Lighting the Way, Lighting Gervais

Gail H. Crouch

Or, how a Columbia businesswoman brings New York-Hollywood sensibility to local marketing.

Doreen Sullivan

Proof of how engaging such pieces can be: none other than Mel Gibson phoned DreamWorks to ask if he could get a replacement when one of his promotional eggs went missing. Mr. Gibson got his egg.

What can a fast-talking New York woman accomplish in the South?

A lot, apparently, if she is Doreen Sullivan, founder and president of Post No Bills. Getting married and moving to South Carolina to start a family never slowed her down. Growing her business at first from her lil’ ol’ home in Prosperity, Sullivan has created a highly successful marketing firm with Hollywood clients the likes of DreamWorks Animation, Paramount, Universal, MGM, Turner, and Cartoon Network.

Sullivan and her talented staff have designed promotional products and marketing campaigns for animated movies, including Shark Tale, Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, Curious George, Madagascar, Over the Hedge, Bee Movie, and all three Shrek movies. Other movie projects have included Almost Famous, The Bourne Supremacy, Eurotrip, Ring Two, Nacho Libre, and Disturbia.

Post No Bills has corporate clients ranging from BlueCross BlueShield to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

Sullivan’s mind is like her mouth – about two revolutions ahead of everyone else’s. That’s how she snagged Dreamworks and DreamWorks Animation, for which she has worked on nearly 500 projects. When she first heard that Dreamworks was forming, and that the company’s first animated movie would be Prince of Egypt, the wheels started turning.

As Sullivan describes it, "I commissioned a manufacturing company to weave a swaddling cloth. Then I found a really cool basket that looked like it was from the Nile . . . I wrapped my company information in the cloth and put it in the basket. I got a giant box, and I cut reeds and cattails from a local pond to put around the basket, so that when the recipient opened it they had to go through the greenery to get to the basket, to unwrap the swaddling cloth and read my information."

Dreamworks called Sullivan an hour after the box arrived.

That attention to detail has certainly helped drive her success. For the plane that carried a press tour for Shrek the Third, Post No Bills staff designed a complete in-flight Shrek experience—"AirShrek"—right down to the airsickness bags and the airline emergency card, featuring Shrek characters demonstrating safety procedures.

To promote the DVD release of Curious George, a copy of the movie was attached, along with a big yellow foam hat, to a bunch of helium-filled balloons, all enclosed in a big box and mailed to press and media outlets. When the box was opened, the balloons, imprinted with the movie title and release date, lifted out of the box.

Sullivan’s company originated what is known in the industry as a "creative sequential promotion." For Shark Tales, Post No Bills created a plastic carrying case shaped like the movie’s main character, Lenny the Shark. Opening the case reveals a miniature diorama of the movie set. Each month, members of the target audience of 2,500 media professionals across the country received a figure of a movie character to place in the set. Thus, the term, "sequential"—the promotional piece engages the audience over an extended period of time. Plus, the collectable set stays on the executive’s desk as a perpetual reminder.

A similar scheme was "hatched" (pun intended) for Chicken Run. Post No Bills searched the world for the perfect ceramic egg. Each egg in a set of one dozen was decorated with a character from the movie. One egg per month was sent to a target audience to add to their Chicken Run egg carton. Proof of how engaging such pieces can be: none other than Mel Gibson phoned DreamWorks to ask if he could get a replacement when one of his promotional eggs went missing. Mr. Gibson got his egg.

Post No Bills has consistently received recognition in the advertising industry, including five Addy Awards in 2007. Sullivan is proudest, though, of her "Oscar" – the Hollywood Key Art Award, for an Elvis Presley movie video collector’s case designed for MGM Video. She beat out Disney’s Cinderella package and the Star Wars Trilogy packaging."

Sullivan began her marketing career 20 years ago in the record industry, marketing music releases for artists such as Melissa Etheridge, Bruce Hornsby, U2, Will Smith, and Drivin N’ Cryin. The music industry is competitive, and promoters rely on radio stations and other outlets to provide exposure for their artists’ new songs. The question is, Sullivan says, "how are you going to stand out? There are thousands of records released each year."

Sullivan was up to the challenge. For Buster Poindexter’s album, "Buster Goes Berserk," she held "Mental Health Days" across the country. For a single titled, "Dining Alone," she created a TV dinner tray box with the CD inside.

It’s an understatement to say Sullivan thinks outside the box. Take the name of her business, for example. The idea came to her from the signs posted in New York City to discourage random flyers on buildings and other structures. "Think about it," Sullivan enthuses. "These signs are everywhere…you can’t buy advertising like that!".

Sullivan has enthusiastically adopted Columbia and South Carolina as her home. Post No Bills now operates out of a 4,500-square foot office space adjacent to Logan Raye salon (plus 1,000 square feet of warehouse space nearby) at Gadsden and Gervais streets in Columbia’s thriving Vista area.

