You're listening to cubicle the CEO episode 259 is it ever a good idea to work for free? Many entrepreneurs wouldn't consider it, especially after being in business for years. But this CEO makes a solid case for why selective pro bono work pays off, sometimes more than you would have even netted from charging for the original service.
Tracy Marlowe, founder of marketing agency creative noggin, has consistently taken on one to two pro bono projects a year. In today's case study, Tracy details how she's made millions of dollars in ROI over the years with this unconventional marketing strategy, either landing paid contracts with satisfied pro bono clients or referrals from other businesses who were impressed by their work.
Welcome to cubicle to CEO, the podcast where we ask successful founders and CEOs the business questions you can't google. I'm your host. Ellen Yin, every Monday, go behind the business in a case study style interview with a leading entrepreneur who shares one specific growth strategy they've tested in their own business, exactly how they implemented it and what the results and revenue were. You'll also hear financially transparent insights from my own journey bootstrapping our media company from a $300 freelance project into millions in revenue.
Hey everyone, welcome back to the show. Today, we have Tracy Marlowe joining us, and this case study is one of the most interesting ones I've seen come across our desk for a while. It's never been covered on the show, and it's actually kind of rooted in, I think, somewhat of a philosophical debate for a lot of entrepreneurs, which is this concept of, should you ever work for free? Is there ever a time where that's valuable, or should you always charge?
And so we're going to be answering that from Tracy's perspective today, with her experience doing one to two pro bono projects for clients through her agency, creative noggin, usually about, you know, one to two times a year, like I said. So anyways, I'll share more about that case study in just a moment. But first, Tracy, welcome.
Thank you. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Of course, before we dig into the case study. I would first love to hear your cubicle to CEO story. What was that final catalyst that helped you launch into entrepreneurship?
The final catalyst, I would say I was a young and aggressive, ambitious advertising executive in my 20s. Actually, I was in my 30s at this point, and I had been, you know, climbing the ladder, doing really well within the agency world. I was, you know, growing the agency's business year over year by, honestly, like, millions of dollars. I was doing really well, and I had grand aspirations.
And then that all just came to an up ending when I had a baby, and that just changed my entire perspective on life, and I realized that what I thought was the most important thing in the world was not. And suddenly I realized I needed some balance within my life, and I decided that working eight to 10 to 12 hours a day wasn't necessarily it, and that's the point when I left the full service agency world helped launch this business and get it going, and I decided to do the agency as a full service, 100% remote agency at that point in time, obviously, 2008 was a pivotal time economically within the United States, a lot of people were looking really hard at their marketing spend.
They were spending, you know, large monthly retainers with agencies and kind of wondering what it was they were getting for that. A lot of people were trimming marketing budgets and wanting to make sure they were squeezing as much ROI as they could out. And so it was the time I decided, you know, to start an agency, have it be fully remote, and have the investment that I made not be in a building, but in staff and talent.
And so I felt like people recognized that the real creativity came from the thinking and not necessarily a creative space. A lot of agencies loved the idea of, like, trotting clients in for these dog and pony shows in this really cool creative office. And I thought, you know, most of my clients had never even set foot in the agency that I worked at, and they, you know, I would go to them.
And so I said, People are investing in people and thinking. And so we had creative noggin you're, you're buying creative noggins. And so the ROI they were getting was just in thinking. And the cool thing. Was this agency empowered me as a mom to have a real, true work life balance, where I was doing work I was passionate about and being creative, but also at the same time, being able to be present for my daughter. And then as I grew as an agency, we grew and hired more people, and it tended to be women that we were hiring, because they were all seeking the same thing. They wanted that balance. They wanted to do work they were proud of work with people they liked and enjoyed, and work with cool clients, but also be there for their families or their passions or elder care, or whatever it was that they really needed more space for and to be trusted that they were going to get their work done. And yeah, that was a big change for us, so.
That's incredible. I really like what you said about from the get go, you were more interested in investing in people than the building, and I think that is an important reminder for a lot of business owners, it's so easy to get distracted, or for your ego to want to invest in performative things, things that make you look good on paper or look impressive to your clients or your customers, or whatever it may be.
But to your point, you have to really understand, like, Where does the value truly come from within our company and for you, obviously, like you said, it's the creativity and the minds that you bring together. So great branding, by the way, creative noggin, I think that's so smart.
