It may just be us, but we get a bunch of clients who come to us with requests like this:

“I need a new print ad.”

“I want a Facebook presence and a really compelling social media campaign.”

“Our website blows, can you redesign it?”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with any of those requests. Not inherently. And yeah, there are tons of agencies that’ll simply toddle away and come back to you with ideas for an ad, a social media campaign, or a website. And that’s perfectly fine, too, as long as those requests are grounded in solid strategy.

But most of the time, they aren’t.

Here’s the difference. If you come to us and say, “I need a new print ad, based on the fact that print has always been our best response medium, and the magazines we’re in are holding up well in terms of size and quality of subscriber base, but our current ad is stale and it’s not pulling,” that’s wonderful. That’s strategic. And it’s very likely that a new print ad is really all you need. The only other question we might ask would be about your media buy, and if you’ve looked at sponsorship or partnership opportunities with the magazines’ online presence, since there are usually some interesting opportunities on that side.

But here’s how it usually goes:

Client: “We need a new print ad.”
Centric: “Cool. What’s up? Isn’t it pulling?”
Client: “Well, it’s kinda old.”
Centric: “But how is it doing, response-wise?”
Client: “It’s been falling a bit. I think.”
Centric: “How are the magazines doing? Have you looked at the subscription numbers and demographics lately?”
Client: “Well, no, but aren’t all print magazines kinda dying?”
Centric: “In many cases, yes. But if your media is dying, isn’t it time to look at another approach to get the results you want?”
Client: “Are you actually trying to talk me out of giving you money?”
Centric: “Nope. We just want to get the best results. Now, what exactly are you trying to do here…”

And so we find out what’s really happening with their marketing, and we can make suggestions about how to better spend their budget.

This is what strategic marketing is all about: making the most of your outreach, so you can meet and exceed your goals. And this is how we approach every project–not simply reacting to a request, but actually looking to understand the needs of the campaign.

Strategic marketing isn’t hard, either. It’s usually just a repetitive application of one question: Why?

Here’s how it works. Let’s suppose your CEO has just read an article about the wonderful new world of social media marketing, and storms into your office, saying, “We have to have a Facebook presence! Get me an order of that social media marketing right now, pronto!”

Now, you may not want to get up in the face of your CEO and start asking him, “Why?” But you may want to bring in an agency that can ask questions like:

“That’s great. Will you be the first company in your industry up on Facebook? If not, how are your competitors doing? Oh, hey, look, one of them has 87 likes. You know, that’s not so great. And have you thought about the staffing needs for social media? Ah, you didn’t know this was a full-time job. That’s cool, there are some companies that are doing pretty well with Facebook. But there are a lot of failures, too, so let’s talk about what you really want to accomplish here.”

And then, in the end, if it’s right for you to have a Facebook campaign, you will.

But if it’s not, you won’t. And your marketing budget will be free to be invested in vehicles with a better return.

It seems that every time we talk to someone these days, they’re looking for the home run. The big score. The thermonuclear event. The Big Deal That Changes Everything.

This isn’t just in the course of business, either—I can’t tell you how many twentysomethings I’ve heard repeat the phrase, “I want to do something huge, world-changing. Like Google. Like Facebook. Like Apple.”

That’s when I usually say something like, “Hmm, that’s strange. When I was a kid, I was taught that you start small, work hard, and overdeliver on everything you do, and—over time—you’ll build to a level where you can realize all your dreams.

And they scoff. “That’s old-school. All I need is a Big Idea.”

Yeah. A big idea. And capital investment. And the right team. And the great good luck not to be left back on the floor with a lot of other big ideas, like Friendster and WebVan and Beenz and Pets.com and Second Life and Plurk and Yammer and Orkut and Digg and and and . . . the reality is that for every Facebook, there are ten dead high-profile competitors, a hundred dead you-may-have-heard-about-thems, a thousand ideas that made it online, ten thousand people who started building something, a hundred thousand who sketched on napkins, and a million or more who had the same big idea, but never really did anything about it.

The point is: hitting a home run isn’t about a Big Idea That Changes Everything. Like in the real world, a home run is the product of decades of training, years of extreme competition, the perfect conditions for the hit, and more than a little bit of luck.

