Contributed by
Janna McMahon

This backlit image of the Dreamgirls was created by Post No Bills on Gervais Street in Columbia.

When DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures went searching for partners to strategize promotion for the movie, Columbia's own Post No Bills, 801 Gervais St., was brought into the process.

Since early 2006, the creative team at Post No Bills in the Vista has been working diligently on the film. Post No Bills is a creative marketing agency whose business is 60 percent major motion picture support.

"We were asked to develop unique and attention- grabbing ways to help with the Dreamgirls buzz. Our work supports the studio's internal media and public relations," President Doreen Sullivan said. "We love working with the high profile properties developed by DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures. It's exciting."

Long before movies are released, Sullivan and her creative team formulate promotional options from reading scripts, often coming up with dozens of potential ideas from which the client can choose.

Dreamgirls was a two- tiered promotion. The first item Post No Bills created was a limited edition, signed lithograph that was given away to top level entertainment industry insiders at a set visit while the movie was in production. "It was a black and white, backlit image of the Dreamgirls. Very slick and professional. DreamWorks loved it," Sullivan said.

A few weeks before the December opening, entertainment industry reporters, media personalities, and movie insiders across the nation received a rhinestudded multi-media case that could be used for music players thus encouraging downloading of the Dreamgirls soundtrack, one of the number one music tracks of the holiday season. The case contained an insert promoting the movie's opening date and accompanied the official Dreamgirls press kit. These were designed and created by Post No Bills, who contracted local companies for printing and packaging.

2007 marks 20 years of business for Post No Bills. Sullivan relocated her creative marketing agency to SC from New York in 1991. Today, many SC companies are turning to Post No Bills for the same unique approach to marketing sought by DreamWorks, Paramount, MGM, TNT and Cartoon Network.

For more information, contact Janna McMahan, 803-254-4334 or Janna@postnobills.com.