Thank you.
And this case study, then I think is even more impressive, because you started this business in 2008 and then this strategy, this pro bono strategy of taking on again, one to two client projects per year, has been something you've implemented since 2009 so pretty much since the inception of of your company.
And the premise for our listeners is that this is really allowing Tracy and the team at Creative Noggin to do really creative work that will get them noticed and bring in referral business. So for today's case study in specific, we're actually going to be digging into one particular instance of a pro bono project, which was the work that you did with the San Antonio Children's Museum and Tracy.
I think it would help for a little bit of backstory, if you gave a context around how you ended up connecting with this friend of yours, who I believe was a CEO of the museum, and how they found themselves in this pickle when, when you came into contact with them for this particular project.
Sure, and it's funny, because I think I met Vanessa Heard that was the woman who was the CEO at the time. I think I might have met her at the park. We were moms that were pregnant at the same time, was pregnant with my second child, my son. And I do think a friend introduced us, and we had chatted. I think I had gone in and at one point maybe talked with her and her marketing person, and we we had done a little project here or there with them.
And at the time, she was brought on, and she was running the Children's Museum, and at the time it was in a downtown location in San Antonio. It was an old, kind of older building. The facilities were older, but she had a vision that was incredible for the future of that museum, and they concepted. She began work and bringing in, you know, some amazing designers who design museums and whatnot.
And Her idea was to build a completely new facility and do an entirely new Children's Museum in San Antonio that was really based upon just sort of cutting edge philosophies, and that it would really transform the city is a destination and be transformative for the children within that city.
And so she was hard at work at that and we had done a little bit of work for them here and there at that time. But then she reached out to me. I think she was doing some work. They had an annual Lunch and Learn that they would do. And she had an agency that was actually doing the invitation for it, and they guess they had done it for the last couple of years, and last minute, the agency said, Hey, we're not going to be able to do the invitation for you this year. It's due to the printer in two weeks, but we're not going to do it.
We don't have time. We're too busy. And so she called me in a panic, and just said, is there any chance that you could do this? I have the files from last year. All you have to do is really go in and just change the, you know, just change the date and all of that. We just, you know, this has to get to the printer in two weeks. And I came in and talked with her, and I said, Okay, we'll do this for you, but I will. I'm looking at it, and I think it's not all that it could be.
And there's a lot of opportunity here. I will work on this for you, but only if you will let us completely rebrand the event, change the name of the event, completely change the entire positioning, all of it, and we will do all of that and have it to your printer and. Two weeks and she not at that time. It was like, that was a big risk, right?
Yeah, I and I love that you took the lead on that, not only because she was your friend, but also, I think it takes guts, really, to tell a client, Hey, your work actually isn't that great. Like me, repeating what you know, what you've been doing is actually a poor reflection on our capabilities as an agency. And I think sometimes it's hard to speak truth like that to to a client or a potential client, really at the time. And so that that is really impressive that you did that.
And I was curious about two things. First, you know, when you said, Okay, I'll do this for you, but you know, you have to allow me these things. Was the conversation at the time, like, from the get go already around you doing this as a pro bono service for the museum, or at that point in time, were both of you under the impression that this would be a paid project, and if so, at what point did the conversation shift into you offering to do this pro bono for them.
I think that they, they did have the expectation that we would do it pro bono. I know they were always running on a very small budget, and we were doing a little bit of work, I think, helping them with their newsletter at the time. And so it was a sort of Hail Mary for her in terms of, we just need somebody help. Can you please just, we'll make it. I think for her. Think knowing that we would be doing a pro bono, she was trying to make it as easy as possible for us, so that we would say yes in an easy path for her to yes and getting what she needed.
But at the same time, I didn't want the work. I didn't want to just change somebody else's work because I didn't feel like it wasn't representative of the work that the museum was doing and what their aspirations were at the time in terms of this event. And I felt like the event could be so much more. And I I could see the vision for what the possibilities were and so And plus, I just, I could see a lot of potential creatively in terms of really letting this be a unique event within the city.
And I mean, you, you really succeeded in that, right? Like you rebranded the entire thing from just this Lunch and Learn, which is quite generic. I mean, I remember, even at my corporate job, I hosted Lunch and Learns for our for our Medicare patients, and it was probably nothing at all like the event that they were hosting as their annual fundraiser.
