For Michael Somers, a picture is worth a thousand words. The Kaua‘i resident owns Somers Advertising, an agency, in which he relies on his artistic background almost as much as his business practices. “I am basically an artist in a
For Michael Somers, a picture is worth a thousand words.
The Kaua‘i resident owns Somers Advertising, an agency, in which he relies on his artistic background almost as much as his business practices.
“I am basically an artist in a business environment,” he said. “I understand that people are moved by their emotions as much or even more than they are by facts and figures.
“Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousands words. Sometimes a good laugh gets the point across. It is always true if people enjoy your ads they will probably enjoy doing business with you. The best ads are the ones that have something to say to people that reaches them emotionally.”
Somers has been working in the advertising field for over 40 years. His firm has been on the island for five years. In addition to his business, Somers paints fine art in oil and watercolor and has shown his works in local galleries for the past 10 years.
“One of the things that help make my approach successful is that the client is a member of the creative team. No one knows more about their business than the owner.”
“What I bring to the team is a lot of marketing experience and an objective point of view. The two viewpoints create a dialogue that ends up in a better, more creative solution that neither of us would have come up with on our own.”
According to the owner, Somers Advertising could be described as an “advertising boutique.”
“I provide creativity as a product and a service,” he said. “My primary interest is to put together a creative solution to a marketing problem. I don’t try and be a full service agency. I don’t place media even though I make media recommendations. I let the client handle their own production if they want to and let them save the commissions and mark ups that a traditional advertising agency would charge.”
For many years, Somers has worked with several island businesses such as Savage Creation, Hale Lea Family Clinic, Shaka Shears.
Most recently, Somers created a logo design for “Tucker Guitars.”
Despite many years of advertising work on the Mainland, Somers sees tremendous value working on Kaua‘i.
“Creating advertising and design on Kauai is totally different than working for large corporations,” he said. “I am working with friends and neighbors and that puts everything on a personal basis. There aren’t any big budget jobs and there aren’t any committees to impress. It’s just me and a friend trying to figure out the best way to make things happen.
“The secret ingredient to successful advertising on Kaua‘i is Aloha. Put a little Aloha in your advertising and it will work a lot better. That works on the mainland too.”
Business Editor Barry Graham may be reached at 245-3681 (ext.) 251 or mailto:bgraham@pulitzer.net
