[ $40,000 off at Brainstorm!!! ]
May 29, 2009 | By Jeromy Lloyd | Comments
Toronto-based creative agency The Brainstorm Group has never advertised before, but today it’s running a full-page ad in The Globe and Mail—a coupon for $40,000 off agency fees.
Copy reads “Offer applies to any of The Brainstorm Group’s services, including advertising creative, branding & design, interactive and media buying.”
The offer, it states, is good for every new contract of at least $250,000 set for at least a 12 month period.
The oversized coupon appears on the back of the Globe’s front section. Aside from the coupon graphic, creative is limited to the company logo and a list of clients, which includes Baxters Soup, Elizabeth Arden, Marks & Spencer and Sunquest.
“We’ve been telling clients and prospects that this is the best time to make noise in the market,” said Ron Telpner, agency president and CEO. “We thought we’d put our money where our mouth is and do something that gets attention.”
Telpner said he chose the Globe for its national reach, but is now considering placing the ad in trade media in Canada and the U.S.
“In a downturn, when there are deals to be made on media and other people are retrenching, if you can create more awareness, you can come out of it even stronger than before... We’re trying to lead by example.”
To make even more noise, this time online, Brainstorm today relaunched its website.
Telpner said these moves are by no means a sign of slow times at the independent agency, adding the company is ahead of projections for the year despite the economic downturn.
Its 10-year relationship with Automatic Data Processing Inc. (ADP), servicing the U.S. Canada and the U.K., expanded this week to include the Australian arm of the company.
Currently in Sydney, Telpner said he is looking for other clients in Australia’s largest city.
Brainstorm also has an office in Dubai it acquired in 2007. The country is attempting to brand itself as a high-class destination for business and tourists, but has been struggling in the global economic downturn.
Telpner said Brainstorm Dubai is “holding its own, but it’s not growing at the pace that it was.”
