Theory of Creativity

I have a theory on creativity. Well, actually I have a lot of theories on a lot of things — on the role of Memes for shaping our personality; on the key to British success in Axis & Allies (stop the Nazis from establishing troops in Africa at the Mediterranean battle, but don't tell anyone I told you!); on why Praxeology is preferred over empirical studies; or how your usage of language influences your perceived reality and hence, how turning an ultimatum into a multimatum (yes, I made that word up) will make your life so much better. But that calls for a "sidebar," as our VP of Production would say, so let's stick to creativity for now.

There is a whole lot about "the creatives" in this blog. Almost as is if it was a different species. "The creatives" seems to be a somewhat defined group, but not really — and some people could be considered in-betweens, or maybe semi-creative? Well, let me tell you what I think. I don't believe that some people are naturally creative and others are not. Being creative is as much of a personal trait as being a good driver — and about as rare a quality.

Everything we do, see, hear, learn, experience, or feel makes an imprint in our brain. The brain is constructed to find patterns and use previous experience to handle current situations and answer new questions. It helps us adapt and work more efficiently in our own milieu, but it also limits our ability to generate ideas and makes us build up a resistance against alternative views and ideas (consciously or not). Creativity, as time passes by, becomes a "problem." Most of us learn quickly how we are expected to react in certain situations, how things should look and what a normal response to given questions should be, and we act accordingly.

The culture you're brought up in, the society you live in, the work you have, the language you speak — it all gives you perceived expectations. Living up to your own and everybody else's expectations is not necessarily a good thing; predictability is good for planning, but makes life terribly boring.

Children are not yet bound by these perceived expectations. They are not afraid to fail, to be wrong, to be laughed at, or to be different. They will pair ideas and connect dots totally unconcerned with the reactions they will receive. A red sock with a pink sock and the sweater inside out? Sure, if that is what they think is pretty! Ketchup on their PBJ sandwich? Why not, both taste good! They will draw cars with five wheels or people with propeller engines on their backs. They will approach any given problem with a truly open mind. And they will keep doing so, until adults tell them one too many times that they are wrong, that it is not real, that it won't work. And they will "learn" how not to be different, and "grow up."

Yeah, I know, I know. Experience, getting older and wiser etc. is not all bad and the reason we don't eat ketchup on our PBJ's is probably because we already tried it and it tasted horrible. But that's beside the point. The problem is much greater than not wanting ketchup on your PBJ. It's about stop challenging habitual routines and already expressed ideas. It's about allowing our brains to down shift. Our brains, just like our bodies, need workout to stay in shape. By allowing ourselves to default to the expected solution at any given occasion, we take yet another step away from our natural creativity. And before you know it, we've killed our ability to think out of the box (but no worries — we won't even realize it). Boxes are good for packing stuff you already own, but are of very limited value for imagining new things and new uses for old things. (Unless, of course, you come up with new uses for the box itself …)

If you ask a child where she or he would put an extra set of eyes they will look puzzled. They will investigate different options, weigh the pros and cons and they'll try to find the best use for this extraordinary opportunity. A large majority of them will suggest a finger or possibly the back of the hand. An adult, however, will tell you that the back of the head is the best location. Is it? With an extra eye on your finger you can investigate the tiniest of spaces, you can look over high fences, and around corners. And you can see what happens behind you, simply by putting your hand behind your back. Surely, the phrase "to have eye's in the back of one's head" makes the adult brain associate the question with the given answer. But given answers aren't necessarily right answers, or at least not the best of the right answers. They are only expected.

That's my theory of creativity. We are all born creative but travel at different pace toward the predictable and boring. What makes many of my friends and co-workers ay Pure more creative than others is simply that they've acknowledged that growing up can be as limiting and restrictive as it is a great experience. You have to work to make your brain work. You have to challenge, evaluate, change, brainstorm, conceptualize, evolve and then start all over again. At Pure, we're children at heart (even if it takes the occasional stress ball fight to remind us). This is what makes Pure leading in creativity on so many levels — we don't rely on boxes, and we certainly don't try to stay in them!

Posted by Susanne Bylund, VP of Operations on Mar. 10, 2010

Staying True to Design

Recently, I started teaching Strategic Design as an adjunct professor at the MU School of Journalism. As part of my syllabus, I prepared and assembled a list of my heroes and influences. It reminded me of the time I spent at the Pratt Institute in New York as a student and fledgling designer (not that I consider myself a master of the craft yet by any means).

