Steadfast and True

Business is booming right now for us. It's encouraging to know that all the hard work my staff and I have put into making Francomedia a great company has not gotten washed away or eroded with the global recession we are faced with.

Quite the opposite in fact. Despite the downturn in the economy, we have posted two record setting months; April and June. And, I think that's just the beginning.

2009 hasn't all been great though, we did operate for 2 months at a loss and 2 months of just breaking even. I was expecting 3 or 4 months of down time and although I didn't really budget for it, I managed to keep everyone employed while things got back to black.

What I didn't count on was the swell of clients coming to us from agencies that have been taking advantage of the market conditions prior to the winter. When I say taking advantage, I mean over-charging. The market turned in October, and when things get tight, the first thing many companies do is look to cut some dead weight and reduce expenses. They begin to analyze their spends a little bit.

When they see that their ad agency charged them $200 to burn a CD of their own web assets they begin to question the relationship and the value they're getting - and justly so. Soon, they begin to shop around for another agency or service provider.

We have been on the receiving end of more than a few of these companies that were looking for some 'fresh ideas' and honest billing.

Luckily, we've built a solid reputation in the market place for being very creative and we operate cleanly. Meaning we are fair and honest with all our clients. Sure, we could have taken advantage of things when times were good, but that's not in our make up - that's not who we are. Making money has never been our primary objective, we've always put the work first. 'Be creative and serve the clients needs and the money will follow' - that's what I've always believed.

It may not be the best business strategy, I understand a business needs to be profitable and make money, it's just not our sole purpose. Making money is a necessity and a benefit of what we do, our purpose is creation. At times it's tough to balance and sometimes we give clients ridiculous deals just so we can do something creative.

So, the tide is turning and our reputation is prevailing. More and more companies are coming to us and looking for some good old fashioned, honest, creative.

We are happy to oblige.