challenge: convey brand identity on a hangtag

An artisan who makes handcrafted handbags needed a name and consistent identity for her bags. The catch was that it had to be conveyed fully on a hangtag no larger than a standard playing card.

solution: think small and reflect both artisan and art

First, CUBE created the company’s name: Pouches by Peanut. Peanut was the artisan’s childhood nickname, and Pouches perfectly describe the uncontructed designer bags she makes. Then CUBE developed a logo: it was based on peanut, conveyed the look of her handbags, and incorporated the artisan’s green eyes and blonde hair.

result: positive customer response

The artisan is happy, because people are commenting on her hangtags. An added bonus: the artsy look of the hangtag supports the price of the bags.

challenge: be professional, but convey personality

Coupon Cents is owned by a stay-at-home mom who teaches groups how to use coupons to save substantial amounts of money on groceries. Her initial clients were stay-at-home moms, but as her reputation spread, she received calls from professional men, women and organizations. To appear credible to her new audience, she needed a professional image—but didn’t want to sacrifice Coupon Cents’ existing personality: fun, upbeat, and chic, all of which counteract the conventional wisdom that big-time couponing is drudgery.

solution: establish and apply brand identity

First, CUBE developed the cornerstone of Coupon Cents’ brand identity: its logo, which uses an illustration of the company’s owner (who could also be any woman) to capture the company’s personality. Once the logo was completed, CUBE used it in designs for letterhead and envelopes, a business card, and brochure cover.

results: booking more presentations

Coupon Cents’ owner is thrilled with her new brand identity, and even more excited that she’s booking more presentations with organizations. She is also happy that her new business cards allow her to provide contact information to potential clients quickly and in a more professional manner than she could before.

challenge: brand a bank to stand out from the competition—and sell products

Most bank advertising is serious, dull, and characterized by “bank-speak,” asterisks, and fine print. The few banks that break out of that mold often focus so much on being creative that they fail to deliver an effective selling message.

solution: simplify, simplify, and poke fun at banking

To set it apart from its competition, CUBE advised its bank client to use a clean and simplified look and/or sound in its ads, speak in plain English, and make gentle fun of itself and the banking industry in its copy. To do this, CUBE used a large asterisk (characteristically found in a small size at the beginning of bank fine print) as the dominant graphic element of a campaign for its three new products, leading off with its new free checking account. The giant asterisk was followed by a headline that read: Seriously, it’s free. If banking laws required any fine print, it was incorporated into the main copy, which effectively eliminated the standard fine print format.

results: amazing and long-lasting success

The asterisk campaign was responsible for the bank’s exceeding its financial goals in the months following its launch, and since has been used to promote other bank products. Even better, the buzz on the asterisk campaign was incredible: the general public, customers, and bank employees continue to talk about the asterisk today. Best of all, the bank’s competition has been pea green with envy.

But what if...?

You don't have the time or expertise to develop your strategy, image, and materials yourself?

Budget cuts have you scrambling for ways to spend less without sacrificing the quality of work you received from that advertising agency your firm can no longer afford?

You're not certain that you're putting your dollars in the right place—where they'll support your marketing strategy, reach your target market, and reinforce your image?

5 reasons to hire CUBE.

Marketing experts who are grounded in your reality.
CUBE associates have spent time where you are now--on the client side of the business. We know firsthand the challenges you face and the pressure you're under.

Lots of options—but no pressure to buy what you don't need.
CUBE offers a full range of marketing and advertising services--but we know that not every business needs them all. You can purchase a single marketing tool, like a website, logo, or advertising plan; undertake a full-fledged ad campaign; or mix and match products and services that we will CUBE to create a successful and affordable marketing strategy.

Big-agency quality minus the big-agency price tag.
CUBE gives you high-caliber, comprehensive marketing strategies and creative tools you'd expect from a major marketing firm, but at a fraction of the price you'd expect to pay.

A multi-faceted perspective on marketing.
Our people possess diverse expertise and wide-ranging experience with companies large and small.

Attentive customer service.
We welcome your questions, return your phone calls, respect your input, and keep our promises. We are trustworthy, ethical, courteous and—barring a national emergency or life-threatening illness—deliver your projects on time and in budget.

Don't see the CUBEs you need? We'll make some just for you. Not sure what you need? We can help you with that too.

