• Branding/positioning consultant

• Collateral material (both paper-based and digital)

• Corporate identity

• Creative ad campaign team

• Direct marketing (both paper-based and electronic)

• Media planning and buying group

• Package design

• Promotions agency

• Public relations shop

• SEM

• SEO

• Social media

• Trade show exhibit specialist/signage

• Website group

Specialist firms are available in all of the above. So what should you do? It seems so logical to desire a team of “specialists.” It implies they know more…and you may think that their collective knowledge can help build a better marketing program.

The reality is that many companies (of all sizes) but particularly small and medium-size advertisers find the so-called specialist approach to be problematic for their marketing performance. But why?

• Here’s the first tough question. Who will coordinate all the specialists and all the points of contact? Who makes sure all are focused on the same strategy and timelines to meet various needs? Depending on the number of specialists…that coordination work perhaps could be a full time job all by itself.

• When you have an important new initiative or a hot issue to discuss, how quickly can you get several of the specialists together to discuss and exchange ideas?

• How do you get the specialists to talk to each other? Will ideas really be shared for the benefit of the client? Is it conceivable that each specialist might have their own agenda and want a larger share of the marketing budget pie? So who will “referee”?

• Do all the specialists have brand building training/experience? How well do they all understand the brand and the target audience?

• Speaking of coordination…does that person have integrated communications training? How strategically coordinated will the work be?

• Who selects all of the specialists? Who devotes the necessary time, energy and due diligence to make sure they are all qualified and do not present conflicts?

To be sure, marketers want the best agency partners—but reduction of complexity is also important to success. In fact, recent reports indicate that some larger advertisers are cutting the number of relationships for reduced complexity.

A single agency relationship can help ensure a well-integrated effort across all media platforms and markets. And, in so doing, the single full service agency can help enhance your efficiency…and perhaps your sanity. You train one group of people and keep them involved with your business and challenged to be forward thinking and focused on your brand. Hopefully, you can retain them a long time so they get really smart about your business. Your single point of contact will be more focused on specific solutions from all of today’s complex choices that are best for your business—rather than having bias or special interests. And your single point of contact allows the direction you provide to be defined once and know that it will be applied uniformly throughout the “specialists” within your one agency. Lots of “traditional agencies” that offer full service, have done so over time with an investment in people and skills to deliver on their promise. The concept of the full service agency is alive and well, particularly for the small and medium-size advertiser.

From the American Marketing Association 

Summary

​The gulf between B-to-B marketing and B-to-C marketing is getting narrower. While business practices for complex industries and B-to-B services often require formulaic approaches coupled with a great deal of caution, more and more such companies are experimenting with marketing strategies that aren’t so “by the book.” Vendors like Newark/element 14, a Chicago-based electronic components distributor, take cues from Amazon when crafting their e-commerce sites to make them more user-friendly. Others, like Kinvey Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based backend as a service company for mobile app developers, experiment with creative content marketing, producing funny blogs to personalize their brands.

B-to-B marketers are right to simplify, to shake up the status quo and take cues from their B-to-C counterparts, experts say, because although there are distinctions between B-to-B and B-to-C offerings, there are no distinctions between buyers, when it comes down to it. “Every B-to-B customer is also a B-to-C consumer,” says Andy Hoar, senior analyst at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research Inc. “They’re comparing their experiences. They’re looking at the B-to-B experience and wondering why, as a rule of thumb, it falls so far short of the B-to-C experience. [B-to-B] companies need to simplify, to re-think how they present things. They do it in a far too complex manner.”

Patt Fosnaught, Glen Peak and Amy Phillips

Members of the PeakBiety team attended a preview reception Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 at The Tampa Museum of Art. The agency helped with the 30-piece retrospective of Carolyn Heller’s vibrant artwork at the museum held from March 1-10, 2013. At the preview reception, friends and family swapped stories and enjoyed Carolyn’s favorite drinks, cosmopolitans and lemonade as well as and Southern specialties prepared by the Sono Cafe. Also at the reception, the Arts Council of Hillsborough County presented the recipient of the 2013 Carolyn F. Heller Grant to artist, Michael Parker.

“We are so pleased to be working with the Tampa Museum of Art to share our mother’s art with her friends and the broader community,” says Fran Heller, one of Carolyn’s daughters and the executor of her estate. “This exhibition is a perfect opportunity to allow local residents and art lovers to see these special works in person.”

“We love the energy of Carolyn’s art and are looking forward to this exhibition and meeting her many friends and admirers,” says Todd Smith, executive director, Tampa Museum of Art.

To see the online gallery website of Carolyn’s work, visit www.carolynhellerart.com.

Tampa, FL —  Eckerd, a non-profit organization that helps abused, neglected and at-risk children, recently engaged the creative services of PeakBiety branding + advertising to assist in creating a video. Objectives for the project were to inform and raise awareness, reach people in a way that would touch hearts, and secure donations.

