Cultural Momentum

How to Harness
Cultural Momentum
January, 2013

the basic idea
• This work is intended to create momentum within the agency: the
invisible force that results in producing more with less, creating
exceptional outputs more efficiently, and helping people have more fun
in the process.

• Momentum requires addressing several different elements:

– Illumination: research to identify issues, truths and opportunities.
(Issues can be very specific in nature and it helps obtain buy-in.)

– Focus: a clear and cohesive strategy (one vision, one voice.)

– Alignment: total understanding and engagement of purpose,
process and permission to play by all (common language,
expectations.)

– Propulsion: ignite cultural levers to improve creative flow, individual
empowerment and buoyancy (on a company, team and individual
level.) Wild Alchemy 2

What Is Culture?

Wild Alchemy 3

Culture
Culture is not something that is passed down from top to bottom, but created
among individuals who are of a like mind and temperament, with a common
goal and language. If these elements are not present, culture is the
agreement that is made that keeps the proverbial ball rolling and everyone
from killing each other.
Culture is made – with intention – to create efficiencies while generating the
‘juice’ that enables conversations, ideation, courage, leadership and
ultimately, a magnet for other likeminded people and businesses. It is self-
sustaining organic growth that isn’t painful or counterproductive. It results in
autonomy, less policing, firing on all cylinders…in a word, momentum.
Agencies that have it get more done with less. Agencies that don’t can’t
seem to keep the wheels on the rails.
Culture is critical in organizations that engage in creative development
because the process must be organic to some degree, because it’s an
industry of taste and because of the nature of the individuals involved. It can
be nurtured, managed and recalibrated with the right handling.

Wild Alchemy

Culture = un-policed
Beliefs

Behaviors

Language

Interactions
Wild Alchemy 5

Signs of a Poor Culture
• No laughter in hallways or meetings.
• Self-policing on the ‘little things’ and not on the work. No
desire to ‘swing for the fences’ or do more than is necessary.
• Leadership feels they need ‘bed checks’ to manage staff or
constant supervision.
• A bad habit of scarcity mentality (not taking vacations) which
shows in ‘no light behind the eyes.’
• Shutting down (lack of engagement) and quiet brainstorm
meetings.
• General inefficiency (fretting or re-doing work vs. producing.)
• Unhappy staff, unhappy clients.

Real Examples
• What kinds of situations call for this work?

– Mid-sized ad agency OM = wants to double in size and be more
efficient (profitable)

– Mid-sized ad agency CEO = wants fewer day-to-day hands-on
client/agency responsibilities

– Start-up = wants systems to streamline, grow

– New leadership team at established company = wants a vision to
unify efforts and stimulate new thinking

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What is the Context for
Culture?

Wild Alchemy 8

Brand is Do, Be, Say

What we do,
what we make, Do:
our products Product

Be: Say:
Culture Expressions

Wild Alchemy 9

How We Express
What we do,
what we make, Do:
our products Product How we express
ourselves
internally and
externally

Be: Say:
Culture Expressions

Wild Alchemy 10

Who We Are
What we do,
what we make,
our products What We
Do: Product How we express
ourselves
internally and
Who we externally
are, why
we care Be: Say:
and how Culture Expressions
we do
things

Wild Alchemy 11

Role of Branding: Port of PDX
• If I may, I'd like to relay a quick story...I was doing a micro (1 hour) branding
workshop for the Port of Portland (100 or so people.) A man raised his hand
said, "I am a Marine Biologist and I don't know why I'm here." I said, "Do you go
to cocktail parties?' He said he did. "And do people ask you where you work?"
Again, a nod yes. "And you say 'the Port of PDX', right? Yup. And then they
say, "what does the Port DO?" Lots of laughter. A nod yes. "And you answer
them, right?" Yup again. "Well, then, Mr. Marine Biologist, you are in branding.
If everyone says the same thing at cocktail parties you have a strong brand
(and in a connected way, a strong culture.) If everyone says something
different, you have problems." He was happy to stay and enjoyed having a
collective way of talking about his company and having points of connection with
his fellow staff members.

• Brand, culture and business are all inextricably intertwined. Brand is badge of
the tribe. It’s not about the WHAT it’s about the HOW and whether people
believe if it is authentic’. Brand affects new business, recruitment and a shared
sense of tribalism and purpose (one vision, one voice) with all contributing to its
definition, expressions, core strength and longterm health.

