Nothing is more frustrating than to hear from a client or prospect “But I can get a logo (campaign/SEO/design/script/radio spot) for almost nothing from my daughter (radio station/cable station/sister’s best friend)”.
The truth is – and this REALLY IS THE TRUTH – you get what you pay for. You don’t walk onto a Mercedes lot and expect to get one for the price of a Kia. Same goes for branding and creative. If you don’t believe me, go here. Whether you hire an agency or a freelancer, they’re going to charge you what their work is worth. If it’s any good, it’s worth a lot more.
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general Tags:
campaigns,
cheap logo,
low cost logos,
prices
I met Emma years ago. I was her 14,000th friend, so she sent me a t-shirt with her picture on it! We have been working together for years now, doing e-mail marketing. But Emma is a company not a person.
Why do I write about them? Because they have done an outstanding job of delivering an integrated brand in the form of their persona “Emma”. They have 60+ employees and they deliver lots of communications to thousands of clients and yet they all speak with one voice, it’s the voice of “Emma”. She speaks in an upbeat and snappy manner. She signs off her mail with “Cheers!” Her response time is amazing, often responding within minutes. Emma is charitable, she donates trees and gives email marketing services to non-profits. What a woman!
Woman? Oops! That is the the voice of a well designed and executed brand. So hats off to the team who works to keep Emma alive and enchanting.
Posted in
advertising,
branding,
general Tags:
brand,
communication,
e-mail marketing,
integrated
One of the current trends on Facebook is to make a list of randomly interesting things about yourself. So, here’s a list of the 25 things you might not know about re:group.
- We take our name from our President, Jan Muhleman’s, original company – Group 243 (243 refers to the street address of their original building). After thirty some years, various mergers and name changes, Jan’s team has “re:grouped”.
- There are three people on our team with the initials KK, and two more whose first name begins with that letter. We’re considering making “having a K in your name” a prerequisite for employment.
- We have Frappe Friday. Not as much as we’d like, since we’re usually too busy with client work. But when we can fit it in, we like to kick back, put some quality mixers in the blender and turn in on high. You’re welcome to join us.
- We are addicted to Pizza Bob’s milkshakes and Pizza Pino pizza.
- We have goodie jars in various places in the office filled with cookies, candy, goldfish crackers, and more. It’s a wonder we don’t all weigh 400 pounds!
- We have a “chalk outline” of a dead woman in high heels on the floor.
- We’re located in Ann Arbor – one of the hippest college towns on the planet. And our office is in an old, renovated hardware store with a really funny name – the Schlenker Hardware Building.
- Rather than sending holiday cards, we’ve donated thousands of dollars to charity in behalf of our clients. We just think giving something back is the right thing to do.
- Our office is pet friendly. At any given time, you might find Swatch, Monty or Bella wandering though the place. But we draw the line at allowing Rhonda and Kellie – the two horse-owners in the group – to hitch their steeds here.
- We all genuinely like each other.
- Our office was part of a movie set for Youth In Revolt, starring Justin Long, Michael Cera, Steve Buscemi and Ray Liotta.
- Our team lives and breathes branding, marketing, media and design, but we’re also a pretty cool bunch of folks with some really diverse interests. Check out our bios for an interesting peek into what gives each of us our unique perspectives.
- We have a mascot. It’s a chicken. Nobody is really sure how or why. It’s just one of those life mysteries.
- We keep a stock of Play-Doh on hand for use during meetings.
- Some days we get to watch teenagers doing questionable things in the woods outside our windows. Once they even came prepared with a sign that read “do not call police”.
- Jan, our president, is an ex-hippie who used to have hair down to her knees and ride around in a VW bus.
- We have a rooftop party deck that was built in honor of Liz Conlin. Ask her about her wild days sometime!
- Contrary to popular belief, we do not all wear black all the time.
- We have a completely open office – not a wall or door in the place. So we use stop signs to indicate that we’re too busy to be interrupted.
- Our catch phrase of the moment is “Hey…”. As in “Hey Kozo…I know your stop sign is up, but this will only take a minute”.
- We’re extremely loyal…to each other and to our clients. Look at David Martel, our media guru who started working with Jan way back in 1989, left for cities afar, but eventually came back to Ann Arbor, and the re:group team about 6 years ago. Lucky for us. Lucky for our clients.
- We work really, really hard. But we also have lots of fun. That’s just the way it should be.
- There’s a jackalope named Fluffy standing guard over our servers.
- Collectively, we have worked in the branding, marketing, media, design, and advertising business for 259 years.
- One Friday, after way too many frappe’s, we wrote a little musical number and recruited our talented team to record it. If you think your ears can stand the vocal stylings of the re:group carolers, take a listen to “The 12 Days of Vodka”.
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general
Having just returned from vacation, I’ve been thinking about a question I was presented with a few times when meeting new people while away. It’s a common question; “So, what do you do?” When answering from a career perspective, I typically respond, “I’m the Media Director at re:group, a branding and marketing agency in Ann Arbor, Michigan.” Sometimes the follow up question is “What is Media?”
When I started in the advertising industry (yes, it was a while ago now), a typical response may have been, “well, you know…like TV, Radio, Outdoor, Newspaper, Magazines. I figure out the best medium to reach the right people and then negotiate the purchase of that time or space.” It was all pretty simple.
Our world has changed.
Here’s the new answer: “Well, media includes ANY channel or system of communication, information or entertainment that allows you to cultivate a relationship with your customer or prospect.” Yup, that’s a lot of words. But it boils down to the fact that no longer is it just one-way communication. It is now expected that our “media” is a two-way conversation connecting with our prospects, engaging with them and creating advocates. In fact our advocates become a form of media in them self: probably one of the most powerful.
So, we’ve updated the definition of media. Maybe I need to update my title! Connections Director? (No. Too Julie McCoy of the The Love Boat) Maybe, “Matchmaker” (No. Too Fiddler on the Roof)
Got any suggestions?
Posted in
general Tags:
media,
new media,
social media
Big or small, local or national, every agency of every size is going after every account that pops up on the radar screen. And while a lot of marketing directors might feel that the bigger the agency they hire, the better the work they’ll get well, it’s just not true.
If yours is a small to mid-size account, going with a big shop is most often a big mistake. Sure, they have fancier buildings, bigger names, more executive offices than the White House, and an international reputation. But the truth is, if you’re a small fish, you’re going to get small service. It’s the nature of the beast. Smaller accounts are where branding and marketing companies let their junior players cut their teeth. Be realistic – if you and say, Coca-Cola or the US Post Office needs attention at the same time, are you really going to be the one who gets it?
You should choose a branding and marketing partner based on how well they understand your business, whether they have interesting ideas and if they bring insight to the game. Choose based on how interested they are in helping you achieve your goals, not in how you can help them achieve theirs. Choose on whether you like and trust them, not on how expensive their shoes are. Otherwise, you’ll just be paying for expensive shoes.
Smaller agencies are often the refuge of very smart, talented people who’ve just plain had it with the politics and thick approval layers of the big shops. They’re usually more eager, more flexible, more responsive and quite often, more dedicated to your success than a big agency with a lot of big clients on the roster.
So before you choose, think. Is it important that you have a partner with a big name, or that you have a partner who’s really proud and excited to have your company’s name on their client list? I know which I’d choose.
Posted in
general Tags:
branding partner,
marketing partner,
small agency
