(Sometimes)
May we call your attention to the large and swoopy black and white capital ‘C’ we’ve placed prominently on this page? If you’ve even a passing familiarity with our company you know we prominently place that ‘C’ logo on all our pages, electronic and otherwise, not to mention abundantly throughout our physical environs. We’re closely invested in a lot of companies’ logos, but this one is pretty special to us. You can guess why.Or can you? Chances are, if you’ve been blessed with that passing familiarity, you think you know what that ‘C’ signifies. And okay, you’re at least partially right.
But it also signifies so much more. There are the Core values, that we find in common with each other, and with our clients, and our community. There are the Connections which ensue. There’s Communication, the two-way kind (our very favorite), which we strive to build and nurture and propagate.
It’s about our Clients. Their Culture. Their Customers. And—their Challenges.
Hopefully you get the idea. And if you do, you’re probably wondering about another ‘C’—one you’re thinking must be our guiding star…
Creativity.
We can’t deny it. Creativity is our life-force—it’s the spark our team relies on to find innovative ways to tell our clients’ stories. It’s the tool we use to break through the static, to get attention, to stand out, and to get results.
Only thing is…that tool has to be wielded correctly, if the results attained are to be the ones we’ve aimed for. Creativity has to be targeted, according to the clients’ needs. Failing that, creativity can actually be counterproductive.
Marketing guru Drew McLellan raised that point recently, in a blog entitled, “Is Creativity Bad for Marketing?” He makes a fascinating argument, but we’ll go ahead and unleash the spoiler: the answer to his titular question is — No, creativity is not bad for marketing...with a few caveats.
Unrestrained, undirected creativity looks great on museum walls and in private collections. In a marketing portfolio, though, it just speaks of self-indulgence on the part of the agency, and wasted money on the part of the client.
This should be self-evident, but it remains a pox on our industry. How many billboards, TV spots, and glossy magazine ads have you seen that were breathtakingly creative…but did little or nothing to actually sell the product? Or worse — how many ads have left you perplexed as to what exactly was being sold, or by whom?
We are artists and writers who’ve taken on the vocation of marketing. Which means the creativity we wield is wielded for our clients. End of story.
If the messaging required by our client calls for us to dig deep in our creative wells, to compose some soaring prose and render images that’ll make strong men weep, then we’ll do so. Happily.
But if that client requires old-school, boiler-room marketing that spells out features, benefits, and contact info with no added fluff, then we’re on top of that, too. Just as happily.
For every client there is a correct marketing mix, and a correct way of presenting it. It takes savvy, experience, and yes, a certain amount of creativity to divine that optimum strategy. And then it takes a certain amount of creativity, an amount that’s commensurate with the strategy, to implement it.
That’s what we deliver: precisely the level of creativity needed to meet our clients’ goals. Doing so is always rewarding, no matter how inspired or unexpected or creative the work actually is.
Don’t worry about us, though. On those rare days when we haven’t flexed the creativity muscles quite as much as we’d like, we just go home and scribble on the walls. Works every time.
The C4:
1. We really like that big, beautiful “C.” It’s so forcefully, confidently rendered. It is balanced, delicate, yet demanding of one’s attention. It speaks to us. We hope it speaks to you too.
2. Its messages are myriad. It is more than an initial. It is a sigil, a messenger; shorthand for the characteristics and codes that are central to our collective.
3. It also stands for Creativity.
4. But creativity is a heady ingredient. Sometimes just a dash is needed. Sometimes even less.
Coda: We’re connoisseurs at calculating how much creativity is called for, and how cunningly it should be conveyed. Call us. Let’s chat.