But you, you changed it into the outside the lunch box luncheon, and it kind of brings me right to like that other curiosity that I had, which was around, why under such a tight timeline, you know, two weeks before you had to go to print, and you were doing it for free, why did you feel, besides just knowing that you know what they were currently doing wasn't the best they could offer and that you could offer.
But outside of that, why put that additional pressure to basically re haul the entire thing in that two week window instead of maybe just, you know, like you said, doing the easy lift for the invitation and then at a later point coming back for a more extensive pro bono project, was there, like, a strategic reason for that?
Maybe because I'm crazy, but-
Valid reason.
But I don't know. I think at the time, I just thought we could do it. I felt like I don't even know if I would do it. Now, to be quite honest with you, there's such a tight timeline, but I just I could see the potential, and I knew that they were in a pivotal point, and I knew she had the need, but I I wanted to help her, but I did want to help her within the parameters that they had, and so I thought we could pull it off. And luckily, we did.
Yeah, I mean, it is a huge undertaking, but I'm glad that you did it, because obviously it paid off in a big way, which we'll get into in just a moment. I want to ask, though you might not know this off the top of your head, but maybe even just an estimation, do you know how many hours of labor went into this project, both your own time and your team's time to get this all done.
Oh, gosh, I'll be honest, because it's been quite some time since we did this. I don't know. I would say several 100 hours. I mean, it was a, it was probably at least 250, 300 hours, I would guess, for us, just full fledge to try to get it all done. It was quite a lot. Yeah.
Yeah, a very generous donation of time. Were there any other resources that were invested into this project, outside of labor costs for you?
Um, no, we did not. I know that we worked with the printer, and I do believe that some of the the printing cost was provided pro bono as well through a sponsorship. But I cannot I we did not work directly. We just sort of coordinated with them.
Okay, that's great. That's really helpful to know. And your team had submitted some very helpful data ahead of our interview. One of the metrics that they that they shared was that the estimate. It cost for this total project, all in was $22,000 the equivalent, you know, of what you would have earned had you, you know, charged them for this work.
Would you say that that amount, in terms of pro bono value that you give, is pretty similar across all of the years that you've done this in the different projects? Is it usually within that large of a range or, or does the scope vary greatly, year to year?
Varies greatly. And I will say that that cost is a cost at that dates value, I would say probably the work that we did in that because this was, it's been well over 10 years ago, and so in today's value, it would definitely have been more than that in terms of the work of what we did, because we rebrand we renamed it, we rebranded it. We did all of the assets for the event as well, and did all the printing coordination as well.
But I so it would have been probably well over 30,000 in this day and age. And I would say, No, we don't, and a lot of it has to do with, you know, whether we do one or two pro bono projects a year. And there have been, I think, a year or two where we didn't do any just because we were too busy, or we didn't even really need new work or new clients, and we just weren't a point where we just didn't have the bandwidth.
And so, but I will say it depends. It really just depends on where we are and what we can make happen and the opportunity for creativity, because sometimes we'll figure out a way to make it happen. If we think, like, Okay, this could be really fun and creative, and we really want to make a way, find a way to make it happen so.
Totally. And I want to circle back to later in this conversation, some of those qualifications that you look for in determining which pro bono projects are, you know, worthwhile for you to invest in, because this particular case study that we're digging into is one from, like you said a decade ago, just for more current parameters, in 2024 or 2023 can you give us just a sense if you did any pro bono projects either this year or last year. Can you give us a sense of the service value of where those projects ranged?
I would say typically, they range between 20 to 30,000 in terms of value. Sometimes we'll do a couple of smaller ones, but it just depends on, you know what the client's needs are, but, yeah, that's probably typically around the range, like, what they would have cost them at full like, if they pay out of pocket things directly. Yeah,
Right. No, that says, I mean, that's a significant and generous scope to to cover in a pro bono project. I don't know if this is something that you are intimately familiar with, obviously, with accounting not being your area of expertise, but having done this for so many years as a business owner, I have heard before that you know, when you do pro bono work, that there is a way to, at least in the United States, I believe, to write off the value of the work that you essentially donated, similar to if you make like a charitable contribution, right with with a monetary gift, obviously, this is more of a services or time gift.
