Small company doing big things
With a national client list including Comcast, Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation, Siemens USA, Adecco USA, and Gain Capital, Kinesis Marketing is an innovative digital marketing firm that you would expect to be based in a high-tech, trendy New York office with a large staff. Think again. Kinesis is headquartered in the center of historic Morristown, New Jersey, in a three-story former warehouse that the company owns. By design, there are no private offices or expensive furnishings. Exposed brick walls, 100-year old restored wooden floors and abundant natural light are the primary features surrounding simple desks and multiple conference areas in the loft-like space. The building reflects the company’s focus on quality, productivity and profitability.
The Kinesis formula has resulted in steady growth since it was established in 2001 by Andreas Panayi and Gordon Miller, who met in New York in the late 90’s while working at Young & Rubicam (Y&R). Kinesis’ core services include creative, strategic and tactical implementation of Branding, ROI marketing, and internal/external communications initiatives that leverage the Internet and other digital channels as the primary delivery method.
In a short time the company added three more partners – Jo Stapleton, Nick Dimitrakiou and Thomas Gamble – and opened a second office in the heart of Philadelphia. In 2005, NJBiz Magazine ranked Kinesis 11th among the fastest growing companies in New Jersey. NJBiz also profiled Panayi as someone to watch in its annual 40 Under Forty issue. And while the company normally shuns the award-show circuit, that hasn’t stopped the accolades from coming: last year they garnered a WMA “Best Real Estate Website” WebAward for coldwellbanker.com, and this year the prestigious Nielsen Norman Group named the Kinesis-designed Comcast Store one of the Ten Best Intranets for 2007.
The success of Kinesis is one of the best kept secrets in the interactive marketing world, which does not bother founding partner, Panayi. “It’s not about fancy offices and your name in lights on Madison Ave. It’s about creating innovative and effective solutions, and providing the best services possible to the client. In today’s business world you can be a small, relatively anonymous company and still do big things.”
The Kinesis Formula
In science, kinesis is motion in any direction in response to a stimulus. At Kinesis Marketing, they embody this principle by having any and all 25 employees, including partners, help develop creative and effective client strategies no matter what their expertise.
Kinesis Marketing is structured into four distinct areas: Creative, Media, Technology and Project Management. “Everyone gets involved in the strategy. We expect our people to provide input on all aspects of the business,” says Panayi. “If we are brainstorming an online ad campaign, or looking for new ways to engage an elusive target audience for a client, someone from Media or Technology might have a unique idea. Anyone’s experience, regardless of their core expertise, could offer insight and a creative solution.”
You can slice Kinesis vertically or horizontally and it can still function as individual units. The company operates much like a franchise where teams leverage the Kinesis knowledge and best practices. Each Monday, everyone crams into the third-floor conference room in Morristown for a weekly briefing and brainstorming session unlike a typical staff meeting. During a comprehensive recap of the company’s current business, employees discuss how projects and clients fit into the big picture from strategic and tactical perspectives.
Feeling the Client’s Pain
According to partner Jo Stapleton, the Kinesis formula came about because of the disenfranchisement he and his partners felt with the agency world in the mid- to late-90s. “The landscape was changing because of the Internet. We saw a discord between the traditional way of thinking about advertising and the emerging way of the Internet. Everything was changing how this new landscape would truly serve customers and their businesses, from planning, tracking, strategy, tactics and return on investment. We had no interest in starting another ad agency with a large staff and huge overhead. The founding premise was based on a platform of ‘feeling the client’s pain.’ Our focus is to over serve our clients while keeping our operational expenses to a minimum,” points out Stapleton.
Panayi is more direct when he talks about the Kinesis formula versus the traditional agency model. “Within ten years and most probably a lot sooner, the big, full-service, we-do-it-all names in the agency world will cease to exist, at least as we know them today. They can not sustain profitable businesses with their current compensation and staffing models. We are seeing signs of this with the rebirth of smaller, specialized boutique shops, such as ours,” says Panayi.
Living with the Client
According to partner Gordon Miller, “We believe that you need to literally live with a client and experience their daily perspectives in order to create the right solutions for them, so we have work stations in our client’s offices.”
Kinesis is the Digital Marketing Agency of Record for Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation. Like with all their larger clients, Kinesis employees spend a lot of time at the Coldwell Banker headquarters in Parsippany. Further evidence that Kinesis is prepared to do whatever it takes to better understand a client’s needs is Panayi’s intention to get a real estate license this year so he can get an even better perspective on the changing real estate landscape.
“Our relationship with Kinesis is based on a true partnership where we know that their every strategic recommendation and tactical solution is deeply rooted into understanding our business and having the Brand’s best interest in mind,” says Charlie Young, SVP Marketing at Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corporation. Young adds, “We don’t consider the Kinesis team as vendors, we see them as a true extensions of our internal marketing teams.”
Bill Collins, vice president of Client Acquisitions at Gain Capital, explains, “today, you’ve got to be innovative and deliver quickly to stay competitive.” Collins is a Kinesis client because, “you don’t have to say things twice. They listen, they help you think it through, then map-it back to a solid strategy and quickly figure out a game plan.”
One client serviced primarily by the Philadelphia office is Comcast, which headquartered a few blocks away. “Kinesis is one of those unassuming factors that play a critical role in large-scale projects,” says Sean McKenzie, senior director of Digital Asset Management. “They are a small company doing big things for us. You know that you’ll always deal with senior professionals and have direct access to the principals, no layers and truly 24/7 access, which, in our space, it is imperative.”
Maintaining the Kinesis Culture
Part of the Kinesis formula is the deliberate creation of a hard-working, close-knit culture that also likes to have fun. As Kinesis has increased its staff by 20 percent in recent times to meet a growing list of carefully selected clients, partner Nick Dimitrakiou has been adamant about maintaining the boutique Kinesis culture in the midst of the company’s very well orchestrated and calculated expansion. “It not just about having lofty principles, the principles must map to your way of doing business,” he points out.
The work routine in a Kinesis office is hectic with multiple projects and tight deadlines, but in the middle of a frantic day, it’s not unusual to see people get up from their desk and shoot baskets in a makeshift hoop before dashing off to a client meeting. Or, typically on Fridays, one of the partners will “call” for a mandatory ICE CREAM break and the entire company will head to the Ben & Jerry’s on the first floor for a cup to go!
According to Miller, “creating a work environment that sets high standards while making room for happiness and fun suits us and our clients. When you enjoy your job and the people you do it with, it just naturally shows up in your work and makes it that much better.”
