Hartford Business Journal

8 Hartford Business Journal • November 23, 2015 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS ADVERTISING, MEDIA & MARKETING Cashman + Katz dabbles in political consulting By John Stearns jstearns@HartfordBusiness.com T ony Cashman sees a power- ful formula in combining his mar- keting-communica- tions firm, Cashman + Katz, with political strategists. Cashman in July launched a public affairs agency, Octa- gon Strategy Group, and hired political strategists and co- managing directors — one a Democrat and the other a Republican — to run it. Cashman says the combined package is a winner with significant business potential in the rap- idly evolving world of political communications. "We feel it's really changing the shape of what people think of when they think of public affairs agencies," the president and CEO of Cashman + Katz said of Octagon Strategy Group, for which Cashman + Katz will offer communications support. While public affairs has been a core competency of Cashman + Katz's public relations arm for years, Cash- man said, he saw an opportunity to take it a step further with a separate company dedicated to the effort and run by young, politically savvy and connected directors, John Kleinhans, the Republican, and Andy Arens, the Democrat. Cashman is managing partner. Kleinhans, 25, was most recently executive director of the Connecticut Republican Party and Arens, 27, was most recently New England deputy political director of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Both also have connections with young, rising politi- cos across the country. Arens is based in the company's Boston office and Kleinhans in Glastonbury. Cashman + Katz also has a New York City office. "We always did the political communications side, but we never had the folks that could really do the ground game," Cashman said. "That's John and Andy. And what's great about that is when you merge their experience, contacts, resources and capabilities with what we have done for past clients and our resources, it really flips it around, what public affairs agencies have been. We feel that we're innovators in the industry and that when we go to a client, we offer them something that our competitors can't do from a comprehensive political communications and strategic standpoint." For example, if a campaign needs a TV spot produced or ad buys made, the work can be done in-house at Cash- man + Katz, which, in addition to public affairs, offers branding and advertising, public relations, research and strategy, media planning and buying, digital and analyt- ics, social marketing, and video and audio production. Octagon does not lobby, which differentiates it from traditional public affairs agencies, Cashman said. But his firm does work with lobbyists, either contract lobbyists or institution's internal lobbyists, he said. Among its efforts, Octagon is working for a statewide group focused on the tourism industry, some nonprofits and hopes to be hired to run the New Hampshire field operation for a national presidential super PAC. "We can do political campaigns and super PACs, but really our focus is doing cause-related issue advocacy work, doing political consulting, political strategy for business, government, nonprofit clients," Cashman said. Cashman was deliberate in launching Octagon as bipartisan. "There are a lot of firms that do what we do, excluding lobbying firms, that only play on one team — they either do the Rs or the Ds," he said. "Lobbying firms have histori- cally always done both. We made a conscious effort to be bipartisan. Some people may not like that. Some political campaigns may not like that … but we feel that we're more effective because we want to be able to come to our cli- ents with the best solutions and we don't want to be mar- ried to having to be 100 percent on one team or the other." In Hartford, Sullivan & LeShane has long integrated public affairs and public relations through two separate companies sharing the Sullivan & LeShane name, but it differs from Cashman + Katz in that it does lobbying. "When you need an integrated public relations and legislative lobbying campaign … having the two work- ing together seamlessly can be very powerful," said Eugene Sheehan III, managing partner of Sullivan & LeShane Public Relations. Having two companies keeps a wall between the lobby- ing activities, which are regulated, and the public relations campaigns, which are not, he said, so if both sides are work- ing together on an issue, care is taken to ensure expenses on the PR side are reported in support of the lobbying side. Sullivan & LeShane doesn't do political campaigns. "The fact that we share the same name as the lobby- ing firm, if we were to be associated with campaigns, it would really put the lobbying team in a very difficult position because they have to have relationships on both sides of the aisle," Sheehan said. Sullivan & LeShane focuses on working with report- ers and editorial boards and trying to get the word out for clients and manage issues for them, Sheehan said. It doesn't have in-house advertising and creative people designing ads. "We're not an agency that does anything but really kind of focused