Grady Britton

It’s come to our attention that our blog is a little… lacking.

Very interesting in a “cobbler’s children have no shoes” sort of way. We preach the importance all day long to clients and prospects about remaining engaged, participating, openness, transparency, continuous sharing. So, what up GB?

Busted. But it got us thinking. Wondering if maybe the purpose of blogs has shifted? Ours clearly had. 2008 (okay, and ’09) was the year of Twitter and Facebook, and while Grady Britton itself could be filling those channels more too, the people of Grady Britton were certainly posting away. The ability to get these brief bursts of insight (and participation, etc.) out so quickly, so efficiently, I think took some of the “topical immediacy” our blog once had and channeled it more directly to our friends, fans and followers with a timeliness and brevity a blog couldn’t match.

So anyway. All that is a way-over-140-character way of saying stay tuned to the evolution of our blog, Intelligence. We think it’s going to be a cool little lab to test stuff in, reflect on what’s happening and hey… maybe even trot out some new shoes.

How’s that sound?

Starting July 31, 2009, GB welcomes in some exciting new Possibilities: four great people, along with seven very interesting clients.

Formerly with YRG (Young and Roehr Group), Becky Engel, Stacy Frey, Lacey Hinkle and Marion Margiotta are bringing added depth in strategy, account management and PR to an already strong GB team. The clients moving into our fold will benefit from GB’s inspired creative and interactive capabilities. Put that all together and it’s “Hel-lo, Possibility.“

The GB Grant for 2009 is on. Where one local PDX non-profit can profit from the creative juju and smarts that comes with Grady Britton. $25,000 of creative juju and smarts, to be exact.

Here’s a bit of what we did for last year’s winner, S.M.A.R.T.

So send your favorite non-profit our way for more info and an application. HURRY ›› APPLICATIONS CLOSE JULY 3, 2009.

Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. And those are probably just the ones you’ve heard of.

With the ever-multiplying list of social networks available for our audiences to engage with — and, let’s be honest, even Oprah’s talking them up — you need to know what Social Media is, who’s using them, and how they’re affecting your brands and business.

…continue reading ‘Social Media. Maybe you’ve heard of it?’

We’re so green we don’t even walk. 

Nice story from the Oregonian on GB’s move to the Eastside and the goings on in this growing, developing and newsworthy part of downtown Portland. That it happened to feature our own Frank Grady effortlessly gliding down the hall on his scoot, bonus.

This way to the article.

What if… what if we called it something else? It would still be home to all of our everyday musings and goings on. So it was still a blog but we gave it a tad more meaning. How about “Intelligence”? That is kind of the whole point of it.

Let’s go with it, see what happens.

What more fitting tribute to Labor Day weekend than… actual labor? After 18+ years on SW Washington, Grady Britton made the leap to Portland’s bustling Eastside to SE Washington over the long weekend.

We’ve been looking to change things up in our workday world for a while now; the big yellow Olympic Mills building with its focus on sustainability and creative industry, aligned perfectly with where we wanted to be and what we wanted to associate ourselves with.

Months of preparation and packing – recycling and rehoming old materials – became a reality when the moving trucks pulled up. In true “because we can” fashion, several of us decided to make the adventure more adventurous by loading up bikes and bike trailers for the move across the river.

Still somewhat of a work in progress, our new space is awesome and promises to be a stimulating new environment for us to shape our next 30+ years! Progress reports to come… but meanwhile, check out a sampler of the activity.

In addition to providing our world with sparkly new rays of advertising sunshine, they make great extras in your commercials. Your attention please at :28 in…

Our way of saying thanks to Bryan “What Talent Release?” Davidson and his two weeks with us.

A slowdown like the one we’re in isn’t fun for anyone. But it has inspired some interesting possibilities for how savvy marketers approach campaigns. If what we’ve been spending on is coming under such scrutiny, what better time to put how we spend under the microscope? All of this to ultimately connect better with our audiences (and prove our budgets’ real worth.)

For instance: First Independent was eager for new clients who’d open new checking accounts. As engaging as checking accounts are in and of themselves, we tweaked First Independent’s offering to be a checking account for Control Freaks.

A mobile texting campaign, initiated by a strategically placed outdoor board, along with TV spots on local cable, each prompted viewers to unleash their inner Control Freak online. All to spark engagement, connection with a brand – that paid off in new numbers for our client. It wasn’t about a blast of big budget; it was about applying the budget more creatively.

Another quick example: ICS, a company who makes concrete cutting chainsaws (yes, chainsaws that. cut. solid. concrete.!) needed help in getting awareness and acceptance in their construction market. Our solution: a viral web video twosome, along with real attention-getting print ads, that self-selected an audience who’d start the chatter after visiting the companion sitelet we developed. Dark, funny, and just right.

The point? You don’t have to hammer a medium to be effective; use each channel for its greatest strength. Create the right message for each channel. Then connect the dots. Connect one message to another, to another, to another so that each one spins up the momentum of the campaign effort, and ultimately, of your brand.

Cutting budget and going dark to your audiences is really not the relief you need in a tight market. Your audience is still there, and they’re looking. For engagement, for brands who get them. Understanding who your audience is, where they are, how they interact with your brand is where real creativity is today. Less wiggle room in a budget requires you to work a lot smarter – and potentially look even better than before.

And we can work with that, bigtime.