To help Eckerd reach these objectives, PeakBiety produced a music video, featuring a song co-written by Amy Phillips, creative director. Searching for a teen singer to deliver the song on camera, a Howard W. Blake School of the Arts student, Sasha Noonan, was chosen. Sasha was a finalist on Teen Idol Dublin and recently moved to the U.S. where she attends Blake.

Eckerd’s “Raising Hope Across America” video was produced to be featured at their “Jingle Jangle Jam,” a fundraising event that was held on December 6, 2012. Because of the generous sponsors that attended this event, over $200,000 was raised to help abused, neglected, at risk children.

About Eckerd
Since 1968, Eckerd has helped more than 150,000 children and their families. A non-profit organization, Eckerd is dedicated to providing and sharing solutions that promote the well-being of children and families in need of a second chance.

About PeakBiety
PeakBiety branding + advertising services local, regional and national clients in a variety of business sectors. The agency focuses on adding value for its clients by improving customer perceptions. This commitment is summed up in the agency’s promise, “the power of perception℠.”

PeakBiety is also one of the few agencies in Tampa Bay to meet the strict requirements for membership in the prestigious American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s). For more information, call Glen Peak at PeakBiety branding + advertising, 813-227-8006, extension 114, e-mail gpeak@peakbiety.com or visit PeakBiety.com.

Throughout his school career, David was not only a focused student, but he also worked for a local Internet startup where he lead the creative side of things from brand development to website/UI design. In his spare time he also worked as a freelancer. During his senior year at the Art Institute of Tampa, David received an Award of Excellence from Graphic Design USA in the student category.

David started at PeakBiety as an intern in July of 2012; since then, his skills in design as well as his attention to detail have grown and matured. PeakBiety values his strong work ethic and range of knowledge. He is experienced in: package design, corporate brand identity, environmental design, copywriting, web design, user interface design as well as digital photography.

Holiday Wreath Illusion Explained

Although the wreath and circles in our 2012 holiday card appear to be moving, they are not. Why? This optical illusion is known as “peripheral drift.” If you gaze steadily at one part of the image, the effect tends to vanish while the rest of the image continues to rotate in your peripheral vision.

The graphic designers at PeakBiety recreated this illusion, through the use of strong contrasts from the PeakBiety color palette. By varying the size and position of the dots, the still art comes to life.

With illusions, things aren’t always what they appear to be. As a small Tampa ad agency we know that branding and advertising work much in the same way. By changing a consumer’s perception of a client’s product or service, PeakBiety adds new dimensions of value that extend beyond physical reality. This is the power of perception®.

The Directions for Living logo, which was developed in collaboration with PeakBiety branding+advertising, was carefully chosen to represent the dynamic integration of Directions for Living’s four main service sets: Prevention, Wellness, & Recovery; Adult Behavioral Health; Children’s Behavioral Health; and Child Safety & Family Preservation. Together, these core areas make up the comprehensive, integrated health care agency that many have come to know through experience; now, the public will be able to understand the multi-faceted nature of Directions for Living at first impression.

The transition is well timed, as Directions is celebrating its 30th year of operation, along with several other significant milestones this year. Fiscal Year ‘11-‘12 brought record expansion and growth for the social services agency, including the honor of being named the 2012 Large Not-for-Profit Business of the Year by the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce, becoming the sole Diversion Services provider for Pinellas County with the mission of diverting children from the child welfare system, introducing a new location in Pasco County, serving as lead social services agency for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office-sponsored homeless shelter, Safe Harbor, being awarded scattered site Supported Housing funding in Pasco County, and earning an exclusive contract with Pinellas County Health and Human Services to serve as the behavioral health provider in the innovative integration of behavioral and primary health care.

“Addressing the whole person by integrating care is one of the best ways to improve the quality of life for our children, adults, and families,” said April Lott, President and CEO of Directions for Living.

In addition to the broad scope of services offered at Directions for Living, which includes primary care, substance abuse treatment, behavioral health care, homeless outreach, and many other services, Directions for Living is also proud to be the provider of Dependency Case Management and Diversion Services within the child welfare system of Pinellas County through its Child Safety and Family Preservation division—one that often went unacknowledged under the former name.

“Directions for Living is proud of our commitment, contribution, and success in protecting children and preserving families—our new name, logo, and brand promise allow us to share that excitement with our community, funders, and the people we serve,” said Lott.

Why do I wonder? Because I see the concept of “The Pitch” as a bad disease…one that is “harmful to the health” of agencies and clients alike.

For a client, the concept of talented agencies making speculative presentations to compete for a piece of business, on the surface, may appear to be swell idea. The client gets “free ideas from multiple sources”…thereby making the choice of a “winner” somewhat easier. We hear it all the time and it goes something like: ”we’re inviting (x number) agencies to have them present their ideas and we have chosen your agency as one of those we would like to participate.”

