Congrats to Martin Miglioretti

Martin Miglioretti has been appointed the new Creative Director over at Pierpont Communications. Pierpont seems to be growing, having just opened up an office in San Antonio.

Pierpont leader Phil Morabito was in the Houston Business Journal last week talking about how what a value public relations can be in this kind of economy: "What companies don’t realize is their marketing budget will go a lot further and create much more buzz in a down market. As your competition pulls back, you should become much more aggressive. When you do, you will achieve top-of-mind status and grab market share as the economy stabilizes and will be able to remain on top during the next upswing in the economy. Sticking to this strategy can be difficult for many executives because it is counterintuitive to what is a natural emotional response, but if you stay the course the market gains will be significant."

Turning the Big Blue Green

Over lunch, I heard Rhonni Vazquez, Vice President, Marketing, IBM Global Communications Sector, talking about IBM’s green strategy and the new green IBM brand.

A few things struck me about the effort, but one awesome thing about it is that the company was able to get buy-in from the top down to make significant operational changes. They went beyond brand strategy to build a business strategy.

Many times, companies will build a brand or pursue a positioning strategy that presents the message they want to present—but it stops at the marketing department. When that happens, the credibility isn’t there and you might as well burn your budget money in a barrel or give it to GM or something.

If you’re not willing to cross the line and sell the operational side when it makes sense, you’re missing a big opportunity.