Leading Edges Advertising is ready to support
your promotional product needs!

You need T-shirts and gift bags for your next big event? We can help with that. Are you tired of customers taking all of your pens? We can’t stop that from happening, but we can make sure that when they walk out the door with one of your pens, they get your phone number and Web address with it! We can help with internal branding, sales support, customer appreciation and employee appreciation, inside or outside budget. We can increase brand recognition or just give your company a taste of added value. Getting started is very easy. Simply call Leading Edges Advertising at 601.483.9810 and ask for your Account Executive. Tell us what you want, when you need it and what your budget might be. If you want to consult on what types of promotional products might fit your business best, we’re happy to do that as well. As always, thank you from all of us at Leading Edges Advertising.

 

NONPROFITS OFFERED PRO BONO ADVERTISING
THROUGH CREATEATHON

MERIDIAN, MS – Leading Edges Advertising has again joined forces with CreateAthon, an international effort during which advertising agencies all over the United States and Canada close down their businesses for a 24-hour creative blitz. This creative marathon benefits local nonprofit organizations, giving them the total focus they deserve in order to create various types of marketing pieces. The event will be held on September 22, 2011, at Leading Edges Advertising.

 

Since CreateAthon was founded in 1998 by Riggs Partners, an advertising firm in South Carolina, it has grown to include a total of 73 agencies that have given back to 1,100 local nonprofit organizations in their cities. An estimated $11 million worth of donated time and materials have created 2,500 different projects for nonprofit clients.

 

The Leading Edges team is very excited about CreateAthon. Owner Tony Pompelia said he hopes the agency's seventh year of being involved with this cause will be a great one. “This is a great opportunity for us to share our expertise with the organizations that work so hard to serve our community,” Pompelia said. “Our team feels that it is our civic responsibility to help support their efforts.”

 

Among the nonprofit agencies that have benefitted in the past are L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, Hope Village for Children, Wesley House Community Center, Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi, Care Lodge Domestic Violence Shelter, Street Defensive Driving, Main Street, Youth 4 Service, United Way and Gaits to Greatness.

 

For more information about CreateAthon call 601-483-9810 or click here to sign up for CreateAthon!

 

Combest, Boutwell Named Vice Presidents of Leading Edges Advertising

MERIDIAN, MS – Leading Edges Advertising is delighted to announce that it has two new Vice Presidents, Lynn Combest and Tony Boutwell.

 

Lynn, as Vice President Sales, will oversee the sales staff. She had been an Account Executive and Media Planner. Tony, promoted from Creative Director to Vice President Creative Director, will oversee the creative team. Both will share in the responsibility for day-to-day management of the business.

 

Tony Pompelia, founder of Leading Edges Advertising, said, “We have truly been blessed over the past 11 years in our efforts to build a professional advertising agency. This has been made possible by the many clients that have allowed us to serve them, as well as by the talented people who have joined our organization. Two great examples of this are Lynn Combest and Tony Boutwell. They are both extremely accomplished and are an essential part of this business. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to work with them and believe that their leadership in these new roles will support the continued growth of our business and our efforts to provide the highest level of service to our clients.”

 

Lynn, who earned a degree in communications from Mississippi State University, has more than 23 years of advertising experience. She worked for a major corporation for several years, achieving the positions of national and international Media Buyer, Assistant Advertising Manager and Advertising Manager.

 

She joined Leading Edges in 2001 as an Account Executive. She has been responsible for many of the agency’s major accounts, including Rush Foundation Hospital, the Mississippi Tourism Association, and the MSU Riley Center for Education & Performing Arts.

 

She and her husband, Jack Combest, reside in Meridian with their blond Labrador retriever, Tide.

 

Tony Boutwell also joined Leading Edges in 2001. He has spent more than 17 years producing broadcast-quality commercials and videos with a flair for 3-D animation. As Creative Director for Leading Edges, he has also helped clients with logo development, print layout/concepting and overall product branding.

 

Tony graduated from Mississippi State with a bachelor of fine arts degree in graphic design and computer animation. He has held positions as a Graphic Designer, Webmaster and 3-D Animator.

 

Tony is married to Amy Davis Boutwell. They live in Meridian. They have a daughter, Lauren, and are expecting their second child in September.

 

Leading Edges Advertising, established in May 2000, is a full-service ad agency focused on meeting the unique challenges of today’s communication and marketing needs. Its services include graphic design, Web site design and maintenance, audio/video production, social media management, marketing, media placement, and public relations, as well as strategic planning.

 

MERIDIAN, MS — Nathan McPhail has joined the Leading Edges Advertising team as a Web Developer and Graphic Designer.  He comes to Meridian from Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  Nathan majored in Web development technology at Jones County Junior College and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Arts and Letters at The University of Southern Mississippi.