Have you taken advantage of that before? And if so, do you have any insights to offer that our listeners might want to take back to their own CPA and ask about?
I'll be honest, we haven't, and I've talked to I have talked to my CPA about that and what her recommendation to me had been. And I have never done this, because I feel like most organizations that we work with a lot of times, there are accounting departments it's more challenging for them to try to pull this off, or sometimes they don't understand it, so typically I just donate the time, or I'll do it like as an in kind type sponsorship.
And just from a accounting perspective, it's been easier for me to do it that way. But her recommendation had been that we actually charge them, but then we pay them so that we can each basically. So if it's like, let's say we charge them $20,000 and then they pay us $20,000 and then I donate $20,000 well, on the books that all even like, it's a wash, a wash.
Oh, interesting. Okay, that's something I haven't heard of before. So very interesting, but, but I can see how, from a record keeping perspective, that's a much cleaner transaction than what, yeah, the then the alternative. So awesome. Okay, that's a cool workaround. If you're a listener again, make sure you always run anything you do in your own business by your own accounting professional. But that's a good point to bring to the table if you also donate time or services through your business.
Now this, this project, Once complete, actually translated to about $150,000 in generated revenue, and this was just from the San Antonio Children's Museum. So from just this one client alone, not to mention that you landed multiple other accounts, which we'll again get into in just a moment. But let's first look at just this first client and the 150,000 In dollars in additional revenue that came from this.
So can you break down what comprised this revenue, and since they had worked with you on this project in a pro bono capacity, what made them consider working with you on a in a paid capacity, instead of wanting to continue the the pro bono trade?
Sure, I think I the fact that we came at this with such a creative solution, really thinking out of the box and outside the lunch box, but we were definitely thinking in a different way strategically. It was not just design work. It was very strategic in the way that we had positioned this for them. And I think basically what the way it ensued, was they had been working with another agency on the for the branding for the new museum that they were it's called the juicyum, is the new museum that they've opened.
And they had been working with another agency and trying to get them to help them with the development, basically, for they were reaching out to the public as well as corporations, and they had some branding that they'd put together, and they were not having a lot of luck. And so at that point, she said, hey, we'd really like for you to help us with rebranding our whole newsletter, and also helping us with doing the work for the development and the actual fundraising, to try to get money in from the, you know, the city of San Antonio, for donors within their that market, as well as, as they were outreaching to corporations. And so we put together an entire package for both of those markets, and then they finally just said, You know what, we really just want you to be our agency on retainer.
And so we ended up with an annualized retainer campaign and contract, and we're working with them just to really support them on all of their marketing needs as they moved towards grand opening and then past grand opening as well.
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That's incredible. So basically, you weren't really requiring them to have to come up with additional budget to be able to hire you. You were really just replacing the agency they previously had already allocated budget for to have on retainer basis. Is that correct? Yeah, yep. Okay. I mean.
And it built trust because they were working with other agencies at that time. And, you know, here we were bailing them out in basically, and then helped them to, you know, brand their event, and then eventually help them develop the brand for the new museum as well. And at the same time, the crazy thing was, they were still running the old museum, so they needed an agency that could support them as the old museum was running while they were trying to get the new museum up and going.
And so it was kind of a twofold because they were heading into the grand opening. I mean, we did a lot for them. I mean, and when I said the 150,000 that was more annualized. So, I mean, we had in, I mean, that's not grand total. That's more it was. We were probably averaging about 150,000 annualized from that engagement and that client, and so that was obviously a tremendous lead from just one pro bono project.
Yeah, I mean, $22,000 in equivalent cost for you on the labor side turned into, I mean, that was $150,000 annually, and that was. 10 years ago. So I mean, I don't know if they're still with you today, but I mean, that's even-
They're not, but that's because we, they are a nonprofit, and we basically helped them put together. This is the same thing that happened with another client. We've had clients where they're nonprofit and they're like, look, agency costs can be high, and so we really empowered them and put together an entire tool kit for them, and they hired people in house to start doing the marketing for themselves in house. So we put together templates and all of that so that they could start executing in house. So-
That is so cool that you empower your clients that way and allow them to really grow and evolve with you, but still to your point. You know, even one year would have been an insane ROI, but obviously anything more than that is just a huge win on your in and well, well worth that investment. Did you like when you first started getting that renewal and then became their retainer agency?