Betting on a home run with no training, experience, or imperfect conditions is kinda like buying a lottery ticket. Sure, it might happen, but the odds are astronomical.

We’ve been fielding a lot of questions around QR codes lately, ranging from “I want one!” (not really a question) to “What are these things?” and everything in between. For the purposes of this article, I’m not going to discuss the other 2D codes (MS Tags, etc.) – maybe we’ll follow up with a comparison later. For now, deciding if QR codes are right for you really comes down to two questions:

• What’s your target demographic?

• How are you using them?

First, let’s step back a little and explain what QR codes are. If you know what QR codes are and what they do, you’ll probably want to skip down to where it says “SKIP TO HERE.” For everyone else: a QR code is a 2-dimensional barcode. In other words, it does not just read left to right like a traditional code – it also reads up and down (a second dimension).

So, how do you read these things?

Step 1: Get a smart phone – iPhone or Android (yes, other phones have readers but, I’m not going to cover those here).

Step 2: Get a QR code reader – this is what will interpret the QR code. I prefer i-Nigma personally. So, for ease of use, point your smart phone browser at one of these to download it:

iPhone (or open Safari on your phone and type:  http://bit.ly/hjsFb8 )

Android (or open your browser and type:  http://bit.ly/igjaEk )

Step 3: Launch the i-Nigma app. This will open your phone’s camera.

Step 4: Point your camera at the QR Code above.

That’s it. You should now be looking at a mobile website.

You’re probably thinking: yes, that’s cool, but what can I do with it? That’s a loaded question. So, let’s start with the basics. You can:

• Take someone to a website
• Give them a message in plain text
• Give them a phone number
• Send a Text Massage (pre-populates only. The user still has to click send).

—–SKIP TO HERE—–

Now, hopefully everyone is on the same page. So, let’s go back to the main question: Are QR Codes Right for You? According to Mobio ID, the most avid users are between 35-44 (25%) years old and skew heavily toward women (64%).  However, my guess would be that the uptake of users between 18-24 will grow most rapidly in the coming months / years.  So, think hard – is this your primary or secondary demographic?  If not, you should probably move on for now.

That brings us to the next question: How are you going to use QR codes? This is essential. In today’s high-tech society, people want something memorable. That doesn’t mean expensive. But, if you slap a QR code on a package and send the user to the product manual – I promise they will be underwhelmed. If you don’t have a great idea or budget…WAIT. It’s better to be late to the game than disappoint early.

So, how do you make a QR code campaign memorable? As far as I’m concerned there are two parts to this. The first is how you present the code. The second is deciding how you reward the user for scanning the code.

The presentation of your QR code is essential to get people to scan it. This may be a plain black and white code or it may be a fully custom code. For example:

The whole point of presenting the code is for people to scan it. You may want to “hide” the code a bit where users are rewarded for identifying the code. Or, you may want to make it prominent so that everyone can easily see it. Deciding which of these paths is correct is really determined by the product and campaign.

So, once the user has scanned a code, what do you do with them? Well, that’s really like asking “How big is a box?”. You can do Augmented Reality, games, video, mobile pages, scavenger hunts, coupons…just about anything you can imagine. If you are interested in specifics for your product / campaign, we’d be happy to talk them over with you.

Would you name your business after a profane word?

Of course not! That’s total insanity! Nobody would do that! It would absolutely guarantee death and destruction in the marketplace, as well as a storm of lawsuits in this litigious world.

Or would it?

You know, the one thing we’ve lost, in these years where we seem to be hellbent on taking all the sharp corners off of everything, where everything has to offend as few people as possible, where every single sentence is pored over by the marketing team, then management, then the legal team, each seemingly determined to remove any trace of personality, is simply this: audacity.

Nobody has the audacity to come up with something as groundbreaking as the original Ford Mustang, where John DeLorean simply made up the research data to support his gut feeling that this would be a hot seller. The result? 1.2 million cars sold in 2 years. That’s more than today’s Camry, by the way.

It took a broken-backed, near-to-death Apple to bring out the first iPod and set them on a course to dominate the consumer electronics marketplace. If they’d been selling like Microsoft, would they undertaken such a radical strategy shift? Probably not.

