Texas

I just got back from Texas.

I flew there to do an agency pitch for a potential new client. The flights got delayed, and I knew I would be at least 30 minutes late getting to the client's office (and there were around a dozen people waiting for me). Not a very good way to start a new business pitch.

There is something I instantly liked about Texas. You can go blasting down the highway at 85 miles per hour and nobody gives a damn. In fact, there were cars passing me!
The other thing I noticed were the flags. Texas flags, Texas State flags. Lots of them.
In the 50 miles I drove, I must have seen six or seven Texas flags, I didn't see one Stars and Stripes.
I'm from Pennsylvania, and if anyone asked me what our state flag looks like, I wouldn't have a clue...but we have the Stars and Stripes flying all over the place.
I think we may want to keep an eye on Texas.

Back to the pitch.
So I show up 30 minutes late, walk into a room with a dozen busy professionals and they were the nicest, warmest bunch of people you could imagine.
I remember several years ago, we were pitching a big account and it was down to us and two other agencies. One of the other agencies, got lost on the way to the pitch and the client cut them out. They said that it demonstrated poor planning. We won that pitch, but they were not a nice client to work for.

We had a great presentation with lots of back and forth interaction. Good questions. The prospective client is a hard core direct marketer that sees the value of brand integration. They asked the same question that every direct marketer asks me, "How do we integrate Brand into our Direct without lowering response?"

I have the answer. I've been working on it for years. But let me start by telling you what it's not.
It's not "using the brand colors" or "adding more pictures". It's not "keeping 1/2 inch of white space
around the logo" or "putting all copy in one type face." That's what the Brand Police do, and what the Brand Police want you to do will not fuse brand and direct together to give you the sales you need to grow your business or the loyalty and advocacy of your customers that will continue to grow your business organically.

Jon