Fingerpaint

395 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Telephone
518-693-6960
E-mail
[email protected]
Website
fingerpaint.com

 

Quick Facts
Accounts
Account wins 26
Active business clients 32

Brands by 2018 sales
Brand-product accounts held 49
$25 million or less 7
$25 million-$50 million 2
$50 million-$100 million 11
$100 million-$500 million 13
$500 million-$1 billion 2
$1 billion or more 4
Products not yet approved/launched 10

Services mix
Traditional 60%
Digital 25%
Strategy 10%
Public relations 5%

 

Client roster
Abbott Structural Heart
Alamo Pharma Services
Alexion
Alkermes
American Regent
Assertio (formerly Depomed)
Avadel
Becton Dickinson
Bio-Rad
Blue Fin Group
Braeburn
BTG
Catalyst
Celularity
Charleston
Chimerix
Corium
CSL Behring
Curium
Daiichi Sankyo
Dynavax Technologies
Endo
Genentech
Helius
Merz Aesthetics
OptiNose
Pfizer
Rhythm
Sciton
Sun Pharmaceuticals

WINNER
Agency of the year, category II
Best medical device campaign
Best nonbranded campaign
Best professional campaign – web

FINALIST
Best professional campaign – web

 

“With a name like Fingerpaint, it’s not a stretch for the agency to call 2018 a masterpiece,” agency management says. “Even if it hadn’t been its 10th anniversary, it would have been a year suitable for framing. 2018 saw Fingerpaint set out to celebrate its success, further solidify the foundation that got it this far, and harness the unbridled enthusiasm within its walls and channel it into taking the next 50 years by storm.”

Recent accomplishments

According to agency leaders, Fingerpaint didn’t just celebrate 10 years with a toast in a conference room. “That is not the Fingerpaint way,” management says. “Founded with a mission of putting its people first, the agency prioritized coming together and making sure that everyone felt rewarded. So, the entire company – all five offices – went to Scottsdale, Ariz., for a four-day anniversary party, complete with presentations, new benefits (more on that later), excursions, and one mechanical bull. They met. They patted themselves on the back. They planned. They inspired. Then, everyone packed up their flip-flops, treated their sunburns, and returned to their offices, reenergized for our future. It was an over-the-top, anything-but-typical way for an agency to celebrate.”
But one good party does not a year make, agency leadership says, and Fingerpaint has so much more to be proud of. Fueled by exponential growth, Fingerpaint made the Inc. 5000 list as one of America’s fastest-growing companies for the sixth year in a row, with revenue jumping from $31 million to $45 million.
To cap off a year of literal moving and shaking, management says, Fingerpaint’s Scottsdale office relocated to a larger space in nearby Phoenix to accommodate growth in business and headcount. The agency also purchased its flagship office building in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., along with an additional building nearby that is used as a creative ideation space and for workshops and meetings with clients. “This $10 million investment solidified the agency’s commitment to growth for the next 10 years and beyond,” agency managers say.
According to agency leaders, the highlight was the opening of Fingerpaint’s fifth location, a full-service office in Cedar Knolls, N.J., in October. Led by Fingerpaint veteran Tracy Blackwell and new hires Mark Willmann and Nick Megjugorac, the office already boasted five of the agency’s 26 account wins after less than six months in business. Some of those wins across Fingerpaint’s offices include assignments for two of Genentech’s launch brands, assorted medical device brands from Abbott Laboratories, and Heplisav-B from Dynavax Technologies, a two-dose hepatitis B vaccine.
The agency also continued to add to its roster of talent, bringing on such industry stars as Kevin Kish as head of finance, Scott Watson as head of creative in the Conshohocken office, Craig Mattes as head of creative in the Phoenix office, and Colleen Carter as head of marketing and business development.
“For this people-first agency, it’s no surprise that a handful of women were honored for their success, mentorship, and influence, including Andrea Kretzmann (Strategy, Phoenix), Michelle Petroff (Account Service, Conshohocken), and Michelle Olson (Public Relations, Phoenix),” management says. “Adding to that list is Bo Goliber, the agency’s full-time philanthropy lead, who guided Fingerpaint to a Med Ad News Manny Heart Award win, an honor that’s given for a commitment to philanthropy and social good and is among the most meaningful accolades the agency could have received.”
Fingerpaint founder Ed Mitzen had a banner year of his own, bringing home the Person of the Year honor in his hometown of Saratoga Springs, N.Y. “If it wasn’t already crystal-clear before Ed added another accolade to his ever-growing list that his philosophy that businesses prosper by taking care of their employees works, the immeasurable impact on his agency is proof,” agency leaders say.

