Smart Twenty-Something Seeks Partner for Meaningful Long-term Relationship

Business Cards

Well, now I have your attention, right? No, we haven’t started posting personal ads on our site. But there has definitely been some soul-searching happening at SicolaMartin leading up to our 25^th anniversary in 2010.

It actually began more than a year ago, even before the full impact of the global recession was felt across our business. We looked in the mirror and saw a slightly fuzzy reflection. So we asked ourselves this question: “Who are we?” We asked our staff, our clients and our partners. With a rich heritage in the local community, strength in serving the global technology industry, and an amazing culture, were we doing a good job of communicating our value proposition? Call it a classic case of the cobbler’s children with tattered footwear. It was time to re-brand and re-position SicolaMartin.

Our team, almost to a person, describes themselves as problem solvers. All the time, every day, people here like to get up to their elbows in other people’s business to figure out how to make their marketing succeed. Not just make ads. Or web sites or videos. But really make a difference for our clients’ businesses. And as the tools of our trade continue to evolve—the proliferation of social networks and the emerging opportunities on mobile marketing are a great example—we have evolved too. Our clients demand a wide array of services, so we must be extremely facile. The emerging and converging global communications channels require a digital business platform with better tools and measures, so we have invested in our infrastructure and leveraged the power of our network. Comprehensive services, digital focus, results-driven—all the right pieces, but what makes us different?

This is the difference: The core of our business is addressing the highly complex marketing challenges that come with our clients in industries such as hi-tech, financial services, supply-chain logistics and health care. We provide compelling solutions to help achieve business results. Each client has unique issues and opportunities. And the kinds of things we market rarely have the “shiny object” quality that makes it easy to appeal to the reptile part of the human brain (food, shelter, love, shoes—you know—the basics). We love that challenge. It motivates us to use the right and left sides of brains every day. Simply put, we make the complex compelling.

But our clients and our work are not the only things that make us different. We come to work every day in part because we truly believe in the people and the culture we have created here. We call ourselves Martians—a play on our agency moniker—and we live in world of playful space creatures and celestial bodies that reflect an essential attitude. We take our work very seriously, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. And we love what do. And that culture has helped us weather the changing tides of business for 25 years. So not only have we articulated our positioning, but we have brought our Martian world to life in our visual identity.

Some might look at this branding exercise as an act of self-indulgence for an agency. But in an increasingly crowded and competitive world, clarity in your positioning is not a luxury. We know this is true for our clients, and it is true for us. This is not Mad Men, it’s Mars. Welcome to our planet.