David Parker • MarketingMatters
MarketingMatters
By David Parker
T
he busyness of advertising, marketing and public relations agencies over the past year is a good indicator of the economic health of this city. When things go bad they are usually the first to suffer so it’s great to see companies in a growth mode again. A good example is Evans Hunt Group, a strategic digital marketing firm that doubled its space in the character Cooper Block at the corner of 10th Avenue and 7th Street SW. It has only been four years since Dan Evans and Bill Hunt formed their partnership after both having served in executive positions at Critical Mass, but their success has resulted in developing digital solutions for top global companies and a staff of 50 with a need for 11,000 square feet of working space. Yet there are times of day when you won’t find many of them there. Staff is offered a flexible work model allowing them to create when and where they feel most productive. No one quits. And on the Evans Hunt website there is a constant careers page encouraging applications from anyone who feels they could be a player on its all-star team. The new office is on the sixth floor of the building with open working space at one end and a number of meeting rooms on the west side. Many clients are out of town so hence the need for quiet conference call rooms. •••••••••••••• Foundry Communications also doubled its size in its move back to the Inglewood district.
Owner and creative director Zahra AlHarazi purchased a business condo in the beltline only a couple of years ago but Foundry outgrew it and took space in the new Atlantic Arts Block building. New hires to serve a growing list of clients – including Agrium, ATB, Heritage Pointe, National Energy Board, Brookfield Homes and Melcor Developments – needed more space. •••••••••••••• Randy Milanovic, principal at Kayak Creative, also reports his “online marketing game-changer” company is creating great success stories for its clients. New owners of Omni Circuit Boards inherited a complex, static website on which the largest text was the price. Within a month of Kayak working its magic, Omni was able to convert 50 per cent of leads and submissions were up 600 per cent over the previous web pages. Kayak’s new website for Elrus Aggregate Systems had a similar response and it also re-designed the website for Matco Financial to engage investors through inviting visuals, robust information and social media. Results show the quality score improved an astonishing 572 per cent. •••••••••••••• Fuse Creative partners Gordon Hawker, Monique Chernier and Chris Shaw are able to celebrate four good years in business thanks to long-term clients like Calgary Telus Convention Centre, Meetings and Conventions Calgary, and Superior Propane that Fuse developed consumer and commercial campaigns for in Atlantic Canada. It also meant Fuse has had to double its staff since its launch date. •••••••••••••• The Calgary office of Woodruff Sweitzer was a big winner in the Cana-
94 • January 2013 BUSINESS IN CALGARY | www.businessincalgary.com
dian Agriculture Marketing Association awards with wins in six categories, including Best of Show French for a website for Bayer HealthCare, and certificates of merit in four more. Its win in the product sales digital presentation category, created for Versatile Corp., was a QR code-based augmented reality tour. Woodruff Sweitzer also has offices in Kansas City and Columbia, Mo. •••••••••••••• Jason Au has joined Dialog as communications manager from Peak Communications. Jonathan Barnes, formerly with William Joseph Communications, is in the new role as sales manager for scaffolding and access solution company Armour Equipment. And Abugov Kaspar Architecture as hired Dan Ferguson as its director of marketing and communications. •••••••••••••• Visitors to Calgary have a wonderful welcome as they wait for their luggage at the interpretive carousels. Across from Tim Hortons – another great greeter – on the lower arrivals level is a display by Metrographics that promotes our many outdoor recreation areas; all made of the stuff we travel with. The 30-foot-long display uses hundreds of travel items such as cameras, cellphones, books, umbrellas and suitcases creating the massive moose. Parker’s Pick: RKA Visualization’s images and animation on Seton’s website is terrific.