The space is a visual treat – movie posters (representing Post No Bills projects) line the walls and shelves are lined with the creative promotional materials Sullivan’s company has designed. The office space recently underwent a complete redesign with walls painted in earthy colors as a backdrop. Employees were allowed to help with design and color schemes so that each office is reflective of individual personalities.

Post No Bills now boasts a staff of 12, many of whom are graduates of the University of South Carolina. Sullivan also recruits interns with creative and entrepreneurial gifts from the university. She is proud of the fact that she employs local people to work on national and international projects.

Sullivan almost exclusively hires South Carolina firms for raw materials for her productions. For example, her first Hollywood project for Paramount Pictures was to promote the movie, Milk Money. She hired Coburg Dairy, based in North Charleston, South Carolina, to produce the milk cartons designed by Post No Bills to accompany movie posters. Inside the sealed cartons were some change (milk money) and a t-shirt with movie logo.

Last year, local printers were the recipients of more than $300,000 in business from Post No Bills.

Sullivan has contracted with the University of South Carolina on several projects. For the USC Career Center, Post No Bills designed the brand, JobMate, to promote online career services that allow students and alumni to post resumes and do job searches. The campaign included mailers to target audiences that featured humorous want ads, for example, "Unhappy supervisor seeks gullible sap…," juxtaposed with ads for successful careers and featuring the Career Center Web site URL. Post No Bills also designed and manufactured support promotional items including t-shirts, paper clip holders, and flash drives with the JobMate logo.

USC Career Center Director Larry Salters says the center has seen results, with more colleges on campus participating and more students creating JobMate accounts.

For the Republican presidential candidates’ debate held in Columbia in May 2007, Post No Bills created a campaign and a brand, "Columbia Welcomes You." Welcoming banners were hung downtown and the trees along Gervais Street, near the debate venue, the Koger Center, were festooned with red and blue lights. The company also created a press kit—a covered notepad and pen set with brochures promoting the city and providing "positive talking points" about Columbia.

Sullivan becomes more animated as she talks about continuing the Columbia Welcomes You theme in the future. She wants to extend the welcome to other visitors, such as university students arriving on campus. "This being a college town, I would like to see the city welcome the students back… I would love to see more synergy.

"I find the people who go here to the university [of South Carolina] love the experience so much that they are relocating, coming back to work in our city," Sullivan says. "When you think about who is going to grow our economy…. The graduates are #1."

The trees on Gervais would be lit with garnet for USC. And, say, if Martha Stewart comes to town, the trees will have pastel lights.

Lighting is an important feature, Sullivan stresses, in terms of attracting visitors. "When you’re walking down Fifth Avenue in New York and you look up at the Empire State Building, and it’s green on St. Patty’s Day or red on Valentine’s Day, that’s what makes you feel the city is special."

Sullivan is excited about Innovista—a planned mixed-use community combining university research facilities, businesses, residential buildings, and green space along the riverfront—and the opportunity it provides. Again, Sullivan looks at the big picture, and again the word "synergy" comes to mind.

For example, when she thinks about the proposed amphitheater in Innovista, many questions come to mind, Sullivan says. "How many seats does it hold? Some national performers require a minimum number to book a venue. What kind of sound system does it have? Will it serve to attract performances from outside Columbia or work in conjunction with local theaters? How is it lighted for evening performances?"

Sullivan stresses the importance of a unified vision, and perhaps, a unique image that people will associate with Columbia and Innovista. "I see things differently because I come from the L.A.-New York mentality . . . so one of my strengths and my goal in this market is to look at the opportunity for urban esthetics . . . Visually, there’s not a lot of stuff that says, ‘Look at us.’

Sullivan will often go to extraordinary means to accomplish her goals. For the first Shrek movie, Post No Bills created a handheld mirror featuring the Shrek character and a push button with the message, "Mirror, mirror on the wall, what summer movie will beat them all?" The effort included seeking parts from around the world—pewter from Rhode Island, sound chips from Hong Kong, and lighting components from China.

And, when Sullivan worked with City of Columbia employees to hang lights in medians for the Republican presidential debate, she discovered that only some of the medians had electrical outlets. Undeterred, she and her staff installed battery-operated lights, and replaced the batteries at 2 a.m. each morning.

Post No Bills has consistently received recognition in the advertising industry, including five Addy Awards in 2007.

Sullivan is proudest, though, of her "Oscar"—the Hollywood Key Art Award, for an Elvis Presley movie video collector’s case designed for MGM Home Video. She beat out Disney’s Cinderella package and the Star Wars Trilogy packaging.

The case was custom built (using Post No Bills’ design) by a guitar case manufacturer, including a crushed velvet interior housing 18 Elvis videos.

Members of the Post No Bills team, shown left to right, are James Helterman, Ben Burns,
Kevin Bush, Carol Smith, Doreen Sullivan, Annette Holaday, Laurie Babin, Amy Barnes,
Tecia Markosky, and Kendrea Tague.

While jetting to Hollywood or New York for business may be heady for some, big-city-girl Sullivan, it seems, is happily grounded in Columbia, South Carolina. ¨