car first display

That decision resulted in Burford forming a company with his wife. The agency’s first job was to build a display--an electronic slot car equipped with best-selling titles- for a publisher.

“They loved it and they paid me, and I paid the first month’s rent.” Burford said, adding that the agency’s early days were a struggle. “Each month you didn’t have a clue as to where the money would come from, but it was fun.”

Gradually, the business grew as the Burfords gained recognition for their work. Burford recalls that one of his earliest accounts was Kelly’s, a fast-food chain.

“They had lost a share of the market and had to rebuild it. My advice was to start with the kids. So I created a 9-foot dragon-Kelly’s dragon,” he said. The chain used the dragon in their advertising and changed the menu to include Dragon Burgers and Dragon juice.

Another campaign that won recognition was Van Diver’s, a local furniture store. When Burford was called in to pep up the company’s advertising campaign, he made one suggestion: Paint the building yellow.

“It became the Ugly Yellow Building,” Burford said.

Long-term relationships

The Van Diver’s ads Burford created were populated with zany characters who expounded the benefits of shopping at the Ugly Yellow Building.

The Burfords say their agency’s staying power is based on their long-term relationships with clients.

“While we want to add new business, we have a client base that has been with us for five years or more,” Nancy Burford said. “We watch our customers grow- like (home builder) Eagle Construction. It’s important that they are satisfied. It’s great for us.”

“I don’t need to get every car dealer on every corner,” Doug Burford added. “Money is important but not that important. We want to enjoy what we do. Every account is almost like a personal friend.”

One account the Burfords particularly enjoy is the Christian Children’s Fund. They recently traveled to Kenya to prepare commercials for the fund.

In one commercial, the camera scans black-and-white photos of children while the song “Amazing Grace” is sung.

‘Amazing Grace’

“There was no spoken copy,” Burford explained. “You know the feeling you get when you hear the song. You get the same feel when you save a child. That spot is producing the most responses for them, more than anything they have done.”

Burford said the idea for the commercial came to him after noticing the effect the song had at a local nightspot.

“We were out one night, and everybody was arguing; fighting over darts. The singer started singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ and you could hear a pin drop. Everybody stopped what they were doing.”

Bob Jones Jr., a photographer and owner of Bob Jones Jr. Inc., handles the photography for the Christian Children’s Fund ads. He has worked with the Burfords since 1977.

“(Burford) is a creative person with good ideas… He let’s me do my own thing. He tells me the concept and allows me to use my creative talent,” Jones said.

Another person who has worked with Burford is Wayne Westbrook, vice president of Main Street Production Co.

“I was not savvy to the business world. Doug gave me a break,” Westbrook said. “In 1992, I called Doug and asked, ‘How can our companies work together?’” (Since that time) it’s been one of the most rewarding professional relationships this company has ever had. He’s one of our biggest clients.”

Westbrook’s business associate, Lockie Fuller, president of Main Street Production, agrees. Fuller, who is responsible for new business, said, “I talk to and work with agencies across the East Coast, I see a lot more people when I am in the bidding process. A lot of people don’t want your input. Burford is exactly the opposite. They are team players. They are open to suggestions. That is not always the case in this industry.”

Works with local businesses

The Burfords believe in employing and working with local businesses, she added. “They are loyal to the people they work with. Doug is a proponent of buying local. He’s very in tune to the fact that they are going to work with local businesses. A lot of people in the industry look out of the state to find a team to produce their work.”

Burford’s sense of local loyalty took on a different dimension in 1992. He started an advertising campaign after Japanese officials made disparaging remarks about the American work ethic. The ads featured footage of 100 Richmonders who gathered outside his office to “pledge their allegiance” to buying U.S. goods.

At their Main Street office today, Doug Burford works upstairs in the creative department, and Nancy Burford is downstairs in the financial area.

“When I come downstairs and infringe, they send me back upstairs,” Burford says with a laugh.

The Burfords do manage to get together for lunch each day, they add.

The arrangement seems to have worked well for them and their clients for 27 years.

“I can’t imagine what it would be like not working together,” Nancy Burford said.”