Earlier this week, I was talking with representatives from Harvard Business School and Goldman Sachs 10K Small Business when I was asked, “Why did you start AE Marketing Group?”
Good question.
Twenty years ago, when I graduated from college, my goal was to head to law school and then maybe, just maybe, go into politics. Back then, I wouldn’t have ever dreamed of starting a business. The word “entrepreneur” was not in my vocabulary, and I certainly couldn’t spell it (still can’t most days).
But things change. And the easy answer to the question about why did I start my own company four years ago is:
After a decade working inside the agency world, it had become clear to me there are those who see brand as a creative experience and those who see it as a business experience. I choose the business experience.
Why? Because what good is a creative brand that doesn’t design a good experience for its employees, customers, partners and community?
Think about the biggest advertising event of the year – the Super Bowl, when companies spend millions on media, creative and production. How many of those ads do you remember a week later? A month? Three months?
But now think how about the last great brand experience that you had with a business – or better yet, the last bad one? How about the last time that a brand asked you to help them make their company, product or industry better?
I suspect that you will remember the brand based upon the business experience, not the creative one.
And that is why I started AE Marketing Group.