Well, folks, we made it! 2017 was an inspiring year and we couldn’t be more excited for the foundation that was put into place for 2018 of MMP, an advertising agency built for you, by you. If you think of what we’ve accomplished together it really is the beginning of a story comparable to the likes of David vs. Goliath.
MMP was started with a simple vision and a one-man band. An agency that wasn’t self-centered around our own cool factor, rather putting the extra elbow grease, time and effort in our client’s corner to find the truths behind how to make the most meaningful impact from advertising. Novel idea, right? We put every ounce of ourselves (and revenue) into resources that are unmatched by agencies ten times our size to help keep our clients aggressive in keeping up with today’s cross-platform consumers. Some in the industry call us crazy. But we’re ok with that. We’re designing an agency that fulfills our own dreams and what our clients desire. Here are some of the great stories that came out of MMP in the year that was 2017.
Clients:
*We helped bring in a new powerhouse brand with the introduction of Spectrum Healthcare Partners. With their inspiring vision and our collaboration, we were able to make enormous strides in their brand development.
*We helped the Maine Department of Agriculture reach their audience across new channels and increase attendance at Maine fairs all over the state.
*We loved working to help our friends at Investment Executives increase their local presence with a super targeted omnichannel media campaign.
*The guys at M3 rocked in their new online mentoring business with a social strategy that brought them in front of musicians across the nation.
*It has been an inspiration to work with the team at Portland Trust Company to develop social media strategies. We also can’t wait for you to see what else we’ve been cooking up in collaboration with our friends at p3 – coming to you in February 2018.
Partners:
We couldn’t be more grateful for the partnerships we’ve formed with colleagues in the advertising industry. This is what makes the collaborative community in Portland, Maine unlike any other city to do business in. From new relationships and mentors to working with some serious powerhouse groups we’ve looked up to for years, every one of them has been a gift to us in 2017.
*If you visit us in our new office on Fore Street in Portland you’ll get to know our partner Dan at Autumn Lane pretty well, that’s because we share an office! Autumn Lane provides the best web development tools and service. While he has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world, we work closely with him and his team on regional clients as well.
*We didn’t know Ashleigh LeBlanc of Pistil Brands before opening our doors, but man we wish we had! She was one of our first agency partners we made and has been a great mentor and friend. We have had so much fun working with her!
*It was awesome to work with the team we have looked up to for years at Blaze Partners. We collaborated with them to help with the omnichannel statewide media plan for their client Maine Energy Marketers Association. You likely had seen/heard their ads from Maine Energy Facts with Joe Cupo as the spokesperson this past fall and also Maine Technical Education Center (MTEC) to promote enrollment.
*I don’t know of a better way to wrap up a year than with the new partnership with Toderico Creative. Mike Toderico brought us into the conversation with the iconic brand we have much appreciation for, Sebago Brewing Company. We’re going into 2018 full force with Toderico Creative to bring a new level of audience insight to Sebago Brewing Company and we couldn’t be more excited!
Research & Development:
We opened our agency with more intuitive media buying software to help calculate measured reach and frequency across channels, and we only grew from there!
We became a comScore partner to allow us to measure audiences across programs and networks in real-time. It’s allowed us to provide more than “just a hunch” when placing advertising that many in the industry have rested on for years. This qualitative and quantitative data has been a terrific tool to help our clients get maximum impact from their advertising.
In the months that followed we expanded to online research tools that empower us to capture customer, product, brand and even employee experiences. It’s pretty cool as we test ads through online focus groups, and reach out to current or previous customers to inquire about their experience with the brand. This is invaluable insight!
Another tool we’re also really excited to have in our pocket for clients moving into 2018 is a social listening platform that helps us pinpoint the right audience for our client’s message. This will help us not only know which areas to look at to place their advertising, but also what types of creative to come up with. We’re always striving to find out more about audience insight and targeting. This is a leading software that some of the largest brands in the world have their hands on that is now available to MMP clients.
We have another really exciting development already in the works that will be available to clients starting later this winter. Prepare to take your audience engagement further down the marketing funnel. We can’t wait to share with you what we have!
The Dream Team:
Fortunately, there are enough good people who believe in our mission of building an agency with better service and insights that we’ve been able to grow our team.
Matty Oates came in the first two months of launching MMP with no hesitation to jump right in. Matty is a Partner of MMP and if we were into labels we’d call him our Creative Director because dang, he has a way of creating the perfect message. He’s a digital and social media guru, and possibly the most interesting person you’ll ever meet. No. but seriously, he is. He’s far too humble to acknowledge that so you’ll have to take my word for it.
Mike Folling is joining us in January 2018 and we couldn’t be more excited! He’s quite literally a digital mastermind that will help us manage campaigns in-house. We will be giving him a warm welcome as he moves to Portland from his latest venture in Southeast Asia. Now that folks is a commitment to seeing this dream agency succeed. We have a trip to L.L. Bean already planned to get him geared up in some warm flannel, don’t you worry.
More exciting new team members joining us soon! STAY TUNED.
What’s to Come for 2018:
While our clients may not know one another personally, we will strive to continue and be the common thread that ties our communities together through these businesses. Each success from our client’s will bring our own capabilities to service one-another to new heights. The ripple effect from each success will benefit us all. This collective approach to business is our focus in 2018, and with that comes a new brand identity for ourselves. My dream for MMP has always been to make this business bigger than myself and our new name coming in the first half of 2018 will reflect everything our client’s, strategic partners and growing team has supported us to be able and accomplish. We’re excited to keep pushing the boundaries and be in your corner for 2018 and beyond.
Malcolm Gladwell points out in his book titled David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, “As the playwright George Bernard Shaw once put it: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” To all the unreasonable ones out there, cheers. We’re here for you.
Happy New Year!
Chris Marine – Partner, MMP
