“We believe that all marketing on the Internet is direct and should be viewed holistically. Simply put, direct marketing is the advertising that we know works. Our job is to convert emotional transaction into financial ones. If brands are conversations, then direct is how we punctuate them,”
— Marita Scarfi, COO, Organic
Founded as a Web design business in 1993, Organic placed the first banner ad on Hotwired.com, Wired Magazine’s early online presence. Organic was an early pioneer in Web design, e-commerce and is even famed for designing Yahoo’s iconic label. But the agency has since spread its expertise from Web design into a full-fledged interactive agency well known for its work digital work that aims to reach users and engage them with experiences. Organic’s work is cutting-edge in the digital and social networking spaces, but while the user experience is a key component to their work, they are also focused on measurability and results.
Year founded: 1993
Headquarters: San Francisco
Holding company: Omnicom
Number of offices: Five
Web site: www.organic.com
Major disciplines/capabilities: Direct, digital, search, e-mail, mobile
Key accounts: Bank of American, Chrysler LLC, Choice Hotels, Equinox Fitness, Intel, Countrywide Financial, Sony Playstation, Hess, Nike (Canada), Anheuser Busch
Current agency challenges: The economy is causing the digital landscape to change on a daily basis and Organic is faced with targeting consumers as the budgets and demands of their clients change. The way it tackles this issue is to focus on measurement and through optimizing the latest technology.
Biggest 2009 industry trends: Organic expects the biggest trends of this year to be about optimizing marketing spend to drive ROI and marketing value across channels. It also believes in ever-evolving analytics and traditional marketing intelligence to include all of the tools available in the digital world.
Key executives: Jonathan Nelson, founder/chairman; Marita Scarfi, COO; Steve Kerho, VP of analytics, media and marketing optimization; Dean McRobie, executive director, technology; Chad Stoller, executive director of emerging platforms strategy