The great thing about this process was that it reacquainted me with some of my heroes, and made me think about how excited I was to do the kind of work that they were doing. In the process of gathering relevant material for the class, I came across this TED talk by David Carson. People like David make me think about how important life experience is to success. Here is a guy that went to school for sociology, and ended up pursuing design.

I've heard David admit that it was his lack of formal training in design that initially allowed him to look at things differently. He knew little of the so-called "rules," and was initially playing and exploring. His work became expressive representations of himself and his own experience. I felt that this was a pretty profound point: We are the sum of our own unique experiences. It reminded me that as a creative, the most important things that we can put into our work are ourselves and the experiences we've gathered.

Otherwise, what we create becomes just generic representations of our environment; a stale representation of what we feel like our audience wants to see, rather than that which will move them. It becomes dilute: less powerful, less expressive, less moving. It lacks the very elements of the creator, the things that make us unique, those things that make us … well, us!

I've been reminded where I've come from. I've been reminded to include myself in my work.

Posted by Frank Corridori, Associate Creative Director on Mar. 3, 2010

Artists & Adventurers

So, you think we're pretty creative, huh? You have no idea. I had no idea!

Since my first day at Pure, I've been impressed and amazed on a nearly daily basis with how beautifully brilliant and creative my coworkers are. My peers make wondrous works of art. Some of them pen words that reach your soul. Others see the beauty of the world through the lens of a camera and capture it for the rest of the world to experience; or they craft pictures and visions that inspire dreams. And then, there are some still yet who design the perfect delivery method and experience for these words and visions.

My co-workers are fearless and adventurous. They push the envelope of what's acceptable and been done. They've heard the dream that is Pure and have opted in completely. Coming from the four corners of the world (literally), we are a group of people that have set sail on an adventure full of glory, drama, and texture, determined to prove that an agency of a different color can and will be successful. They do so unabashedly every day, all day.

I refer to them as the creative geniuses of Pure. I have to admit, I'm envious. There are many times that I've wished God had gifted me with these abilities. I wish I was an artist in the traditional sense.

But the truth is I have my own gift. I'm an artist in my own right. I translate and interpret. I'm a bridge. I enable the unique vision of our clients to be fully understood by our team. I deliver truth and art back to the client from my team in a way that is understandable and real.

This is a necessary art form to have on the Pure team. Imagine a person that speaks beautiful French trying to communicate with a person that speaks fluid Swedish. While the sounds may be pretty and alluring, the effectiveness of the communication will be lacking. This is much the same for communication between my two groups of people … the artists and the clients. The interesting thing about creative people is that they tend to communicate in their own unique language. The business world has their own 'speak,' as well … focused on reaching objectives, goals and getting a return on their investment. They tend not to be creative professionals and feel a need to rely heavily on our expertise with a high level of trust. My job is to interpret. My job is to build the trust. I translate. Communication happens and the results are amazing.

My favorite moments are when after all the weeks of working and talking and strategizing, we unveil the work for the client. A moment of silence. A small gasp. And then … "That's it. That's exactly what we wanted."

That moment and a triple grande skinny vanilla latte with extra vanilla make for the perfect Pure day.

Posted by Erica Pefferman, VP of Business Development on Feb. 25, 2010

Is It Friday Yet?

As Pure's VP of Technology, I should probably talk about the future of technology or something. I should talk about the iPad and the dramatic shift in computing paradigms that it represents. I should talk about why Google Buzz isn't very exciting. I should talk about why Flash will go the way of the vinyl record, Betamax, and Google Adwords (oh, is that still around?).

I really should. Honestly, though, there's something that I'm far more passionate about: the flawed concept of "work / life balance."

I hate the concept of "work / life balance." I know, I know; we're not supposed to say we hate things. But I do hate it and here's why: it's bullshit.

The problem is that "work / life balance" implies a contrast between what we consider "work" and what we consider "life." Let me tell you a secret: IT'S ALL LIFE. "Work" and "life" are not opposites. If you somehow don't feel alive while you're at work, do yourself a favor and find better work immediately.

