The Leap Podcast: A Vision Driven Mindset

Lauren Sweeney was recently featured on The Leap podcast with host, Tim May, where she detailed the origin story of Dotted Line and the powerful metamorphosis of her mindset from being singularly goal oriented to being vision driven.

Listen to the full episode here.

Beyond Barriers Podcast: Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset with Lauren Sweeney

You hear it all the time from super successful people, long before they were running multimillion-dollar companies, they were strengthening their entrepreneurial muscle by selling lemonade on the corner, inventing the next “big thing” in their garage or helping their parents or grandparents run the “mom and pop” family business after school. It seems that for most successful people, whether they are working for a company or running their own company, the entrepreneurial mindset sets them apart from the rest.

In this episode, Lauren Sweeney, Founder and CEO of Dotted Line, shares her own story of growing up in a family of small business owners and how developing her entrepreneurial mindset helped her succeed in her corporate career and ultimately gave her the courage to follow her passion and start her own business.

Listen to the full episode here.

Marketing Agencies Make West End Moves

Dotted Line has set up shop in Henrico County’s Forest Office Park, one of several local marketing agencies to recently migrate to Richmond’s West End. CEO Lauren Sweeney spoke with Richmond BizSense about how the 6,600-square-foot facility (which we share with Spinnaker Consulting Group) perfectly fits the needs of our fast-growing company. 

Continue to Richmond BizSense

Dotted Line Named A Top Marketing Firm in Richmond

Each year, Richmond Biz Sense presents a list of top advertising, marketing and public relations firms in the Richmond area.  This year, Dotted Line Collaborations was added to the list as a top marketing firm in Richmond.

Find full list here.

Ad Rewind: memorable advertising

Richmond BizSense
Ad Rewind: memorable advertising and marketing moments
By Jonathan Spiers

From wind sprinting and yoga posing chia bars, to slow drawing sloths and “awful” Cobb Technologies coworkers, Richmond’s advertising industry gave us lots to look at in 2017.

It was a year that saw CarMax go “all in” for a used car in a parody ad, power-walking pickers turning into junkyard mechanics, and a new Richmond agency giving its first crack at a campaign for its one, and so far only, client: Google.

Here are our picks for this year’s standout locally produced ads, in no particular order, pulled from The Pitch and other BizSense coverage:

PARK GROUP/WORK LABS – HEALTH WARRIOR ANIMATED VIDEOS

Featuring 3-D animation created in Cinema 4D and After Effects, the four 15-second videos for local health food company Health Warrior feature its protein and chia bars weightlifting, running a marathon and performing wind sprints and yoga poses. The videos were a collaboration between production studio Park Group and brand agency Work Labs.

Barber Martin’s campaign for Chesterfield Auto Parts included 15- and 30-second  TV and online video spotsfeaturing a mechanic speaking with someone else’s voice who’s revealed to be a young man or woman. The campaign targeted young pickers and females with television, digital, radio and outdoor advertising.

DOTTED LINE COLLABORATIONS – “THE SOUTH, SOUTH OF THE RIVER”

The ad giant’s latest campaign for longtime client Geico kicked off with this 30-second spot starring a sloth drawing pictures at an extremely slow pace, followed by a spokesman saying, “As long as sloths are slow, you can count on Geico saving folks money.” The campaign, called “Count On,” came on the heels of the final spot for Geico’s long-running “It’s What You Do” campaign.

Known for its ubiquitous radio ads, the local office equipment supplier worked with Studio Center to release its first pair of TV commercials, which feature the company’s employees and voiceovers by owner Freddy Cobb.

The Richmond ad scene’s newest kid on the block released a campaign for Google Chromebook – the agency’s first work for Google since launching in November.

DREAMS FACTORY – ONE BELT, ONE ROAD PROMO VIDEO

While produced by China’s CCTV to promote the country’s One Belt, One Road trade initiative, it took Richmond-based filmmaker Sunny Zhao’s Dreams Factory to bring this 90-second spot to life. Zhao spent 10 days shooting in various countries along the trade route, directing and taking turns behind the camera. The video opened a two-day summit in Beijing and aired as the initiative’s first commercial on CCTV, China’s main state-run television broadcaster.

NDP – “GIVE THE GIFT OF MAYMONT

Playing on the 19th-century estate’s history as a gift to the city, the pro bono campaign’s posters advertised gift boxes from the fictional “Maymont Memory Company” containing Maymont-specific items and experiences, such as skipping rocks at the Japanese Garden koi pond and blades of grass on Maymont’s rolling hills. Billboard ads promoted such deals as “Free Vitamin D with every visit!” and “Get one grass-stained knee, get another for free!”