Was that a conversation that you initiated once the pro bono project was complete, that you pitched to them and said, Hey, we can do these additional things for you. Or did you kind of just complete the project, let it be and then wait for them to come to you for that additional work?
We did a couple of the additional work that we did with them for the fundraising were done more on a project basis. And I think it got to a point where they were coming to us for more needs, and they had hired a marketing director who had agency experience as well, and that was sort of new for them, and so he understood the retainer model and that it would just coming to us for an estimate every single time they had a new project was getting to be almost cumbersome and actually less cost effective.
And so he understood that moving forward, they really needed an agency relationship, and that would be more efficient and things would run smoother. And so that was a conversation that sort of evolved over time, but it was well worth it for them in the long run?
Yeah, absolutely. And I'm glad that with this particular client you know that that transition from pro bono work to paid client work was was so smooth. I'm wondering, with other pro bono projects you've done in the past, have you experienced something similar, or have you ever run into a case where once a client experiences your work as a free service, they almost kind of have this expectation that any future work you do would also be on a pro bono basis.
Yeah, it's funny that you say that, because it's one of those things that we are really cautious with clients about. When we talk about any type of discounting and whatnot, there's a danger when you market yourself, and people get used to the discount. That's just like in the pizza industry, right? People don't want to buy pizza unless they've got a coupon. And once you start so true, they want to know, like, Well, wait, what's the deal? Where's this special? And so you do, you have to be careful with that.
But I think that's kind of where, why we tie a lot of parameters to it, in terms of saying, like, Okay, well, we're only going to do this and we define the scope of work. It's something we kind of learned early on, to be honest, that there is some danger in being too loosey goosey with it, because people just keep asking. And so that's why we started, you know, really, truly defining what that scope of work would look like, putting it in writing, having them sign off on it, and understanding that, like anything outside of this, you pay for and you only get this once per year, next year, you can come and pitch it to us.
We may accept to do it again. But, you know, I mean that they understand that it's just one project, and it's not just an ongoing free relationship.
That makes sense. It's not just an open door. Have you often done a repeat pro bono project for the same client? Or do you typically try to only ever do one project per client and then kind of move on to another client?
We did have a client that we did several years in a row, and I think we just really believed in the organization and the initiative and the event. It was a really fun brand, and we helped them to create the brand. And so we have done more than one year, but that was really, honestly, it was probably just that one client.
Other than that, we've been cautious about doing that, because I we want to open ourselves up creatively to be able to do new things. And I would caution other people from doing that, to be honest with you, we have done multi year. We had the bandwidth, and it was a really fun, creative client. And so I do think that it did benefit us long term. But I would just caution people to say, make sure that you're going to get the ROI from it that you need.
Right? No, that makes complete sense because, and I think probably too it's a little bit easier to maybe offer it a second or third time to a client once you're already in that working relationship with them. It's almost like a surprise and delight at the end of the project. Like, hey, we'd consider doing this again, rather than an expectation set up front that it's going to be a long term commitment.
Obviously, besides the, you know, the great relationship, working relationship that you got out of this pro bono project with the actual original client, with the San Antonio Children's Museum, you also were able to acquire a number of high profile accounts from this pro bono project. So you signed on the San Antonio Zoo and then also O'Keeffe museum. Can you tell me about how those relationships came about? Were they inbound inquiries after seeing your work with, you know, outside the lunchbox luncheon, was it a direct, what do you call, introduction from your friend, the original client? Or like, yeah, how did those materialize?
The nice thing about it was, yeah, we had several actually, I think museum and other sort of in the attractions type of space, clients that were all inbound. And that's the thing that I love. It's nice thing about our work. I think that obviously depends on what your business is, on whether or not people will see your work and say, hey, this is really cool, who did this for you? But that's really how it transpired as people would come to us and say, hey, we saw the work that you did for the San Antonio Children's Museum and this actually happened. I think that we got outreach from the zoo.
It might have been after the grand opening of the new museum, I believe I have to look back to be for sure, but I think that that's about how it happened as we grand opened that and then they reached out to us and then sort of word of mouth just spread people. We were working with the McNay museum in San Antonio through that same, you know, path, somebody reached out and said, hey, we saw what you did for the zoo, and it was one of those things where it. It just was kind of compounding, which is incredible. That's what you want. So all in all, that one free project had some huge results for us.