In the same vein, the distinction between work and life creates a scenario in which it's ok to keep a job you hate because, hey, it's just "work." And "work" is supposed to be no fun, right? Wrong. This belief is what has created the near-universal workplace sentiment of TGIF and asking "is it Friday yet?"

No, it isn't Friday yet and we should be thankful. Today matters. And if you're really compelled to wish it away, maybe you should examine why.

Posted by Mark Savage, VP of Technology on Feb. 17, 2010

Perfect Your Process

Perfect your process and you free yourself to be more creative with your outcome.

That was my New Year's resolution for 2010. I wanted to spend more time being creative — thinking about and solving problems, both personally and professionally — and less time figuring out how I was going to find more time to be more creative. Finding more hours in the day is impossible. You have 24. That's it. Wishing for more won't do any good at all. Once I sleep, eat, spend time with my family and friends, bathe, brush my teeth and exercise (not necessarily in that order) and drive my daily commute, I'm left with 8 hours. Eight hours a day to accomplish everything I need and want to accomplish. That should be plenty of time. Except there's email, meetings, answering employee questions and the job of putting out any fires that flare up over the course the day. Waiting in line. Driving to and from meetings. Looking for things that I've lost or misplaced. Racking my brain to remember what all I needed from the grocery store. Driving back to the grocery store because I forgot something. After all that, I'm looking at roughly 3-4 hours that I can actually focus on accomplishing a specific task. My project list, like most people, needs a lot more of my time and attention than I have to give it. This leads to stress, sacrificing family time, sleepless nights and a deteriorating ability to actually focus on projects when I do have the time because I'm constantly worrying about something else I need to be doing or a lingering project that hasn't been finished. Frankly, living like this sucks. And I don't want my life to suck. I need a way to do the impossible — to add more hours to my day.

A few months ago I was introduced to David Allen's book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, via Todd Henry at the Accidental Creative. I'm not real big on self-help books but I decided I'd give it a read and see what all the hype was about. To say that the book has changed how I approach my days wouldn't be fair. I've completely rearranged my organizational structure, meaning I now actually have an organizational structure, not a random collection of notepads and post-its with half legible scribblings and random thoughts floating in fifteen different locations. I won't get into the details of what the book teaches but I will say that having a structure — a real, repeatable, I-know-exactly-where-that-is-and-can-have-it-in-front-of-me-in-seconds organizational structure — has been an incredible boost to my daily creativity. As someone who thrives on being creative, my happiness, and in conjunction my effectiveness, has skyrocketed. I've created a central collection system for everything my brain tries to store. Shopping lists, gift ideas for my brother's birthday, beers I want to try, random creative inspirations, next steps on every project I'm currently working on. Everything goes into the system and gets stored in a proper place (outside of my head) where it's available immediately when I need it. No more worrying about what I need to be working on next or if someone is waiting on me to finish a project. It's all right there in front of me, constantly being updated and adjusted. I can now make good decisions about how I'm using my time and feel good about those decisions. I've found that approaching projects with a clear, guilt-free mind produces better results in a shorter amount of time. Better results in less time? Who wouldn't want that. It took me awhile to get comfortable with this system, but now that it's up and running and I trust it, I don't know how I lived without it.

I'm a creative. I don't like structure. I don't like rules in regards to how I spend my time creating. When inspiration strikes me, I want to be able to embrace it when I choose to, not when I have time to. By utilizing organization to clear my mind and taking advantage of those "weird" moments during the day to move projects forward, I've effectively added more hours to my day. Through structure I've found freedom.

Posted by David Anderson, Chief Production Officer on Feb. 8, 2010

The Market Research Tipping Point

Not long ago, market researchers could confidently build and execute near-flawless quantitative research studies by interviewing respondents in their homes via a landline telephone. Most American adults would reliably answer their telephone at home, usually between the hours of 5 and 9 o'clock, and willingly offer their thoughts and opinions on a variety of consumer-related issues. Although phone surveys are still a recommended research methodology today in many cases, the landline-only household is dying a slow death, and the implications for market researchers are profound.

Early last year the number of cell phone-only households surpassed the total of landline-only homes in the United States. Even more stunning, roughly a third of the country relies almost entirely on cell phones. The reality is that in 2010 most of us live in a wireless world in which we communicate through a variety of mobile devices and on a wide array of social networking sites online. What does this mean for market researchers and organizations like Pure? The answer depends on who you ask but this much is clear: it's never been more difficult for market researchers to reach their targets through traditional research methods. Many believe the industry has reached a tipping point where new and radical information gathering techniques will define the industry for years to come.

