IQ Interactive Special Report: Shock Troops / The Agency

Paul Donaher is charged with delivering Concrete Inc.'s mission--clearly. Here's a parlor trick: At your next cocktail party, go up to the nearest interactive agency executive and ask him to describe his company. "We're Web builders." "We're a Web studio." "We're a Web development company, but don't call us an incubator." In other words, rarely just an "interactive agency." Such was the discussion one Saturday night a few weeks ago when the leaders of the newly renamed Concrete Inc. got together for dinner to talk about their vision for the company. "We talked about what some of the words would be to describe what it is that we do," explains Paul Donaher, who joined Concrete on May 1 as chief marketing officer. "We want to be the non-jargon company, and we're working hard to be clear." Donaher--whose background includes a 12-year stint with Margeotes, Fertitta, Donaher & Weiss Advertising, as well as his last gig as senior vp and worldwide marketing director for Sotheby's, where he led the marketing launch of both Sothebys.com and sothebys. amazon.com--knows firsthand that "clear" is not ordinarily a word one associates with the online world. He points to copies of presentations made by Concrete's competitors that he stores in his office. "When I look at those things, I just recoil because people tend to make things more complicated than they already are," says Donaher, whose handsome, strong jaw looks like it could cut through anything, including high-tech jargon. "To me, the way someone can be the smartest is by being the clearest and the least intimidating, so we're working very hard to come up with words and descriptions that don't come from the Internet world. They just come from the world." So how should one describe Concrete? "We're a consulting firm that works with clients to build Internet-based businesses," he says, quickly adding that the line is only a descriptive one. "It doesn't say what makes us different yet. But then, that's not what that [line] is about." According to Donaher, Concrete is trying hard not to use the word Web when describing itself: "Because first of all, we don't want to be Web developers, that's just part of what we do. And plus, the Web is only a potential software outcome and everything going forward is not going to Web-based. It's going to be more Internet-based, if you will." It's a way of thinking that likely will be incorporated not only into Concrete's new marketing materials and programs--such as a New York-based, thought-leaders conference scheduled for Nov. 8--but its new-hire training program. "Even people who work here don't automatically go toward simplicity," acknowledges Donaher. "It's not in people's nature. But the fact is that if that's how we want the company to be perceived, then we really have to work with people to be much clearer in our communication and how we work with clients. And that will be a major part of how we market ourselves." How to market Concrete is Donaher's main job these days. In addition to the planned conference, he is also working on Concrete's new logo, brochures and Web site as well as a B2B advertising campaign that will likely appear in The New York Times and Fortune; then there's a possible roundtable discussion series in the works that may be sponsored by a magazine--all of which Donaher hopes to launch in conjunction with Concrete's settling into its new offices located in a former train car warehouse in Chelsea around Labor Day. "Look, let's face it, our name is not tremendously well established--we're not McKinsey [& Co., the management consultants]," explains Donaher. "So part of my strategy is fame and credibility by association, at least initially." Meanwhile, he adds, "we feel that part of our schtick is that we really want to be thought leaders in this business, so whatever we do we want to inspire thought. That's why the advertising campaign will really not be about us. It's really going to be about getting people to think about the Internet." In the meantime, not every marketing move will be so straight-business, says Donaher, who is also developing a series of special events, including a Manhattan-based summer music series that he hopes will help attract potential recruits. He's also in talks with an organization that supports Internet-related art about a possible relationship. "I don't want this company only to be thought of as a business-y company, in the sense that I don't want everything we do to be purely about business," says Donaher. "It's getting people to think about what we do, but getting them to think about it in a totally different context."

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IQ Interactive Special Report: Shock Troops / The Agency - Clearly Spoken

Jennifer Owens

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Jennifer Owens