Yeah, I think your team, or maybe it was, you submitted in the document, like somewhere north of a million, probably just off of that one free project, which is, I mean, wow. I don't think, you know, there's very few advertising channels, marketing channels that can return that biggest, an ROI $22,000 donated versus a million returned to your business. And so huge testament, obviously, to the strength of relationship building and these strategies. Do you ever require, for example, like with the zoo, or with this original client, with the children's museum, do you require them to reference your agency name in any of the print material or to credit you anywhere visibly so that if someone were to just randomly come across your work, that they immediately know that it's attributed to your agency?
Or is this more a case where, let's say, the zoo would have had to maybe have attended that luncheon event or seen it and then, you know, personally inquired with, you know, the CEO of that organization to then, you know, determine who you were?
Yeah, I would say that it depends. Like for event type marketing or anything, that is generally a lot of those events are fundraising or have some sort of sponsorship component to it. And so for those types of events, we will typically negotiate some kind of an in kind sponsorship so that we are listed as a sponsor. And a lot of times I'll negotiate into the contract that there's going to be some kind of a mention at the event, some kind of a thanks.
Just so that people are aware of who it was that that did the work. But a lot of the other work in terms of campaign and branding and things like that, for the organizations themselves, a lot of times it was like, hey, that billboard campaign you guys had is super cool. Who did that for you? And it is just more of a behind the scenes, and they all, you know, kind of, it's a big, small town, so everybody sort of knows each other and they just ask, and that's how we get that sort of word of mouth.
Okay. That makes a whole ton of sense. If you had to take a wild stab at the guessing over the lifetime of implementing this strategy since 2009, of doing these pro bono projects, what would you estimate has been the returned value for your business in terms of clients revenue?
I mean, I would honestly say millions. I can't even put a dollar figure on it. But as I think back to the clients that we have so often just, it's like this one told this one and then this one told this one. And it's just been very compounding in the way that some of these just smaller little projects have really begat really big things over the long haul. You know, I feel like there's no Google Pay per click ad that could have the same ROI for us in terms of, you know, just the multi layered return on investment that we've had from this type of pro bono work. It's really been an incredible strategy for us.
Yeah, and I love that you keep using the word compounding, because in some ways, my brain works in analogies. That's how I learn. And so I feel like what comes to mind for me is, you know, this the same idea of the magic of compound interest in the financial markets, right? Like when you invest $1,000 and you let it sit there over 50 years, like, what that $1,000 becomes, it seems like this, one investment of your time is really, like you said, it pays off over and over and over again, not just in the near term of when the project completes.
So I love that you, you know, bring that same kind of mentality to the work that you're doing around this. And I know you said that in terms of attribution or public displays of credit, that it totally depends on the medium through which you're delivering the work, whether it's a live event or more of a digital campaign. But do you require, I guess, anything of your clients that you do these pro bono projects for, such as, let's say, do you put in the actual contract Agreement. Hey, you need to share X number of introductions to us.
Or after our work is complete, we would like you to write a testimonial, or do a video testimonial, any sort of parameters there that you employ. Or do you really leave it completely organic in terms of how they choose to share your work after?
Most parameters that I put are, if there's any type of in kind aspect to it, in terms of sponsorship, because I will, I will definitely, you know, include some parameters there that might include things like, you know, logos in the in the program and a mention at the event and social media posts and things like that, whereas really, the parameters that I put are involved in the parameters on the work that we will do. I had somebody ask me just literally today, yeah, if we could do a pro bono program for their event? Well, I said absolutely not. I'm not gonna just put your program together for your event. I'm not gonna get anything out of that, and that's a huge investment of time.
And so for us, it really comes down to the ability to creatively shine and really do what we do best, and do the strategic thinking, and that's why this was for us, that original project that I'm telling you about, it was the perfect example, because we said we'll do this, but you're gonna have to let us do what we do best. Let us do the branding for your event. Let us rename it so that it's gonna be something that's gonna stand out from the clutter, something that's gonna be really representational of the content that people can expect when they attend your event, right?
