Welcome. I’m Marcy Karpowitz, the founder of MKMCreative.

Thank you for joining! This is our first Live! Lots of firsts right now for everybody and many more to come.

We like everybody else are finding our way through the what now and thought it would be best to come together and navigate collectively.

Little bit of housekeeping — no proper meeting would be complete without it:
Everyone’s on wi-fi so if it’s wonky for a second, just hang in. I also hear I get a little fuzzy at times….it’ll come back

I’m going to start by briefly sharing a bit of MKMCreative’s core offerings, brand proposition, and agency to ground us.

By definition, we’re a full service consumer engagement marketing agency with a focus on building brands via experiential activations. Our programs are customized to our respective clients’ needs to deliver on the outcome: exceed goals and expectations.

We play in 3 main categories:
Brand Development

Identity, positioning, hierarchy of messaging, look, feel, tone (super important right now)

Brand Strategy

End to end campaign development, essentially, it’s a program architecture roadmap

Brand Activations

Any experience in the real world that brings the brand together with their geo-targeted constituency for a meaningful experience that is sticky, emotionally resonates and drives action

Think pop-up shops, mobile tours, large scale conferences, event series

We play across industry by design. Our core competency is in generating awareness to accelerate adoption. No matter the product, service or offering.

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You’ve heard a bit about us, this is all about you, you, you and we’d love to hear what you have to say or any questions you might have. I’m going to pause for a beat or two to see if any come in.

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Alright. I’ll take silence as acceptance and keep going.

To ensure we use our time together effectively, we structured a conversation in the event the preference was to listen rather than speak.

Let’s dive deeper into the categories mentioned earlier: Brand Development, Brand Strategy & Brand Activations

Brand Development (1)

Positioning & identity

• What is your or your brand’s Core Offering
• Is it still relevant
• Does it add value at this time]
• Will your core offering be relevant post — what we’re calling for today’s purposes — the situation
  • Essentially this is where you design where you or your brand is and who you/they should be now and after – essentially, it’s the recent past (what you/it was before), present (how it should be tweaked for now) and what we’re calling ‘the after’ (what it will be post excitement)

Who Are We Now

• Identify what should be tweaked and do so accordingly
  Identify adjacencies
• What businesses are doing well and prospering now, who in your sphere will prosper post
  • Identify how you can contribute and be of value:
    • For us, we’re cleaning up the shop (virtually) scrubbing databases, making sure our April Ed Cal is appropriate, staying connected with individuals, team members, clients, mentors, we have a series of ‘this time last year instastories ready to post, I’ve taken to digital to connect with all of you which enables 3. things:
      1. To continue doing the work I love – this was its own activation
      2. Connecting this way allows us to give what we’re able to in this situation (goes back to what we said in Positioning & Identity – what can I do that adds value in a time like this)
         • This came very organically as I walk every morning for 2-hours, my time was getting filled up from friends, friends of friends, colleagues, company’s I advise and the like asking…what now
      3. Pushes me out of my comfort zone
• One of our fave producers Mary is currently pulling together a case study deck, a collection of curated photos with an accompanying blurb and she’s asking for recommendations to use it in her materials, as well as to post on LI – she’s putting current content on the most popular professional networking site and using this time to get poised and ready for ‘the after’
• I have a dear friend Diane Nagler of Made Wkshop which is essentially an old school shop class studio where you become your own maker –they opened their doors and mere weeks later, they had to close them
  • Immediately she produced extra branded bandanas and gave them to shelters to use as masks — she identified an adjacencies and how to bring value to it
  • Their’s creating promotions, one of them is a gift card program for people to use for ‘the after’
  • And her and Christopher are currently tinkering with doing a YouTube channel, Sonny and Cher-style, of course

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That concludes the Brand Development category portion, I’m going to pause for a few to see if any questions or clarifying requests come in.