In virtually every business realm, insane and incessant benchmarking and comparison against the competition eliminates innovation. “Oh my, they have a “PRODUCTS” tab on their website! Maybe we should have one too!” “They have 1.2 GHz, make sure ours is 1.2 as well!” “They’re doing launches with these marketing components, make sure we do the same thing!”

The big problem with this: it assures is that you look exactly like the competition. And if you look exactly like the competition, why would anyone choose your product or service over theirs?

And yes, I know, I know . . . ya gotta go with the flow, the CEO wanted it that way, you can’t speak up because you wouldn’t work there anymore, you don’t have the authority to do that, the agency decided to play it safe, etc, etc. There are a million excuses, each fit for an age of reduced expectations.

But what if you did take a risk?

What if you decided to really be audacious?

What if you threw away the comparisons, and did what you knew is right?

That’s what we did when we launched a new made-in-the-US headphone amplifier company. Yes, you heard that right. Made in the USA. Not only that, they had an audacious value proposition: “Made in USA, for Chinese prices.”

Think about that. Think about how simple that is. Anyone can understand that value proposition.

But. You have one shot in a crowded market. And that market is full of skeptics, ready to dismiss any and all claims. And you don’t have an infinite marketing budget. In fact, you don’t really have much of a budget at all. So how do you brand the company, and how do you position it?

In our case, we decided to name it after our first reaction to the dead-simple value proposition and great-looking products: holy shit!

That’s right. The company’s name is Schiit.

Crazy, yes. But also very, very smart. As in, “That’s some really cool Schiit.” Or, “You aren’t going to believe this Schiit!” Or, “Everything else ain’t.” Or any number of fun puns and plays on words. It led to a forthright, no-apologies, tongue-in-cheek, we-don’t-take-ourselves-too-seriously tone that influenced everything we did.

And, you know what? It worked.

Holy Schiit did it work. The company exploded onto the scene less than a year ago, and is already one of the top brands in the space. No. Stop. Read that again: in 8 months, they went from nonexistent to a top brand. Yes, it is a small space. But it’s very crowded. And the outreach budget was essentially zero. Word of mouth (and, yes, chatter about the name) on focused internet forums drove pretty much the entire marketing campaign.

And we learned a few very surprising things. One was that the old adage of “people don’t read the website” isn’t necessarily true. You’d be surprised how many potential customers clearly read every single page of the Schiit website.

Why? Because it wasn’t stuffy, boring, pompous, or corporate. Here’s an example from the FAQ:

Why the hell do you need a 6 watt headphone amplifier?
Why the hell do you need 400 horsepower? Why the hell do you need bacon-wrapped hot dogs? Why the hell do you need anything that’s fun and exciting in life? Face it, you don’t need anything. You should renounce all your worldly possessions and become a monk.

“You must have had negative reactions!” You’re probably saying. “How did you deal with them?”

Short answer: we had much less negative reaction than you’d expect. And, you know what? If someone is so humorless as to be offended by a word (that, by the way, is completely meaningless to the vast majority of Earth’s population), and can’t see the value of made-in-USA-for-Chinese-prices, hey, maybe they aren’t such a hot customer to begin with.

So. Throw off the chains. Stop comparing. And start thinking: it’s time for audacity again.

There should be a saying that goes something like, “Beware the ice cream man in January: what he sells may seem tasty, but it ain’t what you need on a cold Toronto night.”

What does this have to do with marketing?

Okay. Let’s say it’s another perfect day at your office. As head of marketing, you’ve just successfully launched your great new UltraProduct, and it’s cleaning up in sales. Response and conversion rates are looking good, and the campaign is cool enough that it’s also picking up some word of mouth buzz. Nothing could be better!

Until the SEO guys come to call. “You know, you could have done all of that cheaper with SEO! Why don’t we sell you some SEO right now!”

Or until the Social Media Consultant comes to call. “Hell, you’re missing the biggest opportunity out there. Did you know Facebook has eleventy billion people on it now? Did you see our report that shows each Like is worth over $100? Why aren’t you taking advantage of this great opportunity? Why don’t we sell you some social right now.”

