Strategic Insights – We’ve Got Ideas

Several months ago, President/CEO Reid Overcash was asked by “A Pirate’s Life for Me,” an Greenville-based, ECU Alumni-oriented radio show, to share his thoughts on Strategic Insights’ unique approach, Vibrant Brand Personality, or VBP. In the process, he was able to talk about other SI-related matters, our sister company SharedVue and, of course, ECU and his involvement on the Board of Visitors and beyond. You can listen to the entire program here.

When Builders Mutual Insurance Company approached Strategic Insights to develop a logo for their employee break room, the agency decided to raise the stakes.

“We took the term ‘break room’ literally,” said Creative Director Bill Cokas. “Without something to actually break, the room wouldn’t be living up to its name. A pool table served our purpose nicely.”

Strategic Insights has worked with Builders Mutual for 10+ years, helping them grow into the multi-state insurance force they are today. CEO John Q. Beard presided over the five most prosperous years in Builders Mutual history. When he announced his retirement, the rest of the C-suite agreed to honor his contributions to the company in a way that everyone could enjoy. Knowing Beard’s fondness for games, an area for people to gather together and relax and play seemed fitting.

“We definitely work hard around here,” remarked Director of Marketing Jodi Vedelli, “so a place where employees can occasionally socialize and wind down will go a long way toward sustaining morale and productivity. And sometimes, great business ideas can materialize when business is the furthest thing from your mind.”

An unfurnished area on the first floor of Builders Mutual’s new headquarters was designated the future home of “Q’s Corner.” The name was meant to connect the room to both John “Q.” Beard and the cue sticks used in the game of pool. But so far, only tables, chairs and a foosball table had been purchased for the room.

Strategic Insights offered to sponsor a pool table to finish off the space. Some might call it a long-delayed display of reciprocity; Builders Mutual had presented an air hockey table to the agency years before in appreciation for its hard work.

Both the logo and the pool table were unveiled at a company-wide event hosted by management on June 12. President/CEO Reid Overcash and account executive Marie Duncan from Strategic Insights were on hand to witness the reaction. “The pool table drew a round of applause, and everyone was very complimentary of the logo,” commented Duncan. “Some went so far as to call it ‘delicious.’”

Pictures of the event and “Q’s Corner” cake can be seen on our Flickr account.

Marketing is all about building relationships. Between the brand and the consumer. Between one consumer and another, in the form of communities. Between the brand’s “ambassador” and its loyalists.

But, first of all, a relationship needs to be forged between the client and the marketer. We’ve been doing this for years and finally decided to trade in on it. We work best with clients that treat us as true partners, an integral component of their marketing plan. Sure, we’ll take on projects, act as a design shop or do a one-off website here and there, but we do our best work when we’re immersed in the client’s brand, business model and goals.

If this comes off as self-serving, so be it. But it’s only because we’ve served our clients so well over the years that we can even begin to serve ourselves.

As a brand marketing firm, Strategic Insights has been riding the digital wave since the web’s infancy. Designing and building websites has long been an in-house specialty, while many other marketing companies continue to outsource. The company has created effective and award-winning sites for SaaS-based tech companies, banks, restaurants, retail chains and government agencies. This marriage of marketing and technology has enabled the company to push the boundaries and solve other problems online.

Eaton Corporation, the global leader in electrical systems and components, recently needed a partner portal for its Power Quality division. Eaton awarded Strategic Insights the project after seeing similar partner portal work the company had done for Cisco and Salesforce.com. “Using .net, the latest javascript and Flash elements,” explained Chris Griffin, associate creative director, “we created a Power Advantage portal that serves as a central repository for training resources and marketing materials to enable their partner network.”

Griffin, an accomplished web designer, is consistently on top of trends and best practices, and is well-versed in the medium’s requisite programs and languages. An admitted “knowledge junkie,” his aggressive pursuit of technology has poised the company for even more ambitious projects. After delivering an acclaimed web-based solution for Cisco, Strategic Insights spun off a marketing technology arm, SharedVue, in 2007 and now offers marketing and design services to its sister company.

As another example, Hewlett Packard tapped Strategic Insights for a graphic interface for its content syndication solution, developed by SharedVue. “We provided a set of skins with a range of color palettes,” said director of web services David Ford, “so HP partners are able to mix and match a look to suit their individual websites.”

“If you’ve got a marketing challenge, online or off, we make it our business to solve it quickly and effectively,” Griffin said. “We’re lucky to have such a versatile and talented set of people ready to generate unexpected ideas. Given our passion for strategy, creativity and all things digital, there are no barriers here.”

Strategic Insights has added KH Advisors as a client.

KH Advisors is a corporate consulting firm based outside of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With its expansion into the North Carolina market, the company was looking for help in establishing a positioning to differentiate its offerings from competing consultants. KH Advisors specializes in companies in need of a turnaround as well as companies looking to maximize their value in anticipation of a sale, employing a “Snap Shot Assessment” as a means of recommending further courses of action.

Strategic Insights worked directly with Ken Hammer, a KH Advisors principal, to determine the correct positioning for both the company and the current market conditions. Favoring a results-oriented message, Hammer selected the tagline “Bringing Goals within Reach.” Building further on the positioning, Strategic Insights developed a logo and graphic look for the company’s stationery, business cards and email blasts, and is currently working on collateral material to accompany the recently launched website.

“My audience is made up of bankers, lawyers and business owners–a pretty straight-laced bunch,” said Ken Hammer, “Strategic Insights found a way to reach out to them and package what I do in a compelling and visually engaging way to cement the KH Advisors identity on and offline. I’m very pleased with the results.”

One of our clients, MyTireMonkey.com, was featured on WWAY Channel 3 in Willmington, NC. You can check the article out here on Digg, and give it a digg.

MyTireMonkey makes buying and installing tires fun. You can choose on your favorite brand tires at wholesales prices, then pick your preferred neighborhood installer and you’re done! Low prices on top tire brands like Goodyear, Uniroyal and Michelin. Passenger, light truck and off-road tires. Great prices and fast delivery to your local neighborhood tire installers, plus guaranteed low-price installation.

by Josh Gibbs, New Media Development