Fingerpaint: 2017
Fingerpaint
395 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Telephone: 518-693-6960
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: fingerpaintmarketing.com
Finalist
Agency of the Year, Category II
Accounts
Account wins 15
Active business clients: 23
Brands by 2016 sales
Brand-product accounts held 31
$25 million or less 12
$25 million to $50 million 5
$50 million to $100 million 2
$100 million to $500 million 5
$500 million to $1 billion 1
$1 billion or more 1
Products yet to be approved/launched 5
Client Roster
Note: This listing excludes various companies due to client disclosure policies.
Alamo
Alkermes
Celgene
Circassia
Colorescience
CSL Behring
Depomed
Eagle Pharmaceuticals
Emma Willard School
Ferring
General Electric
Glens Falls Hospital
Helius
Iroko
James Cancer Center – OSU
MIL Therapeutics
Mission Pharmacal
OptiNose
SI Pharmaceuticals
Sun Pharmaceutical
The Foundation for Embryonic Competence
Vernalis
2016 will be remembered as a milestone in Fingerpaint history, according to agency management. “It was a year of evolution and advancement, where changes were made to meet the challenges of the marketing landscape head on with a zeal and energy that told the world (and each other) that Fingerpaint is ready for whatever may come,” executives say. “With a new mantra to ‘Never paint by number,’ Fingerpaint planted its flag as the independent, people-first, client-investing, outside-the-line-creating, brand-activation machine.”
“Our new positioning is a reflection not only of where we see ourselves in the marketscape, but the sum total of the people who give Fingerpaint its soul,” says Ed Mitzen, founder of Fingerpaint.
The Year’s Accomplishments
2016 dawned with the addition of Bill McEllen, who joined Fingerpaint in January as the head of the Saratoga Springs office. “Bill’s previous tenure as the president of McCann Torre Lazur Group prepared him to help grow Fingerpaint nationwide,” according to agency management. “With an eye toward expanding the agency, cultivating client relationships, and helping groom Fingerpainters to lead the cutting edge of marketing in 2016 and beyond, Bill’s impact on the agency has been nothing short of tectonic, and his arrival was a harbinger of great things to come.”
Fingerpaint leadership says, “among the spreadsheets, market research, analytics, and regulatory demands of the healthcare industry, it could be easy for a different agency to forget that it’s the people who make a business thrive. With paid sabbaticals, kid- and pet-friendly offices, and a supportively fun atmosphere, Fingerpaint has made People First the first pillar of its mission statement.”
Execs say this philosophy was actualized in a new way during 2016 to show staff just how much they are appreciated and how Fingerpaint values its people beyond all else. In May, Fingerpaint announced it was joining the less than 1 percent of companies nationwide who put people before profits by paying for the medical insurance premiums for staff and their dependents.
The decision was lauded by employees and their families, and garnered substantial local notoriety in Fingerpaint’s four office locations. Agency leaders say résumé submissions have increased, and clients are taking interest too, knowing that a happy agency ensures quality work. “It was an easy decision to take care of the people who take care of our clients,” Mitzen says.
While the employer-paid medical coverage is projected to incur an investment of $1.3 million annually, Mitzen and his team realized a lack of innovation in employee benefits could cost far more. “In today’s agency landscape, we’re differentiating our offerings both externally and internally, and paying for medical insurance is just one way we can ensure our people are happy and taken care of,” Mitzen notes.
Agency leaders say differentiation is inevitable with an increased number of employees, and Fingerpaint added 45 new staff members in 2016. Among them was Bruce Rooke, a venerable creative veteran who in his previous roles at J. Walter Thompson and GSW has won a Cannes Lions, a Yahoo Big Idea Award, and a Clio Healthcare Lifetime Achievement Award. Rooke joined Fingerpaint in the spring, homesteading in its newest office in Columbus, Ohio, to spearhead a new Fingerpaint offering called the Perpetual Ideation Machine LLC (PIM).
“With an ever-changing marketscape, agencies can no longer afford to rely on the old channels of communication,” Rooke says. “The Perpetual Ideation Machine will be innovating new avenues of marketing that aren’t limited to a print run or a pixel width.”
Executives say new offerings from PIM include innovative proprietary products that expand and improve brand engagement, as well as strategically driven idea consulting for brands that are longing for fresh thinking and more impactful tactics. “Clients have all of these different AORs on their brands, yet what they need most is an ‘Innovation AOR,’” Rooke explains. “That’s the role we play.”
In 2016, agency executives say “more” was the name of the game. Fingerpaint served more than 20 clients across its four offices with revenue growing 40 percent over 2015. “With numbers like that it’s easy to see why Fingerpaint was named to the Inc. 5000’s Fastest-Growing Companies for the fourth consecutive year,” executives say.
The agency added 15 account wins in 2016, including Aristada, the long-acting injectable schizophrenia treatment from Alkermes. Fingerpaint joined forced with Sun Pharmaceutical Dermatology on its Absorbica brand to treat patients suffering from severe acne, and partnered with Iroko Pharmaceuticals to create the unbranded NSAIDilemma campaign, which is dedicated to educating and promoting awareness among physicians of the risks and consequences associated with NSAID use.
The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC – James) called on Fingerpaint to manage a qualitative and quantitative research project in an effort to uncover insights that will inform a future development campaign. California-based sun and skincare cosmetic company Colorescience engaged Fingerpaint for various creative and strategic brand evolution initiatives.
Fingerpaint continued work with Ferring Pharmaceuticals on both Firmagon, for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, and Cervidil, the only FDA-approved insert for cervical ripening, which led to several awards for digital design and innovation in sales communications. Fingerpaint’s 2016 win portfolio also included creative and strategy work for Alamo Pharma Services, SI Group, and Otsuka Pharmaceutical.