Or until the Mobile App Developer shows up. “Ya know, you could make even more money selling that through the App Store and Android Market. Why don’t we sell you some app development right now?”

Suddenly, your day isn’t perfect. Look at all those wonderful opportunities you’re missing! How could you possibly market without them? You have to get some of that right now!

But wait. You’re not going to be stampeded by the shiniest new thing on the block. You’re a savvy marketer. You already have campaigns in place, and an ad agency that has been making noises about that cool new stuff.

But these guys have charts! And graphs! And white papers!

And they’re persistent. They come back! Again! They talk about that great new movie they worked on, and show you some mind-blowing numbers for clickthroughs and time on site.

But you’re still not convinced. How does it work with the rest of my marketing, you ask?

“No problem, this can be separate, just buy now.”

You cross your arms. But how do I compare it with the results I already have?

“No problem, we have our own metrics and reporting platform, just buy now.”

Now you’re getting irritated. But what about other programs? Is this the right thing for our company?

“Of course it is, just buy now.”

Because when you’re only selling a single thing in marketing, obviously that single thing is the best possible answer for all marketing needs.

Just like, when you’re selling only ice cream, it doesn’t matter what season it is.

“There’s an app for that.”

On hundreds of millions of iOS and Android devices, that’s the rallying cry. Want to identify the tune you just heard on the radio? Get free directions on a 3D rendered cityscape? Scan barcodes for comparison shopping? Play Angry Birds? Measure EMF? Perform audio analysis? Make music? Amuse your cat?

We’re coming up fast on a million apps in the wild, with a dizzying array of capabilities, categories, and prices. And, if you’re like most marketers, you’ve probably asked yourself, “Is an app for me? Can this help me spread the word about my products? Get new customers? Earn new leads?

The answer, as typical in marketing, is an enthusiastic, “Maybe!”

First, though, consider this: we’re currently just starting the first wave of automated app-builders like AppBreeder. This online service promises “An iPhone and Android app without programming, in just a few easy steps!” And free, too!

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Yep. Until you take a look at the history of “easy, free tools.”

1980s: Desktop Publishing means easy, free typesetting and graphics for everyone! Yes, except for one tiny catch: without graphic design talent, desktop publishing was only a shortcut to a bizarre mess of 35 fonts in 50 styles, all on a single page. End result: graphic design is still very much alive and well, and the best designers are in high demand.

1990s: EZ Web Builders mean you can do easy, free websites with no programming at all, ridding everyone of all that pesky HTML and surly programmers! Yep, except for the terrible, error-ridden code, the steep learning curve, and the fact that any tool can’t stay ahead of an evolving web development environment. End result: web programming is thriving.

2000s: Mak-Ur-Own-Widget online widget building tools means everyone can make web and desktop widgets, easy and free! Well, that is if you’re interested in a simple RSS or video player widget. And if you’re OK with the limited platform and sharing options. End result: if you’re still serious about widgets or Facebook apps, you’re going to a developer.

And now, here we are:

2010s: AppBreeder breeds apps like rabbits, making iPhone and Android apps easy and free. Now every band, realtor, bar, and gas station can have their own app! Well, as long as you’re OK with their extremely limited customization options and single-note functionality.

What will be the end result of online services like AppBreeder? Lots and lots more apps. And that’s fine. But when people discover the limited functionality of those apps, will they use them? Will Suzy Realestate ever get more than three users (all from her own family) for her real estate app? Maybe. And maybe not.

“Well, that’s fine, you surly old cur, but how do I know if I need an app?” You may be saying. “Maybe an app is exactly the kick in the pants my marketing needs!”

Maybe. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to determine if an app is for you:

1. Do I have a unique service, product, or technology that isn’t already on the Apple App Store and Android Marketplace? If you do, you’re a prime candidate for app development. If not, maybe not so much, unless you can answer “yes” to #2 below.

2. Do I have a product or service with a unique, engaging personality that is constantly developing new content that can be pushed to mobile users? If you aren’t providing a service, you’re providing content. If you’re set up to constantly feed content, great! If not, not so much.

3. Do I have the budget to engage a professional app developer to develop the app? You’re not going to get a ton of users from a free app. Sorry. It just ain’t gonna happen. AppBreeder, prove me wrong. Using celebrities doesn’t count.

