CLEVELAND: When Brandmuscle CEO Phil Alexander took over a space big enough for 50 people in Beachwood, the landlord looked at the company’s four employees and wondered why he needed so much room.
Alexander said he was planning on growth. The landlord had doubts about a long-term lease. Alexander did not.
Within three years, the company had outgrown the space. Today, Brandmuscle has its headquarters at 1100 Superior Ave. in Cleveland and also has offices in Austin, Chicago and Los Angeles, with more than 600 full-time employees. Akron tire maker Goodyear is one of its clients.
Like many tech companies, Brandmuscle started with a simple idea. Alexander had been the brand manager for Pearle Vision and was frustrated that the company could not manage to easily customize corporate marketing material to meet the needs of individual franchisees.
Market segments such as elderly people, college students or ethnic communities required different images and text. Each state had different legal compliance issues and other needs.
For large national brands needing local customization, collecting assets, doing research and getting corporate approvals would take so much time that by the time materials were designed and printed, they were already out of date or inaccurate.
When Alexander heard that Oracle had developed the technology to sort images and libraries using tags, he decided to start a company to solve the sort of issues that he had observed at Pearle Vision and elsewhere.
Now Brandmuscle takes on issues with corporate branding and messaging and allows local customizing to be done with a new level of efficiency and speed.
The company provides specialists who can handle state and local compliances, a large library of images and templates for collateral materials, and easy-to-use technology to put it all together. According to Alexander, the company can deliver local iterations with great speed and little effort for individual franchisees or regional representatives.
Names such as Allstate, DirecTV, Hallmark and Chase Bank have tapped Brandmuscle’s services to give them the local customization they need at a price point that works.
At the two complete floors the company leases on Superior Avenue, the employees — many in their 20s or early 30s — appear to be busy, relaxed and happy.
Alexander attributes this to an inclusive and transparent atmosphere that Brandmuscle has cultivated. Each department is encouraged to share and communicate daily and the company shares information about its clients and financial details.
In the elevator, Jasmine Shields, who works in the digital department, explained that she had never worked anywhere like Brandmuscle. “Everyone including the CEO is accessible,” she said.
The company has a staff breakfast every Monday morning. Recently, Alexander promised that if the Browns lost that weekend, he’d be the one to flip pancakes in the company’s expansive open kitchen. So he made custom orders of banana, blueberry or chocolate pancakes for everyone.
One attempt at morale-building is the awarding of “Muscle Notes,” a sort of currency earned when anyone nominates a fellow employee for going beyond the expected. Muscle Notes can be turned in for Starbucks gift cards and other prizes.
Brandmuscle’s competition includes companies named Seebio, based in Kansas City, and Live Technology, in New York. “Five years ago, we were all the same size,” Alexander said. “Now they’re billing a quarter of what we are.”
Brandmuscle’s edge over competitors, according to Alexander, is that “they focus on technology. They give you a product and wish you luck. Brandmuscle is about customer service. We have a big staff of experts, customizing, advising clients every step of the way.”
Tracy Parker, who runs the Cleveland office, is an Akron native. Parker, like Alexander, had seen firsthand the difficulties of customizing brand material during her years with Pizza Hut. When she joined Brandmuscle, she worked on learning the needs and challenges of local distributors of national brands.
One of the most recent clients to make use of their services is Goodyear.
According to Associate Manager Michelle Haller, Goodyear will be using Brandmuscle to customize materials for its entire North American sales force.