However, a silver lining can be found for market researchers in the abatement of landline phones in contemporary America. Consumers from every corner of the globe have found an outlet for their opinions in the digital world, and voluntarily offer their thoughts on blogs, news sites and popular social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. There's little doubt the amount of information from such sources can be intimidating. But the Internet Age has given market researchers an enormous opportunity to connect with consumers in an incredibly efficient way. The invisible hand of the information market has already begun to shape research organizations and define new rules for the industry. Where market research once used to be the practice of solving puzzles, now, I believe, it's the art of solving mysteries.

Moreover, today's market research leaders need to innovate and develop better tools to capture thoughts and opinions from an increasingly distracted consumer. Think about it — Generation Y will soon occupy the nation's most powerful consumer group and will therefore become market researchers' prime targets. Members of this generation were raised on computers, are largely fluent in Internet slang, and think a landline telephone is something that is better reserved for the history books, not households. For those of us seeking opinions from the masses, this means that if you're not willing to invent and internalize new research methods then you simply won't succeed.

Finally, for those of us who are routinely interrupted by a market researcher's phone call at home (typically while you're eating dinner) there is good reason to believe the calls will someday cease. There will be a day where your home phone is no longer the prime vehicle for the delivery of society's most important questions. However, there will always be questions to ask and the inventive, relentless researchers will find new ways to capture and record your thoughts and opinions.

Posted by Michael Urban, VP of Research on Feb. 1, 2010

Surprise! = Recall

Several of my colleagues will likely shun me for this comment, but I've never understood why brands pour thousands of dollars into radio ad placement. Of course I'm biased as VP of New Media, but radio is a constricting vehicle without much room for message variance. In my lifetime, I've only heard two radio ads that I can still recall. The first was an off-tune older male singing a parody to some children's song. I have no idea the brand or purpose of the ad. The other was a safety plea from a young child. Again, I could not tell you the brand or specific message.

Brand recall is vital to marketing success these days. And, I would argue, recall is best achieved through successfully surprising your audience. Although radio ads should and will still be bought, in my opinion new media better offers that surprise.

What's an example of a "new" medium that can offer surprise? A door. Specifically, director/producer Jon Turteltaub's door at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. I had the pleasure of meeting the creative mind behind National Treasure, 3 Ninjas, Phenomenon and other films while working on the west coast. He's passionate about the unconventional element, and, in his office, that element is the door.

In the hallway of the Animation building, Turteltaub's suite entrance looks like all the rest. An opaque door opens into a small waiting room resembling a doctor's office. Directly across the room is an ornate elevator entrance, frighteningly similar to those at the Tower of Terror.

Turteltaub's guests press the button again and again, often growing impatient with the machine. As it turns out, it's simply a door. Turteltaub apparently entertains himself by watching people's interactions and reactions to the disguised office entrance.

Regardless of the personal benefits, his door sends a message about his personality — the Turteltaub brand, which is fascinated by disguise, mystery and the unknown. In one office visit, visitors will remember who he is and why he's different — even in Hollywood. That's the value of unconventional new media: Stand apart and prosper.

Posted by Emily Eldridge, VP of New Media on Jan. 26, 2010

Avoid Branding Malpractice

Integrating your brand into the fabric of your organization is paramount for success. Nevertheless, I'm frequently amazed at the number of CEOs who relegate their brand to "fluff" or something they'll pay attention to only when the budget allows. Gone unchallenged, this mindset can lead a company down the dangerous path of "branding malpractice" and possibly bankruptcy.

It's this shortsighted view of branding that can place a good company at great risk. Their market and mind share erodes so badly that they must spend twice as much to regain a competitive advantage. But it doesn't have to reach this point.

What can be done to eliminate the risk of branding malpractice? The following action items should be carefully considered by every CEO with the responsibility to protect one of the most important assets of their organization: their company's brand.

Understand brand anatomy. Branding is more than logos and business cards. It's the very heart and soul of your business. It's a powerful, compelling blend of the emotional and rational engagements that win and build loyal customers committed to acquiring your products and services. Do a deep dive on your brand by conducting a brand exploration with key members of your management team.

