What are the differences between these two images? *Answers below.

By Grace Cunning, Senior Project Manager

It’s a funny thing being a creative marketing and communications agency: our clients hire us for our ideas. As fun as it is to be creative, it can be a lot of pressure to know that the bills only get paid when the ideas are good. After all, creativity flows most freely when the livin’ is easy! So, how do we keep the creative juices flowing despite the challenge of having to be creative on demand?

In planning customer communications for a bank merger, you’ll need to focus on the strategies that ensure a smooth transition of your newly acquired clients to their new accounts and services. The same holds true when it’s a systems conversion impacting your own customers.

Once customers have migrated to their new accounts and their first statements have arrived, that’s when additional communications may matter most in the long-term.

Occasionally, our clients will ask for our take on blogging, and whether it’s worth the investment of time (or money, if they have to pay a copywriter). Our answer is an emphatic YES! Here are the top three reasons why blogging is worth the effort:

By Pamela Reich, Director of Communications Strategy

At MKP, perhaps the most obvious manifestation of our creativity as a marketing communications company is our end product, whether it’s a letter, brochure, banner, ad or campaign. Yes, we pride ourselves on the ability of our writers and designers to develop creative that is strategically on target, brand sensitive and impactful. Taking a deeper look, however, we find that creativity guides and inspires everything we do.

Here at MKP, brainstorming is a big part of what we do. And over the years, we’ve developed a few important techniques and guidelines that have helped us tremendously. Try a few of these the next time you gather a group to kick around ideas. We’re confident they’ll help you too, no matter what project your next brainstorming session may be for!

1. Take “No Bad Ideas” to the next level.

Here at MKP, we know how to serve our financial institution clients because we’ve walked many miles in their shoes.

We recently interviewed three members of the MKP team to hear what they had to say about their experiences working on the “client side” before coming to work at MKP, and what their experience means for our clients.

How did working at a bank prepare you to work at an agency like MKP?

One of the most powerful tools marketers have at their disposal today is video. Television has long been an effective way to reach an audience, but the advent of online marketing combined with more economical means of video production has resulted in a revolution whereby video content is the principal inexpensive and disseminable means for engaging employees, customers and business prospects alike.

As you may know, LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) is a global interest rate benchmark that banks use to lend to each other. Many banks also use LIBOR as a reference rate for commercial and consumer loans that carry an adjustable rate. As a result of some global scandals related to LIBOR rate manipulation, it will be phased out by the end of 2021.

In celebration of our 25th year in business, here are some thoughts and recollections from Hillary Kelbick, our President and CEO.

Why did you decide to start MKP?