Structure & Services
In addition to the agency’s Saratoga Springs, N.Y. headquarters, Fingerpaint has offices in Conshohocken, Pa.; Scottsdale, Ariz.; and Columbus, Ohio. Among the four locations, executives say collaboration remains key to Fingerpaint’s continued success.
“We like to say that trailblazers live off the beaten path,” McEllen says. “Our office locations definitely give us an edge with everything from creative perspective to agency rate.”
According to agency leaders, the open office and fluid work dynamic are found in all locations, helping to imbue a true sense of collaborative energy that lives cohesively despite their distant geographies. “As a culture of no offices, no titles, and no egos, this flat organizational structure empowers all employees to contribute, get involved, and support each other’s ideas, especially if that idea is about agency identity,” executives say.
“The heart of Fingerpaint – the collaborative culture, the hunger to create – it flows freely in each office,” says Andy Pyfer, head of the Conshohocken office. “When the entire agency got together for our annual meeting, it was jarring just how much everyone was on the same page. That’s the type of spirit agencies covet, regardless of size.”
Executives say Fingerpaint’s culture is a feature that has witnessed explosive growth in the last year, with the Scottsdale office doubling in size, the Villanova location outgrowing its building and moving to Conshohocken, and a new space opening its doors in Columbus. While the head count and square footage have grown, the company has digested the influx of talent without a hitch, pushing out client work with no interruption to time frame or quality.
2016 was the year Fingerpaint drew a new line in the sand, executives say – by turning inward, realizing that with this new flood of talent, the time was ripe to plant a flag and move forward with one voice about what it stands for as an agency. “Our clients need an agency that isn’t vainly enamored with its own story,” McEllen says. “They need an agency that’s enamored with its clients’ stories. That’s what Fingerpaint can offer.”
New thinking led to a two-day, all-agency meeting in December, a gathering of the full 165-person staff. The meeting was filled with training sessions, philanthropy events, presentations, and an end-of-year holiday party that helped the whole agency gel and look forward to 2017 with excitement.
According to agency leaders, as a result of that meeting, Fingerpainters now approach every project, brief, or client deliverable by first asking three pivotal questions: 1) Is what I’m doing paint-by-number? 2) Can I see the difference this will make? and 3) Is it worthy of my signature?
“This internal ethos will help make 2017 an even more successful year of new business wins, increased revenues, and continued growth,” executives say.
Leaders believe that the agency’s multichannel offerings will also increase, with the addition of new services such as product design and development, virtual reality, interactive film, and brand journalism to its already comprehensive catalog of services that include creative marketing solutions, brand development, strategic planning, audio/video production, social content marketing, public relations, event planning, digital and traditional tactical deployments, intelligence, research and analytics, and medical and scientific communications.
Future Plans
The coming year will be one of experimentation and accomplishment, according to Fingerpaint. “Under the agency’s new directive to never paint by number, Fingerpaint will expand its creative range, melding core insights with technology to offer clients uncommon solutions to marketing problems,” executives say.
“‘Never paint by number’ isn’t a buzz phrase or fake manifesto,” Pyfer says. “It’s baked in to our processes, from interacting with clients, to concepting, to creative execution. There’s a genuine excitement throughout the agency as the shackles are taken off a lot of enthusiastic people with terrific ideas.”
That excitement is no more apparent than in the newly minted Columbus office, executives say.
“We plan to execute on a lot of the planning that we did this year,” Rooke says. “The Perpetual Ideation Machine is already getting a lot of interest from clients, and scopes are under way.”
As new offerings grow business, staff additions to accommodate increased work will most certainly be pursued, according to agency leaders.
“We project another double-digit year of growth. With the teams we have in place, that’s virtually guaranteed,” says financial lead Kira Karbocus. She notes that both the Scottsdale and Conshohocken offices experienced exponential staff additions to keep pace with increased revenues. That trend is expected to continue, with significant jumps in profit and personnel forecast in each location as 2017 wears on.
Philanthropy/Citizenship
Unique among agencies, Fingerpaint employs a full-time philanthropy liaison, Bo Goliber, who connects with charities nationwide, according to management.
Because philanthropy is another pillar of the Fingerpaint mission, executives say the business growth in 2016 meant an analogous increase in philanthropic opportunities for Fingerpaint. “We’re really the only company I’ve ever seen that does this.
We see philanthropy as a metric of our success,” Goliber says. “In short, the more we get, the more we give.”
Giving back means more than just writing checks, agency leaders say, as Fingerpainters offer their time, talent, and resources to dozens of humanitarian and health-related organizations, connecting with causes close to their hearts while ensuring surrounding communities are cared for and appreciated. In 2016 alone, Fingerpaint contributed more than 700 hours of in-kind/volunteer time; helped nine organizations with pro bono brainstorming sessions on branding, messaging, PR, and event assistance; attended or had a presence at 36 charity events; and even had a 100 percent office participation in holiday giving efforts companywide.
“Fingerpaint employees don’t mind getting involved in causes bigger than themselves, volunteering for cleanup days, food pantries, and homeless shelters,” executives remark. “Whether they’re donating financially through pro bono work or through volunteerism, Fingerpaint employees commit to the community with the same passion they put into their work.”
From Philabundance in Conshohocken, the Special Olympics in Saratoga Springs, or Free Arts of Arizona in Scottsdale, Fingerpaint continued to raise the bar on its philanthropy core value in 2016, according to agency leaders. In 2017 Fingerpaint plans to enact a Day of Service for all employees, the benefits of which will be felt nationwide.
“We see our work as something more than marketing,” Mitzen says. “We’re here to benefit clients and their customers, of course, but we also know we’re a force for good in the world. That makes Fingerpaint a special place.”
