Media Q and A
What is a “virtual marketing agency”?
Making the Brand™'s three Contest Presenters have talents and skill sets equivalent to those typically found in traditional brick and mortar advertising agencies or marketing firms. Working together and through our various subcontractors, we are able to offer the small business owner the same full line-up of quality services, but usually at a lower price than they would find at higher ad and marketing agencies. We bring more than 38 years of marketing experience to our clients.
How did you come up with this idea?
In the course of a conversation between Kandra and Beth regarding the need so many small businesses have for proper branding, they began to brainstorm about the issues that small business owners face when it comes to branding. For example, many small companies will find a designer who charges only a few hundred dollars, and the design they end up with doesn't look professional, and doesn't represent their brand the way they need for it to be . Some cliches are cliches because they're true – you get what you pay for and a bad brand is in some cases even worse than no brand at all.
Another set of small business owners pay much more than a few hundred dollars, and are still not branded appropriately, so they have to start the whole process over again, pouring more and more money into this black hole, without ever really grasping the true problem.
Our intent is to use this contest as an opportunity to show small business owners how the branding process can benefit their companies, how the process should work, and what to look for when hiring contractors for this type of work.
To do this, we want to take one client, a business that is doing OK and has promise, but hasn't broken through yet to the level of success that they deserve, and walk them through the process of building a strong brand in a very public way. We want to demonstrate the power of great branding, but also show the local small business community how the process works – how you build a great brand from scratch
Why a contest?
Once we identified the need in the local business community for a stronger awareness of the importance of branding and identity, we knew we needed to come up with a way to showcase our dedication to building this awareness. We wanted to do it in a way that would generate a lot of interest, so that members of the community would be invested in learning this information.
We felt that the best way to demonstrate the concept would be to go through the branding process with one company, publicizing every step for the maximum educational impact possible. We needed a tool that would simultaneously generate interest and excitement in the community, and help us choose a company to work with. A contest seemed the natural choice.
Who is eligible to participate?
Small businesses with 100 or fewer employees in the 7 county Denver metro area (Broomfield, Boulder, Arapahoe, Jefferson, Denver, Adams and Douglas) who have had their business registered in the State of Colorado since January 1, 2007. They must also be privately owned and operated. They cannot be a part of a franchise. For complete eligibility, visit www.denversmakingthebrand.com .
Who can nominate a business?
Anyone can nominate a business, as long as the business they are nominating meets the eligibility requirements. Business owners and employees of businesses can nominate their own businesses. If someone other than a business owner is nominating a business, the business owner will receive notification that they have been nominated and by whom, and that they must accept the nomination to be officially entered in the contest.
How do you nominate someone?
Beginning at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, 2008 through January 31, 2008, log onto www.denversmakingthebrand.com and submit an online nomination.
How did you come up with the contest name, Making the Brand™?
Great brands don't happen by accident, they're built, through a comprehensive process. In other words a great brand is made, and our contest would literally demonstrate to our small business community how to go about making their brand.
This will be an annual contest in Denver and we hope to launch it nationwide, so we added Denver 2008 to the name Making the Brand™.
What does your logo mark represent?
The mark represents the mission of Making the Brand™ – to support the local small business economy through successful branding. The mark consists of a large circle – the stage for a successful, well branded company. The four smaller circles contained within symbolize the components used to create that successful brand – strategy, creativity, community and opportunity.
What does your tagline represent?
Before a designer can create a successful brand, or a copywriter can write effective brand messaging some big picture thinking needs to take place. This big picture thinking is the brand strategy. It's the result of a collaborative process where the vision of the business is hammered out, the ideal customer or client is identified, the competition is analyzed, and the market is thoroughly researched.
Creativity signifies the creative aspects of designing a brand image and writing brand messaging.
Community represents the importance of the small business community to us and to any successful brand. It symbolizes our desire to give something back to those who have supported and helped us build our own successful brands and businesses.
When strategy, creativity and community work together in harmony, great Opportunity is created. By presenting Making the Brand™, we intend to create for the small business community an opportunity – to realize the importance of an effective brand from name, to logo, to messaging, and to give one lucky business owner the opportunity to receive the benefits of great branding for free.