So why is this potentially harmful? Since I have a blend of client and agency experience in my checkered career, let’s consider what one might get “for free…”

• IF the client doesn’t provide a good creative strategy (with clear-cut main idea, support, etc.)…This leaves the agency combatants to “divine” their own strategy…and in such a short period of time that gaining anything beyond surface understandings of the target audience is unlikely. So the combatants spend a ton of hours working to their own strategies. So now the client has work based on multiple strategies…and the strategies themselves may be problematic since there was likely insufficient time to identify and collaborate with client on a creative strategy that could make a difference.

• So, let’s say the client does provide a strategy. Is it the right one? The client will likely never get any dissenting opinion from the agency…because it’s all about winning the pitch. To deviate from the prescribed strategy…even if the agency develops a strong belief in another way…would create great risks for the agency in winning the contest.

• Study after study has demonstrated that among the top reasons that clients leave agencies is the often-heard phrase: “…they didn’t really understand my business…” Certainly, the time given for spec pitches is not going to result in the proper understandings.

I’m surprised that clients inclined to use speculative pitches for agency selection don’t use the same method for hiring marketing people. Why not ask potential marketing people to create a spec marketing strategy? Maybe even a plan!! Winner takes all!! Absurd. Yes. But how much more absurd than the spec agency pitch routine.

Speculative work is still best characterized as “the work you throw out once the pitches are over…so then real work can begins.” Television that glorifies this diseased process simply helps create more bad work.

In the world of mass media, designers are the tour guides of the messaging highway. Often, people may think that the best way to get others to see their message is to take the widest superhighway. But if everyone goes the same way, everyone sees the same thing. Sometimes it’s best to take a back road to find new sights and different ways to be guided through the messaging hierarchy of communications.

If everything is expressed in a standard form, then everything becomes dull and unimportant. Overused messaging is like driving for days and seeing nothing but bushes along the side of the road. Graphic designers have the knowledge to create something that will stand out from the mundane and bring new experiences.

Effective graphic designers have the ability to express messages in ways that audiences can easily follow and understand. When the untrained try to design graphics and messaging its as if they are driving the streets of a new city without a map. And when they listen to the opinions of family and friends, it can quickly lead to the same mayhem as a car full of back-seat drivers. Thankfully, it’s a lot easier to get where one is trying to go with the help of a friendly tour guide—i.e. a graphic designer with solid training.

The show ranks among the leading juried arts festivals nationwide that feature both fine arts and crafts. Throughout its history, the Gasparilla Festival has been able to attract top artists from around the world. Many of the participating artists have works that have been added to the permanent collections of major museums.

A new addition to the festival this year is the GalaRE: event, which will take place Saturday night at the Tampa Museum of Art, and showcases some of the award-winning art and artists from the show.

PeakBiety was involved in promoting the festival and GalaRE: event through Google AdWords. While the campaign will continue running through the weekend, the effort has garnered over 4,000 clicks over the past two months, and has an impressive 3.26% click-through rate.

PeakBiety was also able to assist in the production of the posters, digital billboards, Channelside window clings, Tampa International Airport LCD displays, and other promotional materials.

To learn more about the festival, visit their website or check out their Facebook page.

Internal Patient Transport Services’ SVP of Operations, Tangee Kizer, describes internal patient transport as “fundamental to hospital efficiency, throughput and profitability. It has to be done right, with care and safety in mind, every single time, which is why it is the sole purpose and top priority at IPT.”

Internal Patient Transport Services, with its singular focus and years of transport logistic experience, seeks to redefine patient transfer within hospitals and healthcare facilities. IPT requires all of its transporters to certify using the latest NAHTM standards to guarantee patient safety and lower hospital risk assessments.

PeakBiety branding+advertising services local, regional and national clients in a variety of business sectors. The agency focuses on adding value for its clients by improving customer perceptions. This commitment is summed up in the agency’s promise, “the power of perception_®.”

PeakBiety is one of the few advertising agencies in the Tampa Bay Area to meet strict requirements for membership in the prestigious American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), as well as official recognition as a Google AdWords Certified Partner. For more information, visit peakbiety.com.

American Cement recognizes sustainable practices as essential for the future of the company’s operations, as well as the quality of life of its people and the communities in which they live. This is why the company implemented the following five environmental initiatives:

1.  Employee and contractor respect for environmental responsibilities,
2.  Proactive solutions to climate change,
3.  The optimization of energy and resource use through efficiency gains and recycling,
4.   The promotion of environmentally-friendly innovations, and
5.  Helping foster a healthy environment for the communities in which it functions.

Glen Peak, President of PeakBiety branding+advertising, said, “We are excited to work with American Cement because like us, they recognize that sustainability practices are a fundamental investment in their operational future. It’s an important story to communicate.”

Last April, American Cement celebrated the Grand Opening of its new, state-of-the-art plant in Sumterville, Florida.

PeakBiety branding+advertising services local, regional and national clients in a variety of business sectors. The agency focuses on adding value for its clients by improving customer perceptions. This commitment is summed up in the agency’s promise, “the power of perception®.”

PeakBiety is one of the few advertising agencies in the Tampa Bay Area to meet strict requirements for membership in the prestigious American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As), as well as official recognition as a Google AdWords Certified Partner.