A Brand & Marketing Consultancy

Prospective Client Overview

June, 2010

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Who We Are.

Cohesion is a brand and marketing consultancy that works with Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies to build and enhance marketing positions through innovative research, strategy and messaging. Since 1999, the firm has developed successful marketing foundations that not only create customer preference, but also drive company performance.

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Where We Fit.

Today, companies face a growing variety of strategy and communications vendors from which they can choose. If you’re thinking of:

• Hiring a brand company to build/evolve a brand…• Hiring an ad agency to create a new position…• Hiring a marketing consultant to develop strategy…• Hiring a design firm to develop new creative…• Hiring a consultant to create a mission/vision statement…• Hiring a PR firm to develop your reputation…• Hiring a social media firm to build community…• Hiring a web company to enhance your presence…• Hiring a research firm to determine perceptions…

Cohesion represents the best, first step in your effort.

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Our Real Business.

Cohesion develops strategy and messaging that drives the performance of companies, brands, products and services to stakeholders–inside and outside the organization. Our approach helps companies successfully leverage their value at a higher level, insuring that ‘what a company is’ (and aspires to be) is more effectively communicated at every stage in its evolution.

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Marketing Architecture.

The marketing/communication landscape has become too fragmented and too complex to simply start an effort with a singular, desired tactic as the objective (ad, website, etc.). The mounting waste of ‘not being understood’ and ‘not being heard’ demands that companies develop a comprehensive strategic architecture before the development of marketing/communication tactics.

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Why An Architecture?

A comprehensive architecture helps create more efficiency and relevance for every single tactical effort:

– It collaboratively ‘glues’ all company strategic efforts through communication (internal & external)

– It creates a more consistent message that often requires less frequency and distribution

– It eliminates the need to constantly redo tactical campaigns and efforts (tweak vs. overhaul)

– It allows for the building of ‘templates’ for all aspects of marketing and communications work; work that can then be developed and implemented with consistency by a variety of resources and vendors.

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Sample Architecture.

Cohesion develops comprehensive strategic architectures that serve to guide the

development of marketing communication tactics.

To view a larger version, visit: http://tinyurl.com/sigma-platform

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Positioning: The Engine.

Positioning is the driving force inside the marketing architectures we develop. To guide our positioning efforts and to drive succinct message development, Cohesion utilizes two (2) key framing ideas:

1) Differentiation: Is it sufficiently unique?

2) Relevance: Does it matter to those who matter?

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Our Strategic Process.

Cohesion uses a 4-step strategic development process:

1. Discover. (Research & Analysis)

2. Develop. (Positioning & Messaging)

3. Launch. (Planning & Implementation)

4. Adapt. (Assessment & Evolution)

This process works to improve the differentiation and relevance of companies, brands, products and/or services to your stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization.

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Client Examples. (Past & Present.)

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Leadership.

Brian Creath – Managing Principal. For more than 25 years, Brian has been helping companies bridge business objectives to successful strategic and creative outcomes. Brian founded the award-winning ad agency CreathJacobsen in 1989, and in 1999, formed BrandMaverick (which became Cohesion in 2005). His work as a writer, strategist and creative director has helped position nearly a hundred businesses and brands, and has been recognized with more than a hundred national and international awards. Brian is a sought-after writer and speaker on a variety of strategic and creative topics, and serves as a valued advisor to our clients' executive management.

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Thank You.

Thank you for your interest in Cohesion. To learn more about our approach and how it can benefit your organization, please contact: Brian Creath, Managing Principal, (636) 530-3670, or bcreath@cohesioncompany.com.

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ADDENDUM

Client Testimonials

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Client Testimonials.

Rob ShivelyExecutive-in-ResidenceNavigation Capital Partners(former) PresidentSM&P Utility Resources, Inc.

“Cohesion solves the essential strategic marketing question, which from a CEO standpoint is: who are we, for what do we stand, do we have a common way of expressing such and, if not, how do we get one. For our organization, Cohesion developed a core strategy, and then developed specific positioning and messaging that helped us optimize value of the whole rather than only the value of the individual pieces/divisions/brands, etc. Cohesion is a niche consulting firm steeped in knowledge and experience in brand discovery, strategic marketing and brand management.”

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Client Testimonials.

Phil WisemanVice President CommunicationsMcCarthy Building Companies

“Having Cohesion as a strategic partner has been a tremendous asset to McCarthy. Their in-depth understanding of our brand has led to top-notch positioning and messaging work that has elevated our business proposition in the marketplace. Starting out 10 years ago, they created our Genuine McCarthy message, helping to define the company and its culture for a decade. Recently, we asked them to leverage that to build external messaging that would better differentiate us from competitors. Again, their work was outstanding and they helped us carve a unique niche in a crowded marketplace. I highly recommend Cohesion.”

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Client Testimonials.

Tom ClarkFounder & PresidentClic

“I have worked with Brian and the teams he has lead in three different industries; food, fashion, and gifts. Their strategic approach has always been sound and their thinking forward…not only taking advantage of our brands’ equity but extending the reach beyond our expectations generating new revenue streams.

His team developed a marketing and creative strategy that launched a new business which grew to $150MM in 18 months…in less than a month developed a positioning in the food business maximizing the brand equity and opened new distribution channels…and in short order, laid out the strategic approach to take a successful start up into new revenue opportunities.

I have found Cohesion to be consistently resourceful…and they blend into the environment becoming a true part of the team, not an “outside” group whose commitment ends once the meeting is over.

I highly recommend any company, team or group that Brian leads, or is a part of. ”

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