Holland-Mark - CEO Chris Colbert and President Rob Waldeck Simple, Truthful, Successful

There is one simple organizing principle at the Holland Mark advertising and communications agency - the Truth.

It's not what everyone expects from corporate advertising and messaging, but it is right there on page eight of the Employee Handbook: "We tell the truth to you [our employees], to our clients, to ourselves. We never fuzzy it up, we never qualify and never hedge."

CEO Chris Colbert says this commitment to the truth has inspired employees and clients alike, causing the Holland Mark brand to rise Phoenix-like from a pile of ashes. "I first created the brand in the 1980s, and with my team built the largest independent marketing and advertising agency in New England by 1999. Then the dot.com bubble burst, 9-11 happened, and some of our largest clients went under. It was tough to do, but we had to shutter our doors," he recalls candidly.

For roughly five years, Colbert walked the solo path of a "creative consultant," gathering his thoughts until he was inspired to launch a new agency founded on the rock-solid cornerstone of Truth and flying under the old Holland Mark flag.

The re-conditioning and re-launch of the brand really took shape in 2007, when Colbert met a professional soul-mate named Rob Waldeck who saw the world through the same lens. They talked for more than four hours the first time they met, and Waldeck soon brought his 10-person full-service graphic design firm, TPG Creative, under the Holland Mark umbrella, re-branding the graphic design operation as HM Studios.

Now Waldeck is president of the entire Holland Mark agency, which already has more than 20 employees and dozens of clients, ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Sounding like an alter ego to Colbert, he says of this success: "Truth is our core value - it's what attracts the best employees and the best clients to our agency."

Colbert says that the commitment to truth means that "we must recommend to clients what is best for them, whether or not it is best for us." He points to the case of a banking client that asked Holland Mark for advice about an advertising campaign. "After analyzing their business, we told them they would be better off spending the money on training and development of their loan officers if they wanted to get more revenue in the door," Colbert recalls, adding that "we are here to build relationships and not to make a quick buck."

He says that sometimes the commitment to truth is also about "doing what is hard to do." That can mean advising a client to invest money in direct-mail marketing when, in some circumstances, it is likely to pay better dividends than a sexy advertising campaign. "Advertising is the default setting because it is easy to do, but it is not always the best tool for increasing sales, so we have to be prepared to help clients in other ways," Colbert says.

Professional service providers, for example, are unlikely to get the most bang for a buck from an ad campaign, he asserts. "That is why ad agencies don't advertise themselves. The professional service category is built on trust and referrals," Colbert explains. He suggests that making an investment in a marketing database for contact and relationship management is often more valuable. "But you can't think of a database as a panacea. It is one tool and you have to be trained how to use it well," he advises.

When advertising and messaging is the client's focus, truthful clarity is of the utmost importance. "People get hit with thousands of messages every day, so you have to break through the clutter with one simple, compelling and truthful message," Waldeck contends. "You can't get caught up in the shiny new object syndrome that causes people to change messages like they change clothes," suggesting that audiences will not remember or believe a weathervane approach to messaging. "A great example of this is the Volvo brand. They stuck with one message and they own it. When you think of Volvo, you think 'safety,'" says Waldeck.

Waldeck also contends that Holland Mark's greatest tool for messaging and marketing has been its employee handbook. "It really tells you who we are and what we stand for," he explains, noting that clients love to talk about it. "I sent it to one person who sent me back a note saying that his marketing department called it the best work they had ever seen."

Among other things, the handbook pledges to employees:

• Clarity of expectations;
• Real-time knowledge of where you stand against those expectations;
• The support, guidance, resources and training to meet or exceed expectations; and
• The candid and constructive feedback you require when not meeting expectations.

"The truth is critical to what we do and the commitment to it begins internally. If we are truthful with ourselves, then we will be truthful with others," says Waldeck.

The employee handbook also provides a picture window into the internal management and workings of Holland Mark, which clients love to see. It is an agency with a unique internal structure and a clearly-articulated philosophy of doing business.

The handbook reveals that Holland Mark has no pyramid-like organizational chart. Instead, it has a web of interactivity among multiple professionals charged with creative, accounting, technological and human resources responsibilities. "We have no traditional hierarchy because hierarchies are designed to replace individual accountability for effective communication with top-down dictation," Waldeck says.

He asserts that hierarchy is unnecessary and counter-productive for committed and talented employees. "We look to hire people who are better than us in some way, and we want each of them to be capable of driving the bus." In fact, the handbook spells out what it takes to be a Holland Mark bus-driver, including: an unquenchable thirst for learning; a sense of intellectual and creative urgency; a willingness to take on your fears; an unwavering accountability; and an attitude of selflessness toward the team.

The handbook also spells out the five goals of the corporate team that are a constant standard for daily aspiration. Waldeck says it takes a special kind of person to sign on to these objectives:

• Every client feels as if they are our only client;
• We always meet our commitments;
• We work together to create brilliance in every aspect of what we do;
• We have fun every single step of the way; and
• We are profitable to enable growth and giving back.

Holland Mark team members also sign on to an ambitious five-year plan that calls for reaching specific objectives by 2013, including:

• Becoming the largest independent creative agency in New England;
• Becoming a leader within the Boston business community;
• Becoming a major contributor to the social good;
• Becoming the best company in Boston to work for; and
• Becoming a great company that will exist long after the founders are gone.

But the main theme of the whole handbook is about the relationship between trust and truth. "We believe that if you tell the truth and live the truth, then you will deliver nothing but the truth to your clients," says Colbert, who adds that the institutional commitment to the truth acts as a kind of screen through which only the best employees and clients will pass.

He suggests that a good screen is essential to getting the right people on board the company bus, stating that "people" form the most critical of the five "P" formula to good marketing: product; pricing; promotion; placement; and people. "Rob and I see this the same way, and that's why we built the agency around our commitment to people," says the CEO, who lists "humans" as one of his primary interests on his Facebook page.

Colbert says that Burns & Levinson provides the perfect complement of outside legal service because "they have a similar philosophy and approach to us." He credits his lawyers with being "pragmatic, truthful and very approachable," adding that "they tell us what is in our interest even if it is not easy to hear it."

Waldeck agrees, adding that "our lead lawyer, Tom Reith, is especially good at listening to us and bringing just the right people to the table to get what we need quickly and efficiently." The Holland Mark president notes that Burns & Levinson has handled a wide array of matters in a consistently professional way, providing sound advice and negotiating and drafting workable agreements related to employment, trademark and commercial matters. "They are who we turn to first because they understand who we are and they appreciate that we need practical advice and good value because even a successful start-up company has to scrutinize every dime."

This interview was published in the Fall 2008 issue
of our newsletter, Focus
Click here to view the entire 2008 Fall Focus