The last tech wave was dismal. Investor dollars were horribly misspent and a lot of these dot com hopefuls marched straight into jail. When everything was all said and done the future looked rather bleak. Worse, nobody took the web seriously for about ten years. Online marketing still looked promising to many businesses though thanks to innovations like YouTube.Com and Twitter. In the background, ex art director, Ted Cantu kept working into the wee hours of the night perfecting something greater than traditional advertising.
When it comes to advertising on the web, Ted Cantu has plenty to say about the subject. His eclectic company, Hot Metro Finds has a diverse range of clients that include everything from cutting edge beauty products, rock music, artists, financial wizards, medical professionals, jewelry, retail stores and brand new conceptual services. He explains, “In the beginning, it was the wild west. Everything we knew about advertising was the old standard stuff. Nobody wanted to color outside of the box. Today it’s all changed. We are able to sell the most obscure things like Yamaha ATV parts, classic European automotive parts, new autos, beauty products, green clean businesses and high end lip gloss.”
“We’re selling everything from Kawasaki motorcycles to legal services and this is all without the aid of television, printed newspaper advertising or radio. This is also changing the way coupons are delivered.” Adds Cantu.
The recent media collapse has put a lot of businesses on the market to getting the word out. Newspapers have either folded completely or have consolidated. This also means that the newspaper format has become somewhat scarce in recent months. Some media giants like the Detroit Free Press no longer offer daily delivery others like the Ann Arbor News have shut its doors permanently. This leaves many businesses wondering where they are going to invest their advertising dollar.
“We tend to get a lot of businesses who want to get the word out quick. We can blast out a press release and have it get published in Bing, Yahoo and Google in about 15 minutes. That can mean keeping the lights on for many of these businesses” says advertising industry veteran Ted Cantu.
Hot Metro Finds has another rising star among its ranks. Internationally known artist, Tracey Vitkay has been revitalizing the Metro Detroit art scene along with Ted Cantu. They have been pushing the limits on promotion advertising and using viral web video to get the word out. Together they have promoted over 50 industries and have co-created 40,0000+ links on the web.
