Since our founding in 2006, we have worked very hard to build a reputation for being truly committed to our clients’ success. We’ve worked on branding research projects for more than 150 colleges and universities in less than a decade and are proud to say that many of those clients have come back to us multiple times, digging deeper as they build their marketing strategies.
But there’s always been a challenging moment for us, that point where we’re asked, “What should we do with all this great data? Can you help us build out a creative concept that brings to life the brand strategy you helped us create?” And many clients have been disappointed we couldn’t keep moving forward together, nervous that something may get lost in the hand-off to another firm or that the momentum built by bringing stakeholders together might be lost.
And that is why we’re excited to announce that SimpsonScarborough is adding a new division focused on developing creative strategies, marketing and communications planning, branding, advertising, digital media and content creation.
Adding a creative division is a natural extension of who we are and positions us to provide an even higher level of service to our clients. This isn’t new territory. All four of our company’s partners have played senior roles in agencies that developed creative. And Vice President Jason Simon, who will head the new division, was the 2013 AMA Higher Ed Marketer of the Year. He led notable creative work and marketing strategies at multiple campuses and prior to that with corporate clients. We recruited Jason for the express purpose of helping the company move in this direction.
We will continue to do amazing market research work and are as delighted as always to work with clients who need only those services. But the research and strategy work we do will now give our team and clients an unmatched confidence in the creative process. Our creative work will not be based on two-day discovery sessions or drop-ins on campus that scratch the surface of our client challenges. There will not be unexpected leaps of faith or ho-hum outcomes. The integrated process we are building will truly allow us to deliver work that leads to real results.
We are going into this audaciously with intentions to do work that sets a new bar for our industry. That’s part of the reason that bringing The D4D on board was an easy decision. Not only has the firm done amazing work, but Creative Director Matt Checkowski and Jason have done that together previously. They developed an award-winning video series on University of California researchers that led to more than a million video views and major awards.
You can expect some updates in the near future on our own brand identity, website, social media and other ways we regularly stay in touch and keep you updated on higher education trends. We look forward to continuing to be your best partner.
