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Krome devises strategy for international service
Friday, October 9, 2009
Pittsburgh Business Times by Patty Tascarella
Like most Pittsburgh-based advertising agencies, Krome Communications built up more and more business outside southwestern Pennsylvania. Partly because of acquisitions over the past five years, some U.S. clients wound up part of international companies.
Krome was handling work for the U.S. operations of German industrial giant Siemens and Japanese digital camera market Elmo Co., among others. But increasingly, the parent organizations became involved in decision-making to a far greater degree. So Krome CEO Robert Neville was dealing with executives in Stuttgart and Tokyo, instead of just Plainview, N.Y., and New York City. That intensified with the economic downturn.
“Reins are tighter, people are much more protective,” Neville said.
Costs of personally flying back and forth and coping with language barriers, not to forget the international limitations of Pittsburgh International Airport, meant Krome had to find ways to better service its clients.
Keeping the pitch perfect
Pittsburgh advertising agencies adding capabilities, shifting focus to cope in down times
Friday, August 8, 2008
Pittsburgh Business Times by Patty Tascarella
With an uncertain economy, local advertising agencies are banking on a sure thing to drive business — helping clients grow theirs. Not surprisingly, this translates to different approaches.
Strategies include the tried-and-true, such as using research to determine what sort of advertising message would be most effective, and more unusual ideas, such as educating clients on making the most of online opportunities.
At Kröme Communications, based Downtown, President and CEO Bob Neville emphasized the use of market research. Neville capitalized on the skills of two employees who previously worked in the political sector, hired a support staffer and sprung for proprietary software. Midway into 2008, their efforts have increased business by 10 percent compared to the same six months last year. Neville expects to add at least one more person to the team this year.
“It leads to more business (from the client) because it’s a great entry,” Neville said. “Clients may pay twice as much for a research firm, it builds our agency’s credibility and validates creative thinking from the outside.”
Having the service in-house saves 20-employee Kröme the expense of springing for an outside provider or passing these costs to the client. The research also acts as a tool for Kröme, which tries to find fresh ways to use traditional business-to-business advertising for problems and issues the research reveals.
“We’ll be sitting around the table with the chief marketing officer, talking about approaching the marketplace and perception, and we’ll find out (from the research) at least one and maybe three things we had no idea about,” Neville said. “That will often bring a correction to what we were going to do before.”
Recession-Proofing Your Brand — Impossible?
Bob Neville, president, Kröme
Do we pilot-down during challenging economic times or take advantage of making our voice heard amid less clutter? That’s a question that excites folks at Kröme and gets us thinking. We track trends and test the economy every day through research, evaluation and branding. Kröme’s take on things? Keep moving forward (did you expect anything else?).
Let’s look at history. Market downturns aren’t new.
- 1927: The Harvard Business Review tracked 200 companies during the recession of 1923 and showed sales increases by the biggest marketers.
- 1961: Buchen Advertising ran a meta-analysis of the recessions of 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961 and concluded that sales dropped at companies that cut back.These same companies lagged after the recessionary times had ended.
- 1991: MarketSense unveiled a report that tracked 101 household name brands during the recession of 1989 – 1991. The conclusion? Brands that cut ad budgets saw a 26% to 64% sales decline. Conversely, brands that increased budgets had 57% to 70% sales growth.
The facts speak for themselves; marketing your brand during a downturn increases sales and profits. The challenge for marketing communications professionals is “how.”
Some suggestions:
- Maintain spending while your competition cuts back. Consistency, frequency and aggressive positioning grow brand awareness.
- Cut the fat – sharpen your strategic plan to home in on pre-qualified buyers.
- Go the extra mile for loyal customers.
- Increase your earned media by building a strong, savvy, broad-reaching public relations program.
Whether or not you characterize this as a recessionary time, one thing’s for certain…more, not less, can be the difference between advanced standing in your industry or getting bowled over.
Want more?
Here’s what an industry authority has to say…
No hunkering down, not just yet
Ellis Booker, editor, BtoB
Worth Sticking To!
Why do urban legends, conspiracy theories, and bogus public health scares circulate effortlessly while people with important ideas—executives, educators, politicians, journalists, and others—struggle to make their ideas “stick?”
The truth is, some ideas thrive while others die. So how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? Made to Stick tackles this vexing question head on by revealing the anatomy of ideas that “stick” and explaining sure-fire methods for making ideas stickier, such as violating schemas, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating “curiosity gaps.”
Made to Stick transforms the way we communicate ideas – we tend to agree. Check it out and you will see the principles of successful ideas at work—and how we can apply these rules to making our own messages “stick.”
Show Off and Tell
Kröme’s launching new brands, re-branding legendary companies and coming up with a few new ideas that are setting the world of marketing on fire. Here’s a sample of one great campaign that is magnifying results for our client, ELMO USA, a Japan-based industry leader in digital document cameras.
Green Grows the Marketing
A clever idea – TerraSkin and a bold approach to sustainability gave Carollo Engineers a leading edge in their industry toward a greener approach to doing business.
Independent Advertising Agencies Save Clients Money and Offer Unparalleled Services
Bob Neville discusses Kröme’s affiliation with Transworld Advertising Agency Network.
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