Zack Spear (left) and Mike Capson (right), co-owners of the ICS Creative Agency.
A decade of business is quite an accomplishment – pop the champagne!
However, ICS Creative Agency’s owners Zack Spear and Mike Capson wanted to do more than have a party, and instead launched an online contest, “Thanks To You,” to give away more than $35,000 in marketing services to Greater Saint John non-profits and charities.
“We wanted to do something special for ten years,” said Spear. “We work with a lot of local companies that give back to the city, like Vito’s, Java Moose and Deluxe Fries and they got us thinking we should do something similar.”
Both partners were keenly aware the budgets of non-profit organizations are either minuscule or non-existent, restricting what agencies like ICS can do for them.
Spear explained, “We get requests for non-profits to help quite a bit and we do what we can for them, but often their budgets pretty small or non-existent.” “It sucks when they can only do half of the services they actually need,” added Capson.
Both got the idea to give back to non-profits and help them get exposure on a larger scale through the contest.
“We want to give them the ability to actually do a full campaign or whatever they need,” said Capson.
Non-profit organizations can nominate themselves online and select the top three prizes they would like to win. The prizes range from a custom website to a tailored social media plan.
When selecting prizes, both Spear and Capson wanted to be able to display a bit of everything the agency could offer.
“Everything we’re giving away is something we can do or a service we provide,” relayed Spear. We wanted to have a variety of options, as well as be services we could afford to give away.”
“There’s a lot of things non-profits might not even know they could benefit from, so it is bringing awareness to them too.”
“Hopefully, whatever prizes we award act as an accelerant and allows non-profits to put their budget towards something else, like increase their marketing,” Capson revealed.
The nominees will be narrowed down by committee to a shortlist of ten, before ICS films a nomination video for each finalist highlighting the work they do in the community.
Finalists will then be showcased online and voted on by the public with the winners being announced on October 9. Additionally, each nominated non-profit can keep their video for future use and promotion of their organization.
Each was surprised at the quantity of contest submissions.
“There was the hurdle of creating a video, which we were prepared for, but it was surprising the amount of people who were so quick to make a video and actually submit it,” said Capson.
“Before we started the contest I was thinking, ‘I hope we can get ten videos, or else there will be a problem.’”
Spear and Capson received plenty of submissions; knowing now it be difficult to make a final decision.
Both agree the important promotional need of a non-profit organization is often its website which acts as a building block for its cause. “Many don’t have a good website or presence; branding is extremely important for non-profits, as are consistency and what they’re putting out on emails and social media,” said Spear.
ICS Creative Agency’s sign on Princess Street.
In 2009, the partners both worked for a software company doing marketing and website work part-time. After their contracts expired, they decided to form ICS and expand to full-time.
“There was a void we were able to fill, it always seemed like there was business for us.”
Capson recalled when he and Spear started, saying they didn’t have a backlog of work, but were still able to work full-time.
“It was a little scary that first month, but from there, things grew from word-of-mouth and doing good work, then people recommend you and you build a network from there.”
For the first five years into ICS, the agency didn’t put much money into advertising.
“It was all about customer service and doing a good job, making our clients happy, and hopefully they would have good things to say,” stated Spear.
“In the last couple years, the agency has really grown.”
Some campaigns ICS has worked on over the previous decade include work with Vito’s, Deluxe Fries, Casino New Brunswick, KV Music Fest, Munro’s, True North Salmon and Saint John Airport.
This dynamic duo has witnessed a noticeable growth of businesses in Saint John over the course of the decade. Both agree the city’s Uptown compared to seven, ten years ago is drastically different, noting even when walking to work, they see new businesses popping up a regular basis.
“It has been pretty steady; occasionally one goes under but then something else comes along. Saint John is a nice community that will come together to support a business,” Capson shared.
One of the most important lessons learned by ICS is there is always enough business for everybody.
“You’re not going win every bid or project,” admits Spear. “You have to realize, especially in our industry, that there are lots of great agencies — and companies go with whoever fits them.”
“Once you realize that, you can let things go and it makes things easier.”
The partners have many happy memories of ICS over the last decade, with a few standing out among others.
“I think moving to our office on King Street was a big one for us, it solidified that we were a real business,” reflects Spear.
“We have had a lot of fun experiences through working with our clients. We were involved with The New Brunswick Heart and Stroke Foundation’s events, like their Hockey Heroes weekend and went to conferences in Austin, Texas and Boston, which we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to experience without ICS.”
For more information about “Thanks To You” can be found here.
