The folks at Tris3ct love the retail industry. In a healthy market, down market or any kind of market, retail, they feel, is the place to be.
“It’s a great breeding ground for ideas that integrate well throughout the brand,” says creative director Paul Kuzma. “I’ve found that when you put creativity in a place that’s hungry for it, you have a lot of success, and retail is hungry for it. You can bring a voice, relationships and experiences into the retail channel and end up with incredible ideas that find their way out of the retail store and permeate throughout the whole brand — and it pays great dividends for both the brands and us.”
It works in the agency’s favor that consumers in a retail environment are very receptive to brand messages.
“Intrusion and interruption, which have always been the cornerstone of marketing — are going by the wayside,” explains CEO and founder Richard Thomas. “Marketing today is geared around hand raisers where you invite them in and they willingly and voluntarily go with you.”
Part of their love for retail comes from the fact that this five-year-old privately held agency is located in Chicago’s West Loop, surrounded by the small businesses that make every community thrive, such as meat packing companies, bakeries and coffee shops. The smell of independence and nimble creativity is in the air.
Tris3ct has 28 employees and such global client brands as Kawasaki, Pabst, Kimberly-Clark, Alberto-Culver, Culligan and Kellogg’s. In 2009, the agency grew its revenue 64% over 2008, but Thomas says that’s nothing new. “We’ve been growing 75% to 100% every year since we started.”
“We’re an independent shop with the talent and scale to bring big ideas, but we’re nimble enough to remain focused on creating client value,” says Tim Nelson, managing director.
With Kimberly-Clark, for example, the packaged goods provider’s Scott line wasn’t seeing enough cross-over purchase, so Tris3ct created the “Do You Know Scott?” community site, where consumers could find out more about the full line of Scott products, download smarter shopping tips, print coupons, write their grocery lists and engage in community conversations.
“We wanted consumers to reappraise what is a fast-growing portfolio of products, but connect emotionally about sensible values.”
PROMO 100 SPOTLIGHT: Retail
TOP 15
*Revenue estimated by Promo
| Agency | 2009 revenue |
|---|---|
| 1. Wunderman | $440,000,000* |
| 2. G2 Worldwide | 205,400,000* |
| 3. MarketStar | 155,203,000* |
| 4. Integer Group, The | 145,200,000* |
| 5. Integrated Marketing Services | 124,100,000* |
| 6. Momentum Worldwide | $122,500,000* |
| 7. TracyLocke | 102,000,000* |
| 8. Marketing Drive, LLC | 78,500,000* |
| 9. Alcone Marketing Group | 62,400,000* |
| 10. Moroch Partners | 42,452,000* |
| 11. MARS Advertising, Inc. | $37,500,000 |
| 12. Eric Mower and Assoc. | 32,985,143 |
| 13. COLANGELO | 30,500,000* |
| 14. RPM Connect | 7,971,000 |
| 15. TRIS3CT | 6,176,969 |
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