4. Do I have ongoing budget for app updates? An app is software. Repeat that a bunch of times. Software isn’t released once, it’s updated on an ongoing basis. Are you budgeted for this? If not, steer clear.

5. Do I have personnel or budget for app support? Get into apps, and you’re a software company, and software requires support. Do you have people that users can call when the app doesn’t work, or doesn’t install, or they don’t know how to use it? If not, apps may not be for you.

Okay, if you’re a consumer marketer, skip this post. We ain’t talking to you. This is for the B2B marketers in the room. For you guys, we have one very simple message: Resist the siren call of social media!

By now, you’ve probably heard about Facebook’s traffic surpassing Google. You’ve been barraged by dozens of social media experts, all loudly proclaiming the End of Advertising As We Know It, the Rise of the Consumer, and the Importance of Conversations. It’s easy to decide, “Hell, I gotta get in there now!”

Not so fast.

We’ve written about the pitfalls of social media for B2B before. The cost of having an agency do it. The staffing requirements. The new channel you’ve just opened, one that may suck resources away from customer service and sales. And the harsh reality: a few hundred likes and a year later, it hasn’t moved the needle one bit, when you look at your Google Analytics and track your actual prospects or sales.

Can it be different? Sure. But, if you’re like most B2B companies, consider these three options instead. All three are easily measurable, and have a proven record of delivering results–and, best of all, they don’t require a staff of three Facebookers/Twitterers/YouTubers to administrate.

Direct Mail. Ah, I can hear it now. BOOOORRING, you’re saying. That’s because you haven’t done some fun, high-end, uber-targeted, dimensional or experiential direct mail before. We’re talking things from mailing tubes full of “secret” documents to photos only visible with 3-D glasses, to video presentations sent on an iPod, to a prepaid red cellphone with a direct line to the agency. These highly targeted direct pieces work amazingly well. And, ask yourself: if you’re selling $50,000 worth of parts, $100,000 software, or $1MM capital equipment, who is your most important prospect? The new exec cruising Facebook, or the COO?

Adwords. I can hear the howls about this, too. “I’ve tried AdWords, and it doesn’t work!” “I don’t understand what we’re paying for!” “Search isn’t where our customers are looking!” To which we reply, in order: “When?” “You’re agency isn’t doing it’s job, then?” and “How did you determine that?” Fact is, Adwords today isn’t like it was 5 years ago. Or even 5 months ago. It’s a changing, dynamic ad platform that allows you to target search results, mobile devices, specific websites, and even television. You didn’t know about those capabilities? Well, maybe it’s time to take another look. The reporting is straightforward, and yes, your audience is looking, no matter how obscure your discipline is. Would you believe we can generate several hundred inquiries (not clicks) per month, for terms like “organic perishables distribution?” Yes. If you’re shorting AdWords, you’re shorting your entire marketing campaign.

Mobile-Accessible Site. Okay, you’ve done high-end direct mail and your AdWords are humming. Now it’s time to step up your web presence. And with more people accessing the internet via phone than via computer by the end of the year, it’s time to make sure your site has a good mobile template. And yeah, I hear you already. “Our buyers aren’t phone-browsers, they’re seasoned business executives!” Yes. They are. Executives who surf on their iPhone and Android devices in airports, while waiting in restaurants, in traffic, everywhere. Are they getting the best experience of your site on their phone?

Are there other things you can do? Sure. If your technology supports it, it may be time to dive into a full mobile application, or even consider things like augmented reality.

But, unless you are the exception to the rule, social media probably won’t move your B2B needle.

So, it’s that time of year again. Clients and partners start asking us, “So, what’s the next big thing?”

Sometimes I think they’re hoping we’ll say something like, “Well, it’s this new platform, OMGWFTBBQ.com, that combines auto-generated creative with positive-only social commentary to spread the word about your new product completely free! Even better, it has conversion rates 10X higher than any other media platform we’ve ever used. Plus, it requires no oversight or management at all, so you don’t even need to hire staff!”