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Four Steps to A Better Culture
1. Audit Your Culture and ID Key Levers
2. Audit Your Clients’ Wishes and Actuals
3. Fix What You Can Today – Big Rocks
4. Address Additional Needs - Ongoing

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1. Audit Your Culture
• Send out an e-survey to understand the answers to
these questions will help you know which levers to
turn.
• Conduct a workshop to illustrate lifts and drains.
Seek to increase lifts and decrease drains
(examples in the back but overall it’s about turning
the levers to get more of the things that inspire us
and less of what brings us down/gets in the way.)
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AUDITING BELIEFS
• What does success look like?

• What is a sin at this company?

• What am I rewarded for?

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AUDITING BEHAVIORS
• What am I spending my time on?

• What doesn’t get done that should?

• How motivated am I to come to work?

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AUDITING LANGUAGE
• What gets said in hallways?

• What gets said when brainstorming?

• What is our collective mantra?

Wild Alchemy 17

AUDITING INTERACTIONS
• What do people support each other on?

• What are sources of strife/unrest?

• To what extent is fun allowed?

• What would they change if King for a day?
Wild Alchemy 18

2. Audit Your Clients
• If you are game and able, talk to your best
clients to find out what they love and what
they would love more of. And then talk to
clients you pitched but didn’t get.
• At minimum, pull up past 2 year financials
and in a workshop setting with the
leadership team (or as homework), plot
clients on a perceptual map as follows
Wild Alchemy 19

Looking at actual $$$
revenues and PROFIT
MARGIN and plot profitable
clients on the $ axis
based on what they’re
worth to you financially
(top/bottom sides of
page.)
Hate Love

not profitable

$
Wild Alchemy 20

Your Goal is to Identify Each
Clients’:
Relative Revenues (high margins)
Ideal/Efficient Processes (best practices)
Fun/Respect Quotient (best relationships)
Work You/Clients Are Proud of (best
outputs)
Burnout Factor (worst relationships)
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$$$
Not a lot of fun or A lot of fun/respect,
respect, uninspired great work and/or a
work and/or people vibe/process that
burn out working on makes people want to
this account. work on this account.

Hate Love

Subjectively evaluate
each account based on
the factors above and
put them on the above
scale (right/left sides of
page.) $
Wild Alchemy 22

$$$
Lions

Feed Your Lions

Work Your Horses

Hate Horses Love

Shoot Your Dogs

Dogs
$
Wild Alchemy 23

Feed Your Lions
• 80% of revenues come from 20% of
customers.
– BUT sometimes you may think they’re
profitable because of the volume of work or
the amount of squeak.
– Make sure it’s based on actuals. Make
sure they’re happy and see if you can get
more.
Wild Alchemy 24

Work Your Horses
• These are the ones that will require a
concerted effort to figure out which side of
the fence to put them. Work with them to:
– Fix poor processes that keep them from
being efficient/fun and/or profitable.
– Fix poor relationships that keep them from
being fun/respectful/producers of great work.

Wild Alchemy 25

Shoot Your Dogs
• This means firing them. Or letting them
know they’re on probation. Or actively
looking to replace them.
– Agencies made money firing bad clients.
– Be sure they’re not game to change first before letting
them go.
– Being vocal about intentions to replace can help morale.

Wild Alchemy 26

3. Fix What You Can Today
• As the Eastern saying goes, ‘big things are little, little
things are big.’ Put someone (or a team) in charge of
ticking off easy things and removing drains. Not only give
permission for change, encourage the spirit of breaking
old ruts/bad habits/stagnant air. As Harvard Business
Review espouses, “manage your energy, not your time.”
• The following is a list of ‘small things’ that made a huge
difference in the energy, enthusiasm, efficiency and
effectiveness of ticking small irritants off the list. It’s
empowering. And that’s contagious.

Wild Alchemy 27

Cultural Change Elements
Elevate language to incite invitations (e.g., yes, let’s)
Cultivate efficiency (e.g., stand up meetings)
Create an inspiring environment (e.g., matching forks)
Break bad habits (e.g., hotel bells)
Identify common threads/goals (e.g., ‘deviate’)
Inform/fall in love with your customers (e.g., poster child)
Use and value creative briefs/process (e.g., reward)
Wild Alchemy 28

Examples

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Elevating Language
• In most agency brainstorming sessions, people often will
say, “The client will never buy it”, “It’ll never work”, etc. which
shuts down conversations.

