We Live to Hear New Stories…Create New Ideas.
FORGET THE 4 Ps of MARKETING – CLICK HERE FOR THE 17 C WORDS!
Tell us your story and you had us at “once upon a time.”
Yup, we are those guys. The people who mix strategy and logic, creativity and craziness to bring ideas to life.
We believe all great communication (all great anything) comes from something true and that creativity can solve anything. We believe that if your customers’ experiences make a difference in their lives, then you have succeeded.
So we work with our clients to uncover your truths. We know that a story told using Surprise, Relevance and Emotion will affect change. And then we deliver those stories to the right people, at the right time, in the right way, to make things right with the world.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE !IDEA BAR – an entirely new idea in creative consulting. On the spot. In your location. Big ideas. Belly up!
- Established in 1993 in Upstate New York. Headquartered in Durango, Colorado, since 1995.
- Proven ability with clients nationwide and clients right at home.
- Creative thinkers who are just far enough outside of your box to reach inside and pull out what we need in order to create or promote your brand.
- A team of EXPERTS in each field — branding and graphic design, production and copywriting, visual storytelling, web design and development, content management, SEO, PPC, social media, and customer experience measurement. This is a group effort and it does not hinge on one person. You have our full attention — collectively and as individuals.
- We listen to and learn our clients’ stories. And then we help you tell them to your relevant audiences.
- We believe in a closed loop communications system. Is the storytelling working? Is your audience engaging in the change or behaviors you’d like to see to make the world a better place? We want to know if what we are doing for you is working.
- We believe ideas change the world.
- We know that a story told using Surprise, Relevance and Emotion will affect change.
- We’re glad to be here.
Strategy
65% of Americans believe they are bombarded with too much advertising. Avoid becoming part of the pollution.
There’s a certain science in creativity. Art imitating life, if you will. Chimera’s owner grew up in a family full of PhD scientists. Her dad would say “please pass the NaCl” (salt) at the dinner table. We ad types used to push messages to the consumers. Expect that they would listen. And wait for them to act — buy, call, walk-in. Not today. Social consumerism has taken over. It’s not a political party, but it is a party. Lots of people talking and engaging with their friends and peers and strangers. Messaging today is more about guiding those conversations to make your marketing pay off.
Our research methodology lies in the art of listening. Our favorite clients are those we can get to know well enough to understand their desired consumer experiences. We know that today, Americans are bombarded with a tsunami of messages. Some research says upwards of 10,000 each day. Of course, most people won’t recall seeing 10,000 messages. That’s because, to remain sane, humans have developed a screening process – an attention firewall. If you are not strategic in your planning, your message creation, your message distribution, and in monitoring your ROI, your efforts will be lost.
Storytelling and Design
Ernest Hemingway said his best short story was told in six words: FOR SALE. BABY SHOES. NEVER WORN. What are your six words?
We believe that all great marketing (all great anything) comes from something true. Whether we’re working with a start-up or a messed-up, this is where we begin. Always. Every relationship.
Package up B.S. and eventually your customer’s experience will be disappointing and your marketing will fail…no matter how pretty, award-winning or expensive. Package up the truth and you earn trust and loyalty. And customer loyalty is the only measure of your success.
We believe a logo is an empty vessel. It’s what you fill it with that’s your brand. The Nike swoosh was, at one time, just a swoosh. No Nike. It’s everything that came afterwards that created that iconic brand. Our branding formula is simple. We use surprise, relevance and emotion to tell our clients’ stories…their non-fiction stories. We wrap these elements in packages that consumers crave to open. And then we make sure that same story is woven into the fabric of every customer experience. That is branding. That whole process creates loyalty.
We tell our clients it’s not about them. (Some hate hearing that). The success of a brand literally hinges on whether your targeted audience wants YOU as part of THEIR personal brand. Ultimately, all anyone wants to do is belong here. If your brand fortifies your consumers’ self-perceived position…you are in. Then it’s up to you not to mess it up.
Marketing
Moments of encounter will create your brand. EVERY moment.
In the culture of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe (a long time client of ours), stories were passed on to generations through the art of beading. How simple and intricate at the same time. And talk about design! Now, we have so many distribution channels for our stories, it’s difficult to decide how best to get our stories HEARD. How do we connect with as many relevant audience members as we can? How do we make those experiences create customer loyalty? How do we get our customers to “pass it on.”
Part of strategy and marketing consulting is answering those questions. We have worked on your side of the fence. We understand budgets and boards, committees and c-suites. We know that creating a fantastically designed musical score is nothing unless members of the orchestra know their parts. We won’t create big campaigns for clients if we don’t make an effort to tell the employees who will be delivering the experience we are promising in ads, video, or online.
Our philosophy for getting your message heard is holistic (yup…we live in Colorado.) We look at every channel available to the audience you seek, evaluate its possible return, make sure it’s the right vehicle for delivering your well-crafted engaging story, consider the budget, and then pull the trigger. You see at some point we have to more forward with confidence, or we’ll be stuck in a creative sandbox with nothing but sand in our pants. Everyone deserves to tell their story. Everyone deserves to be heard.
Measurement
What matters most is the decision to matter.
The only true measurement of success in our opinion (and in that of some big wig Harvard types) is customer loyalty. Sure, there’s the massive satisfaction and ahhhh our clients feel when their customers are happy, when their customers align with their brand, when a consumer says “I love you”; and there is also the nearly audible ahhhh of the bottom line. Yup, profitability is directly linked to customer loyalty, and we’ll prove it to you.
Chimera has drank the Net Promoter Kool-Aid® and our clients who imbibe have the same red ring mustache surrounding a great big smile. Our proprietary software that gives you a daily dashboard to your Net Promoter Score(s) makes you the master of your fate, the captain of the soul of your company. Higher Net Promoter Scores for our clients mean higher retention rates, increased sales, lower costs to serve and lower marketing costs (we know…seems like we wouldn’t like that one, but we do)!
We believe that providing measurement of the customer experience gives us greater insight into all things marketing. You can have a spot-on strategy, masterful messaging, and brilliant distribution, but if you don’t know what the result is, what good is it really? Creating a culture of customer loyalty is what will sustain you. It’s how we do, baby.
As individuals, we don’t have a say in the world we’re born into. We don’t decide our own names or where we come from. You don’t decide how your story begins, but you do get to decide how it ends. And how you translate all of that to the vision of what you bring to the world through your product or service is up to you…with a little help from us.
MEET THOSE WHO TELL THE TALES
Chimera’s team leaders.
Nancy Brockman
Chief Experience Officer
Nancy leads our Creative Team. She believes the idea is king and has a bunch of her own. She thinks of headlines in her sleep and in the shower. She changes the channel to watch commercials (yup, that person), starts her mornings with SNL’s APP, and is addicted to great Visual Storytelling. Nancy has recently published a children’s book series called Naughty Dogs at Woo Woo Junction. You can learn more about that at woowoojunction.com
Good friends, skiing, hiking, Harleys, her animals, and travel balance out her life.
Lisa
Creative Team – Art/Design