MARKETING
Case Studies on Marketing from the Inside Out
Two marketing clients, one a successful small business that grew up around giants. The other a rocketing biotech company seeking a prestigious No. 1 employer-to-work-for status, which it got. A few years later it was snapped up by the megalithic Dow Chemical Co.
Founded 60 years ago in what would become Silicon Valley, Midland Cabinet Company grew along with the wealth around it. Marketing Midland is all about the images first. Ads published regularly in local and regional home and design magazines gained us a following among interior design professionals and architects. And clients recognize a good thing when they see the fine millwork and cabinetry — the wood certified as sustainable — produced by Midland's accomplished craftsmen, down to the dovetail corners that are made by hand, the artisan way.
Marketing Itself to Win Employee Approval
This HR Project Took Home the Honors
Genencor International was a biotechnology startup with a blue-blood heritage as a child of Genentech and Corning. Genencor pioneered cellulosic biofuels and other industrial products including the enzymes used for cold-water Tide detergent and tires from Bioisoprene, a synthetic rubber. It is now owned by DuPont, but when I worked with Genecor’s HR department, all it wanted was to win a Best Company to Work for designation from Forbes Magazine. In order to get one, companies are judged by their employess.
My job was to let employees know just how much the company offered. It was quite a bit, from the financial and benefits side to the “perks” of onsite cleaning pickup; cars to “borrow” during the workday for errands or lunch outings; an onsite reduced-price cafe; onsite gym; lactating station for new mothers. The list is impressive.The slogan “It’s All About You” was visible on posters, newsletters, t-shirts and caps, and all employee communications. Two years out, Genencor won 2nd place. The next year, it won the #1 slot.
