James B. Nutter & Company

Background:
James B. Nutter & Company (www.jamesbnutter.com) is one of the nation's largest privately-owned mortgage companies, founded in 1951 in Kansas City, Mo. When it hired INK inc. in May 2002, the company was well known and respected in the mortgage industry and the local Kansas City community, but had received little attention on a national level. INK's primary objective was to dramatically increase awareness of the company on a national level through an aggressive media relations campaign.

Strategy/Tactics:
INK's strategy was two-fold:

1- The first prong of the strategy was to position James Nutter, Jr., the company's chief executive officer, as one of the key experts in the mortgage industry - a national figure who could address a wide variety of industry issues for various national media outlets. Using such a tactic would provide us with an ongoing stream of media opportunities, much more so than would be available if we narrowly focused only on the "news" produced by the company itself, since most companies only generate newsworthy information on a sporadic basis.

INK's conducted extensive research to find out which topics related to the mortgage industry were most frequently covered by the media. The research revealed that three sets of economic indicators are reported monthly: new housing starts, existing home sales and new home sales. These monthly reports provided a constant source of news hook for broadcast and national newspapers. INK arranged for Nutter to explain and comment on the latest figures when they were released, as well as any related topics (e.g., the potential impact of war on the mortgage rates, how to get the best deal, are interest rates poised to increase or decrease, etc.). In addition, we offered him up as an expert to comment on broader mortgage-related issues of the day. As a result, we were able to vault James Nutter, Jr. into a nationally-known mortgage industry expert, with regular guest appearances CNBC and commentary in Reuters and USA Today, among others.

2- The second approach was to conduct a campaign aimed at educating consumers about the proliferation of "junk" fees - inflated fees that some mortgage lenders tack on to the closing costs of a loan unbeknownst to consumers. Junk fees had become common in the mortgage industry; however, James B. Nutter & Company refused to charge them and was willing to expose the practice to the public.

INK offered James Nutter, Jr. to national media outlets as an insider who understood the complicated process of getting a mortgage. We offered to have him explain why junk fees are a bad deal for the consumers and how they could avoid paying them. He provided details on what to look for and offered examples of how much a consumer could potentially save by going to a lender, such as James B. Nutter & Company, that does not charge such fees. Over time this strategy established Nutter as both a consumer advocate on the subject and a "white hat" mortgage banker who earned the trust of potential borrowers.

In addition to interviews and direct comments from Nutter, INK developed a list of "Eight Tips for Avoiding Junk Fees" that could be used as a sidebar to an overall story on mortgage rates. These tips were a very important adjunct to the overall campaign since there were instances when, for one reason or another, the reporter/producer did not want to (e.g., due to space limitations in the article) or could not (e.g., due to scheduling conflicts) interview Nutter. In such instances the tips provided reporters with easy-to-use topical information in a succinct format, which gained addition exposure for James B. Nutter & Company in number of media outlets.

Results:
Associated Press
Chicago Tribune
CNBC Business Center
CNBC Labor Day Special
CNBC Morning Call
CNBC PowerLunch
CNBC Squawk Box (multiple times)
CNBC Strategy Session (multiple times)
CNNfn
CBS Marketwatch.com (multiple times)
KNX (Los Angeles) Radio Business Show
Forbes.com
Los Angeles Times
MSNBC.com
NBC Nightly News
Reuters Newswire (multiple times)
TIME magazine Special Report
USA Today (multiple times)
Wall Street Journal Report

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