THIS WEEK'S ISSUE
12/5/2009 7:00:00 AM
A Closer Look: Eric Groves
| |
|
 |
| Photo by Chris Conetzkey |
| | Eric Groves |
• About: Groves is the owner of PUSH Branding and Design, which until recently was known as Mauck Groves Branding and Design. He is also co-owner of Flying Hippo Web Technologies. Between the two businesses, he has about 20 employees and has done work for such large organizations as Audi AG, Principal Finanical Group Inc. and Iowa State University.
• Education: B.A. in graphic design from University of Northern Iowa
• Hometown: Boone
• Age: 46
• Family: Married to Patti, with three kids
• Web site: www.pushmybrand.com
• See Big Head Joe: www.gobigheadjoe.com
|
|
BY CHRIS CONETZKEY
Staff Writer
Why did you change the name of your organization?
We are a branding firm, so we help other companies develop strategic brand solutions. And part of what I have always preached is the power of the name. There is real power in naming, and I came to that revelation after I started my company in 1994. When I started my company, I did the same thing everybody else does, I named it after the principal. As I matured as a company and in my branding expertise, I really have come to see the power or value in a name. A name, if done right, can be a marketing tool unto itself. A good name can market itself, and can differentiate a company or product.
Why did you name it PUSH?
Number one, it is a name that falls in line with the philosophy of naming that we espouse to our clients. And so what I am preaching to clients, I am now practicing with my own brand. It is more progressive; it is confident; it establishes a persona or personality just in the name, which a name like Mauck Groves simply didn't do. And it positions us as hopefully a company that is on the edges of creativity, and it is a name that suggests the willingness to take risks.
Why do people use their own name to name their company?
It is just the simple way. It is kind of, I don't want to say the lazy way, but it is kind of the follow-the-herd mentality: Everyone else is doing it; we should do it. Which in branding is completely backwards thinking. If everyone else is doing it, you ought to do something different because you get immediate differentiation that way. I looked around the landscape of creative firms, and I was really kind of ashamed at how noncreative most of their companies are named, and I looked at it as a real opportunity to distinguish ourself within our competitive landscape.
What is your involvement with Iowa State University?
Iowa State is our single biggest client. We have been working with them for over 15 years with Carole Custer, who is the university marketing director. We've handled the majority of the communications materials that go through the marketing department. So working with the various colleges and departments within the university and kind of controlling that brand experience.
Explain for me Big Head Joe and where you got the idea to make team mascots into headgear?
The genesis of that was with Iowa State. Part of the state fair project, part of what they do for the state fair, is they do giveaways. They hand out things to people that come through their booth. Carole wanted to do something different, rather than give away calendars and magnets and tattoos. She challenged us to come up with something more creative. So what we did, is we took the mascot, Cy, and turned it into a headpiece. And they started passing those out. They proved to be so popular they had to reorder them. I believe the number they ended up distributing was about 50,000.
So why did you decide to start selling it as a product?
They were very, very popular and they started popping up at football games, I saw them at Hy-Vee as part of a display for the Iowa-Iowa State football game. So they had a life beyond the fair. We started getting an interest from others that saw it, you know other schools that thought it was a pretty neat promotional item. So I saw it as an opportunity to turn it into a product.
Are other areas interested?
We are starting to get interest from minor league baseball. We haven't done this yet, but we would like to approach major league baseball. We just recently started pitching it to high schools and getting some real strong interest from them.
Is this something that is pretty new, to be making products?
Yeah, it is. Most design studios or advertising companies don't do that. We work for other companies and design the marketing materials for their products or for their needs. So this being very entrepreneurial at heart, it interests me on a lot of levels. Creating projects is kind of an exciting new business opportunity that we are pursuing.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
