Howdy, we’re Ignite Partnership.

Here’s our deal: We provide the right tactic at the right price at the right location. And we execute those tactics in creative and memorable ways.

Here’s more of our deal. We’re an advertising and marketing agency with extremely respectable and competitive clients. And, we hone their edge on a daily basis. We specialize in awareness advertising, POP conversion, digital experiences, sales promotions, events, launch kits, installations and merchandising.

We zero in on market opportunities, so that what emanates from our clients is “first, best, only” communications. One of our favorite questions to ask is “What new and inventive technique should we be educating ourselves on?” And you can replace “technique” with “media”, “audience”, “technology”, etc

This approach allows us to pride ourselves on being conversation starters. At market and in the office. One day, we had an all-agency conversation on the future of cellular operating systems and the effect they would have on a key client. Another day, we discussed ways to improve direct mail. And today, we parsed the landscape of social media amalgamators.

And, yes, you read that right: all-agency. We’re nimble enough to manage endeavors like that. We also know that everyone on our staff is capable of coming up with a breakthrough idea.

We believe that product and service publicity at this cultural moment must possess personal resonance. That personal connection is coded into our agency DNA. We treat our clients like people and we take our work personally. If you have a particular communication or product-moving issue, give us a call and we will roundtable over cold cans of Miller Lite.

If your problem’s really big, a glass of one of Tripp’s awesome California reds.

Last night, I had a very curious food service situation arise. There’s this pizza place I really dig called Italia Express. I order from them regularly. They have excellent dough that crisps and puffs in all the right places. Their sauce is well-balanced and never too sweet or too salty. (As an 11-year Manhattan resident, sauce drift was an inevitable part of a much-loved pizza place becoming less-loved.) Their toppings are constantly fresh, and the green peppers are put on at just the right time to keep that slight bit of crunch. They manage their prices and you can get a real NYC-style extra large (18″) for $18.00. Compare that to Eno’s Local specialty pizza at $16.00 for 14″.

Let’s also compare the customer service of these two establishments. As I said, I order from Italia Express on the regular. The delivery guy knows me by name and voice. So, I was woefully confused about our customer relationship last night when I was not allowed to pay by check. I work in the service industry; I create and deliver advertising tactics and concepts. I know how important keeping a rich connection between me and my clients is.

With checks off the table, I did what any lazy, hungry person would do. I walked back over to where I left my wallet and took out cash. When I got back, I was steaming. I had to sacrifice my laziness to my hungriness. In America, we have delivery so that never has to happen. Also, since I’m a professional writer, I wrote the owner a short note about how inconsiderate this business behavior  was. When my delivery guy showed up, he apologized for the company, took my note and then tore off my name and email address, which I included for feedback. This was too surreal to warrant commentary.

Let’s look at Eno’s now. The very first time I ordered with them they were half-an-hour late. I only mentioned it to the driver, because I served pizza in Oak Cliff the year after graduating college. When you delivery drive, you’re supposed to spiral out, because the people who live furthest from the restaurant naturally expect their delivery to take longer. I live less than a mile from Eno’s. (It would be interesting to know what people think their response times are in terms of cooking vs. driving breakdown, but I digress…) This Eno’s driver came back unsolicited with a $10 gift card and an extra ice tea.

That business behavior proved crazy smart. I talked about my first Eno’s experience to all my friends. They recommended the shop to their friends. Eno’s response seemed unnecessarily generous and it was. Every action tells a story. Eno’s story is one about renewed and reinforced value. The Italia Express story is one of fearing your customer. I’m certain that Eno’s has gotten ripped off. And I’m equally certain Italia Express is turning a large profit.

What’s the moral of this story? One, at my age, I need to not order pizzas so big I have to freeze more than half of it. Two, Eno’s has a reasonably-sized pie made by people who value my business.

Behold the Egg

Last Thursday, we had a contest in the office to see who would decorate the greatest Ignite Easter egg. President Mike Covert and Executive Creative Director Jay Neuman served as judges. Out of 11 entrants, Josh Cooper, Account Exec Extraordinaire, emerged victorious with his ‘Corporate Shell-Out’ entry. As every agency creative assignment requires, there must be a rationale. Coop in side-splitting accuracy stated his egg “should have had more vibrant colors, but the clients thought they clashed with the required logos.” Yuk yolk yuk!

