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Rod Flinchum

Rod’s career in media and marketing began in 1989 when he met Diana Wilkin, who convinced him into joining WSFX. After years of continued success as an account executive he was promoted to sales manager over the WSFX station and the sister station WFXB out of Myrtle Beach, SC. Upon founding Colonial Marketing Group in 2002, Rod’s focus has been growing the resources business owners have to help them with their overall media and marketing planning, strategy, creative and performance.

Rod started Colonial Marketing Group in November of 2002. In the aftermath of 9/11 and tired of being beat up in media management, Rod was ready for something new. When his old boss at Time Warner Cable called to see if he’d be interested in placing their advertising buys, Rod made the jump from television sales management to owning his own agency.

Rod has been committed to client success through strategy since the start. He wanted to make sure to have best research and tools for his agency so he borrowed $20,000 from his father in 2002 and subscribed to all of the qualitative and quantitative data for the markets he was working in and continues to do so to this day. It’s that information that has and continues to set Colonial Marketing Group apart from their competitors and allows the Colonial team to make the best advertising investments on the client’s behalf.

Tonye Gray

A Wilmington native and graduate of NC State, Tonye’s broadcast marketing career began in the early 80’s when she was recruited as station manager for a small AM Urban Contemporary radio station. It wasn’t long after accepting that position that she was recruited by Cape Fear Broadcasting to join their sales team and in her words, “everything just clicked”. During her tenure at Cape Fear and ultimately Cumulus Broadcasting, she was recruited to steer the launch of Cumulus’ nationwide online job service in the Wilmington market. She joined the ranks of Colonial Marketing Group in 2004.

What strikes you first about Tonye is her dedication to her clients, always keeping their goals and objectives as her priority. In fact, many of her client’s in broadcast media transitioned from direct media placement to signing on with Colonial Marketing to keep her involved in their marketing strategies. Tonye creates advertising plans and creative campaigns that are result oriented and client focused. Her goal is to deliver the maximum measurable results possible for each ad dollar her client’s invest. It’s not at all unusual to find Tonye present in her client’s staff and marketing meetings, and they depend on her assistance in identifying both unique marketing opportunities as well as vulnerabilities that may be present in their day to day interactions with potential customers. Tonye calls it, “Whole Health” marketing because, “it’s not enough to just get the customer to the door. The whole sales process has to work in harmony.”

Tonye’s common sense approach to effective marketing tactics simply works, and her wealth of experience coupled with a keen knowledge of broadcast media planning and placement lie at the core of her ability to effectively establish and maintain successful, long term business relationships with her clients. She seamlessly merges marketing strategies across multiple platforms, and her creative instincts give her clients the competitive edge by producing commercial messages that are among the most recognized brands in the market.

And finally, … we hate to admit it but Tonye’s a bit of a geek. Her in-depth knowledge of web design plus her interest in emerging technologies and electronic marketing strategies have served to keep her clients a step ahead of their competition. Her client list includes many of the city’s municipality entities, Ashley Furniture, Seashore Discount Drugs, Elderhaus, St. Mark Catholic School and many others.

Graham Norton

Graham Norton joined the Colonial Team in February of 2016. After graduating from UNCW with a degree in Marketing, he started his career as the Marketing & Events Coordinator for MarineMax in Wrightsville Beach, NC. After a successful two-years, he wanted to broaden his horizons and apply the knowledge he had obtained to help other businesses reach new customers.

Specializing in Digital Marketing, and the youngest consultant to join Colonial, Graham provides a fresh look with new ideas on how to reach potential customers on contemporary social media platforms.

When Graham’s not in the office or meeting with clients, he’s either playing basketball or sweating in a gym. When he’s not exercising, he’s staying on top of the latest trends in the digital marketing landscape.

Andy Scheid

With management stints in Charlotte, Philadelphia, Lancaster, and New York, Andy knows advertising, marketing and media sales. He’s served as local and national sales manager with the Hearst, Paramount, Capitol and Nexstar broadcasting group’s stations including WSFX, WYOU, WGAL, WSPG, and WJZY.

Through all the changes in the industry, what he’s loved most about the business is helping his clients succeed. Reaching the right customer, with the right message, at the right price has always been a formula that works.

In 2018, Andy joined Colonial Marketing. Owner, Rod Flinchum, was one of Andy’s first friends when he relocated to the Wilmington market in 2014, and he was immediately impressed by the depth and breadth of services Colonial brought to its clients.

Andy is thrilled to join forces with this cutting-edge agency to expand the options and capabilities he can bring to his clients.

Andy loves helping business owners share their story. He’s helped hundreds of small businesses fine-tune their messaging to connect with their ideal customers and establish their brand in the marketplace.

With his experience sitting on both sides of the bargaining table, Andy is also a media buying expert. He can help you reach the most customers with the most frequency – at a cost well below what is expected. By finding pockets of opportunity in this complex media landscape, he can stretch your marketing budget, and give you more for your money.

But what’s most important to Andy, is his relationships – with his clients, his vendors and the community at large. He treats his customers like family and the results speak for themselves.

A devoted family man himself, Andy couldn’t be prouder of his three grown sons, Taylor, 24, Drew, 20 and Owen, 18, and his wife, Wendy, of 27 years.

Let Andy be your marketing arm and take your growing business to the next level. He can guide you through what works (and what doesn’t) in this ever-changing complex market.

Frank Zumbro

Frank Zumbro began his marketing career in 1999. During a midlife crisis in his 20’s, he ran off to take a marketing position with Ignition Marketing in Atlanta, GA. It was an opportunity to travel all over the country and meet people from all walks of life. During his tenure there he fell in love with the idea of using creativity and marketing principles to inspire people.

Frank joined Colonial Marketing in 2006 after reconnecting with his college job manager from Cablevision, Rod Flinchum.

Frank is known for his ability to service his client’s with overwhelming passion and drive for them to succeed. He studies and carefully reviews each detail in the marketing process so nothing is left to chance. Success for the client is what drives him to work hard, making sure the client’s needs come first always. He considers his ability to make a client’s creative relevant and unique with limited budget parameters one of his strongest assets. His competitive nature allows him to take joy in watching his clients succeed over their competitors.