Yeah. Putting aside the fact that a platform like that would make both ad agencies and marketing departments completely obsolete, I wish the answer was that easy. I wish we could point our finger at one single thing and say, “Yep, this is it. This is what we have to pay attention to.” But marketing is so personalized, so specific to your products and your audience, that there’s no one single thing we can point at.

So, let’s take a look at some of the things that we should be paying attention to.

1. The Evolving Mobile Landscape. The big thing for 2011 (and the coming years) is simply the evolving mobile landscape. Like it or not, there’s a gigantic shift in how people use information. More people will access the internet by phone than PC by the end of 2011, according to some pundits. Mobile, location-based services are growing exponentially. The Android/iPhone battle has only just begun. Paying attention to opportunities in mobile could potentially pay off big for your company—even if you don’t think you cater to the “typical” mobile browser. Consider:

a. Is there a mobile version of your website, easily accessible via iPhone/Android browsers? If not, you may be missing more and more opportunities from mobile users?

b. Do your customers use location-based services, and should you be engaging with them?

c. Should you be advertising specifically to iPhone, iPad, and Android phone users? If you aren’t, are you missing a potentially lucrative audience?

d. Do you have specific functionality or services that lend themselves to an iPhone/Android application, and is there interest in such an app among your customers and prospects? Even in the B2B world, sharing your capabilities on a mobile platform could bring significant competitive advantage.

2. The Social Shakeout. Facebook and Twitter continue to grow, Foursquare is trying to take your social mobile, and new commerce-related offerings like Groupon are changing the way people interact with each other–and your business. At the same time, Facebook is evolving and changing its capabilities, Twitter is emerging as a great platform for celebrities–but maybe not much else, and giant companies have chosen not to engage in social at all without any ill effects. Think Apple, which simply doesn’t play in social. Also think AT&T and their disastrous Facebook presence. Don’t these guys know they’re one of the most-hated companies around? What can we take away from this:

a. In some cases, it may make sense for your company to engage in one or more of these platforms. Do you have a truly groundbreaking product or service? Do you have a refreshing attitude and amazing creative that people like to share? Do you have the resources in-house to maintain the conversations, or an agency to be your voice? In this case, maybe you should be on all the social platforms.

b. In other cases, it makes no sense at all to get involved in social. Are you a B2B industry? Selling commoditized products? Possibly have some negative customer experiences in the past? Already overstressed and overworked in the marketing department, and no budget to hire an agency? Then stay out of social. It’s that simple.

3. Truly Useful Augmented Reality. Yes, it sounds like something out of a science fiction novel, but truly useful augmented reality is starting to appear. Let’s start with WordLens, which translates words on pages, signs, billboards, etc in real time–and places them in situ, replacing the original words. That’s a far cry from apps that let you try on different sunglass styles or play with a 3D model of a camera.

Don’t see the relevance? Ask yourself how long it’ll be before advertisers are bidding on the real-time replacement of keywords in our retinal projection displays. Or, to be more down-to-earth useful, how long will it be before a aircraft technician can point his smartphone at a engine assembly and watch a 3D overlay disassemble in real time? There’s a gigantic opportunity here.

The catch? Price. Augmented reality still isn’t cheap or easy. Bring 6 figures to start. But, as new platforms proliferate, and as production becomes easier, expect the price to drop.

4. The Death of Flash. A couple of years ago, a super-slick Flash website with embedded games, music, video editing, and a bunch of other neat features was the ne plus ultra of consumer and entertainment marketing online. Today, it’s a land-locked dinosaur, irrelevant when compared to slimmed-down, contextual mobile applications. Flash is dying because it doesn’t serve as a gateway to mobile. If you’re going to put big money in Flash, you better have a very good reason for it.

So, is that all? Of course not. There’s a ton of interesting things going on right now, from game-based traffic-shaping mobile applications to browser-based access to 3D virtual worlds, to crossovers between augmented reality and branded entertainment.

But the big questions remain: Are they relevant to you? Will they move the needle in your marketing goals?

Maybe. And maybe not.

Here at Centric, our creative team isn’t headed by a creative director. Yes, you read that right. We don’t have a creative director. Instead, our creative lead’s title is “Managing Partner, Strategy.”

This sometimes gets us some funny looks.

