Can you get more out of the way than Portland, ME? If you’re Pierce Promotions & Event Management, you probably can. That’s because the event marketing agency’s unique location hasn’t kept it from gaining attention across the country.
The 12-year-old shop enjoyed its best year to date in 2001, when revenues climbed 9.1 percent to $5.2 million. And it’s on track to top that in 2002. Recent business wins include Sam’s Club, Gillette, Sony, and Monster.com.
“You hear so much about other agencies not picking up a single new client over the past year,” says president Clint Pierce. “[Our new accounts] show the power of event marketing.”
A former event specialist at Stamford, CT-based Reed Publishing, Pierce formed the agency with his wife, Sue, and picked scenic Maine as the location so they could escape suburbia. Numerous blue-chip clients have followed (at least figuratively), including Unilever, Sears, Kraft, and Coca-Cola.
Because of its origins as an event manager, “we’ve had to work with so many other agencies that, today, we’re heavily into strategy,” says director-strategic marketing Kristi Kamps.
That strategic expertise was put to the test last year with My Transformations, an eight-week sampling tour for Helene Curtis’ ThermaSilk brand. Pierce not only connected the mobile components but arranged partnerships ranging from appearances by celebrity hair stylists to a sweepstakes on MSN and a virtual tour on iVillage.
“You can always sleep at night because you know the execution will be flawless,” says Mary Drapp, group promotion manager at Chicago-based Helene Curtis. “Frankly, I’d like to see them become a full-service agency.”
That will probably happen one way or another. Pierce says he’s on the radar screen of several larger agencies for possible acquisition. “It’s probably a matter of ‘not if, but when,’” says Pierce.
A little piece of property in Maine sure sounds nice.
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