The-AAR-Review-Dec-2020

BRAND DEVELOPMENT AND INSPIRED
ACTIVATION FOR CHALLENGERS WHO
WANT TO LEAD THEIR MARKET,
NOT FOLLOW.
Merit focuses on how business strategy lives in the context of short-medium-long term brand activation.
Meaning, Merit is not your normal agency. Merit’s philosophy is based on CEO Adam Vasquez’s book, Toothfish:
The Origin of Markets. Buy it on Amazon! Or, contact us and we’ll give you a copy, free.
As Merit works with clients to maximize short-term marketing (ROI) with design and omni-channel resources
– deftly, creative symbiotic with strategy – we simultaneously work with clients on systematic positioning for
medium and long-term sector leadership. Think of it as challenger marketing on steroids. Visualize it by an X
in comparative categorical Google interest and market share. The process is called Market Invention.
There. We buried the lead.
At Merit, as we provide uniquely inventive short-term marketing services, we move beyond the standard
best practices to help companies advance and separate. We play the long game simultaneously with the
short game. Market Invention’s impact means clients stop competing in old, crowded spaces and create new
markets where they lead. The marketing then shifts from challenger to leadership principles, where copycats
literally fuel and validate sector leadership.
See the future with us.
OFFICES in Harrisburg, PA and Washington, DC
CLUSTERS in Portland, OR and Milwaukee, WI
Our people are “best of the best” and we’ve
embraced remote collaboration as permanent.
To chat: Denise Kohnke, Chief Strategy Officer
dkohnke@madewithmerit.com, 414.405.5064
To learn more: madewithmerit.com
WHAT CLIENTS WOULD THRIVE HERE
A commitment to lifetime learning is required to work here. So clients who themselves become inspired with
possibility, based on current and predictive trend research, do well here. We do not feel anything we recommend
is a risk, but we do challenge clients, as we challenge ourselves, to make big moves. We are practical,
as in “no bullshit,” so we appreciate clients who know the differences between fluff and action, and spin and
authenticity. We make the C-suite look good, like visionaries, so if you are a visionary, welcome home.
WHAT WE DO
• Brand redevelopment for challengers
• Brand origination for M&A
• Funded start-up launches
• Strategic business consultation, research, facilitation
and planning
FOR WHOM
• Business-to-consumer clients who need brand
clarity and acceleration
• Firms who are interested in positioning themselves
to sell to the government
• Non-profits and advocacy organizations
• Omni-channel creative development and activation
• Digital and social strategy and activation
…in all platforms, channels and means of
communication, with polish.
• Business-to-business clients, especially technology-based
firms
• Clients of all sizes who want to make a move,
regardless of budget
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Safe is dangerous.