“We are excited to have Nathan join the team at Leading Edges. He brings additional expertise to our staff that will enable us to better serve our clients in the area of web development,” said Tony Pompelia, Managing Partner. 

 

Leading Edges Advertising, has been creating HTML and Content Management System Web Sites in the Southeast for the past eleven years.

 

MERIDIAN, MS — Kristen Kittle McCaskill, a national and international promoter of Mississippi tourism for more than a decade, has joined Leading Edges Advertising to sell ads for the annual Official Mississippi Tour Guide.

 

Kristen, originally from Clarksdale, Mississippi, began her tourism career immediately after graduating from Mississippi State University and has spent the past 14 years in various tourism positions in Mississippi. In 2000, she joined the Mississippi Development Authority, Tourism Division. Most recently, she was Project Manager for International and Domestic Group Sales & Marketing for the MDA in Jackson.

 

In January, Kristen and her husband, Brian, along with their two daughters, relocated to Starkville, where Brian will be opening a State Farm Insurance agency.

 

“I am thrilled to still be working for the Mississippi tourism industry,” Kristen said. “My entire career has been focused on selling Mississippi to potential visitors. This opportunity will allow me to maintain fabulous relationships and make new ones, all while still promoting Mississippi.”

 

Leading Edges works with the Mississippi Tourism Association (MTA) and the Mississippi Development Authority in publishing a new edition of the Tour Guide every year. (The MTA is a public-private partnership dedicated to promoting all aspects of Mississippi tourism.) The Tour Guide includes feature stories about Mississippi attractions, extensive listings of tourism information and resources, a calendar of events, a state highway map, a comprehensive city-by-city guide to attractions and lodging, and advertising from a wide variety of tourism-related businesses.

 

“We know that Kristen will be a great asset to our Tour Guide team, and we look forward to the opportunity to make the 2012 Guide an even better vehicle for enticing visitors to our great state,” said Tony Pompelia.

 

“I have used the Mississippi Tour Guide during hundreds of sales meetings all over the world for over 11 years,” Kristen said. “Now, I’m able to work on a different side of it!”

 

The print edition of the Tour Guide is available at all Mississippi Welcome Centers and Convention and Visitors Bureaus and is distributed to anyone who requests information about the state of Mississippi. You can request a printed copy or view an electronic version through VisitMississippi.org, the official Mississippi tourism Web site, and MSTourism.com, the Mississippi Tourism Association Web site. Both versions are free.

 

Leading Edges Advertising is a full-service advertising agency located in Meridian, Mississippi, offering graphic design, Web design, audio/video production, public relations, marketing and media placement.

 

 

NONPROFITS OFFERED PRO BONO ADVERTISING
THROUGH CREATEATHON

MERIDIAN, MS – Leading Edges Advertising has again joined forces with CreateAthon, an international effort during which advertising agencies all over the United States and Canada close down their businesses for a 24-hour creative blitz. This creative marathon benefits local nonprofit organizations, giving them the total focus they deserve in order to create various types of marketing pieces. The event was held on September 16, 2010, during the National CreateAthon Week.

Since CreateAthon was founded in 1998 by Riggs Partners, an advertising firm in South Carolina it has grown to include a total of 73 agencies that have given back to 1,100 local nonprofit organizations in their cities. An estimated $11 million of donated time and materials have created 2,500 different projects for nonprofit clients.

The Leading Edges team is very excited about CreateAthon. Owner Tony Pompelia said he hopes the agency's seventh year of being involved with this cause will be a great one. “This is a great opportunity for us to share our expertise with the organizations that work so hard to serve our community,” Pompelia said. “Our team feels that it is our civic responsibility to help support their efforts.”

Non-Profit agencies chosen this year are L.O.V.E.’s Kitchen, Hope Village For Children, Wesley House Community Center, Girl Scouts of Greater Mississippi, Care Lodge Domestic Violence Shelter, Street Defensive Driving, Main Street, Youth4Service, United Way and Gaits to Greatness. For more information about CreateAthon, please visit www.leadingedges.net, or call 601-483-9810.

 

 

Leading Edges is moving to 2100 Eighth Street, Meridian, MS 39301.

 

Meridian, Mississippi (June 23, 2010) – Actress Sela Ward was honored with a bronze star in the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center’s Walk of Fame in front of the MSU Riley Center on Wednesday, June 23. Immediately following the 4 p.m. unveiling, a reception was held at the MSU Riley Center that included a meet and greet.

Keynote speakers for the event were Lt. Governor Phil Bryant, Mayor Cheri Barry, Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center Board President Tommy Dulaney, Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center Board member Paul Ott and Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors President Hank Florey.

Lt. Governor Phil Bryant said, "This is another great opportunity to spotlight the successes of a Mississippi artist who has never forgotten where she came from. Not only does this marker recognize her accomplishments as an actor but also her caring spirit for those less fortunate."

