Upbeat and upward: Ad agency boss prospers with positivity

Jan Scarborough founded The Idea
Factory marketing and advertising firm in Las Vegas 11 years ago on a business mantra that positivity brings prosperity.

Celebrate the small stuff and the accolades will follow. It's succeeded so far.

The Idea Factory cranked out $1 million in first-year billings and has secured accounts with clients such as Findlay
Cadillac, Ben & Jerry's, Diagnostic Center of Medicine, Gaming Laboratories and the U.S. Forest Service.

The agency produced several award-winning radio, television and print advertising campaigns.

Scarborough said she feels lucky to do something she loves. Even in the current challenging economy, she remains optimistic in her outlook on business. It's that positive mindset that will continue to inspire her staff and keep customers happy, she said.

"Now more than ever it's important to be positive and celebrate the small victories instead of dwelling on the negative," Scarborough said. "While a manager or business owner may not be experiencing the big wins of the boom time, a series of small wins can certainly start to add up."

She notched one of those wins with longtime client Terrible's Carwash and Lube, which had just slashed its advertising budget prior to opening a new store earlier this year.

Scarborough took the challenge and started leveraging relationships with product manufacturers to launch a direct-mail campaign to area residents.

"We were brainstorming ways to really connect with their customer in a way that would make them get excited about the new location," she said.

She came up with a classic car show with exhibitors and special attractions. The event was well-attended and drove customers through her client's doors.

Scarborough helped the U.S. Forest Service publicize a series of special events at Mount Charleston by distributing bookmarkers to local libraries and coffee shops, which led to an increase in registrants.

Question: What are you telling clients about advertising in these tough economic times?

Answer: When a company is scaling back, they have to look at what they are communicating about their brand and how it's being communicated. This is not the time to be taking shortcuts. Instead, it's a time to pay attention to detail when it comes to communicating with your customer.

Question: How can you do that without increasing the marketing budget?

Answer: Something as small as sending a handwritten note instead of sending an e-mail, which often feels impersonal and generic, can go a long way. Especially now, personal attention is getting noticed.

Question: What was your biggest year for billings and how much was it?

Answer: I'd say 2004-2005 we did about $5 million.

Question: Did you put your own company under the microscope when the local economy started to take a nosedive?

Answer: I had to look at what's essential for my company and realized that we could trim costs in several areas without sacrificing the quality of our work. We've been able to leverage our relationships for the benefit of our clients and continue to offer them the value they've come to expect from us.

Question: What is The Idea Factory's goal for the next five years?

Answer: Our goal is to continue working with helping clients by creating campaigns that fit their needs and budgets and to deliver the same results they have come to expect. I do what I do because I enjoy making businesses successful, so as long as I'm able to do that I can't ask for much more.

Question: How do you show leadership in business?

Answer: I think through action, then accountability. That came from my parents. I do hold my staff and my vendors and myself extremely accountable. No job is beneath me, let
me say that. I served appetizers
at the opening of Lamplight Estates when we had more people than anticipated.

Question: How can you be more creative with advertising?

Answer: What I found most recently is clients wanted to go into Web 2.0 and electronic mail and online marketing because they felt it was less expensive. The problem is they didn't realize the opportunity to engage a prospect is not available. They're filtered out in spam. Think about your offer and who the buyer is, how are you going to engage them. What's in it for the consumer and how are they going to act on it? A lot of people forget that. Branding is great, but you want consumers to respond, whether it's coming into a store or going online, you'd better give them a call to action.

Question: How do you determine your billing rate?

Answer: We have a flat hourly rate of $150 and we haven't increased our terms in 11 years. I don't bill for a lot of things the others do. I don't bill for personal meetings, faxing, reports. I don't bill for billing time. Some people do. And we give reduce rates for clients on retainer with us.

Question: What's the competition like in Las Vegas?

Answer: It's really tough. There are some really creative shops. In my industry, everybody thinks they can do marketing. One of the upsides of the economy is it cleaned out a lot of firms that shouldn't be in business. It held their feet to the fire. I always say, "Great, hold our feet to the fire." A lot of public relations firms went to marketing and advertising and we picked up their failed accounts. To be honest, today I'm competing against some big firms and five years ago we wouldn't have been.

Question: Are you satisfied with your business in Las Vegas?

Answer: It's a fun business. I honestly don't know whatever else I'd do. I like my clients. It's a fun gig and I think there's a lot of opportunity in Las
Vegas, a lot of opportunity for small-business owners. People get together and help each other. You have to create your own tribe, for lack of a better word. Vegas is a great city. You get out of it what you put into it. There's some cool stuff in this town. It's a good place. You can't live in the gutter and expect things to get better.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.