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twenty years ago, three senior client-side marketers resolved to create an agency that could better meet client needs - mme.

mme understands clients. that's because all three of its founders were clients themselves, working for some of the world's largest brands like coca-cola, unilever and diageo. from this combined experience, mme was born-taking years of marketing success and transforming it into an agency that truly works for its clients. how is this accomplished? with effective strategies and compelling creative that captivate and motivate the consumer, end-user, and customer. mme also offers broad capabilities that build brands and drive results. for twenty years mme has helped clients exceed their goals, which explains why so many have stayed for so long.

partners

maury maniff

maury spent 15 years as a client-side marketer before joining the agency ranks. his client successes included the launch of malibu rum while at the paddington corporation / idv, the introduction of eye care and eyewear lines at foster grant and the expansion of the wine portfolio of jws / nabisco brands. his tensure at s&s / hmg included successful work on kellogg's and hardee's, as well as forging a strong working relationship with his future partners, jim and don.

at mme, maury has lead the agency's work in wines & spirits and consumer electronics. a single-handicap golfer, maury can be found entertaining clients on the links or at the 19th hole.

don raskin

upon receiving his mba in marketing at syracuse university, don began working in brand management at Unilever, focusing on their health and beauty products. his achievements there landed him at Wyeth where he helped launch advil. after a successful tenure at these two packaged goods giants, don took his many years of client-side experience to saatchi & saatchi where he served as vice president on the mars business.

at mme, don has brought incredible results to our packaged goods, retail, and food service clients. an avid sports fan, don enjoys cheering for his teams when he's not coaching his clients' brands.

jim rowe

jim has successfully marketed some of the world's largest brands as both a client and agency marketer. as a client, he drove sales at coca-cola, increased brand recognition for cutty sark, and set strategies that led to newport becoming #2 in the us. as president of two saatchi & saatchi divisions, jim helped spearhead work on miller lite, kellogg's frosted flakes, m&m mars, and hardee's restaurants.

at mme, jim has completely renovated our travel & hospitality brands while working on a range of b2b accounts. a passionate guitarist, jim loves taking the stage with his blues band where he uses his creativity to put on a pretty darn good show.

clients

maxell

maxell is a leading recordable media and technology company and has been a client of mme's since 1990. during that time, mme has helped maxell transition from an industry leading analog recordable media company (audiotapes and videocassettes) to an industry leading digital recordable media and accessories company (cds, dvds, headphones, ipod accessories,etc). over the past 20 years, mme has successfully helped maxell leverage their exisiting consumer franchise and develop a whole new generation of loyal consumers, all the while building on maxell's legacy of innovation and performance.

nathan's

nathan's famous sells the world's most famous all beef hot dogs and crinkle cut french fries to consumers around the world. started in 1916 by nathan and ida handwerker on coney island, new york, nathan's has grown from a regional restaurant to a multi-platform business encompassing quick serve restaurants, captive markets, retail products, home shopping and a branded product program. and since 1990, mme has been along side nathan's famous as a business partner, strategist and creative visionary for their existing business as well as each of their newly created business segments.

palmer's

palmer's is the #1 selling line of cocoa butter based skin and hair care products in the world and its parent company, e.t. browne drug company has been an mme client since 1998. over that time, mme and palmer's have developed a competitively unique position that has grown brand sales. new products and line extensions have also helped fuel brand growth, along with an effective communication strategy that has generated strong brand awareness. mme's work for palmer's has helped the brand solidify a strong presence in the u.s. market and in several markets around the globe.

affinia hotels

affinia hotels, mme client since 1999, is a distinctive collection of boutique hotels owned by denihan hospitality group. mme helped create the affinia hotels brand in 2003 starting with just one hotel in nyc. today there are seven affinia hotels in 3 cities (nyc, chicago, and washington dc). the brand's awareness, unique website visitors and roi has grown significantly under affinia's unique mme-created "comfort by design" position which provides guests customized amenities and services that fit their preferences as part of the ultimate comfortable hotel experience.

belvedere

belvedere vodka created the super luxury vodka category over a decade ago and since that time has been a leader in its development as one of the most important segments of the industry. mme's relationship with belvedere has evolved over the past 4 years and now includes btl programming and trade marketing directed at driving the brands' sales via retail activation. during that time, belvedere has launched line extensions that lead the category in terms of concept and design and mme has been a partner in their successful introductions.

the benjamin

the benjamin an mme client for 10+ years, is an executive suite hotel in midtown nyc owned by denihan hospitality group. it was specifically created for senior executives, not the average business traveler at large, providing executive assistant level of service, a sleep program with a 12 choice pillow menu, premier technology and a spa among other amenities and services. mme has been intimately involved in targeting these executives via communication campaigns that drove sales (and in the process winning the platinum adrian award), as well as promotional programs driving weekend leisure occupancy.

estate & wines

estate & wines is the wine portfolio of moët hennessy usa and include some of the best known and finest wines in the world – château d'yquem, livio felluga, numanthia, terrazas, lapostolle, cloudy bay, green point and many others. mme has partnered with the wine team at mhusa for the past 4 years in developing graphic identities and programs that clearly position these brands at retail. further, mme has designed portfolio programs that have allowed mhusa to leverage the individual and collective strengths of their brands for maximum impact and sales.