Ann Alexander, Chair of the Walk of Fame committee, said, “The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center is thrilled to be honoring Sela Ward with a star. She has done so much for this community, and she has never forgotten her hometown! We love her and just want to say thank you.”

"The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center is extremely proud to award Sela Ward, an award-winning movie and television actress born in Meridian, with a star plaque on our Walk of Fame,” said Dulaney, the Board President. “She is truly a native daughter of which we are very proud."

Ward has won Emmy Awards for her starring roles in the TV series Sisters and Once and Again. In 2000, she and her husband, Howard Sherman, founded Hope Village for Children, a Meridian shelter and residence for children who have been removed from their primary caregiver’s custody because of abuse, neglect or abandonment.

The Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center is dedicated to celebrating the essence of Mississippi’s statewide legacy in the arts by recognizing and honoring Mississippi artists in all disciplines – including dance, drama, literature, music and the visual arts. The Walk of Fame is just one way in which artists will be saluted.

The first Walk of Fame star was unveiled on February 15, 2009, to commemorate The Father of Country Music, Jimmie Rodgers. Additional bronze stars applauding B.B. King, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams and William Faulkner have since been added. Plans call for Mississippi artists of all kinds to be honored, with their stars forming a path that leads through downtown Meridian.

For more information, go to www.msarts.org.

 

PHOTO CONTEST PROMOTES MISSISSIPPI SIGHTS AND ATTRACTIONS

Jackson, Mississippi (April 5, 2010) – The Mississippi Development Authority’s Tourism Division wants your submission for its latest photography contest. MDA will be accepting submissions from July 1 to August 31, 2010. One photograph will be selected as the grand prize winner and will be featured inthe 2011 Official Tour Guide, which will be published in January 2011, along with other select entries.

 “People who live in Mississippi or have travelled to the state are in the best position to show us what they think are Mississippi’s best attractions and most memorable locations,” said Mary Beth Wilkerson, MDA’s Tourism Director. “We are hoping to capture their unique experiences in Mississippi to showcase throughout the 2011 Official Tour Guide. Those images will make the guide authentically Mississippi and really bring it to life.”

 Submissions may depict any attraction, scenic view or other site around the state of Mississippi. Entries can be submitted via the state’s official tourism Web site, www.VisitMississippi.org. A special icon on the home page directs users to the entry page. Last year, more than 300 photographs were submitted for the contest.

 “We were impressed with the quality and creativity of the photographs that were submitted last year,” Wilkerson noted. "We’re anticipating the same caliber and quantity this year."

 The grand prize winner will receive a Mississippi vacation.

For more information, contact MDA’s Tourism Division at 601.359.3297 or 1.866.SEE.MISS.

 

Meridian, Mississippi (June 23, 2010) – A bronze star honoring B.B. King was unveiled at the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center’s Walk of Fame in front of the MSU Riley Center at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 3. That evening the blues legend himself performed at the Riley Center to a sold-out crowd.

Connie Gibbons, Executive Director of the B.B. King Museum, along with museum board members, Jim Abbott and Dr. Edgar Smith graciously accepted the honor on behalf of B.B. King.  Keynote speakers for the event included Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant; Meridian’s newly elected Mayor Cheri Barry, Arts and Entertainment Board President Tommy Dulaney, Fred Cannon, Senior Vice President, Government Relations, BMI and Hank Florey, President of the Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors.

"Mississippi Arts & Entertainment Center is proud to award B.B. King, a world renowned musician born in Itta Bena, Mississippi, with a star plaque on our Walk of Fame," Dulaney says. "B.B. King is truly an ambassador for the blues and for Mississippi."

Suzy Johnson, executive director of Meridian/Lauderdale County Tourism, says, "It is not only exciting to have the legendary B.B. King perform in our beautiful historic MSU Riley Center, but to make Mr. King the second star unveiled on Mississippi’s Walk of Fame."

The first star in Mississippi’s Walk of Fame, honoring Jimmie Rodgers, the Father of Country Music, was unveiled on February 15. Plans call for other outstanding Mississippi artists to be honored in the future, each with a bronze star, on a path that leads through downtown Meridian.

B.B. King returns to his home state at least once a year, for the Homecoming celebration in Indianola, where a world-class museum chronicles his life and his music. Having him perform in Meridian on the same day his star is unveiled in the Walk of Fame is an honor for the city that pays him tribute.

Suzy Johnson speaks for many when she says,  "B.B. King is truly an artist and entertainer, but most of all, he’s a Mississippian who has never forgotten his state. He is not only the ‘King of the Blues,’ he’s Mississippi’s ‘King.’ Long may his star shine."

For more information, go to www.msarts.org.