Tombras Group
Encyclopedia
The Tombras Group, founded in 1946, is a privately held advertising agency
headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee
, noted for its national and regional advertising campaigns in the United States. With annual billings of $80 million, Tombras is one of the nation's largest independent digital-centric advertising agencies. It is the oldest advertising agency in Tennessee, the largest in Knoxville, and has branch offices in Nashville
and Johnson City, Tennessee
; Washington, D.C.
; and Charleston, South Carolina
. As a full-service marketing firm, Tombras offers advertising
, marketing
, web design
, corporate branding
, public relations
, social media
, search engine optimization
(SEO), search engine marketing
(SEM), integrated marketing communications
, and marketing research
services. Tombras is a member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies
(AAAA).
and joined the agency as an account executive
. When the senior Tombras retired in 1982, Charles Jr. took over as president. Today the company has branches in Nashville (DS Tombras), Johnson City, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina. In addition, Tombras is a part-owner of Worldwide Partners
, a global network of independent advertising agencies.
(NHTSA) to help promote its highway safety campaigns. Part of NHTSA’s core mission is to reduce alcohol-related fatalities on U.S. highways, which numbered 10,839 in 2009.
is a gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
, the nation's most-visited national park. Tombras helped Townsend develop a campaign that emphasized its unhurried pace as the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies.”
and buying
in all media, both online and traditional. It places advertising for its clients locally, nationally, and internationally.
Advertising agency
An advertising agency or ad agency is a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients. An ad agency is independent from the client and provides an outside point of view to the effort of selling the client's products or services...
headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, noted for its national and regional advertising campaigns in the United States. With annual billings of $80 million, Tombras is one of the nation's largest independent digital-centric advertising agencies. It is the oldest advertising agency in Tennessee, the largest in Knoxville, and has branch offices in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
and Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City is a city in Carter, Sullivan, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with most of the city being in Washington County...
; Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
; and Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
. As a full-service marketing firm, Tombras offers advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, marketing
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, web design
Web design
Web design is the process of planning and creating a website. Text, images, digital media and interactive elements are used by web designers to produce the page seen on the web browser...
, corporate branding
Brand management
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand.The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble as a result of a famous memo by Neil H...
, public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
, search engine optimization
Search engine optimization
Search engine optimization is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid search results...
(SEO), search engine marketing
Search engine marketing
Search engine marketing, , is a form of Internet marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through the use of paid placement, contextual advertising, and paid inclusion...
(SEM), integrated marketing communications
Marketing communications
Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
, and marketing research
Marketing research
Marketing research is "the function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the marketer through information — information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve...
services. Tombras is a member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies
American Association of Advertising Agencies
The 4A's is an American advertising agency trade association.Founded in 1917, their website states that 4A's membership "produces approximately 80 percent of the total advertising volume placed by agencies nationwide." The association issues annual awards for the best agencies, in different...
(AAAA).
History
The Tombras Group was founded by Charles Tombras Sr. In 1966, Charles Tombras Jr. returned from a tour of duty in VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
and joined the agency as an account executive
Account executive
The job role executive admin. covers various descriptions depending on the specific industry covering mainly marketing role.In IT organizations, an account executives is a senior management role, responsible for executing large contracts. Control of the Profit & Loss is one of the main...
. When the senior Tombras retired in 1982, Charles Jr. took over as president. Today the company has branches in Nashville (DS Tombras), Johnson City, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina. In addition, Tombras is a part-owner of Worldwide Partners
Worldwide Partners
Worldwide Partners, Inc., , headquartered in Denver, Colorado, USA, is the world's largest network of owner-operated, independent advertising agencies with over $3,9 billion in advertising billings under management...
, a global network of independent advertising agencies.
Over the Limit, Under Arrest Impaired Driving Campaign
The Tombras Group was hired by the National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. government, part of the Department of Transportation...
(NHTSA) to help promote its highway safety campaigns. Part of NHTSA’s core mission is to reduce alcohol-related fatalities on U.S. highways, which numbered 10,839 in 2009.
Charlie the Farmer
Farm Bureau Insurance Tennessee hired The Tombras Group to increase awareness among consumers that they don’t have to be in the farming industry to obtain Farm Bureau insurance.The Peaceful Side of the Smokies E-marketing
Townsend, TennesseeTownsend, Tennessee
Townsend is a city in Blount County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 244 at the 2000 census. Townsend is one of three "gateways" to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the home of several museums and attractions relating to both the natural and human...
is a gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a United States National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site that straddles the ridgeline of the Great Smoky Mountains, part of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are a division of the larger Appalachian Mountain chain. The border between Tennessee and North...
, the nation's most-visited national park. Tombras helped Townsend develop a campaign that emphasized its unhurried pace as the “Peaceful Side of the Smokies.”
Media Planning and Buying
Tombras does media planningMedia planning
Media planning is generally the task of a media agency and entails finding the most appropriate media platforms for a client's brand or product...
and buying
Media buying
Media Buying is a sub function of Advertising management. Media Buying is the procurement of the best possible placement and price of a piece of media real-estate within any given media...
in all media, both online and traditional. It places advertising for its clients locally, nationally, and internationally.
Awards
- In 2011 The Tombras Group was awarded a national Silver ADDY award for cinematography for its BAM! campaign for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- At the Southeast District ADDY awards for 2011, Tombras won two Gold awards for campaigns for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority, as well as five Silver awards.
- At the Knoxville AAF 2011 ADDY awards, Tombras won Best of Show Overall, Best of Show Interactive, and Best of Show TV awards as well as the Judges Choice award for a University of Tennessee Athletics Department campaign. In addition, Tombras won 31 Gold and 88 Silver awards.
- At the 24th Midsouth Emmy Awards24th Midsouth Emmy AwardsThe winners for the 24th Midsouth Emmy Awards were announced on January 30, 2010. The show was hosted by three-time former NASCAR Winston Cup champion, Darrell Waltrip. The awards were broadcast live from the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, Tennessee....
in 2010, Tombras won a best PSA spot award for its Nailed safe driving campaign for the Tennessee Governor's Highway Safety Office. - At the 2009 National ADDY Awards, Tombras won a Gold ADDY for The Festivals website http://www.smokymountainfestivals.org produced for the Smoky Mountain Convention & Visitors Bureau. In addition, Tombras won a Silver ADDY for its own website, http://www.tombras.com.
- In 2009 Tombras won Best of Show and Best of Print at the Knoxville ADDY Awards for its Low Impact Vacation campaign for the Smoky Mountain Convention & Visitors Bureau. The agency also received two Gold ADDY Awards and seven Silver ADDY Awards at the AAF District 7 ADDY Awards.
- The Robert McCabe Silver Award for excellence and creativity in advertising was won by Charles Tombras Sr. in 1985 and Charles Tombras Jr. in 1998.