To better reflect the scope of its capabilities and value it has delivered clients for 20 years as an integrated marketing and advertising firm, Spurrier Group has announced it is re-launching its brand. Formerly known as the Spurrier Media Group, the agency’s shift means far more than dropping the word “media” from its name.

Since opening its doors in 1996, Spurrier Group has always supported clients through the entire marketing process – well beyond traditional media buying – from research and strategy to planning and analysis of campaign results. This move, says Donna Spurrier, “is the next natural step in the agency’s transformation, leveraging our consumer-centric strategic planning to more clearly communicate our brand.”

“This is really who we have always been,” says Spurrier, the agency’s founder and CEO. “For years, client after client has told us we were doing ourselves a disservice with such a limiting label that just didn’t tell the full story of all that we offer. Now that we have been around for two decades, and with the continued changes in the media landscape and consumer experience, now is the perfect time to make this shift that more clearly tells prospective clients and agency partners what we offer.”

Spurrier says that, understandably, people assume that “media” means simply media buying, which is a service, albeit a very important one, that usually comes near the end of the process. Having “media” as part of its name has given business prospects a very narrow view of the services the agency could deliver.

“The reality is we are at the table with our clients from the very beginning, providing targeted audience insights and value way before it’s time to start planning media buys,” she says. “Campaigns today are all about engagement. The industry has shifted from sending messages to consumers through media channels to developing strategies that engage, and that’s a different business that requires a much more holistic look at goals.”

She also says the media insights they provide are a key element of their approach. Consumer insights and how people are going to relate to and engage with a product or a brand, she says, is exactly what the Spurrier Group has been delivering for decades.

“Creative directors and other team members benefit from having these insights up front, before concepts for the creative are developed,” she says. “They want to wrap their head around what the target audience is thinking, how they want to interact, what matters to them and whatever is relevant to the program. They want to figure out all of these pieces so that the creative team can then develop something that is relevant and will really increase the engagement and value and therefore the success of the campaign.”

One example Spurrier gives is the agency’s work to help the Federal Emergency Management Agency with the Floodsmart program. Spurrier Group works with team partners JWT, Ogilvy Public Relations, Blue Water and prime Leap Frog Solutions to develop the campaign that encourages homeowners in vulnerable areas to purchase flood insurance. The media tactics include a broad range – everything from highly optimized direct response television to targeted online messages to contextual and behavioral ads on weather-related and new homebuyer sites aimed at specific geographic targets. In 2015, an independent media mix model review revealed that FEMA received a $105 return on every one dollar spent in paid media in this campaign, validating the agency’s performance-based and consumer-centric approach — a win for all involved.

Spurrier Group works with a range of clients, including government agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Department of Homeland Security, local government including Virginia Housing Development Authority, City of Richmond Natural Gas, Virginia Department of Transportation, Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit, AMTRAK and commercial brands including Towne Bank, the Steward School, University of Richmond, Partner MD, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts among others, and partners with some of the top advertising agencies in the U.S., working in the following verticals: Federal Government, Financial Services, Healthcare, Transportation and Automotive, Tourism/Hospitality, State Government and Consumer Products & Services.

As part of the rebranding, Spurrier Group is unveiling a new visual identity to reflect the expanded messaging, including the agency’s new web site: www.spurriergroup.com. Designed by Cabell Harris at the Richmond-based award-winning creative brand agency WORK Labs, the new logo features five circles to represent Spurrier’s process: who are we talking to? what do you want them to know about you? how are we going to tell them about it? how do we show success? The final navy blue bubble reflects the concept of separating the brands from the pack: a result of working with Spurrier Group.

About Spurrier Group
Founded in 1996, Spurrier Group is a marketing partner dedicated to measurable ROI through research, strategy and media. The agency analyzes and then simplifies data to understand how to strategically reach and then motivate clients’ target audiences. Spurrier Group’s research leads to customer insights that educate and inform the entire marketing process. Spurrier Group was recently ranked the seventh largest advertising agency in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, and it is consistently listed among the top agencies in Richmond. For more information, visit www.spurriergroup.com