Now we enter the category of:

Brand Strategy (2)

The Pivot
We know it’s coming and we’re anxiously awaiting it – use this time to prepare for ‘the after’

• Some industries will take longer to recover than others
  • Events will be one of them — know where you are on the continuum
    • Think through MKMC’s competitive advantage: we’re boutique and therefore less expensive and generally more nimble, we can move, assemble and execute fast – we might be a more viable, attractive option
    • In addition, we have deep experience and it’s a differentiator for us that we’ve worked with many brands on everyday influencer programs whereby 7 – 150 with 25 – 50 being a sweetspot whereby they gather for an intimate experience with the brand – given that there will probably be a limit for a while on how and who many can gather, we’re focusing on both those areas as we update our materials to highlight for our after

Question came in and the request was to the keep handle quiet.
This one goes out to anonymous, me and everyone else like us.

• I’m going to say this with zen: What if events don’t come back for a long time in the MKMC way — what if we can’t just pop the umbrella back open…I need to turn that into something actionable, an opportunity and face that — the adjacencies I’ve currently identified — potentially I’ll need to move into a consulting role to help companies build a marketing team infrastructure and plan that works in the new climate
  • For this reason I’m starting to research what CV’s, resumes and portfolios look like for this, build a comprehensive list of companies that hire that consultants, aspirational brands I’d like to do it for, along with identifying Head Hunters and recruiters — I’m getting ready and poised for the future and the myriad of ways it could present itself
• An example outside of MKMC is Liz Richards, a great friend in Denver and Baller real estate agent for Sotheby’s
  • On one of our talks, she identified a trend that when life resumes, there will most likely be an exodus from some of the top cities to smaller ones – people might want a simpler, get out of dodge kind of life
    • For that reason, she’s asked for connections from friends in big cities including me to connect her with real estate agents from SF so she’s front of mind for referrals. In addition, they all now have a top-tier network of real estate partners across the country that can cross-refer, network and brainstorm with
• Another great example of the pivot is this guy who was applying for a job at Mollie Stones (for those not Bay Area based, it’s boutique neighborhood grocery mini chain) and we started chatting…he was a recently laid off server at a more upscale restaurant in the city and figured out how to do good, stay employed and modified his skills and offerings for the present moment–he pivoted!

Meaningful Methods of Connecting

• Recall the brand identity + positioning piece where we talked about getting clear on your own or your brand’s value proposition and to devise a strategy accordingly
  • This is our example – in addition to a lot of individual outreach and connecting, we figured out a way to corral a like-minded group with the intent to add value and meaning
  • Brands and individuals are hosting a variety of online services from how to cook their product to yoga classes to activities for kids-at-home
    • Do your own — what’s your offering — not for you/not relevant:
      • Watch others to gain skills in areas you need to round out — there is digital content out there on everything right now!
        • Tuesday, Jess and I tuned into Oak Street Social’s Live stream, their a hot social media agency out of Chicago
          • It was so great, we learned so much from how to conduct one skillfully to facts (IG Live is what gets you up in the rankings the most — not posting on the grid, instastory or IG TV — we had zero idea when we decided to do this — who knew?! — we do now! And by doing something that felt organic to us, it also has good results for the brand
  • If you are able, especially those with intellectual property or a special skill (designers, etc.) – give away what you can for free – this is a time of community and collective before gain and it allows you to stay connected in a meaningful way
    • Creatives this is for you: photographers, artists, designers
  • Grocery stores (Mollie Stones) first hour of opening is for seniors

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That concludes the Brand Strategy category portion, I’m going to pause for a few to see if any questions or clarifying requests come in.

Let’s move onto the third and final branding category — there are still sparkly nuggets to come after this too…

Brand Activations (3)

