Creative Brief

During the summer of 2016, Findorff was struggling to raise the Company’s visibility in the saturated Milwaukee, Wis. construction market. Headquartered in Madison, Wis. since 1890, Findorff was often referred to as a large Madison only contractor, although Findorff has operated a Milwaukee office since 1975. Findorff felt the Company hadn’t successfully established its branding in Milwaukee – internally or externally. As such, Findorff was not confident in how the Company was perceived and how to best reach and market decision-makers locally. 

Thus, Findorff enlisted the help of an integrated marketing and brand agency, called Thiel Design. Thiel helped Findorff conduct a multi-faceted perception study to aid in understanding the internal and external perceptions of Findorff in Milwaukee. Thiel interviewed current, past and prospective clients throughout Findorff’s eleven market sectors, as well as employees from both offices.

The study identified:

• Key insights of how people think and feel about Findorff
• Inconsistent communication of Findorff’s brand by employees 
• Services clients find of value or are unaware of
• Observations of Findorff vs. competitors

Findings indicated clients felt, “Findorff has an outstanding reputation, but they need to pound their chest more.” As a result, Findorff developed the following:

• Strategic Milwaukee-centric messaging
• Tactical advertising campaign
  • Billboards
  • Increase in digital and print 
  • Jobsite signage
  • Targeted community events
  • “Building Milwaukee” graphic

Findorff deemed this brand awareness campaign successful, as we often heard from clients, “Findorff is everywhere…we see your advertisements all over Milwaukee!”