This is the time of year when children and adults alike get to wander into moments of discovery.

I have this yawning, persistent Internet obsession with uncovering easter eggs (lower-case). That being those random, happenstantial delights which bring a website into the realm of personal possession. Y’all know what I mean: easter eggs happen when you scroll over a word or image and a secret action becomes available.

For the amount of time we all spend online, there is luckily this reward system in place. Baseline exploration is complimented by INTENSE exploration. Should you want to know more, the righteous of the page programmers will provide you MORE.

So what does this exactly have to do with a marketing sub-environment? For starters, give people a reason to undress your brand. If an explorer can find a catch or zipper or button that takes him (and him alone) into unknown territory, then you have cemented the attention of a curious consumer who will probably pursue other of your brand secrets.

W+K had a hit TV/online campaign for their Dodge scavenger hunts. Smart. But, even smarter would have been to tease everyone to endeavor into an ever-shifting Internet landscape at one-tenth the cost, but with ten times the involvement.

Because…how often do you personally drive out to Yosemite versus how often do you personally drive your cursor over Facebook?

I bring this up as stage-setting, because I love the places cooperation has taken my ideas, my work, my career and largely my life. Sure could have said ‘no’ to a number of things I regret, but who hasn’t?

The thing that motivated me headlong down the path of the power of cooperation was developing an improv troupe in high school. Whenever I shoehorned my singularly funny line into a scene or undid an existing storyline, we bombed. We got a laugh, but we lost the audience. It took me MANY errors on stage to realize I wasn’t there for me entirely. I was there as a fraction of a team, who was there for an audience. Hardly a rocket science discovery, but when you’re adolescent, the big picture can be elusive.

Two practices I took away from that troupe have given me improved flexibility and bolstered my cooperative spirit.

The first is state the situation as it stands: I am on a spaceship running out of air. I am about to start a barfight. I am expected to put words on top of my professional colleagues who will provide art. Cooperation starts with a reality check. The head-swelling antigravity of advertising allows us to shoot off the floor and into the stratosphere. Define what is going on and what you personally will do to improve it.

The last is when someone changes the scene or–in my current job–defies my assertion, I ask them to repeat what they said, and then say it myself. (We deliver at warp speed in this business, which means we mentally create at faster-than-lightspeed, which means we speak out just slightly slower than that.) It’s easy to criticize someone without hearing those words come out of your own mouth. Give it a try. Something that seemed absurd when heard gains a lot of credence when you are the one saying it.

That’s it, I guess. A handshake. A pat on the shoulder. An open ear. Say you disagree when you disagree and leave it at that. And then, everything in your professional life sees the sun shining anew.

Now the flashback. A week ago, I was horsing around with Siri, Apple’s ubiquitous attempt at screenless telephony, with some colleagues. The commercials make this seem like the easiest, most efficient vehicle for data-gathering. This is not anywhere near the truth for now. In fact given the ease demonstrated in the commercials, Siri acted uncharacteristically obdurate.

But, the matter still stands that screens are not necessarily the de facto mode of technological interaction.

Things at Ignite have gotten more academic lately…in a good way. We started an agency book club, just wrapped up ‘The Creative Process Illustrated’ and are reading ‘Drive’ next. Our new interior design has opened up a massive amount of community space. And the agency has taken an additional charge to find the ‘shift’.

Mike Covert, our president, recently attended a lecture where the speaker went through the Ages of humanity: hunt/gather, agriculture, industry, information. Each of these was punctuated with a shift period before the subsequent one could begin properly. I think we all feel the tension of losing the comfort of our Age. Still, we have to not only look into the future, but act on behalf of it.

I love long bets. So, here’s mine. We are entering the Age of Interaction.

All the other Ages evolve from our relationship with our surroundings and not with each other. Today, our military ponders soft power. Nations are restructured via Twitter. An artist creates her opus out of interviewing people selling items through LA’s Penny Saver. We are just beginning to see what our machines can do.

