Plan B™
The Agency Alternative
NOT AN AGING ‘TRADITIONAL AD AGENCY’ STRUGGLING TO REMAIN RELEVANT IN TODAY’S HYPER-DYNAMIC MARKETING ENVIRONMENT.
NOT A TECHIER-THAN-THOU ‘INTERACTIVE AD AGENCY’ HYPING ‘PIXELS-AS-MAGIC’ CREATIVE SOLUTIONS THAT ATTEMPT TO REPLACE BIG IDEAS WITH BELLS AND WHISTLES.
WE ARE A FULL-SERVICE, CREATIVE MARKETING THINK TANK FOCUSED ON OVER-DELIVERING STUNNING STRATEGIC INSIGHT, INNOVATIVE CROSS-MEDIA INTEGRATION AND FLAWLESS EXECUTION, IN THE POST-AD-AGENCY ERA.
IT'S TIME FOR A PLAN B™. We’re The Agency Alternative®, offering forward thinking marketing managers a hyper-efficient, full-service-on-demand and truly consultative partnership. Free of inefficient middle-management bureaucracy. Flexible in our operational structure and practices and independent of in-house bias, we blur the lines between corporate brand managers and our own specialized digital-age-marketing experts to build better, fully transparent working relationships. In fact, we’ve even built collaborative work spaces where clients and their Plan B project managers tackle projects together. Equipped with lap-top docks, wi-fi’d iPads, chargers, PWP/ftp access, video projection and more, these dedicated stations truly tear down the walls that stand in the way of great ideas. Consider us a next-generation alignment of just-right resources, with cross-specialty expertise, delivered with just-in-time efficiency. And unlike the ‘NOTS’ (listed above), at Plan B™ every project cycle is overseen by a dedicated SWAT team of project-relevant specialists with focused expertise in: Data-Driven Strategic Planning CRM Program Management Social Media Marketing (thru SociaLogic™) Interface and Experience Design Innovation-Focused Creative Scientific Knowledge Architecture Bottom-line Project Cycle Management Integrated Event Management SO…THAT is Plan B™. The Agency Alternative® Now let’s talk about you: You’re a marketer. An advertiser. A brand manager with ultimate responsibility for ‘making that cash register ring.’ You’re part scientist, part salesperson, part magician…and all about the bottom line. Like your own customers, these days you want, or better yet; expect, maybe even need — more for less — from your budget. Your not-so-simple responsibility, as an efficiency-minded marketer is to find and engage the best strategic minds and creative talent to insure your brands’ competitive advantage — while getting the most for your money from that talent. Achieving this elusive ‘more-for-less’ efficiency means getting the more; More big ideas, more innovation, more manufactured brilliance with less: Less wasted time. Less wasted action. Less misdirection. Fewer worries to keep you awake at night. Plan B® was founded upon, steeped in, and dedicated to, embracing the rigor required to deliver more-for-less — with a self-directing mandate we describe as ‘Value + Values = Invaluable.’ We’re all about efficiency. That just-right combination of the right size, the right team, the right timing and the right attitude to perform with maximum efficiency so that every marketing dollar you spend is managed as an investment that’s expected to yield a quantifiable return. Unfortunately, both the traditional Chicago Advertising Agency and its technology-spawned and highly-specialized step-children; the Interactive Advertising Agency or the Social Media Marketing firm — have evolved on margin requirements that depend on, if not thrive on, inefficiency; The nickel-and-dime-to-death, mark-up mania that’s necessary to support high-end real estate and technology acquisitions. The innumerable, sometimes unexplainable, and often obtusely rationalized number of hours billed against your budget for the redundant, overlapping efforts of well-meaning ‘specialists.’ The sometimes slow and often unsophisticated, junior-level strategic insights that gradually become more the rule than the exception — after the honeymoon ‘pitch’ phase is over — and the real work begins. Each of these examples of inefficiency is rooted in these marketing firms’ incapacity to provide a highly nuanced balance of cross-media marketing expertise. As our name implies, Plan B® is not your typical Chicago brand advertising agency, interactive marketing agency, or social media marketing agency. We were born of a recognition that these slow, sloppy standards, even when slathered in slickness are never going to effectively deliver against that ‘more-for-less’ mandate that you’re facing. At Plan B, we ‘get it’ and we get it done. Don’t get us wrong — there are plenty of good Chicago advertising agencies and Chicago interactive marketing agencies and Chicago social media marketing firms out there — as long as your budget can absorb their sloppiness. On the other hand, the Plan B® option means we'll structure a pay-for-performance relationship that makes our success contingent upon yours. The Plan B Chicago advertising agencies’ full-service blend of world-class traditional, technology-based interactive marketing, social media and guerrilla marketing management expertise has attracted vibrant, innovation-minded brands like Volvo, Virgin, Sprint and Wilson Sports who aren’t satisfied with flat sales or yesterday’s formulaic approach to mark-up based marketing support. Take a look at the client video testimonials section of our website and you’ll quickly find that whether it’s a website development project for Orbitz.com, Customer Relationship Management marketing program for Volvo, or a direct mail advertising program with integrated tracking mechanisms for Sprint — our ‘Value +Values = Invaluable’ mantra resonates within our clients’ own words when they speak of their satisfaction in having realized their own more-for-less mandates. We hope you’ll take a look at our creative portfolio and review some of the case studies that appear below. Subscribe to our Twitter feed. Join our LinkedIn and FaceBook Communities. Engage some of our staffers on the LiveChat platform (below). Get to know us. There’s never been a better time to start your own Plan B®.
Marketing Firms: Chicago, San Francisco
Welcome to Plan B Advertising, the agency alternative!
When it comes to marketing firms, Chicago is known as the home of some of the best in the industry. But even in this competitive market, Plan B stands out among the leaders.
While many traditional agencies consider interactive marketing little more than window dressing, and many digital agencies scoff at the time-proven principles of traditional advertising, Plan B embraces the best of both, seeking to find an ideal mix of technological innovation and traditional advertising savvy that makes an effective and motivational connection with your customers.
Our truly media-neutral, open-minded approach-and our willingness to explore and capitalize upon emerging technologies-make Plan B stand out from today's crowded field of the "me too" marketing agency. Chicago is our home, but we also maintain an office in San Francisco, giving us a direct pipeline into the heart of interactive technology-Silicon Valley.
That unique perspective gives us a decided advantage over other marketing companies in Chicago. It also distinguishes us from other San Francisco advertising agencies, who are often too focused on interactive services, and divorced from the longstanding advertising tradition found in the historic epicenter of traditional marketing firms: Chicago.
We apply the same progressive, solutions-oriented thinking to the work we develop for all audiences, whether consumer or B2B. Direct marketing, database management marketing, marketing for Web 2.0, search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and social web marketing all fall within our purview, as do website design and web marketing strategy.
In short, we deliver more comprehensive, integrated capabilities than most of the other marketing firms Chicago has to offer, coupled with an unbundled "on demand" service model that allows our clients to choose exactly the services they need, without sacrificing strategic acumen or creative savvy.