But it makes complete sense. Creativity in the service of business is strategic. How do you get the attention you need for you new product launch? How do you clearly stand apart from your competitors, instead of being a me-too business? How do you show your prospects, at a glance, where your company fits, and how you can help them?

These are all strategic questions–but they’re also creative questions. You can’t separate the goal of “getting attention,” “standing apart,” or “clearly communicating” from the way your website looks, what your ads say, how your interactive ads work, the overall theme of your campaign. It’s impossible. Creative and strategic are permanently entertwined.

Tired Ideas Aren’t Creative—or Strategic

Now, this doesn’t mean that all creative has to devolve into boring, long-form, hard-sell direct models. In fact, we’ve found that the more awe-inspiring and groundbreaking the creative is, the better it serves your overall strategic goals.

Read that again: the more amazing the work is, the more amazing the results will be.

This really shouldn’t be surprising. Doing the same old ads with the same old stock photos with the same old tired headlines, or the same old tabbed website with the same guys-in-suits-shaking-hands, or the same old postcard direct mail offers doesn’t move the needle. But doing something amazing, off-the-path, beautiful, stunning, or surprising will move it. Big time.

Strategic Creative Always Tests the Limits

Which is why, even though our creative is “strategic,” it always goes a lot farther than our clients expect. This is why we proposed mailing RCA video players to data storage executives worldwide to sell million-dollar capital equipment. It’s why we proposed launching Stargate in the virtual world of Second Life. It’s why we’ve done ads with bungee-jumping UPS men (in camera, natch) for software companies. And it’s why we built the Egyptian Pyramids out of oranges and Stonehenge out of vegetables for an organic food company.

Because, in each case, we took the time to understand each firm’s strategic need—and then asked ourselves, “How far can the creative go?”

So, ask yourself two questions: Does your creative serve your strategic goals? Is it stunning enough to have real impact?

If the answer to either is no, maybe it’s time to talk to us.

Well, now that we’ve launched McHale Design’s new website, it’s time for a new kind of showcase: our partner showcase!

The Importance of Partners

Why are partners important? It’s simple. When you’re working with a boutique agency like Centric or McHale, you need to know the agency has a roster of trusted, proven partner relationships in place. No boutique agency can do it all. Some are much better at design than development. Some specialize in a specific industry. Some are focused on broadcast or motion graphics. Centric is a great choice if you’re looking for strategically-driven, interactive-led marketing in a variety of industry niches. We do great sites and online marketing in-house, and we have the breadth to span from leading-edge social marketing to conventional print and direct.

But, let’s say you’re looking for something quite a bit different. Let’s say you want a stunning, design-led approach for your new toy or game. Would you come to Centric? Nope. You’d go to McHale. They have the experience, the track record, and the in-house creative skills to do what you need.

Oh, but you need an engaging site as well? That’s where Centric comes in.

The Centric-McHale Connection

Centric and McHale have worked together seamlessly on a variety of projects over the past few years, ranging from interactive websites to kids’ virtual worlds. Because of this, McHale came to us when it was time to re-do their website. They brought the design and functionality vision to us.

From there, Centric took over. We created the Flash site based on McHale’s design and overall vision, working closely with them to ensure it met their specific needs. We also suggested some significant enhancements to the site architecture. The Flash-rendered site is powered by an XML back end–which, in English, means that it’s easy for McHale to manage their rapidly-changing site sections with a standard content management system (CMS.) The result is a site combining the strengths of Flash (a fluid, seamless, graphic-rich visual experience) with the benefits of HTML (easy content management and updates.)

How You Benefit

Trusted partnerships like the ones between Centric and McHale extend the capabilities of both agencies. They also mean those agencies work well with others. There are no “turf wars” or “not invented here syndrome.” We know how to work together to deliver even more stunning projects for our clients.

And that’s the bottom line: we play well with others. So, if you’re out there, happy with your conventional agency but needing a significant boost in the interactive space, talk to Centric. We’ll work together with them to improve your results, rather than trying to win the entire account from them. Or, if you’re thrilled with your interactive partner but need an agency with real design chops in the toy, game, and kids’ market, talk to McHale. They’ll take your design to the next level.

Or, even better . . . check out McHale’s new site right now.