Advertising agencies are often accused of being terrible at promoting and marketing themselves, but that’s not a problem for the Edmonton agency formerly known as McRobbie Optamedia.
To promote its brand re-launch under the name Free, the agency decided to give away free stuff, creating a pop-up retail store offering free gifts for one day only Nov. 30. The store attracted over 1,500 people and garnered news coverage on all four local Edmonton TV channels.
“We were overwhelmed by the response,” said Krystin Royan, Free’s creative director. “We have already had a number of new business calls because of it and we generated a bunch of goodwill.”
The path to the brand re-launch began in 2009 after the merger of Edmonton agencies McRobbie and Optamedia. “We had two agencies with less-than-catchy names combine to make another agency with an even less catchy name, so it was always intended we would re-brand,” said Royan.
The agency settled on Free because “initially it has a kick factor, you know, free advertising,” explained Royan, and because free is one of the most powerful words in advertising. The agency created a new logo in-house, a design where the negative or “free” spaces around a series of pictures create the new name.
Leading up to it official re-launch, the agency ran a series of teasers on social media, posters and flyers, promoting the Free Store. “We didn’t tie ourselves to the Free Store, just kept our re-branding a secret,” said Royan
When the store opened, there was already a long lineup at the City Centre Mall. Within two hours they had given away 1,000 gifts, including Free branded underwear, art work, clocks and T-shirts.
The re-launch was also a “fantastic” team building exercise, said Royan, because “everyone had their fingerprints on this.”
Free is a full-service agency with 18 employees and clients that include Syncrude, University of Alberta, the Government of Alberta and MADD.
