I'm Michael Sanborn and I own Sanborn Advertising. The agency is a one-man, full-service advertising agency serving clients from around the country.
No, I do not fulfill every function or service my agency provides. By working with key associates from numerous professional disciplines, I'm able to provide my clients with excellent quality service, for less than they would pay at larger agencies who have to pay for many employees and large office spaces.
I answer my own phone. When talking with Sanborn Advertising, you're talking with me directly and I take complete responsibility for work I provide.
Additionally, when I work with any of my key associates on your behalf, you will receive a bill directly from that associate for his or her work, and a bill from Sanborn Advertising for my work. I do not "mark up" or take a commission on the work of others, as most other agencies do. Yes, you have the inconvenience of having to write more than one check. But, you save the 15 percent I would have to charge, if I were to handle all billing. It is a trade I'm willing to make in order to price myself attractively for my clients.
HISTORY
I began my advertising career at The Salina Journal in Salina, Kan. At age 20, I was one of the youngest advertising representatives in that multi-paper company.
After a year at the Journal, I became friends with several people on the news staff and I returned to Kansas State University to complete my Journalism and Mass Communications Degree. Back then, there were no specialty communications degrees at KSU, other than agriculture journalism, so every JMC student got an education in every aspect of mass communications.
I began work as a photographer, reporter and copy editor at the Rapid City Journal after graduation and remained there until 1988, when I left to become the marketing director for The MCS Group and Design Logic, two software development companies located in Rapid City.
I left that organization in 1990 and started my own advertising agency with my first client, Prairie States Life. Since that time, Sanborn Advertising has served clients including: The Legendary Buffalo Chip Campground, The South Dakota Bankers Association, Philippine Cigar Company, Sturgis Cigar Company, VIP Transportation, The Department of Interior, First Western Banks, Simpson & Associates Real Estate Appraisers, Clock Tower Lounge, Brandies, Liberty Superstores, Sign Express and recently Chapel in the Hills, Wilson, Hanson & Blom, Cobbled Rue Intérieurs By Stratman, The Midnight Star, Hickok's Casino and Hotel, Historic Bullock Hotel and Historic Iron Horse Hotel, Stagebarn Storage and Black Hills Endodontics.