I was with my Ketchum team at SXSW in Austin, TX this week to launch a new division dedicated exclusively to Influencer Marketing. We actually call it “Influence” (instead of “influencer”) because influence can come from many sources, not just from what we have been calling influencers.

The new division is called Emanate, and the “tagline” if you will is “Make the Right Kind of Waves.” While it certainly is a tagline, we think of it as more of a brand promise to our clients and partners, as opposed to a pure marketing slogan … it’s a brand promise, or a mission, or a goal.

We did a “soft launch” at SXSW to raise awareness, get the name out there, and spark conversations. SXSW is the best place to do just that! The soft launch gets us going and then the official launch comes a few months later once we have all of our ducks in a row and prospects in line. And they are lining up!

Launching this boutique division reminds of when I launched my own boutique back in 1998. It was a small firm dedicated to consumer promotion, back when there were agencies that focused purely on promotional work like couponing, retail displays, sampling, etc. Today much of that work falls either at a commerce/retail agency or pieces and parts of it at different agency disciplines. But back in the day it was a dedicated effort and we were (allow me to say) best in class.

The agency was called CPPartners, short for Creative Promotion Partners. We were highly creative as we crafted promotional programs and partnered with our clients, hence the name. And each of the initials in our brand name showcased our priorities:

C: Clients, focusing on those we serve
P: People, taking care of our teams who serve our clients
P: Products, making sure our work fulfills the objectives and goals set forth

We too had a tagline, brand promise, mission, goal: “Sparks Can Fly.” I remember when my Creative Director came up with it, I loved it instantly. It said so much about our work, the areas we were operating in, and the energy the team would bring to projects. When “sparks fly” then you know things are happening!

An old client of mine recently sent me a picture with a sentimental message that stirred my memory of it all. It’s a picture of a “hard disk” (as opposed to “floppy disk”) from a creative presentation we had done for a new product launch (Splenda). Seeing our agency logo and tagline brought back so many memories. And honestly I still love that logo and tagline even today. Sparks Can Fly! And they sure did, we had a wonderful run and later sold off to The Publicis Groupe which I remained a part of for several years.

But I will say it was a difficult time in my life. I had recently divorced, came out as a gay man, and was taking care of two small children while trying to manage my career (like so many). I was juggling and struggling with a lot. So I actually started the agency so that I could be close to home to take care of the kids. It was a career move that put family first. Looking back it was a huge risk, but hey it worked. Sometimes you just have to make it all work. Making sparks fly in all ways and means, for everyone in my ecosystem.

So as I return home to New York from SXSW after such a successful launch of this new division Emanate, I can’t help but think that we just made sparks fly. We said, “we can,” and then “we did.” Just like we did back in the day at CPPartners. So proud of the team then and now!

Emanate! Now let’s go make the right kind of waves.

What’s your experience? JIM

“Sparks Can Fly” by “CPPartners”