And really help elevate the experience and and also really, truly capture the the customer journey, because I mean it, it really better captures what they can expect when they attend that event. Rather than just Lunch and Learn, right, they would bring in these phenomenal speakers that were really people that were very cutting edge and thinking about education and the way that, you know, a child's mind worked in a different way. And so these speakers were incredible, and lunch and learn that was too dry and boring. It wasn't really capturing the true essence of these, these incredible thought leaders that they were bringing in. And so, you know, we wanted to capture that.
And so I it's really finding clients that will say, Okay, we want your strategic thinking. We want what you do best now do it and allowing us to shine and do that work for them in a creative way. Right?
So that free reign, or the ability to kind of take the lead on the decision making in the creative process is essential to to the projects that you take on. Are there any other besides that creative freedom and that flexibility? Are there any other discerning factors that will make you lean yes versus no on a request for a pro bono service.
To be honest, it needs to be something that we believe in. I mean, I think it's, it needs to be a cause that aligns with, really my own vision, or the things that are really for me from a value standpoint. And it's aligned sort of with our values in terms of as an agency my own, the things that my staff believe in. So that's a really big part of it for us is, you know, it has to be something that we can get passionate about, because that's when we'll really do our best work.
Absolutely and my other piece to that is you mentioned that, in this particular case, the rebranding of this entire concept from lunch and learn to this really creative idea, that even in the name itself, outside of the lunch box, like it being a children's museum, I immediately saw that tie, even as an outsider.
Can you give a few other examples off the top of your head of maybe projects you've done in the last five years that allowed you to showcase a unique element or skill of your agency. So like that one was was really highlighting, you know, your your branding skills. Do you have another project that was highlighting, maybe a different facet of of your agency in the work that you do, that you could share with us?
That well, the one that just comes to mind is another one that is also event based, but it was for an organization called Good Samaritan Community Center. And it are good, good Sam Community Services, and it's they have centers throughout Texas really serving underserved communities, and they have an annual event that they put on, and they brought together a committee, and it was women.
A lot of the people that did the volunteer work and whatnot within those communities that they serve were a lot of women, and it was a lot of them were moms, and they wanted to put together an event that was going to help to raise funds, but to be different from all the galas and whatnot that people were sort of inundated with. And this was actually a precursor before outside the lunchbox lunch.
And so I do believe that the CEO had attended this event. This was one that was like, this is the before that one, the before the before starting, yeah. And so this was we came in, and I remember having lunch with this committee, and they were even at this point, like, what is this event going to be? And we were again, this, it did end up being a lunch instead of a an evening event, and they wanted it to be really targeted to women. And we ended up coming up with an event called Moms and mimosas.
And it was women that were coming together, and it was free mimosas, and they would bring in these women speakers that were talking about motherhood. And it was, it was amazing. I saw some incredible speakers through that that event over the years, but we did the branding. And what was really fun was a lot of people knew about that organization, but more people didn't, and the work that they were doing and just really how transformative it was. And so what I loved about the work that we were able to do for them was we would do these invitations.
And, you know, I'm sure you've received plenty of Gala invitations, and they're always very pretty and and whatnot. But what they don't do a great job of is really, truly having this, like, ah, moment where you're like, I get it like, this is what this organization does, and this is what they stand for. And that was our real goal with this was to to really hit home and connect people with this organization and how they were transforming people's lives. And so it made them want to support whether or not they were going to attend the event, although the event ended up being sold out so much that they ended up having to expand to a much larger venue.
And it's year over year. I know that they still have that event, and I don't know if it's still the same, but it got to the point where they almost didn't even need a market anymore because it was so well attended. Yeah, but it was, it was phenomenal. It was really fun, you know, helping that organization.
And then, interestingly enough, the pro bono work that we did for that organization, we ended up getting an ongoing relationship with them on retainer, and worked as their marketing department for many years, just really supporting them with all of their marketing needs as they expanded their reach throughout Texas, but I would say, from a parameter standpoint, it's really just being able to make an impact and feeling like we can help tell the story of an organization, beyond just driving some sort of marketing ROI, we're not just trying to sell tickets. We really, really want to tell a story.
Absolutely, and I can see how, I mean, obviously, you're creating real legacy work here, right? Like you even turning an event like that into something that is so well known that it doesn't even need marketing. I think that's kind of every brand and marketers dream is you want to create those household names, right? Whether it's locally or on a national scale.
