Donoho, Brawdy and Maruo partner to launch AWR Media

AWR Media launches new company. Industry veterans Brian Brawdy and Jess Donoho have partnered with award winning videographer/ photographer Michael Mauro to create AWR (Always Within Reach) Media. A dramatic new approach to Sales, Marketing and Media.

Major corporations have had access to televised programming for years, says Donoho. They are the only ones that can afford the $60,000+ per minute that produced airtime costs. It is a monumental sum, but reaches more people per dollar than any other media. Television media is what all manufacturers and retails aspire to, they just can’t afford it.

Brian Brawdy pioneered accessible television media for the outdoor marketplace when he began placing product in live news segments. It was an important service to the consumer, says Brawdy. They need this information and we created a way to get it to them. Everyone wins when an exceptional product with important consumer value gets airtime. Brian delivers with a track record of over 250 million viewers nationwide in five years.
So how does this connect with Sales? Donoho has been creating video clinic modules for his agencies territory since 2001. With the rapid turn of employees in retail stores, the costs of getting store staff to congregate after hours and the expense of putting sales tech’s on the road to educate staff, it was pretty important that we develop a way to deliver information “on demand” and in an economical fashion. Our video clinic series does not replace a formal technical clinic, but augments it with high frequency so that the entire staff understands the product line and how to sell it.

Brian and I had been talking for years about the opportunities that arise when you leverage the power of television media and a sales organization, says Donoho. Between the media access that Brawdy, a television news personality, brings to the outdoor market and the understanding of the sales pipeline from design to end-user that Donoho brings, we open up a whole new world of media that supports the manufacturer, retailer and consumer.

Besides the live news media that Brawdy performs around the country, AWR Media produces high-definition media inserts that are available free to every news organization across the country. They also create video presentations and technical clinics. Mauro notes that with the High Definition video, AWR content can be delivered to local, national and cable television stations as “fills” in regular programming. We also format every piece of film for ipod video and extract the audio for ipod “podcasts”. With 38 million ipods sold and over 1 million videos downloaded from itunes in just a three-week period in December 2005, these mediums have emerged as important vehicles to capture the consumer. We are really taking this message to the entire spectrum of the consumers experience notes Mauro.

The reality is that most manufacturers are trying to figure out how to squeeze 5% more sales out of 2% of the population says Donoho. We need to take these outdoor products and make them accessible to the other 98% of the population who do not aspire to climb Everest, but need quality equipment, clothing and accessories for the challenges of everyday life.

Perhaps the best advantage is that AWR Media can reach more people in a far more diverse than traditional print media for a fraction of the cost. It is interactive and informative rather than a static ad notes Brawdy. We tell the customer what the product is, how it works, why they should own it, where to buy it, how to use it and where to use it. We engage them in the entire experience and this increases their comfort level with using product that has been traditionally thought of as “adventure sport only”.

AWR clients include Gore, ExOfficio, Princeton Tec, Katadyn, Adventure Medical Kits and others. AWR Media is actively pursuing new clients. You can view a presentation of ideas at www.awrmedia.com/awr/, or you can contact AWR Media at info@awrmedia.com.