Living Organism

The Cure for the Common Brand Defined
Vitamin is the first design and marketing boutique in the mid-Atlantic offering integrated marketing communications programs through the creation of identity, print, interactive and public relations campaigns. Most importantly, we are the only boutique following a best practices approach to process within each discipline. This approach results in service offerings that are equally balanced in terms of strength within each discipline. Our boutique structure and strict process enable us to create deliverables that are higher impact, more sales focused and more message driven. This is the broad definition of our Cure for the Common Brand tagline.

Vitamin - An Ad Agency/Specialized Boutique Hybrid
Vitamin has been successful where other firms have failed. We have established a design and marketing boutique that contains tried and true “A” team players within each discipline of services (identity, print, interactive and public relations). At Vitamin, there is no “B” team. As such, we are able to exceed client expectations in regards to generating results and earning share of mind among target audiences. From a competitive standpoint, Vitamin is a logical alternative to single-practice boutiques and it is the first boutique that can holistically offer an alternative to hierarchical and often inconsistently operated advertising agencies.

Let me elaborate by defining the playing field…

Where the Advertising Agency Model Fails
True, there are agencies in the mid-Atlantic that are full service. An agency is typically a larger organization (30 or more employees) with complete departments dedicated to each service offering. The challenge in working with agencies can vary. The largest challenge we have heard clients mention time and time again is the agency’s inability to manage expectations. This typically stems from two areas:

• The complex  channels of communication involved in the agency model
• The “A” team vs. the “B” team – a large staff involves two types of employees; those that are capable of creating stellar deliverables (the “A” team) and those learning how to create stellar deliverables (the “B” team).

Here is how these two factors can lead to mismanaged expectations, resulting in poor project deliverables:

The “Whisper Down the Alley” Effect
Your company is ready to launch a marketing initiative. You select an agency to begin the work based on the quality of the “A” team’s experience. Your kick off meeting with the prime point of contact was stellar. You agree to campaign specifics and a detailed scope of work. Upon start of the project, it is up to the prime contact to flawlessly relay your detailed conversation to their team. This is where the “whispering” begins. Let’s say the campaign is for direct mail. The creative director meets with an art director and project manager who in turn work directly with the designer(s). The copywriter falls somewhere in between it all. If you have ever played whisper down the alley as a kid, you know that the person at the end of the chain (designer/copywriter) never get the original message interpreted properly. The original message represents the initial conversation you, the client, had with the prime point of contact during the kick off meeting. Before you know it, you are being shown concepts and creative that do not reflect your original conversation nor your expectations.

Portfolio “Rope-a-Dope”
With large agencies, you never know who will be assigned to your account as the primary creator of final deliverables. In the initial agency review, the agency showed you their best work (the “A” team’s portfolio). This is the work that confirmed your final decision to hire the agency. Many times, however, the “B” team gets assigned to your account. It happens all the time. When a client is unexpectedly let down by an agency’s creative, the cause is typically under-skilled talent assigned to the account.

How Boutiques Measure Up
The smaller structure of boutiques, typically 30 or fewer employees, virtually eliminates the “whisper down the alley” effect that plagues the agency model. Furthermore, with fewer team members there typically is no “B” team – only an “A” team – so “portfolio rope-a-dope” rarely occurs. Where boutiques often fail to compete is in their limited ability to provide an encompassing breadth of marketing communications services. By nature, boutiques “specialize.” This means they provide only one marketing discipline and operate very effectively at doing so. There are PR boutiques, graphic design boutiques and interactive boutiques. When it comes to fulfilling the need for an integrated campaign, the challenge with the boutique model is that you must hire each vendor separately and then manage the interaction and communication process yourself. At the end of the day, how well the “integrated” part of the puzzle gets put together is really up to you, the client. Unless you have significant experience project managing integrated campaigns, this self management approach often leads to incongruent deliverables that fail to work as a united, holistic and powerful campaign. Sure, each boutique may be excellent at what they do, but if they aren’t working together proactively to ensure all the seams fit, the stitching will be ragged and frayed at best.

What To Look For
When reviewing boutiques, stay sharp. There are several that claim a full services approach. In our experience, there are none that can offer identity, print, interactive and public relations all in-house AND remain a competitive force within each discipline. For example, there are PR firms who try to bring interactive and design competencies in-house. They have very little experience within these disciplines and therefore do not understand how to structure process let alone what talent to acquire. The result is a strong PR company with weak graphics and web services. By the same respect, there are graphic design companies that are trying to bring interactive or PR competencies in-house. This results in a boutique that scores high marks within its primary core competency and a “C” in the “add-on” competencies.

The Fuel for the Cure
When searching for business partners of any kind, it is difficult to find allies that excel equally across multiple service offerings. Businesses that excel at multi-servicing must first and foremost have a leadership team with a meticulous predisposition. Secondly, they must have a deep personal care for the work they are selling and delivering. These two characteristics combined set the foundation to ensure that each service is provided at a stellar level. At the end of the day, it is this meticulous mindset and deep care that truly separate Vitamin from the competition. This is the fire that sparked, and continues to fuel, Vitamin’s Cure for the Common Brand approach.