Why did you limit it to small businesses under 100 employees?
Typically, companies with fewer than 100 employees do not have an experienced marketing team on board. These are the companies that will benefit the most from our skills and from the information they glean from watching the contest play out.
Why just the Denver Metro market and not the whole State?
Because our three companies are local, we wanted to show our dedication to the many small businesses in our own back yard, and our gratitude to the local small business community who have supported us and made our successes possible.
Can people submit an entry by mail?
No.
Why not?
This is an online contest only. We anticipate hundreds, if not thousands of entries. To ensure that all entry forms are completed properly and legibly, and to allow for efficient processing of entries, we have decided that online forms would be most efficient to administer.
What if a business owner does not have access to internet to do an online entry?
In this day and age, most serious and promising business owners do have access to the internet. If a nominator does not have internet access, they can go to their local library and submit and entry online.
What is the process you will use with helping the winner with their new brand?
The three Contest Presenters will meet with the winner for a brainstorming session during which we will perform a thorough analysis to identify the winner's target market and competition. We will also perform a SWOT analysis.
Based on these analyses, CreativeXchange Marketing will work closely with the winner to develop a brand strategy and marketing plan. Concurrently, the creative aspect of the project will begin as Phases Design Studio and The Write Stuff use information gleaned from the brainstorming session to generate visuals, and brand messaging.
The Brand Sponsors will be called upon whenever appropriate during this process.
One of the goals of Making the Brand™ is to demonstrate for the local small business community how the branding process works. The winner will for all intents and purposes be a client of the Contest Presenters and Sponsors, and we will work with the winner just as we would with any of our clients.
How and when will you be selecting/announcing the finalists and/or winner?
During the first two weeks of February we will be reviewing all the entries. From there we will select three eligible finalists who agree to all the terms of the contest. We will interview the three finalists and announce the winner on or before February 25, 2008.
Will you be notifying those who don't win?
Since this is an online contest, we will be collecting emails. We anticipate sending a “winner announcement” email to all contestants. Businesses who opt out of receiving email from Making the Brand™ will not be notified.
Additionally the winner will be announced to the press.
Will you be showing the winning brand?
Yes, it will be unveiled at a media event in the first week of June, 2008.
Where will the unveiling event be?
The location is yet to be determined.
Who is invited to the unveiling event?
Winner and guest, the two runners up and guests, all the media, and our other sponsors
Who are the other sponsors?
Currently our other sponsors are Mike the Internet Guy who is providing Search Engine Optimization for the winner's website; A Fine Photographer, who will be providing photography for the winner's brochure and website; Creative Touch Video Services who will provide the winner with a one minute web video commercial, Print Colorado who will be providing printing services of the winner's newly branded marketing collateral.
Brand and support sponsorships are still available. If your business would like to get involved, contact Beth Boen at CreativeXchange Marketing, 303-981-1541.
How did you find / select the Sponsors?
All Sponsors are members of our immediate community of marketing professionals. The Contest Presenters have worked individually or as members of teams with all the Sponsors to produce effective branding for local businesses.
Sponsors were approached for their exceptional dedication to quality work and customer service, and each Sponsor viewed participation in Making the Brand™ as an opportunity to assist small businesses in the local market.
How long have you been working together?
The Contest Presenters have worked together for approximately two years on projects of varying scales, from very small and simple to fairly large and complex. The common elements of all these projects have been high levels of mutual trust and respect, and quality branding.
What training do you have in the field, what about your partners?
Beth Boen of CreativeXchange Marketing went to college for marketing and has been working in sales and marketing for 20 years. Kandra Churchwell, owner and Creative Director of Phases Design Studio has 13 years of design experience, including stints working in a print shop, and teaching aspiring designers. Travitt Hamilton is a published poet and essayist with experience in business and technical communication and project management, in addition to 5 years running The Write Stuff.
How do you define a small to medium sized business?
The three Contest Presenters share the same target market – the small business owner who does not have, cannot afford and does not need a full time marketing staff. The medium-sized businesses we work with often have a marketing staff, but they are typically young, relatively less experienced, and in need of specialized skills in certain areas. Although subjective, we define a small businesses as having fewer than 100 employees and a medium sized businesses as employing up to 500 workers.
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