public relations as it relates to publicity and getting the word out on the good things that some of our clients are involved in around the community, but also crisis communications and issue management and occasionally we'll team up with the lobbying side to do an integrated public affairs campaign," Sheehan said. Octagon's Kleinhans said he is excited about the group's future, envisioning projects nationwide. "One of the cool things about Octagon, I think, is how we work together, two folks of different affiliations, and give our clients strategic bipartisan political advice, which is powerful in today's market to corporations, nonprofits and leaders across the country," Kleinhans said. n EXPERTS CORNER Manage your brand channel or the channel will manage it for you By Bill Field D espite the explosion of con- tent distribution, the emer- gence of revenue marketing, or even the shift to IRM − individ- ual relationship management − it's still astonishing that many brands are overlooking their channel- branding efforts. Why is this? Chan- nel branding and mar- keting have become increasingly complex with multiple players that come in many different shapes and sizes. One brand may employ a direct sales force methodology while another relies totally on indepen- dent agents. A third may cast their lot with distribution partners. The com- mon link among them — the need to have a cohesive marketing and branding strategy that helps them sell and move product. Often, channel-based communi- cations programs are relegated to being an afterthought or a neces- sary evil. The same old tired play- book of sales collateral, premiums, spiff programs and sales contests get trotted out time and time again. There is little to no breakthrough thinking or creativity applied to channel communications. It's mere- ly an extension of the overarching brand program. The result is brand- ing programs becoming door stops at distribution houses. Despite the conversational buzz about consumers "owning" brands based on the connection and engagement they have with them, the channel is still a con- siderable force. Many brands understand this paradigm and deliver on it. Con- sider Stihl power equipment. They treat their independent power dealers like gold by going out of the way to exclusively protect the Stihl franchise. They even poke fun at the big-box home centers with thought-provoking headlines that tout that you won't find the leading chainsaw in a "box." Stihl waters run deep with their distributors because they know the brand has their back. Stihl owns the channel and chooses to partner with inde- pendents. All of Stihl's consumer outreach is geared toward driv- ing consumers to the local Stihl distributor. Stihl gets channel marketing in a big way. Brands such as John Deere and Weber are able to seamlessly work with both the big boxes and the independent dealers. This is accomplished by having market- ing and communications programs that work for both. Yes, having a strong brand helps smooth the way. In the case of John Deere, their channel partners are protected for all the aftermarket repair work. Plus, not all Deere product models are available at the big stores. Weber zealously protects their brand at all costs. One key element is their tight- fisted control over pricing. They have an iron grip on what retailers can charge for their products. Many brands need to ask them- selves how engaged they are with their channel partners. The best actively listen and seek out all their external selling resources and outlets. Their input is valued, appreciated and acted upon. Dis- tribution channel/sales advisory boards are a must. They invite the channel to be part of the pro- cess in the development of com- munications. After all, they're tasked with the ultimate channel requirement — selling the prod- uct. They are the closest link to the voice of the customer. It is especially critical where brands are fighting for selling share of mind. Nowhere is this more apparent than with inde- pendent insurance and financial services advisors. They control the brand in many instances. It's up to them which brand they choose to serve up. If your brand hasn't engaged with them, it's likely to never be taken off the shelf. Selling influences need to be viewed as a key audience with brand programs. They need to believe in the brand. This is accom- plished through channel-based communications programs. Channel communications pro- grams are difficult. Salespeople are tough and often tell it like it is. They're often skeptical of commu- nications people. The best approach is to live in their world. Shadow them on sales calls, watch and work the aisles at major big-box retailers or hang around a distributor counter to see how professionals interact with counter or inside salespeople. You'll find out what works and, more importantly, what doesn't work in the real world. n Bill Field is the founder of FieldActivate, a Connecticut- based marketing firm. Bill Field John Kleinhans (left) is part of Cashman + Katz's new political consulting arm, Octagon Strategy Group, which is headed by Tony Cashman (right). H B J P H O T O | J O H N S T E A R N S

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