Know the present value of your brand. Your brand's value and overall performance can be and should be measured routinely. Investing in research to benchmark your brand's position and power within the marketplace pays dividends. Consider the use of both qualitative and quantitative research to assess your brand's position. This valuable research data will help you align the strengths of your brand and shore up any credibility gaps that may exist in the minds of your consumers. Armed with this data, you will be ready to establish ongoing indicators to measure and monitor brand equity.

Create brand alignment. Every successful organization clearly articulates its mission, vision and value statements, and many have "culture" statements that personify the organization's core purpose and direction. The hierarchy of the brand must be directly tied to the organizational platform and must properly align with the mission, vision, values and culture of the organization.

As CEO, be the Chief Branding Cheerleader. Brand managers play a critical role in stewarding the brand, but CEOs who embrace and elevate their company's brand to an essential executive metric will jettison the brand forward both internally and externally.

Elevate the brand to the C-Suite. When was the last time you spent more than 3 minutes discussing your brand during an executive team or board of directors meeting? Executive team members can be some of the best promoters of the brand. Without their complete support and active participation, delivering brand promises across every aspect of the organization may become fragmented and impotent.

Create a brand platform. Compose a written brand platform specifically outlining brand promises and goals to best differentiate your company from its competitors. Integrate the brand platform into the marketing communications plan, and share the highlights of the brand platform with every employee. Seriously consider hiring an expert (like Pure) to walk you through the entire brand development process from exploration to execution.

Equip employees. Provide appropriate levels of brand training to all employees early and frequently in order to equip and engage them to deliver on every brand promise. Give employees the tools and motivation to actively live out the brand. Empower employees to become your best brand advocates.

Hire for brand fit. Recruit and retain employees who are passionate about the organization's brand. Seek out individuals who love what they do and are highly engaged to fulfill the company's brand promises.

Celebrate your brand. Harvest customer success stories that demonstrate the company's ability to deliver on its brand promises. Recognize and reward employees for embracing the company's brand.

It's never too late to enhance your brand. Share this list of action items with your management team and devise a plan of action. Your team will be energized, and your company will reap the rewards of building a courageous brand.

And don't hesitate to contact Pure if we can be of any assistance. We'd be happy to schedule a branding exploration session!

Posted by Craig Brace, President on Jan. 19, 2010

Factory Model Doesn't Work

So we can agree that to many of us, the factory model doesn't work. As creatives, many of us don't want to be told how to think, albeit a box to work within isn't such a bad thing. I was thinking of models that don't work — specifically in advertising. Agencies have been the same for … well … ever. Lately the trend to change has become big, but the worry with change is how to make it profitable. That question alone leads to factories, and fighting the factory is what I like to do. Instead I will simply propose a concept for creative companies. Make yourself an emporium for creativity, innovation and thought.

What is an emporium — aside from the movie with Dustin Hoffman?

An emporium is a store or marketplace or trade center that sells a variety of goods or items. Wal-Mart in many cases is an emporium. Applying this concept to a business model could mean high overhead. If we produced widgets from a factory, that factory must retool, rebuild, restructure and rebrand each time it needs to make a new product to fill the emporium.

However, if we apply this same logic in a creative environment, things get exciting really fast. Our brain being the most agile and amazing design factory ever, can retool, rebuild, restructure and rebrand an idea in seconds, moments, instantly. This means that if we can capture said ideas and have them as a collection of thought-based products (its what we sell as creatives), we can more than stock an emporium. If we gather a group of creatives who capture their ideas equally, we can stock an emporium (marketplace). And ultimately, if we as a community joined together and captured our thoughts on our thoughts, we could easily stock an emporium (trade center).

Capturing thoughts isn't a daunting task, you just have to do it. The iPhone's voice recorder is an excellent example. I capture concepts and dialogue (I frequently enact scenes in my car while driving, complete with assigned voices), then email them to myself. Scraps of paper and the countless websites, apps and gadgets can be your tools to start your very own emporium. Once you capture the idea, the key is to catalog it. Why? Easy recall. Normally I can only remember a fraction of a good idea. Why? Because I have tons of ideas (including bad ones) that might occupy space. With my catalog of concepts (read as emporium) I can quickly recall a notion and see if it develops well against a client's needs. Think. Capture. Win.

