Our brains are not.
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Our brains are not.
Great creative is great only when it is based on superb strategy.
A lot of advertising and marketing agencies make claim to their own, proprietary strategic process. There's Brand DNA, Brand Lens, The Whole Egg, just to name a few. At Fechtor, we have our own strategic process, too. We call it, “common sense.” Because we believe that once you get past the clever names and window dressing, all good strategic approaches have the same basic steps:
- Determine the client’s goals and how success will be measured.
- Get to know the audience and what makes them tick.
- Learn about the category and competitive environment.
- Then implement, evaluate, refine, and repeat.
We also believe that strategy development is actually a creative pursuit. Yes, it takes research. And yes, it takes knowledge. But it also takes a special insight, a moment of inspiration, a creative twist, and a defining of both the rational and emotional benefits that will really connect with your customer. Sorry, we don’t have a fancy name for it. Let’s just call it Fechtorization. Or not.
Everything is advertising.
We can sum up all of our services in one word: Advertising. At Fechtor, we believe that everything is advertising, and advertising is everything. TV? Advertising. A YouTube video? Advertising. A tweet? A blog? A Facebook post? A landing page? A website? It’s all advertising.
But nobody wants just advertising. They want great advertising. So what is that, exactly? Here's how we define it:
Great advertising starts with a great strategy.
It clearly and uniquely differentiates you from everyone else.
It builds an enduring identity for your product or company, and an enduring relationship with your audience.
It's single-minded.
It rewards you for interacting with it.
It takes intelligent risks.
It makes you think, feel or act differently than you did before.
Great advertising is worth more than other advertising. It works harder. It sells more. Therefore, it is good for business.
Advertising. It's a beautiful thing, really.
Branding is the only legal way to have an unfair competitive advantage.
“Branding” can be a confusing word. At Fechtor, here’s how we define it. Branding is not the logo. And it’s not the font. And it’s not the color palette. And it’s not the brand mark. Branding is the sum total of your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with a product, service, or organization. So, what are all those other things? At Fechtor, we think of them as “brand signals,” because they’re shortcuts to all those thoughts and feelings we want people to have.
Branding is so important, we give it its own strategy. A strategy that defines its purpose, its values, its positioning, its personality, and its promise. At Fechtor, we’ve created brands from scratch, evolved existing brands, and brought old, tired brands back to life. We’re good at it.
All advertising is interactive, if you do it right.
Digital experts are digital experts. Sometimes, they’re also marketing and advertising experts, or branding experts, or design experts, or conceptual experts, too. But often, they’re not. At Fechtor, we think it’s important to let strategy and concept take the lead — and then create digital solutions that integrate and work within them. That way, everything you do reinforces your brand and connects with your audience in the most relevant ways. And it works.
Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
Whether it’s digital, or print, or outdoor, or indoor, or big, or small, or flat, or dimensional, we love great design. We love it even more when it’s done in the name of advertising. Because that’s when it connects with people in a way that motivates them to act. Great design for the sake of great design is art. Great design for the sake of great advertising gets results.
People
Fechtor is a full-service branding and advertising agency headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. We’re smart. We work hard. We have really good bios.
And our clients love us.