STRUCTURE AND SERVICES

According to agency leaders, at Fingerpaint, it is often said that the agency is more than full-service, it’s right service. Fingerpaint prides itself on offering “Never Paint by Number” solutions to each client’s specific challenges, management says.
“The agency is results-driven and data-fueled, making sure everything it does offers a real return for its brands,” Fingerpaint management says. “Fingerpaint’s flat structure and no offices, no titles, no egos (read: no B.S.) motto creates an environment that proves just how much you can get done when no one has a name plate to swing around.”
Fingerpaint has four full-service agencies in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.; Conshohocken, Pa.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Cedar Knolls, N.J., that offer everything clients need, including planning, media, digital, strategy, and creative, all while taking a data-centric approach to achieve results that matter to clients. Its innovation hub in Columbus, Ohio, which the agency calls “the Perpetual Ideation Machine,” is a marketing innovation group of experienced, strategically driven thinkers across numerous disciplines who know where the classic processes stop short and have created new ways of turning information into action. “Their marching orders are to march to a different drummer. From behavioral economics, to design thinking, to rapid prototyping, thinking differently is what they do.”
According to agency leaders, the innovating does not stop in Columbus, however. Fingerpaint’s award-winning SHIFT platform is the brainchild of the Conshohocken office and is a proprietary data-driven marketing system that leverages big data, artificial intelligence, marketing automation, and content marketing to personalize the nonpersonal promotion model. “It’s also a pretty great example of how the agency stays at the forefront of the industry,” Fingerpaint says.

FUTURE PLANS

With a little luck, management believes that 2019 will be an uninterrupted continuation of 2018, but this time with more employees, more clients, and even more dogs roaming around the offices. The Cedar Knolls office is expected to continue its breakneck pace of growth, with plans in place to reach the high expectations the agency set for itself. “The other offices will be firing on all cylinders, too. Saratoga Springs is reaching capacity in its current space, and the purchase of its building will allow for renovations that will make room for 50 more Fingerpainters. Conshohocken will continue to flex its digital muscles with its SHIFT platform, and Phoenix and Columbus will hone their specialties of brand journalism and innovation,” according to Fingerpaint.
The agency will also invest heavily in staff training and development to allow its employees to learn more skills while fostering an even better client experience. Agency leaders say, “Fingerpaint’s philosophy is simple: Take care of your people, and your people will take care of your clients. And it will most certainly endure in 2019 and beyond.”

PHILANTHROPY/CITIZENSHIP

Walk into Fingerpaint and you can’t miss the word PHILANTHROPY painted on the wall,” management says. “It’s a fundamental value that pulses through the atmosphere. And it’s not just for show. It’s real and it’s in the heart of everyone who works for the agency.”
A prime example is when every location closed its doors last summer for Fingerpaint’s second-annual Philanthropy Day and helped local families who faced a summer of hunger while school was out and assisted lunches were not available. Appropriately dubbed “Operation Lunch Lady,” the campaign culminated in a meal-packing party hosted by Fingerpaint’s partner organization, The Pack Shack, in which music was played, gongs were rang, and good was done. Together, the agency packed 65,000 meals after raising more than $30,000. “That’s a lot of lunch money,” management says.
And agency leaders say it does not stop with company-wide efforts. “Almost every employee has a cause near to their heart. From polar plunging for the Special Olympics, shaving their heads for St Baldrick’s, walking for mental health, and collecting brains for the Concussion Legacy Foundation, you can’t spend more than 10 minutes in the joint without bumping into someone who’s on their way to do good for someone else.”
Even the summer interns are immersed in the culture of giving back. “After being paired up with local nonprofits, the interns complete a variety of pro bono marketing projects, including sales materials, new branding, and in the case of our Conshohocken interns, launching a brand-new nonprofit,” Fingerpaint says. “The program is mutually beneficial, as it provides services to organizations with limited capital to invest in marketing while giving the interns real-world experience to supplement what they learn in the classroom.”
Employees are also recipients of a number of perks, according to agency leaders. “Known for its sabbaticals (19 of which were taken in 2018), 100-percent free healthcare premiums, dog-friendly offices, and more, the agency is dedicated to continually evaluating opportunities to introduce new benefits to its employees.
A handful of new benefits were announced at the agency’s 10-year anniversary celebration during April 2018. First and foremost, a student loan repayment assistance program, in which Fingerpaint makes monthly contributions to employees with student loans to help them pay down debt faster, was introduced. “But wait, there’s more!” agency management says. “Fingerpaint also announced summer Fridays, a tripled 401k match, and an office rotation program to allow Fingerpainters to visit other offices and learn more about their work, processes, and specialties so they can return and apply best practices to their own teams. Topping off the year was the introduction of free gym memberships for all employees. Go ahead and try to think of another company that cares about its people more than Fingerpaint does.”