Elf King began in 1996 when a handful of undergrad seniors at Yale sat
around an old wooden table, drank from a communal silver cup, and
discussed what they wanted to do for a living.
One of us was ‘the writer,’ another one had substantial network TV
experience, one had already run a commercial radio station, one was the “P&L brains,” one knew how to program computers in the early days of the web, one was The Negotiator, and all of us were bonkers.
Elf King Creative Services was quickly born as a comedy and copywriting outfit. Our clients included national radio and TV celebrities. In those days, we sent material by Fax machine, and we usually shot 16mm or 35mm film! Work for Sony Music soon led to a more intense focus on A/V production.
At the same time, we realized that many of our friends and clients –
direct and agency alike – were simply paying too much for media. We
decided that awards and ‘industry recognition’ were not as important as making sure we spent our clients’ dollars as if they were ours.
We learned that most agencies don’t negotiate aggressively for their
clients (they are rewarded for big media costs, after all,) so we made
frugality one of our unique selling propositions.
Elf King has evolved into a full service advertising, PR, and production
agency with associates and partnerships spanning the globe. Our clients range from small businesses to the largest bank in the world.
We have broken through traditional envelopes on co-operative advertising, devising national programs for clients such as Miele USA (Miele GmbH when we came on board,) Whirlpool / KitchenAid, and others. We have launched highly fruitful campaigns for the likes of Music & Arts and The Guitar Center, always finding new ways to fund and measure direct sales efforts while helping our clients build lasting corporate and affiliate partnerships.
We have developed unconventional sales techniques in traditional as well as unusual retail and restaurant categories: jewelry, for instance,
metals, optics, (let us tell you what we did for Silhouette!) Dentures,
(yes!) And so much more, as well as lots of B to B work involving sensitive, high-stakes corporate / investor copywriting.
Have you ever heard of an agency team that can change, produce, and
update broadcast creative in the span of a couple of hours? We do it in
response even to such things as a snowstorm in one of your local markets (let us tell you about our wild ‘snow sales,’) or a sudden gold price shift for our metals retailer.
Do your advertising people work this hard for you? Do they pick up the
phone in the middle of the night?
Now, in the online world, we continue to set the bar on response and
results, always watching the algorithms.
Some things haven’t changed since 1996, though: Loyalty, creativity, and discretion remain our hallmarks. That’s why we’re still having fun!
Thanks for reading. If you feel we may be a fit for you, please call.
Our Best to You,
