Doremus | B2B Agencies Top Agencies

Major 2010 campaigns: Corning, “Gorilla Glass,” print, online, out-of-home, mobile; HP Technology Services, “Shape Your Own Cloud,” online, direct mail; Quintiles, “Starting a Revolution,” print, online

Comments: Increased revenue 21%; added new clients including Broadridge Financial Solutions, Charles Schwab & Co., CNBC, Duff & Phelps Corp., HP Printer Services Group, Johnson Controls and Owens-Illinois; 95% of total revenue is b2b

B2b agency Doremus had a strong year, marked by 21% revenue growth and significant new account wins, including Broadridge Financial Solutions, Charles Schwab & Co., CNBC, Hewlett-Packard Printer Services Group, Johnson Controls and Owens-Illinois Inc.

Winning new business is, without question, important for growth, said Doremus CEO Carl Anderson. But just as significant, he said, is the agency's continued success in extending and deepening relationships with existing clients. Doremus works with multiple divisions of HP, for example, and last year created an integrated campaign, “Shape Your Own Cloud,” which is designed to help the technology company grab a bigger slice of the worldwide IT services market.

“Our clients are really entrusting us to do more and more work in their organizations,” Anderson said. “The good work we've done in one [division] has allowed us to gain introductions into others. It's something we take a lot of pride in.”

Anderson attributes the agency's success to its focus not only on clients' brands but on the business behind those brands. “Agencies talk about the brand, but our starting point is [to ask] what the business challenges and objectives are,” he said. “B2b can be viewed by some parties wrongly as being much more tactical, executional in nature. We've been elevating it to a more consultative relationship.”

To support that bird's-eye view of clients' businesses and gain a deeper understanding of their audiences, Doremus devotes significant amounts of time, energy and money—about $500,000 a year—to proprietary research, Anderson said. The agency has a close partnership with the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and also partners with media outlets—such as CNBC, the Financial Times and Forbes—on research to uncover insights into various groups of businesspeople.

Doremus views digital marketing as integral to everything it does for clients, and last year the agency focused on honing its expertise in social media. “Paid media is one thing, but earned media is becoming increasingly important,” Ander-son said. “In many cases it's the cornerstone of what we're doing.”

While pioneering the digital frontier, Doremus is also expanding geographically, finalizing plans for an office in Shanghai, China. The agency has had an office in Hong Kong since 1994, but the new China office will help Doremus meet the needs of clients that have major operations in mainland China, such as Johnson Controls, CFA Institute and Quintiles, Anderson said.

—M.E.M.

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