Posted by Drew Hall, VP of Production on Jan. 12, 2010

Safe is Risky

When times get tough, the tough often get timid. Many marketers cut their communications budgets to the bone with hopes that "out of sight, out of mind" won't apply to their brands. Or even worse, they "pull in their horns" and fall back on creative approaches that can best be described as dull, uninspired and lifeless. All in the misguided belief that troubled times call for "safe advertising."

At Pure, we believe what many people call safe advertising is actually the riskiest of all. We believe it's risky to spend tens of thousands of dollars on creative executions that do little or nothing for brand awareness and preference. We believe it's risky to blend into the background, get lost in the creative clutter and fail to pique your target audience's curiosity. And we believe it's risky to run scared when market conditions call for bold, aggressive action.

The advertising annals are full of examples of how "risky advertising" has proven to be the safest investment of all. Take the famous Volkswagen "Think Small" and "Lemon" ads created by Doyle Dane Bernbach in the 1960s. While most car manufacturers, even now, would cringe at associating these words with their brands, Volkswagen executives had the intestinal fortitude to go with such a bold approach. Why? Because VW and DDB realized that selling cars the old-fashioned way wouldn't work against the dominant brands of the time: GM, Ford and Chrysler.

Chiat/Day's "1984" spot for Apple Computers is another classic example. Conventional wisdom would have called for a commercial extolling the user-friendly virtues of the revolutionary new Macintosh. Instead, the agency chose a much more dramatic and memorable approach. An approach that portrayed Apple as the heroine freeing the world from the domination of IBM. The rest is history. Although the spot only ran once during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII in January of 1984, it was voted the Commercial of the Decade for the 1980s and continues to rank as one of the most influential ads of all time.

Finally, allow me to share a case history from my own archives.

The year was 1988 and Buctril corn herbicide continued to trail its key competitor (Banvel) in both awareness and market share. While my agency had succeeded in boosting sales of Buctril in the two years since winning the Rhone-Poulenc account, something new and daring was needed to take the brand to the next level.

As luck would have it, I had just seen the movie "Down & Out in Beverly Hills." One of the stars of the movie was a talented border collie by the name of Mike the Wonder Dog. In thinking about the movie, it dawned on me that most farmers have dogs as their constant companions. Therefore, why not employ a dog and his farmer/owner as our new spokes-team for Buctril?

Over the next seven years, the Ol' Buck campaign chronicled the humorous adventures of Ol' Buck and his owner as they extolled the many virtues of Buctril. Even though Rhone-Poulenc's director of marketing didn't personally like the campaign, he realized it was doing wonders for brand awareness, sales and market share. Plus, it won a host of national and international awards, including a Gold Effie for advertising effectiveness from the American Marketing Association.

Given the tumultuous economy of 2009, you may be planning "safe advertising" for 2010. If so, we challenge you to alter those plans. With compounding platforms for communication and media saturation, an idea that seems risky at first blush may be the safest approach of all.

Posted by Steve Engle, Creative Director on Jan. 1, 2010

What is Pure?

Since the beginning, Pure has been all about transformational change; about looking at the world in new ways, from different perspectives. We looked at the advertising world and asked the question, "What is the purpose of an advertising agency?" To make pretty ads? To write clean copy? To serve as a brand shepherd?

There are many answers, but one thing is clear — Pure is not an advertising agency.

Pure fulfills many of the same functions as an advertising agency. But at its core, Pure solves problems, problems of communication.

Communication is the lifeblood of society and is as basic as the needs for food and shelter. Communication is the common denominator of the human experience. Communication is what forms relationships, breaks down prejudice, and gives us place in the world. Communication is also the single most important catalyst for innovation and transformation.

Pure is a multi-perspective strategic communications company. Within Pure is a movement to take a bold, unorthodox examination of the way our world communicates. We achieve this through a multi-perspective exploration of the verbal and visual arts, motion media, research, strategic planning/branding, web-related disciplines, and the art of the written word.

While our aims may be lofty, this exploration is not an academic exercise. We live in the real world, solve real problems, and achieve real results. Our exploration influences our strategy and our strategy cascades into action.

Beyond the definition of Pure, our aim is simple: Provide high-impact, innovative, and creative strategies through the use of world-class talent, advanced technology, and proprietary processes delivered to our clients with honesty, integrity and transparency.

Posted by Brent Beshore, CEO / Principal on Dec. 7, 2009