They are reminding us of what we can do: http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146363/

1. Envision your perfect partner

Don’t be afraid to be picky. When you narrow down the characteristics of your perfect client, the more you can focus on impressing them. Listen closely, and then match their language. Trust us. You’re worth it.

2. Meet the right people where they hang out

You’ve heard this one before: Bars versus grocery stores. It’s not just being seen in trade advertising. It means putting your best foot forward with actual feet on the ground. Even one person dedicated to growing B2B sends a signal that you are ready to commit. Go to the trade shows your customers are interested in. Then buy them a drink.

3. Dress the way you want to be perceived

You don’t need an entirely different brand for corporate accounts. You just need that one accessory that tells your targets that they are being listened to in a different way. Make them feel special by elevating your corporate efforts with clear language (“Gold Club,” “Preferred,” “Plus”), a subtle visual cue and premium collateral that is bottom-line (theirs, not yours) focused. Also, invest in a lint roller.

4. Don’t be timid

Love is war, and so is business. Come on strong. Corporate customers are not low-hanging fruit. If their long-term strategies align with yours, you’ll make tons of money-babies in the future. Make an initial offer as attractive as possible, then seal the long-term deal with the kind of ongoing service that makes you impossible to break up with.

Ignite Partnership has been a matchmaker for lots of companies looking to show their B2B clients some love. Give us a call when you’re ready.

Ignite Partnership has seen a 2012 so far brimming with gains. 2000 square feet of cool new space. A number of new faces added to our proud stable of talent. And we are branching out into new categories day by day.

Like our calendar year with all those seconds dropped into some solar system piggy bank for the purchase of this extra day, we’ve been steadily building up to this point.

So, hurray.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of our system, we can grab a brand-new jar to start filling with seconds, moneys, ideas, energies and anticipation.

(And, happy birthday, Tony Robbins. We are all giddily awakening our giants within over here.)

A computer can’t be high-tech unless there’s Intel inside. Fisher-Price creates a beautifully majestic, open landscape with its sign-off: Play. Laugh. Grow. And every advertiser worth her salt appreciates the unapproachable honesty of the classic ‘Avis. We Try Harder’ campaign.

There’s a fundamental reason that potential is so powerful a message. That’s because we all possess it. Scientifically, work is Mass x Acceleration x Distance. That work is measured in joules. That pen sitting on your desk is ready to work. Just drop it on the ground. BOOM! Work.

We creative types would rather see that pen used for a different kind of work. We see the opportunity for work everywhere. Many of us draw rectangles on an already rectangular sheet of paper, because we can’t wait to activate that space’s potential. We want to convert ourselves into that something on the same level as an oven making a delicious cake, or a lump of coal pressurized into a diamond.

There’s no better feeling in this business than stumbling upon an ad that possesses sparkling clarity and eye-grabbing radiance. Granted, it is a rarity, but it is all the more profound for that reason.

Science can keep the joules. We’ll take the gems.

The scent of red roses fill the air. Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates line the shops. Delivery people are working overtime. Because it’s Valentine’s Day.

It’s the one day of the year when showing the love is mandatory. But what happens on those other days? Where is the love then?

An important marketing question for this occasion is: When do you show your customers love? Birthdays? Valentine’s Day? April Fool’s Day? Perhaps you make it a habit to show them how much they mean to you. Showing love doesn’t have to be a one-time thing. It can – and should – be a regular practice that builds a deeper relationship between you and your customers without smothering them in your branding.

Here’s another question: would your husband/wife/future spouse prefer a carload of tinted carnations that are wilted compost after 8 days OR a kiss on the lips accompanied with “Everyday I see how lucky I am that you chose me. But today I see it more than ever?”

They say it’s the little things that keep relationships going. Who cleaned out the dishwasher? Little things. Maybe you create a promotion for your most loyal customers. Or send a special message via Facebook, Twitter or email. Drop a custom note and gift in the mail. Actually pick up the phone and say “Hi there. You have been a critical part of this success, and this relationship just keeps getting better.”

While we are on this love topic, do you love your company? We sure do, here at Ignite. We can’t stand to call in sick. We go on vacation and shut off our smartphones, but we never shut off our ideas…our creativity. Our passion.

Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart.