News

Donald Friedman Joins Sequel as Principal

Neil Goldberg — 2010-08-04T18:03:43+00:00

Donald Friedman, former chief marketing officer of CA Technologies, and a former client, has made the jump to the agency side and joined Sequel as principal. In that capacity he will serve clients as an expert advisor with deep experience in business strategy, marketing and sales, change management, and organizational alignment. As a CMO, Friedman was instrumental in the turnaround of CA, an IT management leader once dubbed the “most dysfunctional company in America.” Earlier, he held a range of senior management positions at IBM. Best known as a change agent, he fixed troubled businesses and created new ones — including IBM’s fast-growing Small Medium Business (SBM) unit. In between, Friedman orchestrated the buyout of Flex Technology, a leader in advanced circuits, and became president and CEO after a reverse merger with a larger company, Sheldahl. In joining Sequel, Friedman notes that his background is “relevant, and eclectic. I bring strategic marketing know-how to a firm with top-notch creative capabilities.” Fellow principal Brett Gerstenblatt agrees with this assessment. “We’ve worked closely with Don for a decade. We’ve done great work together and learned from each other. I couldn’t be more pleased that he’s decided to join our team.”

Pitney Annual Wins Big at ARC

Neil Goldberg — 2010-08-03T18:08:56+00:00

The Pitney Bowes Annual Report, designed and produced by Sequel, did exceptionally well in this year’s International ARC Awards competition. The book captured a Gold (the top award) in the Multi-Industry Products category as well as a Bronze award for cover design and Honorable Mention for production and printing. In addition to these honors, the report’s interactive version — also designed by Sequel — won a Silver award in the Mail and Document Management category. This award was particularly noteworthy, said company officials, since this is the first year Pitney Bowes has produced an annual online. The annual is now in contention for Best of Category and Best of Show, both of which will be awarded at ARC’s annual gala in September. The book’s performance at ARC comes on the heels of a strong showing at this year’s Vision Awards, where a clutch of honors — including a Platinum award — were presented by the League of American Communications Professionals.

Sequel Introduces Solutions for Growth

Neil Goldberg — 2010-07-15T21:13:50+00:00

After two decades of solving problems that hinder clients’ profitability and growth, Sequel has devised a series of effective, modular solutions that directly address challenges that all companies face. Uniting insight, strategy and creative execution, the solutions, says principal Brett Gerstenblatt, “apply branding, marketing and communications skill to specific, well-defined business issues.” In addition, they can be applied tactically to achieve specific objectives — for example, increasing employee engagement — or strategically to address a wide range of issues associated with major events, such as new-business start-ups, mergers and acquisitions, and turnaround situations.

“As a trusted advisor to CEOs and CMOs, especially in the last few years, we've become much more aware of, and involved in, how their businesses work,” Brett says. “What we’ve learned is that the root of many problems is often the same, regardless of industry.” He adds that Sequel solutions will “make our offerings clear and relevant to companies that are off the radar to many branding and marketing firms, especially mid-cap companies and emerging brands. More than ever, these are the companies we've focused our energies on. Because the truth is, they are among the most exciting engines of economic growth.”

Pitney Bowes and Bank of America Annual Reports Capture Major Awards

Neil Goldberg — 2010-07-15T21:09:12+00:00

Two Sequel-developed annual reports were honored at this year’s Vision Awards, sponsored by the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). The first report, Pitney Bowes, managed to win a clutch of awards, including a Platinum in the Business Services and Technology (Hardware and Equipment) category and a Silver in the Technology (Software) competition. The book also won a Silver in the Most Creative category, with perfect scores across a wide range of competitive measures. Above all, judges lauded the report’s contemporary design and layout and “superb” storytelling, citing a “great job involving the reader in the narrative.” Not to be outdone, Bank of America's annual report earned a 95 (out of 100) from LACP judges, who lauded its conceptual approach, message clarity and design excellence. “Overall, we find this work to be outstanding,” said LACP managing director Christine Kennedy, who noted that the competition was especially tough for 2009, with over 4,000 entries received from more than 25 countries.

Sequel in “Corp!”

Neil Goldberg — 2010-07-13T17:04:16+00:00

John Nishimoto, creative director and head of Sequel’s branding practice, was a recent guest columnist in Corp!, the online/offline magazine for business leaders. Appearing in the June 2010 issue, his essay, “Brand Loyalty: Where Do You Stand?”, drives home the importance of strong relationships, particularly in a challenging business environment. John notes that “thriving in the new economy demands building and preserving brand loyalty,” and that this, in turn, begins with knowing “where you stand with customers, employees and investors.” He then lists the essential questions managers need to ask — sooner rather than later. You can read the piece here or visit Corp! here.

Campbell Soup Issues a Next-Gen CSR

Neil Goldberg — 2010-04-22T21:17:47+00:00

As ethics and social responsibility become essential to every company’s brand, Sequel has helped Campbell Soup take sustainability reporting to the next level, with an online CSR as heavily promoted as the company’s robust online annual. “Campbell is a global company with a great story to tell, but it was scattered. Our job was to put it all together,” says Sequel principal Steve Mignogna. The resulting site, Defining Success, makes that story easy to navigate, exploring Campbell’s commitment to triple bottom line (people, planet, profit), with an emphasis on nourishing customers, neighbors, employees and the environment. Since 2001, Sequel has brought cohesiveness to Campbell’s corporate communications and helped the company move the most important vehicles online. Says Mignogna: “We’ve helped them bridge the gap between divisions, initiatives and geographies to create a unified and coherent corporate presence on the Web.”

Sequel Helps WAUSAU Financial Systems Show the Paperless Future

Paschal Fowlkes — 2009-11-03T23:06:30+00:00

With more than $1 trillion in transactions and 30% of U.S. market processed annually, WAUSAU is the world’s largest remittance processor. Now, the company has turned to Sequel to chart the brand’s pathway into the paperless future. Our first releases, the paperless branch promotional campaign (http://www.paperlessbranch.com) and trade-show installation made their debuts this fall to the acclaim of the financial services industry at BAI Retail Delivery Conference & Expo in Boston earlier this month.

Campbell’s Launches Next-Generation Annual Report

Paschal Fowlkes — 2009-10-15T19:41:39+00:00

Sequel continued its eight-year partnership with The Campbell Soup Company and launched their 2009 annual review in print and online. This year, we took the iconic brand even further online, transforming the AR into a communications platform integrated into their overall web experience, putting context around the past year’s strong performance, and inviting visitors to dig deeper into the stories behind the numbers.

Port Authority of NY and NJ Launches New, Sequel-Designed Site

Paschal Fowlkes — 2009-10-07T22:59:19+00:00

Congratulations to the Port Authority on the launch of their new family of websites. Designed by Sequel and implemented by their in-house technology team, the sites for the NYC-area airports, Port of New York, PATH Rail, regional bridges and tunnels, and various PANYNJ corporate offices help tens of millions of visitors each year commute, ship cargo, travel through the region and find new opportunities to do business. The designs represent a new commitment by the Port Authority to easy-to-use, transparent communications, and they accommodate the team's ongoing development of new tools and applications. We had a great time working with these fine people and look forward to an ongoing relationship.

ca.com Recognized for Usability Excellence

Paschal Fowlkes — 2009-04-30T20:44:33+00:00

In announcing the results of their annual evaluations, research firm SiteIQ rates Sequel-designed ca.com among the top three IT websites for what they’re calling a “Net Usability Score.” Ca.com ranks third, trailing IBM.com by less than one half percent. The report states that “ca.com’s scores are a testament to its highly focused incremental improvement strategy.” Further, the report highlights the site’s navigation, architecture and product marketing as best in class.