Barber Martin’s latest campaign for Virginia Lottery presented lottery scratch games as holiday gift ideas. Including two TV spots, two radio spots, a digital video, and outdoor, print and point-of-sale ads, the campaign involved video production work from MadBox and audio work from Red Amp Audio.

CARMAX – “CARMAX GOES ALL IN FOR ’96 HONDA ACCORD

The used car retailer created a 90-second video to respond to a parody ad that went viral on YouTube. The parody ad, by California writer-director Max Lanman, offered to sell his girlfriend’s 1996 Honda Accord starting at $499. CarMax responded with its own video, produced by North Carolina-based agency McKinney, offering to buy the car and other items in the ad for $20,000. Lanman would take CarMax up on its offer, while CarMax’s video, starring McKinney creative director and Brandcenter alum David Sloan, rode the wave of exposure with more than 293,000 views.

Continue to Richmond BizSense.

Ad Rewind: 2017’s memorable advertising and marketing moments

Earlier this year, Dotted Line partnered with Chesterfield community Magnolia Green to create what Richmond BizSense called one of 2017’s most “memorable” ad and marketing campaigns. With design emulating vintage posters, the campaign showcases the community’s new homes through print and digital ads, as well as a website refresh and other creative marketing methods. 

Continue to Richmond BizSense

Tory Burch Foundation Fellowship Announcement

Dotted Line CEO Lauren Sweeney is honored to receive a Tory Burch Foundation Fellowship. Through virtual workshops and intensive courses, the year-long program helps to grow women-owned businesses and the entrepreneurs that lead them. 

Check out Lauren’s fellow profile here to learn more about Dotted Line’s service-oriented mission and some of Lauren’s top goals for the company. 

Tory Burch Foundation Honors Dr. Brite’s Paris Sabo

WWD.com
Tory Burch Foundation Honors Dr. Brite’s Paris Sabo
By Rosemary Feitelberg

Tory Burch said she and her fellow jurors found the final decision to be excruciating since all 10 finalists were “insanely worthy” of winning.

Dr. Brite, a little-known natural and organic personal-care Irvine, Calif., company, is about to amp up its wattage as the winner of this year’s winner of the Tory Burch Foundation’s Fellowship Program.

Burch revealed the winner at a luncheon for the 10 finalists in the Tory Sport West 19th Street offices here on Thursday. What started as a pool of 800-plus contenders was first whittled down to 30 finalists and then 10 thanks to a public online vote. As the winner, Dr. Brite founder Paris Sabo walked away with a $100,000 business education grant.

Sabo’s fellow finalists included Anit Hora of Mullein & Sparrow, Kimberly Jung of Rumi Spice, Katalina Mayorga of El Camino Travel, Jennifer Saxton of Tot Squad, Allison Schickel of Brobe International, Anita Shepherd of Anita’s Yogurt, Lauren Sweeney of Dotted Line Collaborations, Eliza Whitman of FlyDog Yoga and Janel Young of Nava Pets.

Continue to WWD.com.

Biz Buzz: Henrico entrepreneur selected for a year-long Tory Burch Foundation fellowship

Richmond.com
Biz Buzz: Henrico entrepreneur selected for a year-long Tory Burch Foundation fellowship
By Tammie Smith

Photo of Lauren Sweeney, CEO of Dotted Line
Lauren Sweeney

Lauren Sweeney, owner of Henrico County-based Dotted Line Collaborations marketing firm, is one of 10 women entrepreneurs from across the country selected for a yearlong Tory Burch Foundation fellowship.

The 10 winners will each receive a $10,000 education grant, three days of workshops at the headquarters of lifestyle brand Tory Burch in New York City, plus yearlong support and the chance to compete for a $100,000 investment grant.

The Tory Burch Foundation was created in 2009 by designer and businesswoman Tory Burch whose company Tory Burch LLC sells clothing, shoes, handbags, accessories and more.

Sweeney, 29, started Dotted Line Collaborations in 2013. She is a former employee of Capital One, where she worked on internal communications campaigns.

“I started Dotted Line because I saw that the advertising industry was changing. … Our business model is unique to the advertising industry, which is one of the reasons why I think we were selected,” Sweeney said.

“We have a staff of multidisciplinary marketing and advertising experts, and then we have a wide network of top agency talent across the U.S. that we tap into,” she said.

Sweeney travels to New York City this week for the first series of fellowship workshops.

Continue to Richmond.com.