To wrap up this case study, I would love to know, you know, as marketers especially, we're always thinking about, how can we, you know, take one asset or one piece of content and really stretch it for all of its, you know, all of its use and repurposing comes into play a lot there we've talked about. How your clients that you've done these pro bono projects for have helped spread the word about your services and your agency, but for you guys on on the internal side, do you have a place where you publicly display portfolio work that specifically stemmed from pro bono projects?
Do you publicly talk about it as part of your brand story or in interviews like this, is that, like a, I guess, is that a leading part of your brand? Or do you kind of keep it more under wraps and it's only really known by those who experience the work and then, you know, tell their circles about it.
You know, it's interesting you say that, because I'll be quite honest with you, we never have it's one of those things that's happened more word of mouth, where people have come and so we saw the work that you did for so and so can you, could you do that for us? We would love your help.
And so a lot of it is just come word of mouth, but to be honest, I and then you bringing up, you know, the question of, you know, tell us the case study. And really thinking back, I'll be honest, I don't even know that I've ever really put numbers and pen to paper and whatnot, and really figuring out how this has transformed my business.
So honestly, just even being on this podcast has truly given some thought to me in terms of really making this something that we actually do talk more about. Because I don't think I've done a great job myself in telling this story, so I'm excited to be telling it to you now, and I'm kind of excited about the idea of maybe doing a better job of telling it, you know, to the people that do know us, and maybe sharing it on our website and sharing some of the work so that others do know about it, and maybe even creating some kind of an application process to people that are wanting, you know, some sort of help moving forward.
So it's not just word of mouth or people that we already know, but, you know, opening it up a little bit more. I do think there's some opportunity there.
That makes me so happy, like, honestly, so happy to hear that this may be sparked, you know, even a different lens for you, like you said, and I think the work you are doing is so impactful. I as you were talking, I was even envisioning, like, this landing page where I'm such a sucker for data, obviously, hence the case studies.
And it is really fun when we have guests on like you who are like, oh, I never thought about, you know, this until you forced us to kind of put numbers to it. You're not the first person, by the way, to have said that on our show. So anyways, I'm really glad to hear that. But I was envisioning this, like, landing page where it has, you know, like one of those banners or tickers where it's like, you know, 15 events, like, whatever produced helped raise $5 million over these years. Like, those types of, like, big, shiny numbers. I could totally see that being part of your like story, your brand story.
And I think that it would inspire a lot of people actually, and build a lot of great what is that word called brand? Not equity, but, like, not credibility either. But you know what I'm saying? Like, Oh, Goodwill maybe is the word that I'm looking for. You obviously already have it, but just on an even larger basis, to people who maybe are not familiar with your design or your branding or marketing work, but actually just come to know you because of your philanthropy and your generosity there, I think that is really inspirational to us entrepreneurs.
So I just wanted to affirm you in that in case you do decide to share more of this.
I love it. Thank you. Yeah, I think it's a great idea. You've definitely planted the seed.
Yay. Let's water it well. Thank you so so much for joining us today. And where can people continue to follow your work, to reach out, maybe if they need either paid work or maybe they know a worthy cause for one of your future pro bono projects, Tracy?
Sure, sure, could follow me on LinkedIn. Tracy Marlowe, it's marlowe. I am also available via email. Tracy, it's tracy, at CreativeNoggin.com I'm also on Instagram. Tracy M Marlow, that's Emma's and Mary is my profile on Instagram. And so those would be some, some really great ways. And obviously on our website, you can see a lot of our work. And that's creative noggin. It's noggin. People always get the creative part and then the noggin. They're like, wait, what creative noggin.com?
I feel like that's like, kind of a common term, though, like noggin. I don't know. I heard that a lot growing up, so who knows. But rest assured, if you're listening and you can't remember all this off the top of your head, all the links will be below in the show notes, and if you're watching this on YouTube, they will be below in the video description, so make sure you click through say hi to Tracy, connect at least on one of those platforms, especially if this conversation sparked for you in any way, a desire to test this pro bono strategy for yourself, or maybe you've done pro bono work recently, and this has gotten you thinking about it in a more strategic or in depth lens.
Please thank Tracy for her time today by actually sending a message and telling her, like, what impact this had on you. So anyways, Tracy, thank you so much again for joining us. Thank you all for tuning in and listening, and we'll catch you in the next episode.
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