by shift on April 30, 2012
SHiFT has been chosen by Greenville-based Automation Engineering Corporation for a new website design and an ongoing content marketing program.
A 30-year leader in precision automation solutions for major manufacturers, AEC is an emerging global resource for premium tube and pipe producers seeking high-speed integrated material handling systems to optimize finishing room productivity and product quality.
New v-rollers from AEC: Aesthetically elegant; functionally brilliant.
“AEC is a defining client for SHiFT,” said agency president Mike Harrison. “This is a team of engineers driven by creativity and passion that’s hitting a critical market niche with a level of expertise that’s all but unequalled in their industry. The AEC story is a microcosm of what’s happening throughout the Upstate, as South Carolina shows the world the power of our ingenuity and imagination.”
by shift on April 20, 2012
This is the new direction for the Oakland A's. We are card counters at the Black Jack table, but we're gonna turn the odds on the casino. (Billy Beane)
For those of you with some familiarity with our business, SHiFT is going through some very positive changes in the aftermath of Guy’s departure. Having finally seen the movie Moneyball, I liken our agency’s situation to what Billy Beane faced in Oakland when he built the A’s into a playoff contender despite one of the smallest payrolls in MLB.
Operating with a suddenly restructured overhead, SHiFT is using room in our salary cap to acquire some great young talent. As a result, our advertising agency is turning gaps in our defense into a more robust attack that’s producing wins for our clients.
These are the days of what Fast Company envisioned as “Free Agent Nation” back in 1997. The 2008 economic freefall forced advertising agencies to change or cease to exist. Seasoned designers, writers, media planners and account execs were “optioned” and pushed to the streets to compete with just-out-of-college communications majors, equally hungry for work. The best survived and are digging the entrepreneurial freedom.
Over the past few months, SHiFT has stuck our toes into the talent pool with great results. Frank Allgood joined us as a contract employee in January; today he’s our full-time Director of Client Communications. Elizbeth Barr, an accomplished writer who’s made the transition from traditional to digital content, has just joined our team on a contact basis to energize our social media opportunities. We will reward her good works with more and more hours going forward. We also have our sights set on a mega-talented young graphic designer, engaging him a few projects at a time until our business expansion allows us to give him permanent workspace as our newest SHiFTER.
Until then, our just-in-time workforce is absolutely kicking ass. Motivated to do great work and to make a lasting contribution to our clients’ success, each one of us understands the great opportunities in front of us. We’re a long way from perfect; but we don’t let mistakes beat us twice. We learn and do it the right way next time out.
Like the A’s of 2002, this is not a team of superstars. We’re a team of winners that’s surprising even ourselves some days.
by shift on April 12, 2012
There’s a new face of Countybank. She’s every parent’s daughter or son, full of promise and wonder.
It’s a stock image, which normally isn’t our first solution, given our photography capabilities here at SHiFT. But when we found it and shared it with the client, everyone just fell in love with “Goggles.”
You’ll see her in billboards, newspaper ads (print and digital) and television. Kudos to our creative team for discovering her and to our writers for the headline that brings clarity to Countybank’s mission as financial stewards for ordinary people: “She’s Got Dreams. Be Ready.”
We’re proud of the campaign and invite you to check out the terrific bank that’s behind it all. Countybank opened for business in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. Almost 80 years later, as so many local banks come and go, Countybank’s conservative principles and sense of mission have placed it in a position for continued growth in the Upstate.
We’re very grateful for the opportunity to help tell their story.
by shift on April 10, 2012
I ran across a brilliant blog from Guy Kawasaki titled “10 Things You Can Learn from the Apple Store.” It’s a quick read chocked full of great insights. I want you to read it, so I’ll be brief here.
The first lesson is one of the best: Stop Selling Stuff! The Apple culture is not built around profit. It’s all about how to “Enrich Lives,” a two-word wallet-sized credo Apple retail employees are encouraged to carry.
When I think about our recent successes as a company, we do best when we’re in that energized blue-sky state of mind … not when we’re selling. The same advice has been used intuitively by Nike, Ford (as of late) and even locally by our client Proaxis Therapy to separate themselves from their peer group.
Enrich Lives. Your own, your workforce, your customers, your community.
by shift on April 3, 2012
Guy Kohn
This Friday, April 6, Guy Kohn will come bouncing into SHiFT for his last time as a founder and partner of our ambitious little agency. Come mid-month, he will join Greenville-based OB Hospitalists Group, leaders in developing and managing in-house OB/GYN hospitalists programs. It’s a fabulous opportunity, and we know Guy will excel in every aspect of his employment there.
Guy and I partnered in 2005 to create Harrison Kohn Brand Development, which we renamed SHiFT five years later. His design and production skills were a perfect match to my own writing abilities. Guy had been a part of Erwin Penland in its infancy. I had benefited from several years at Leslie Advertising during its better days. We were athletes in our college days (baseball and soccer), fans in our later years (Dawgs and Tigers), married to fascinating women (thank you, Shannon and Cathy) and parents to two sets of exceptional kids. We shared a love of competition, a passion for doing solid work and a profound appreciation for people who built successful businesses.
What makes Guy such a great partner and friend are the intangibles … in baseball parlance, the things that don’t show up in the box score: Integrity, empathy and an “I’ll do it or die” work ethic that means he’s always got your back. In business and in life, there’s not much you can say better than that.
All of us at SHiFT are as thrilled for Guy’s next chapter as we are appreciative of all he did to put our company on solid footing to continue our forward momentum. Nothing we’ll achieve down the road would be possible without Guy’s imagination, determination and perseverance.
Godspeed my good friend.
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