glenmorangie

glenmorangie is an award winning scotch whisky producer, as well as the #1 selling single malt whisky in the uk. over the past three years, mme has worked with glenmorangie to translate its global positioning and prominence to the u.s. market and launch a series of new, innovative whiskies that have reenergized the brand and its portfolio. mme's work with glenmorangie has included key sponsorships and trade platforms and has provided glenmorangie with organic growth in the u.s. market that far exceeds category performance.

lifeclinic

lifeclinic, manufacturers of free blood pressure monitors in pharmacies, hired mme in 2009 to re-brand their 30+ year old company. lifeclinic generates revenue via print ads on the monitors. with 20,000+ monitors at retail averaging 50 users / day, lifeclinic delivers 1 million users / day nationally, a huge advertising audience. mme rebranded all sales/marketing materials to advertisers focusing on the value of this large audience thus increasing brand awareness among advertisers and dramatically increasing the ad space sales pipeline.

guinness

guinness extra stout is the leading extra stout sold worldwide. over a ten year period, mme's strategic leadership helped the brand capitalize on a loyal user base and drive sales to new heights. the west indian, west african and african american markets have become ripe for the ges brand. fully integrated campaigns - led by mme's innovative advertising campaign, promotion calendar, event marketing platform and local grass roots community efforts - consistently delivered year over year sales increases and market share growth for this important diageo brand.

kenny rogers roasters

kenny rogers roasters, a worldwide franchise system with a qsr menu centered around wood-fired rotisserie chicken, was purchased by nathan's famous. working with mme, nathan's was one of the first qsr concepts to co-brand – effectively launching nathan's famous, kenny rogers roasters and miami subs restaurants – all under one roof. mme's marketing efforts featured brand positioning, co-branded advertising, various promotions and complete menuboard integration that led the way in building brand awareness and generating sales for the kenny rogers roasters concept.

mei

mei is the leading cpg trade promotion management solution provider with evangelical clients whose love of the software's ease of use and robust functionality is rewarded by the measureable cost and efficiency improvements mei software provides. mme rebranded mei thereby establishing its position in the market via a comprehensive plan from a new logo design through aggressive advertising, sales, web marketing, and direct lead generation programs. the result was a significant pipeline increase, as well as an increase from 6th to 3rd place in 2 years in the reader's choice poll of cgt magazine.

our thinking

affinia

a collection of nyc hotels with no cohesive branding manhattan east suite hotels (mesh) was in business in nyc city for almost 40 years, yet few travelers were aware of it. each hotel had its own name, making marketing difficult and inefficient. additionally, the hotels were marketed via a price / value position, thus limiting profits.

devising an umbrella brand through mme's amp™ process a brand assessment first identified the need for a new brand identity. It had to be simple, memorable, and upscale, so all hotels could be marketed under a single brand name. next, a competitive analysis led to a new desired brand position, moving from a value brand below the major chain hotels to above them as a distinctive collection of boutique lifestyle hotels. finally, the brand needed a proposition that was upscale, compelling, and unique, to complement the core brand essence.

innovative creative thinking reinforced by traveler input with traveler confirmation, mme createda new brand identity for many of the mesh properties—affinia hotels—with the welcoming man tipping hat logo. creative thinking and traveler input also led to affinia's unique "comfort by design" brand proposition and the "my affinia" program of customized comforts. what resulted is more than just an ad campaign; it is a major brand component unrivaled in the industry.

the results speak for themselves the affinia brand now has seven hotels in three cities (new york, chicago and washington, dc). the multi-year my affinia campaign has doubled unique visitors to their website and generated an extremely healthy roi that continues to garner further marketing support.

maxell

the challenge to remaining successful is finding ways to duplicate it maxell audiotape was the #1 recording media in the united states. the product and iconic "blow away" ad campaign had made maxell a household name. As time passed and new optical media technologies were developed (cd & dvd), maxell began to lose its edge as the premiere media company in america. these new technologies were not being used by maxell audiotape's aging consumer. instead, they were being used by the next generation of users. the challenge was to make this next generation of recordable media users as loyal to maxell and the new products they developed as the previous generation.

new products – new users – same soul maxell's success was based on its ability to tap into the soul of their users—the rock 'n' roll generation. the major motivating factor to purchase maxell was the belief that maxell could capture music performance better than any other media. the challenge was to find a similar user and associate them with maxell's new optical products. surprisingly, we found the answer in sports. the contemporary action sports athlete and lover of action sports have the same infatuation with performance as maxell's previous generation of users. these consumers were cutting edge in all that they did and represented the core of early adopters of new technologies. most importantly, they captured the essence of great audio and video performance—the key ingredients for usage of cds and dvds. the match had been made.

start at the top and you never have to look up having identified the target, the goal was to associate maxell's new products with the best in action sports. this was easily translated to sponsoring espn's x games—the olympics of action sports. the sponsorship was supported with television, print, online, and retail display and promotion. the fit was natural and research showed that this target quickly responded delivering heightened awareness of maxell, improved imagery of maxell and actual purchase of maxell products. the added benefit of this sponsorship to maxell was the increased retail support resulting from it, which translated to even greater sales across multiple consumer segments.

