BY BRENDA MATAMOROS-BEVERIDGE

Customers are not reading newspapers or consuming television at the same rates as they were a few years ago. The onslaught of new media platforms and brands trying to reach their base has forever changed the marketing to customer landscape and IMRE Marketing is taking advantage of the new terrain.

According to CEO, Dave Imre, people are now getting their news from Twitter and Facebook and that leads to what he calls Transformative Marketing, a strategic plan that builds lasting and meaningful connections between brands and their customers. Basically, IMRE uses conceptual creative to generate opportunities for brands to leverage the gray spaces between channels.

For instance, PepsiCo, a brand that IMRE is working for, has a new product in craft beverages and IMRE is driving the outreach.

“We’re helping them introduce STUBBORN Soda through experience-driven marketing,” Imre said. “We’re activating in ways that combine content shoots, influencer partnerships and product sampling. We’re including STUBBORN in deep, authentic moments and consumption occasions that we know are natural and will resonate with our audience.”

Another unique example is Marriott’s use of the social media platform called Snapchat.

“We’ve created Snapisodes for Marriott Rewards to help them reach a new millennial customer,” Imre said. “We’ve gone around the world with them in the Snapchat arena to introduce Marriott Rewards in the Snapchat channel.”

People are starting, not only to use it for communication, but also for information, Imre said.

“Imre and Marriott have worked with Snapchat to create a channel of information within ad units to put some short and long form content that showcases Marriott Rewards.”

LGBT Certification

Imre’s company has been LGBT-certified for four years and in that time the doors have opened significantly.

“It’s very important because if we’re not certified then we’re not going to be introduced to those opportunities within a Fortune 500 enterprise. Companies like Pepsi want us to be certified and to be registered. That’s the first question they ask us, are you certified? Yes, we are through NGLCC because that’s the certifying organization,” Imre said. “Almost immediately after we became certified, I started introducing myself. The sales cycle is not immediate. That’s what I would tell anybody. You can’t be after immediate results because this is a long term endeavor. We closed our first piece of business with Toyota in about nine months.”
IMRE has been building its portfolio since it’s beginnings 20 years ago and never did he think that having an LGBT-certification would be an advantage.

“We had Fortune 500 clients before we got certified. We happen to have more of them now that we are certified. We see it as additive. We see it as an opportunity and not a challenge. It’s an opportunity to get, to circumvent normal channels to get introduced to large companies and to get those introductions because we’re LGBT,” Imre said. “It’s so exciting, 24 years ago when I founded the company I never would have thought let’s get certified.

IMRE Marketing is in New York, Los Angeles and Baltimore and focuses on strategy, content, media strategy, web development, research, social and public relations to name a few.

By and large, and most importantly, Imre is very proud of the companies his business is working for these days.

“I think they recognize that customers of all kinds want their consumer companies to have LGBT employees, have LGBT friendly policies and have LGBT suppliers. I’m very proud of Pepsi’s and Marriott’s for what they stand for, not just for employing us but for what they stand for,” Imre said. “In both cases they’ve got CEO’s that are willing to go on the record to support us. They are willing to go on the record to support diverse employees. I’m very proud of them for that. These are the kinds of companies we want to do business with regardless of whether or not we’re LGBT.”