For pricing on specific CUBEs, email or call.

our trademark CUBEs

FYI: The price of each CUBE you purchase covers reasonable and customary hours spent in meetings, project management, concept, design, and, when applicable, copywriting necessary to prepare the items indicated. Printing is an additional cost.

CUBEs are customized packages of related marketing products and services we bundle to help you build your business.

Depending on your needs, your organization may require just one CUBE to market effectively and efficiently, or it may require several “stacked” together. If you decide you need to stack CUBEs, you can do it all at once—or you can do it over time as your business grows and your budget permits.

That’s the beauty of CUBEs: each is designed to work as a stand-alone or in conjunction with other CUBEs to successfully market your organization.

If you’re thinking, “Something like that might work for me,” drop us a line at info@cube-marketing.com. We are here to help.

But after less than a year at the bank, I began to wonder if the money spent on its agency's elaborate presentations might not be better spent elsewhere.

Soon, I had the chance to find out: out of the blue, the bank slashed its marketing budget by 53%.

If necessity is the Mother of Invention, then a budget cut must be Invention's Crazy Cousin Twice Removed: once he shows up on your doorstep, all bets are off. Suddenly, I had less than half the money I'd had before, and the mandate--clear although unspoken--to produce the same results I had before.

After analyzing the problem, the solution was clear: the most effective way I could cut costs was to take control of the creative process and streamline it. And so I did. I insisted on being part of the usual agency-staff-only brainstorming sessions that put the creative process in motion in an advertising agency. Rather than trucking in agency people for lengthy meetings, I directed the bank's out-of-state agency to conduct most meetings via phone. The days of the elaborate presentation were over, too: I asked the agency to send proposed campaigns via email, and to snail mail me select mockups--not full-blown mocks of every campaign component that my employer was used to seeing. And, while I gladly paid the agency for their brainstorming sessions and execution of select campaign components, I used veteran freelancers to execute much of the work for a much lower price.

In short, I cut out anything that wasn't absolutely necessary and discovered--to my surprise--that if anything, the work actually improved. My new "no-frills" manifesto had forced us all to narrow our focus the best marketing choices available. We weren't wasting time on "what-if" and "wouldn't it be nice" anymore. We were on a mission: to produce extremely creative advertising that built the bank's business without--forgive me--breaking the bank.

So, I decided to take all I'd learned, gather together a network of advertising/marketing professionals, and form my own company. I named it CUBE because I loved opening the big square boxes full of mockups that the bank's agency sent, at my request, in lieu of making full-blown presentations. (It was like Christmas!)

I also chose CUBE because we offer "packages" of related marketing products that clients can mix and match to suit their marketing needs.
Those packages were inspired by my hero, Bob Hasty, who also happens to be my dad. He's a successful businessman who's always fought for the little guy. In the world of marketing, "little guys" are those small to mid-sized businesses that know they should market, but can't afford big agencies and lack the experience to do it themselves. And quite honestly, they may not need a huge campaign to market effectively: a few products that coordinate and convey their message may be all it takes.

I hope you'll consider becoming my client.
Whether you choose one CUBE, have us "stack" several to create a campaign, or want something completely different, we'd love to design a campaign that will build your business. I look forward to hearing from you.

Amy Hasty Miller
Owner

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During our first meeting, you tell us about your organization and its marketing needs. If you decide to hire CUBE, we gather all the information we need from you, then proceed to step 2.

At our second meeting, CUBE will outline a strategy to meet your marketing goals. We'll also answer the question clients ask most often: About how much with this cost me?

If you think CUBE's proposal looks good or just needs fine-tuning, you give us the go-ahead to develop the strategy and get the ball rolling on creative. If you don't like our proposal, you either send us back to the drawing board—or send us packing. (Don't worry: no one's sent us packing yet!)

We produce your detailed marketing/advertising/promotional plan. We develop the creative to support it.

We deliver your plan and creative concepts; depending on your needs, we may deliver it electronically, via snail mail/courier, or in-person. Then we meet via conference call or face-to-face to review everything with you and address your questions or concerns. Based on your input, we make any needed tweaks.

At this stage of the process, we produce your plan's individual components and launch your marketing and/or advertising plan.

If you own the business, you're happy.
If you work for the owner, you look good, which makes you happy.
And when our clients are happy, we're happy.

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what led you to CUBEs website?
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