Trade Winds Advertising founders Chuck and Victoria Oldham worked as product designers for the fine giftware industry for over 20 years. They designed hundreds of collectibles and giftware products, some of which generated many millions of dollars for popular producers in the 1980s (Franklin Mint, Danbury Mint, Bradford Exchange and Lenox Collections).
In the 1990s, the giftware industry began to outsource its prototype development and mass production to Asia, and the Oldhams expanded their product development skills to the emerging digital world, becoming proficient in computer illustration, photo-editing, website design, and exhibits design.
The Oldhams moved to Sedona, Arizona, in 2000 and formed BioNet Solutions LLC. They received contracts with several newly formed and established biotechnology companies (such as Althea Technologies and Chembridge in San Diego, CA, and Agennix in Houston, TX) for brand development, logo design, website development, search engine optimization, print collateral design, and trade show presentations. The focus on biotechnology was also related to earlier work experience at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA, in the 1970s; Victoria had been contracted as a biological illustrator with the Department of Malacology and Chuck had been employed in the Education Department.
During their time in Sedona, Chuck and Victoria launched a tourism-based advertising business with destination marketing portals for Sedona, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon. The process of management (then and now) included creation of original online ad campaigns for a variety of clients ranging from world-famous resorts to local bed and breakfasts, jeep tour companies, and retail businesses. They also published and distributed a 200-page, fine quality print guide, The Gateway To Sedona Visitor and Web Guide.
GatewayToSedona.com continues to thrive as the largest travel website promoting Sedona, Arizona (find it on page one of a Google search for the term “Sedona”). Hundreds of advertisers have relied on promotion of their tourism-based business through the “Gateway” from 2002 to the present. Among the reasons for its success is the continual publishing of new material (articles, calendar events, and press releases) promoting its advertisers. Articles and press releases find their way to a larger audience through major online news portals like CNN local, Google News and Topix. Gateway To Sedona won the Reader’s Choice Award for Best Sedona Website in September 2009, awarded by Verde Valley Newspapers/Kudos (a property of Western Newspapers based in Yuma, Arizona), competing against other highly-ranked Sedona portals such as the official Sedona Tourism Bureau website.
In 2008, the Oldhams relocated to the Southeast US to promote their latest destination marketing portal and publication, www.GatewayToTheGoldenIsles.com. Since then, Trade Winds Advertising has created a new website and visitor guide for the City of Darien, Georgia, among other projects. In Spring of 2009, after publishing Beachscape for the Jekyll Island Authority, Trade Winds began publication and distribution of their own brand: the Gateway To The Golden Isles tourism newspaper.
Trade Winds Advertising also designed and produced (manages and owns) the unique, “click-to-call” software-as-a-service product, “Magic Call Button,” (online at www.magic-call-button.com). This proprietary product offers customers a way to create custom buttons and contact forms that connect with website visitors by phone, email, or text message as soon as the form is submitted.
In addition to other projects, Chuck and Victoria look forward to licensing the best of their original creations, inspired by their years of accomplishment in the fine giftware and collectible field.
Trade Winds Advertising has worked with a highly experienced, dedicated team of specialists since 2001. Whatever your project requires, our team can help you achieve great results.
(Victoria Oldham is shown above with the Gateway To Sedona Visitor & Web Guide, their 200-page travel guide for Sedona, Arizona.)