The Nuts and Bolts
Founded: 2000
Location: Grand old Saratoga Springs, NY. Home of the country’s most beautiful race track. Place where Don McLean wrote at least part of American Pie.
Clients: Everything from a company that produces a delicious substitute for cream, to a manufacturer of miniature screws. (Though we do have a special expertise in healthcare and education-related accounts.)
Services: Strategic planning, the creation of multi-media campaigns, copywriting, graphic and web design. Friendship through thick and thin.
We’re not kidding about that last part. The part about friendship. Most of our clients are longstanding. We like to think it’s because they really like working with us, because we really do care about getting great results for them, and because we’re fun. And then, of course, because our work is outstanding.
What makes us different? We listen well. We understand how to connect with the audience. Your audience.
We always suggest that potential new clients check with our current clients. Grill them, we say. Because we’re confident what they’ll hear is that, in addition to all the qualities already listed, we’re respectful of deadlines and budgets, and we work hard to take projects to a level that surprises.
Key Staff
Andrew Shanley
Andrew is our company founder and writer in residence. He’s been in the ad business for more than 30 years, and played a creative leadership role in many local and statewide communications campaigns, but he’s always been a writer. After working for a decade as newspaper reporter, Andrew got into the ad business as a copywriter. Over time, he became more involved with the account management side of the business, as he continued to write. In addition to brochures, radio commercials, newspaper ads and web sites, his work has appeared in national magazines, and his book, Fathers, Sons and Golf, sold well around the country. His latest novel is Match Play at Penny Whistle. So, Andrew’s had his 15 minutes of fame, and he returned quite successfully to the real world .
Julie Betts
Julie has been in the ad business since graduating with a Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from the College of Saint Rose in 1999. She joined Imagine That as an art director in 2002 and since then has designed countless beautiful brochures, ads, logos, displays, identity packages and web sites. Her work is wonderfully clean and inviting. The mother of two very young girls, Julie treasures her time on the job, talking with grownups and creating artwork of her own.
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Jill Evans
Jill has pretty much done it all in the communications business, starting out as Creative Director and Partner of J Squared Designs in Albany, before becoming Creative Web Director at BiznessOnline, and then Communications Manager for RPI’s School of Engineering. Jill is skilled in both designing for print and web applications, and also offers technical and web writing skills. She transformed RPI’s School of Engineering newsletter into a magazine and e-magazine. She’s busy transforming herself now into a cautious dare devil, cruising the roads on her new BMW motorcycle.
Amanda Webster
Amanda is our resident artist extraordinaire. She holds a BA from The University of Hartford in Illustration and Graphic Design. The awards she’s won are longer than her arm. When she’s not two inches from her screen, you can find her tearing up the slopes on her snowboard or turning herself into a pretzel in a Hot Yoga class.
Karen Shanley
Karen is our jack-of-all-trades (and master of many). She manages the budgeting and scheduling of our bigger accounts, and we also call on her broad knowledge of the web to handle web development and maintenance, our SEO work, and connections into social media. Karen is also an accomplished writer, with two published books and companion blog, so we draw upon those skills as well. She’s a human Swiss Army knife, if you will, without the edge. When she’s not at her desk, you can find her with her dogs working in her large organic garden.
Mary Pieper
Mary handles our new business development. Her previous experience as a development director at a private k-12 school provided her the opportunity to further hone her already sharp people skills, making her a perfect fit for us. She has the ability to quickly connect with people, assess their needs, and assist them in developing creative solutions. As the mother of two teenagers, Mary is keenly aware of the need to stay cool when a lot of balls get tossed up in the air. When that cool becomes hard to maintain, she escapes to the great outdoors.