Hello there – I’m Danielle Destrade Ali, and I’m the newest addition to The Cyphers Agency. Jocelyn introduced me earlier this week, and shared how I will be contributing to Push-n-Pull, the Word of Mouth division of the agency. As a social media devotee, working in this department is a great fit for me! For the next few months, I’ll be blogging about my experience as the newbie around here.

The Cyphers Agency is my first job at an advertising agency, and while I have experience in online marketing for various organizations, I had no idea what to expect at an agency. Would the workplace be like a modern day Mad Men? I hoped not – I’m not really in favor of smoking indoors. While I didn’t know what I was walking into, I did know that I would be working with people who had a lot more advertising experience than myself. I was more than a little nervous about being able to measure up to all the talent here.

My first day, I sat in on a brainstorming meeting, and expected to just observe and learn. I was a bit surprised when my colleagues were interested in my opinion! I quickly discovered that The Cyphers Agency has a friendly culture where the members of our team are constantly collaborating. Even the open layout of the office lends itself to teamwork. This lack of pretentiousness really allows everyone to share their great ideas freely. I’ve been invited to contribute my own suggestions from the very beginning, and I’ve helped come up with awesome plans for our clients. I love being a part of a team where everyone works together and supports each other, and its been exciting to get validation from my super talented co-workers.

Of course, I am still just getting my feet wet. While I’ve already had opportunities to contribute creatively, I know I will continue to grow and gain more responsibility. I’m excited to continue working, especially with our campaign for The National Chicken Council, which is an excellent example of how social media marketing can be fun, useful and effective all at once!

Keep checking back to read more about what I’m working on and learning about.

The Cyphers Agency is proud to announce another addition to our ever growing team. Kari Miller joins us as an account coordinator, providing support on the account management front. She will be working with clients such as Plastic Surgery Specialists, Severn Savings Bank, and Heim Lantz, among others, and will help strengthen our marketing efforts.

Kari graduated from Elon University with a degree in Strategic Communications and a minor in Psychology. Aside from advertising and marketing, Kari loves Mexican food, downtown Annapolis, the beach, and country music in the summer. Her favorite tv show is The Office (whose isn’t?) and she enjoys travelling and even spent some time in London. Cheerio!

Welcome Kari, we look forward to working with you.

Over 50 years ago, a CD from the agency that represented Mobil Oil was on-site at their headquarters. He took a tour of the plant and discovered that a small amount of detergent goes into the gasoline. The tagline “drive your Engine Clean” was born.

In todays digital world, we rarely take time to actually know a product or consumer personally. When it comes to primary research, we send off a survey via the Internet.

My favorite way to do primary is through trial and observation. Go visit or buy your product. Try it. Smell it. Taste it. Give it to your family and friends. Watch them use it. Go to a store and observe customers. How much time do they spend looking at your product? How many additional services do they take advantage of? Do they look at the price tag and frown or buy it in bulk?

Firsthand experience gives you important insights that may lead to the big idea. But remember, firsthand experience alone may cause you to think that others may think or behave the same as you. Therefore observation of others is also a critical component of this research method.

People love to be recognized as experts. This means you should tap the expertise of your customers. Ask them their opinions and reward them for it. They’ll appreciate you for realizing that they are experts and they’ll be free with their words of wisdom for you. Not only will you win another sale, you’ll increase the chances of them engaging in word of mouth marketing for you.

Many marketers offer incentives in order to gain ambassadors. By asking and appreciating their opinions, they’ll do the work for you on their own. By trusting in them, they’ll show their gratitude by buying more and recommending your products or services on the street and online.

Being in the ad industry, we pride ourselves on being creative. And while it is something we are always thinking about, we’ve come to realize one thing: creativity is a fragile thing. If you try to rush it, dictate it, limit it, or add too many rules, you end up with an inferior product.

While our industry hinges on short timelines and on-your-feet thinking, it is important to make sure the creative team has a healthy environment to function within so they can create the best work possible; creativity, ingenuity, and originality must all be fostered. Some features are essential, like open space, music, toys, and a team approach, etc. But something else is essential that we might not consider a quality or necessity of creativity: time.

When our creative team finishes an execution, their work is good. But giving them an extra hour – hell, an extra ten minutes – they can always tweak their work to make it GREAT, whether it be a color change, a new font, or an additional element. Fostering a creative environment that doesn’t put creative under the gun can only bring good things for everyone at an agency.

See what creativity looks like.