• How to Effectively Execute & Stay front of mind
  • My friend Jen (@redsoles&redwine) is in social media in the influencer space – check out her grid – others are doing it too – I think they did it quite well – 16 of them came together and did a montage with signs that when read collectively essentially tell us all to stay safe and home by shelf-sheltering to flatten the curve
    • It’s on brand – it’s beautiful, tasteful, it resonates and it’s influencer-y
      • It keeps them front of mind and doing what they do and love
        • This a great idea for any brand or individual
          • Pull together a mood board of your work + post it
          • If you’re a brand, pull together a grid of offerings that might speak to people right now or the content can show the myriad of ways you have contributed to the community – post it
        • It could be aspirational with copy that states: my future awaits…post it
  • RightRice Advisor – rice made right-er — it’s a rice-like food product comprised mostly of vegetables, one simple bag, it’s flavored and takes 12-minutes to make, it’s filling + delicious, at launch, they tapped those affiliated with the brand (investors, advisors, partners) and asked us to curate a list to send the parcel to — influencers, tastemakers, trendsetters and movers and shakers
    • This is a great example of pre and post situation and tweaking accordingly
      • Before this happened, as an advisor my list was Executives, Board Members, colleagues, those known for being in-the-know and it was a beautiful, highly-designed and produced parcel
        • Post excitement, their VP of Marketing, a whip smart and wonderful human ask me to connect to brainstorm about what now,one of the ideas we came up was that this time they reach out to their network, some same, some different and ask for a list of people who would benefit from the product
          • We also agreed, this parcel is going to be way simpler, not heavily produced, it’s about the product and a short note of why they’re receiving and wishing them well — tone on point! Nothing opulent, no tone deafness, simply something they can use right now, and for the brand, it’s a new introduction
            • This effort will connect the brand to a different constituency and most likely they will acquire customers in a different segment than the original parcel targeted and they’ll get to inform people they are available on Amazon, which, you know, is currently where everyone is buying everything!
              • First round influencers, colleagues, board members, etc.
              • Second round: my neighbors, friends with kids, my sister
            • The other strategy we devised was to reallocate some funds to digital: consider a food-space Instagram influencer program whereby they are sent the package, cook it and post
            • We also talked about beefing up funding for SEO and SEM as people are searching for food options right now, boost posts/place ads — it’s a relevant offering

This is a probably a good time to just say it — I’m not sure anyone is going to ask, although I think some might be wanting to: It’s ok to still do business right now

• • Read the room and the client and circle back to the positioning and identity piece – and ask yourself it is all copasetic? Is the look, tone and messaging, strategy and execution on point

Everybody knows the economy has a big boo boo right now

Double down on digital

• This is a solve and a cautionary tale
• Digital is such an overcrowded space right now, for the obvious reasons, we can’t gather
• Don’t panic if you didn’t figure out how to go digital, it will stabilize and equalize shortly when we’re free to roam and some things won’t get enough traction and fall away, while others will ride a steady path and others will peak
  • For RightRice it makes sense, it’s an ideal product for right now, for always, but definitely for right now
  • We found our way organically
• Invest in digital Influencers (Instagram, YouTube, etc.) — for the right brand and offering, digital influencers are a great play and spend — online and screen time are up, significantly
  • I don’t know the exact stats, our friends at Oak Street Social shared the specifics and they are notable
• My BF Cat who is beauty inside and out personified owns skincare company — intelligent elixirs, it integrative clinical skincare, which essentially means its professional-grade quality for consumers — think of it as nature’s alchemy with cutting edge
  • During the current situation, in the present, they purchased an Instagram ad
    • Acquired a customer and recovered 1/3 of the investment
    • Going to treat this person with white glove/concierge service in that she’s going to reach out, thank her personally, ask if she has questions, give her the 1-2 on how to use the products and in what order for the best results… and offer a discount percentage off and special code for this newly acquired customer’s circle.

Special Delivery

• Shipped/mailed contactless deliveries is the current way to activate and connect with consumers outside of digital — It’s so nice to be thought of and receive something other than cleaning supplies from Amazon
• This was mentioned above as a strategy for RightRice and we just spoke of Intelligent Elixirs, she and I have a meeting on Friday to fully flesh it out, however, ie, her brand, has products that are useful in this time
  • MK handwashing = squalene
  • Tap friends and fans of the brand, have them compile a list of people who would appreciate and benefit from the hand-picked offerings, it’s a nice thing to do and it’s a new brand introduction and it could very likely lead to customer acquisition and it builds ongoing affinity with the brand’s current loyalists in that they are being appreciated for being customers via the brand looking after their nearest and dearest
• Personal — the gift giving isn’t just a business thing — my friend Kate Connally said it best, ‘gift giving is a source of strength in these times’. Since we can’t tell each other face to face how crazy we are for them, receiving something in the mail does the trick — it’s the current real world activation and human connection!
  • Photos
  • Postcards
  • Blank piece of paper with hand drawn heart

Bright Side

• Tech Turnaround
• People keeping video on
• Shift → Community & The Collective

Team MKMCreative & The Extended Family