Voice And Video

It’s doubtful there are many Northwest Arkansas residents who don’t immediately recognize Underwood’s deep and distinctive voice. His radio and television commercials have been a fixture in the region for years. After all this time and voice training at the UA, he says recording is still a labor-intensive process.

“I still have to re-record after all these years. I never get it on the first take,” Underwood says.

When his son, Craig, joined the business, he brought a new and effective approach for the store’s direct mail advertising, a video catalog. Underwood had been advertising on television for nearly 25 years and was convinced it was the best way to sell his product.

“A picture is worth a thousand words is true. Nothing pitches your ideas and concepts better than a picture on television,” Underwood says.

But for a while, he would have to travel to Fort Smith to shoot his television spots and was never given the freedom to shoot and reshoot spots like he could in radio. Craig had a real interest in video production so he and his father started building their own production studio on the second floor of their building.

On their way home from market in Europe, Craig came up with the idea of a video catalog. The 30-minute tape would showcase many of Underwood’s finer pieces, show the owners on buying excursions and a behind-the-scenes look at how their products were made.

“It really was something that had never been done in this business,” Underwood says. “Print catalogs are very common, very expensive and really losing their effectiveness. But with the video catalog, there really is no better way of explaining what we do and how we do it. It’s the best way to show the beauty of what we do and create our own mood.

“We’re able to reach people through their own homes. Our customers can do business without even coming into the store. Otherwise this area would not support our business,” he says. “We are considered a carriage type store,” targeting a more affluent clientele. “Not that where we price ourselves out of the market. But we offer better quality for a better price.”