guinness

it all started with consumer research mme conducted extensive consumer research to find out who the core target was for the guinness extra stout (ges) business. Initial sales tracking data showed heavy consumer usage in inner cities around the country, suggesting an ethnically skewed consumer base. research confirmed that there was a very strong west indian core target and a secondary african american target. this research became the starting point for the development of a communication platform for ges, targeting a consumer base against whom the brand had never before been maketed.

what we discovered once we determined that the primary drinker was west indian/west african/african males from the legal drinking age to 49, our next step was to determine why ges was their brand of choice. research was again used as the main tool to discover that this target chose the guinness extra stout brand because it was believed to have mystical properties-it gave you strength, energy, good health and even increased virility.

how we used this insight to market the brand mme created the "it gets in you" campaign as the ultimate expression of the perceived consumer benefits of the brand. dramatically shot images of men with the guinness label on their bodies represented the perfect melding of brand and user. this imagery became the signature of the brand for over a decade.

how we communicated with the consumer an integrated campaign was created to reach this consumer using grassroots promotions, sponsorships of community events and traditional media such as out-of-home, print and radio.

nathan's

it's called situational marketing every day, consumers around the world have the opportunity to buy a nathan's hot dog in a different venue and a different environment. since the consumer mindset differs depending upon the venue, the approach we take to marketing the brand changes from one environment to the next. we call it situational marketing.

a different approach to marketing in each venue our restaurant approach to marketing requires hard and fast blocking and tackling to generate trial, traffic and trade-up. we develop programs and utilize tools like radio, free standing inserts and customer loyalty programs to accomplish that goal. In stadiums around the country, the approach to marketing is about delivering a message of heritage and quality in a visually cluttered environment. we do so by standing out on static message boards, telling great stories in led signage highlighting the brand's heritage story. with co-branded partners, we make sure consumers understand the "fit" with a partner and cross-promote accordingly—for example, branded hot dogs in a branded ice cream environment.

how does this benefit the nathan's brand multiple points of distribution allow for accelerated growth, and understanding the motivation and mindset of each point of distribution leads to growth in sales and market share. today, nathan's is sold at over 45,000 points of distribution and has become the number one selling brand of hot dog in the united states.

palmer's

a brand with rich history palmer's cocoa butter formula has been the leading line of cocoa butter skin and hair care products for many years. the company, an expert in product crafting and formulation development, has seen considerable business growth throughnew product launches and line extensions.

why create an integrated communications platform for palmer's mme recommended the creation of an umbrella communication platform for all palmer's products in order to unify the brand's marketing efforts across all product lines – an effort that would be utilized domestically and internationally. the goal was to create a "superbrand."

positioning and branded communication first, a unique "straddle" position was created for the brand that blended the efficacy of the products' usage with the end benefit ofbeautiful skin and hair. a brand line was created —"proven formula, extraordinary results"—that translated the brand's new positioning.

real women talking to other women mme then created a branded "palmer's works, i'm the proof" campaign, featuring real women and celebrities sharing their stories and showing off the end benefit of using palmer's products—beautiful skin and amazing hair. the message was delivered across palmer's lines of general skin care, pregnancy, baby and hair care products using television, radio, print and online vehicles.

mei

it started with a small b2b company mei provides trade promotion management (tpm) software solutions to consumer packaged goods companies to help them manage retailer budgets. this is a very complex b2b sale, and the brand and communication of the solutions were confusing to its users. additionally, the competition to be considered for and win deals was fierce from both a handful of smaller niche players and industry giants sap and oracle.

the needs were clear but the challenge was enormous mei needed to be re-branded and repositioned in the marketplace from a "one of many" solutions provider to a leader in the tpm segment, where they had a superior solution and evangelical client support.

a fully integrated re-branding effort the initial goal of the re-branding was to generate awareness and appeal to new prospects. eschewing software's traditional "high-tech" imagery, mme created a penguin icon to speak to the brand's real target audience—cpg salespeople. this new look immediately positioned mei as renewed, fresh, and different, allowing the brand to be reconsidered by potential customers. over the next several years, mme repositioned mei as leader in the tpm category via an aggressive, integrated b2b advertising, trade show, direct marketing and press campaign, focusing on mei's superior benefits and challenging the competition by stressing client testimonials and results.

complete brand renewal as a result of this process, mei closed 15 deals in one year by the end of 2007. from a pure marketing image standpoint, mei grew from being rated the #6 tpm solution in the consumer goods technology reader's choice poll in january 2006, to #3 the two major players, sap and oracle, in january 2008.

guinness extra stout

what we discovered once we determined that the primary drinker was west indian/west african/african males from the legal drinking age to 49, our next step was to determine why ges was their brand of choice. research was again used as the main tool to discover that this target chose the guinness extra stout brand because it was believed to have mystical properties—it gave you strength, energy, good health and even increased virility.

contact

443 park avenue south,
4th floor
new york, ny 10016
t.212.779.2233
f.212.779.0825