To be successful with today's consumers, a company's brand needs to extend beyond the marketing arm of their business and all the way down into how their business is run – right down to how people do their jobs. So we're leaving the snappy taglines to the tired agencies while we focus on helping our clients deliver on their brand promise through CX, customer service, retention, and a lifetime of customer value.
If brand is the promise we make out in the world, then business dictates our ability to deliver on the promise. When those two things don't match – what brands say and what brands do – customers notice and they don't like it. The thing is, for decades that didn't matter much because more marketing dollars could fix customer problems to an extent; more $$ into campaigns, media, PR, communications – largely changing the tides of perception. Even today, most agencies are still trying to solve almost every consumer problem with these same strategies.
...but digital changed all of that.
Thanks to digital, people can see much deeper into the brands they invite into their lives and see companies for who they really are, not just who they say they are. So when these brands don't match up to the promise of great products, awesome service, and even shared values – they take to the internet, let the world know, and people choose alternatives (because there's no shortage of alternatives anymore).
The reality is that we can't hide broken promises, poor services, and unethical business practices behind thinly veiled marketing attempts anymore – customers see right through it.
To be successful, modern brands will have to take their brand deeper inside of their business through things like technology and operations – then push it across the entire customer journey so customers feel the brand at every touchpoint. As marketers, we can't be solely focused on impressions and eyeballs, we have to also be obsessed with service, retention, loyalty, and NPS because that's where media is earned.
Creating authentic, meaningful brands requires new capabilities that traditional agencies just don't have. We have a digital DNA, a focus on new ways of working (for ourselves and our clients), and an intrinsic love for amazing experiences.
At our core, we are a Creative agency. Breakthrough campaigns, authentic content, and data-driven success are the hallmarks for helping our clients unlock new opportunities for growth.
Technology for the sake of technology isn't our thing. We employ architecture and engineering services to help our clients simplify their ways of working and enable customers experiences that unlock a brand's fullest potential.
From D2C commerce to B2B onboarding, designing great experiences is just the start. We work deeper inside the business to simplify operations and technology with the needs of customers, employees, and the community around us at the center.
We believe big agencies (and the holding companies behind them) are the worst. We just don't believe in 14-person meetings, layers of unecessary oversight, and hidden media fees because they create client experiences that are isolating, slow, ineffective, and – of course - expensive. We're an agency of entrepreneurs that was built from the ground-up around small, senior teams because it helps us create work faster, better, with less risk, and smaller budgets. It's just an easier way to work.
When we work together and share work-in-progress constantly, we create a working relationship where there are no surprises. It's a refreshing way to work.
Pontificating and strategizing has its place, but we'd rather learn through doing. We rely heavily on prototypes because it helps us learn faster, de-risk customer demand (we test them a lot), and uncover new questions we didn't know to ask.
Great ideas are just the start. As a partner for our clients, we think beyond the great ideas to ensure plans, programs, and roadmaps are in place to bring those great ideas to life.
Listen, at the end of the day, we're an agency. Our ability to be successful is solely based on our ability to hire the best talent around. Period. It still amazes us that so many agencies prioritize aggressive, unsustainable growth and executive bonuses at the expense of employee satisfaction and ownership. That's just not us. Now, that doesn't mean it doesn't get difficult at times (we are entreprenuers after all), but we promise we'll never lose sight of what matters most...
It doesn't matter if your a designer, a technologist, or a project manager – we are Creatives at heart. That means we like to create things. Not just anything, but amazing things. We show up everyday with a commitment to The Work because at the end of day, we all want to be proud of the things we put into this world.
Work isn't just about work. It's about being excited to show up everyday and love the friends and memories you make here. We don't place a lot of emphasis on being professional. We swear a lot (just not about each other). We share ideas we're excited about. We make sure that we make the most of our lives at work.
This one is easy. No one wants to work with an asshole...employees or clients. We place a strong emphasis on doing what's right and supporting each other every single day.