New era in advertising at Herald-Guide

Jonathan Menard

Joe Lopez has been hired as the new advertising director for the St. Charles Herald-Guide. Lopez wants to add more of a multimedia aspect to the paper’s ads

Joe Lopez has joined the St. Charles Herald-Guide as advertising director, taking over a position long held by Brent Madere.

Lopez got his start in the furniture business, where he served as sales manager for Ashley Furniture. He moved to Baton Rouge after Hurricane Katrina and met his wife, Trudy, soon after. Though Trudy graduated from Hahnville High School, the two lived in San Antonio for the next five years. However, they were itching to get back to the area.

"We had always planned on retiring in St. Charles Parish, but we ended up here a lot sooner than we thought," Lopez said. "Now we are here to stay."

Lopez grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas and lived in Houston for 10 years, but he says that St. Charles Parish has already become his home. Over the last month, Lopez has traveled across the area meeting business owners. If you haven’t seen him yet, Lopez says it won’t be long until he knocks on your door.

"I have really enjoyed meeting so many people," he said. "We have a number of great businesses in St. Charles Parish and I look forward to getting to know everyone."

Lopez plans to take advertising at the Herald-Guide into the 21st Century by offering more online options for customers.

"We want to use multimedia, such as our great website and our informative Facebook page to help our businesses reach their customers," he said.

When Lopez isn’t working, he can be found on the water trying to catch that trophy fish.

While the staff at the Herald-Guide was excited to welcome Lopez, they will miss Madere, who spent 15 years as advertising director.

"St. Charles Parish was a great place for me. My children attended a good public school system and I was able to make many friends in the business community," Madere said. "Also, I was very fortunate to work for a company that promoted itself as being a partner in our community. I was able to work with the St. Charles Business Association, the River Region Chamber of Commerce, Knights of Columbus Council 2409, Boy Scouts, Hahnville High School band boosters and St. Charles recreation."

During his time with the Herald-Guide, Madere said he was able to witness exciting changes in the newspaper industry such as the extensive use of email communication, increased quality of newspaper production and the development of website and web advertising.

To contact Lopez, call (985) 758-2795 or email him at joel@heraldguide.com.