Mario and the Marketing Meal Fit for Millionaires

The Restaurant of Your Dreams

Imagine if you could walk into a 5-star restaurant, and once you sat down at your table, the head chef, accompanied by his sous chef and line cooks, walked to your table, poured you a glass of wine made from grapes older than Dionysus himself, and asked you in an Italian accent thicker than the creamiest of alfredo sauces – “What would you like?”

Well, chances are, you’d feel pretty spoiled. Telling them how fluffy you liked your pancakes, how crisped you liked your potatoes, how cheesy you liked your eggs and how much paprika you want on top. You could almost say it was full-service right?

Unfortunately, we have never experienced a brunch experience quite like this before. However, at our business marketing firm, we like to think this is the exact kind of fully-integrated service we give to our clients, every step of the way. We don’t just tell you what the soup of the day is and serve you whatever you happen to be in the mood for. We might recommend the grilled tilapia that was freshly caught this morning, or steer you towards the beef brisket and sweet potato special that our barbeque expert has been smoking for 32 hours.

The problem is, we can’t do that until we get a taste of your appetite and what kind of marketing meal would be best for a company of your stature. And while we heavily depend on our account executives to take your order and manage the course of your meal, it is absolutely imperative that creatives have a seat at the table and are looped in at every point of the conversation.

Client-Facing Creatives

Those who say the position of the Account Executive is evaporating are on another wavelength than us. We don’t listen to that wavelength. Depending on how many clients you’re juggling, there should always be a core person or group of people that are available to the client and can act as a buffer and liaison between the two teams

However, this doesn’t mean that creatives don’t need to be included in client email threads, phone calls, and meetings. Upper-level dialogue aside, the creatives need to be as ingrained into the client’s train of thought as possible. Even if it means eating dog food to promote the launch of a new pet food brand.

Once the creatives adopt a slice of the client’s mentality and combine it with their own insight, incredible, on-brand work starts pouring out of the production room. And most importantly, the client is happy with it because it reflects where their head is at. It’s the kind of work that gets us recognized as one of the top advertising agencies in Austin by organizations like DesignRush. It’s the kind of work that makes us love what we do as a brand strategy consultant

But still, while we love to enhance the bond between creative and client, at some point lines must be drawn.

What’s in Your Head?

As we said, there will never be a time where we just tell you what the soup of the day is and go with whatever idea you want us to run with. A good idea is a good idea, but some of the time we work with clients who have developed narrow perspectives of their brand and are compelled to portray it in a singular light.

Part of our job and duty as a business marketing firm is to steer clients away from these types of mentalities and get them to see their product in new and intriguing perspectives. One way we do this is post kick-off where, despite what we discussed, we offer a completely fresh and organic look at your company.

Of course, essential information that was exchanged during the meeting will be taken into account, but for the most part, the intention of this is to offer a renewed take on the direction and strategy of the brand. This helps shed light on issues that may have not been identified previously. Or even offer new avenues of promotion that the client hadn’t thought of before.

It’s the stitching together of fresh-perspectives and essential-brand knowledge that really makes a finished product come together. And it’s this kind of execution that our business marketing firm constantly strives for. So, if you like what you’re smelling from the kitchen, come on back. We’ll see if we can’t whip you up something hot.