“Courage is resistance to fear and mastery of fear... not absence of fear.”
-Mark Twain

Times of change in business can be frightening. But show no fear.

It takes courage to embrace change and leverage it for its true potential. As status quo in your company yields to the inevitable cycles of business, the simple truth is that fear needs to be understood and dealt with strategically. Fear is the enemy of innovation. Yielding to it instinctively is often the major reason companies, campaigns and creativity end up as collateral damage in the war and the art of commerce.

Taking a close look at your brand is critical when business is in FLUX: launching a new product, attacking a competitor, integrating an acquisition, preparing for a trade show. These are defining moments that require bold leadership and strategic action. Big ideas take courage to implement; resist your inner fear when the big idea emerges so it doesn’t end up a casualty along with your brand.

When we're engaged in a branding assignment, we are your allies, your compatriots and your not-so-secret weapon - WARRIORS: tireless in our fight for your business.

We will go everywhere, do everything and battle every day to uncover big ideas on your behalf. We are different, fearless and as always, we are FLUX.

The Pitch

We’re enamored by AMC’s new reality series “The Pitch.” We admit it.

Seen it yet? It’s a reality TV look into the world of advertising where two agencies battle it out to win a dream client. Over the course of each one-hour episode, the firms get a brief from a potential client, then have one week to craft the perfect pitch and present it. At the end of the hour, one of the firms wins the account. Guaranteed.

The Pitch leads you believe that the best creative pitch is the clear indication for great results. That however, like a lot of reality TV, is not always the reality.

True: the process of creating a pitch is important to establish chemistry. But a short briefing followed by a pitch constructed in one week is hardly intimate. Infatuation can seriously impact judgement, leading to hasty decisions. In truth, a great agency-client relationship can sustain successfully for years, long after the pitch is forgotten. Sustainable relationships are the result of intimacy, collaboration and compromise which may or may not evolve from one brief encounter.

The Pitch reveals the inside of the creative process, accurately showcasing the thought, time and effort that goes into developing a big idea, while exposing the interpersonal issues we deal with under heavy deadlines. It’s likely that the agencies profiled are investing upwards of 800 hours in a single week to win the client. It’s a big investment, egos get bruised, sleep is challenged and only the winning agency gets paid for the campaign.

What's missing from The Pitch? Campaign strategies, budgets and schedules. These are ultimately the ingredients that lead to success or failure of a branding campaign.