Recently two new members joined our crew on the good ship Hodgson/Meyers. Along with their marketing bona fides the pair bring with them unusual ties to the animal kingdom.

Seattle native Rachel Omiliak joins our team as an Online Marketing Specialist. A graduate of Santa Clara University, Rachel lends her expertise to all of our search optimization projects, including work for the Applied Systems, CSG Systems. Quaero, Meydenbauer Conference Center and QuickMedical accounts.

While in college, Rachel expanded her worldview through the Semester at Sea program, where she traveled to 11 countries in 108 days. Among her adventures during the trip were holding a crocodile, hugging a seal, being attacked by a pelican larger than most people and—get this—catching three piranhas while fishing the Amazon River in Brazil.

As for Gonzaga grad Erin McNiff, she comes to us from Cole & Weber United. While there she helped manage the Washington Lottery, Livingston Cellars and TiVo accounts. Among her many accomplishments was directing the Lottery’s Dream Agents campaign that broke sales records by $1 million dollars. As one of our project managers, Erin will bring her talents to the Clark Nuber, CSG Systems and ISIS accounts.

Erin’s animal connections? She finds that wrangling her long-haired mini-Dachshund is good training for keeping creative types on task. And having sung as a waitress at a Red Robin Restaurant, she may well have been destined to work for us. After all, our CEO is a woodpecker named Spike. And from red-breasted robin to red-crested woodpecker is not that far a flight.

While our clients are sure to appreciate Rachel and Erin’s contributions to the marketing cause, we feel secure in knowing that we’re in good hands should we ever be attacked by crocodiles, piranhas or wiener dogs.

Hodgson/Meyers has been selected as one of the top 100 Business-to-Business advertising agencies in the country for 2010 by B2B Marketing, Advertising Age’s Business-to-Business sister publication. This is the fourth straight year Hodgson/Meyers has won the designation, the only Washington State agency so honored.

Agencies were judged on criteria such as marketing capabilities, revenue, revenue growth, client list, geographic expansion, and creative awards.

Capabilities-wise, we’ve built some progressive digital and Web-based marketing programs around Search, Analytics, and Behavioral Targeting that we’re stoked about.

A big, huge, colossal, monstrous, gargantuan, mondo thank you to our current clients for helping us achieve this prestigious honor — again. Applied Systems, Avanade, Clark Nuber, CSG Systems, Douglass Interior Products, Fluke Corporation, HomeStreet Bank, ISIS, Meydenbauer Conference Center, NetMotion Wireless, Northland Services, PhysioControl, Russell Investments, UC4, WatchGuard Technologies, Webasto NA, Windstream Communications –– you all rock. You are our raison d’être.

Gary Meyers
President

The Fluke Corporation selected Hodgson/Meyers after an agency review to provide campaign strategy and creative for a significant, new, international (and, as of now – confidential) 2010 product launch. “We are particularly interested in exploring new creative and media opportunities to reach different channels and audiences around the world, and Hodgson/Meyers really wowed us with their approach and thinking,” said Senior Marketing Communications Manager, Barbara Hanson. “We’re excited to get moving on this product launch.”

Fluke Corporation is the world leader in the manufacture, distribution and service of electronic test tools and software. Since its founding in 1948, Fluke has achieved the number one or number two position in every market in which it competes.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Danaher Corporation, Fluke is a multi-national corporation headquartered in Everett, Washington, USA. Manufacturing centers are located in the USA, the UK, Asia and The Netherlands. Sales and service subsidiaries are located in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Australia. Fluke Corporation has authorized distributor and manufacturer representative channels in more than 100 countries and employs approximately 2,400.

Congratulations to H/M client CSG Systems International for landing a deal with Universal Sports, who offers Olympic-related and lifestyle sports programming for television and online mediums. CSG’s Content Direct group will provide complete content monetization and a customer management solution for Universal Sports. Read more here.

Congratulations to H/M client Applied Systems, the world’s leading provider of insurance agency management systems, who was recently listed by Crain’s as one of Chicago’s largest privately held companies, #183 on the list, just ahead of the Chicago Bulls.

You might think that there’s nothing happening in Detroit but Hodgson/Meyers has been hired by Fenton, Michigan’s Webasto N.A. for brand, naming, and product launch work around the company’s environmentally-friendly heating and cooling products for transportation industry verticals. Webasto is an international leader in the design and manufacture of anti-idling technology products for heavy duty trucks, commercial trucks, buses, public safety vehicles, off-highway equipment, military vehicles, and trains.

I’ve had this sent to me a few times today — LOVE the gamble, big cojones.

But it feels manipulative, manufactured, opportunistic and disingenuous.

What do you think? Please send us your comments.

Gary Meyers
President

Do you dig woodpeckers? Of course you do.

Get your FREE stick-on tattoo of Spike, our Chairman of the Board and Aviary Magazine’s 2009 “Sexiest Woodpecker Alive.”

Tattoos fully guaranteed for an entire week, unless you bathe. Or sweat.

Send us a photo of you with your new tattoo and we’ll post our favorites here.

Gary Meyers
President

How do you hang onto sides of trees?
I have special feet. They have sharp claws of course. But I also have two toes that go forward and two that go back. It’s like having a couple of thumbs to help me grip with. My tail feathers help me too. They are very stiff, and I lean on them for support, like a tripod.

How do you find food?
When I hear an insect under tree bark I peck a hole into the bark with my beak, which being long, straight, and pointy is good for making holes. My tongue is extremely long and sticky and sharp, perfect for impaling bugs, grabbing ants, and licking sap. Because my bill is straight, it is also good for collecting nuts and berries.

How fast is your beak moving when you’re drumming?
Typically between 14.5-16.8 beats per second.

Doesn’t all that hard pecking give you a headache?
I have an extra-thick skull, so it doesn’t hurt.

What’s your favorite food?
From trees – beetles and carpenter ants. From birdfeeders – peanut butter. Love that stuff!

Questions for Spike? Ask here.

Gary Meyers
President

Gary Meyers
President