• At Cole & Weber, we had a self-policing rule to use ‘Yes,
and…” and “Yes, let’s…” to transition to new thoughts in
every interaction – even with clients. This language shift was
instrumental in fostering ideation and collaboration (learned
from invitation language espoused by improv groups.)
• At an agency that had a bad habit of negative language, we
put hotel bells around the office to provide a way to break the
negative spiral. Hitting the bell conveyed to all ‘let’s start
again with better language.’
Wild Alchemy 30

Elevating Language
• What gets said in hallways is a huge indicator of
culture. And what gets said gets done. I’ve audited
many agencies over the years and have found a
typical mindset that is indicative of the vibe/culture:
most say, “I’m so tired” or “Do your timesheets.”
Not inspiring and often exhausting. And worse, it is
a self-fulfilling prophecy.
• Conversely, at Apple, their mantra is: “[Is it]
insanely great?” I believe it plays a key role in the
success of this organization – and any
organization. Wild Alchemy 31

Cultivating Efficiency
• One good example of how a small change can
have a big impact is the swipe we took at
‘meeting hell’ at YRG. The agency was paralyzed
by endless meetings. To counteract this, we put
in clocks and took the chairs out of meeting
rooms. At the end of the habit-changing time,
they overwhelmingly decided to keep it this way
and now call their meetings ‘huddles.’
• Writing briefs is also a critical step and a core
component in cultivating efficiency.
Wild Alchemy 32

Inspiring Environment
Another YRG example illustrates the need to create
an inspiring environment. This was a place that
espoused the value of aesthetics, yet the furniture
and even the forks in the break room were cheap
and unmatched. The effect of this on designers is
visceral and while others couldn’t put their finger on
it, when we changed them out for decent ones (not
expensive), the mood, morale and atmosphere lifted
noticeably. Other changes were made, such as
throwing out old files, based on key tenets in
creating good Feng Shui. Good space matters.
Wild Alchemy 33

Identify Common Threads
Most organizations, but especially those in the advertising
and design fields, must understand that theirs is an industry
of taste.

To create a sense of cohesion (one vision, one voice) it is
important to define the collective taste. What is great work
and what is less than? A great exercise to begin this
discovery is to create a ‘wall of fame’ and a ‘wall of shame’.
Publicly showcase both your work as well as any out in ‘the
real world’ that lives in these buckets – and then discuss
themes and ultimately put words to them. At C&W our short-
hand for what was great work was if it ‘deviated’ from
traditional category communications.
Wild Alchemy 34

Inform/Fall in Love with Customers
One of my clients was a NW ski resort. During a
workshop, I discovered that a few staff members had
disdain for ‘people with new gear’. They didn’t feel
they were part of the tribe and they definitely didn’t
love them. I’ve seen this in other categories/industries
many times since.
Imagine how this might impact the experience for
customers. Imagine if the people in charge of
marketing don’t respect the customers. A strong
brand radiates the connection they have with cultists
in word and action (and weak brands don’t.)
Wild Alchemy 35

Inform/Fall in Love with Customers
Doing relevant, interesting research is a huge piece
of doing smart, effective work. It is a key to doing
great work efficiently. It also helps everyone fall in
love with the customer and understand their love for
the brand -- keys to doing good work, building strong
brands and successful companies. And doing good
research helps the agency be more powerful
(knowledgeable and confident) in the agency-client
dynamic. It is a referee. It helps reduce or eliminate
stupid fights. Most successful companies talk to their
customers – and I believe most successful agencies
do. Wild Alchemy 36

Charge for Strategy
Many clients I’ve worked with are doing good
strategic work but without discipline – and often
without getting paid for it. Most need to find a
way to not ‘give away the gold’. One branding
agency I worked with said that 40% of their
revenues came from strategy work alone –
outside of creative work. Making it a clear part
of the process with a clear deliverable is part of
it – but believing you should have the time and
money to do it right is a bigger part of it.
Wild Alchemy 37

We Don’t Have Time for Briefs
When I worked at Omnicom (both at BBDO and
DDB), the teams did not fully understand the
need to make the time and allot the budget to do
research and write a brief before beginning
creative work. At the end of my tenure,
leadership understood and summarized their new
perspective as, “We never seemed to have the
time to do it right, but we always seemed to
find the time to do it over.”

Wild Alchemy 38

4. Address Additional Needs
• Hiring/Resources – Juicy recruitment
ads/defining criteria
• Unity – Defined tribal taste and language
• Brand Expressions – Refreshed look/feel
• New Business Presentation – Refined pitch
• Documentation/Sharing –
Launch/Onboarding of newbies
Wild Alchemy 39

These expressions can be an immediate
result of previous work or they can be a
secondary area of focus. The key is to not
jump the gun and go straight to outputs as
the work must be done internally first (with
reminders and rewards to make sure it
sticks) before putting it out to clients or
prospects. Expressions must be authentic –
and without buy-in and real organizational
change, these outputs may be rendered
hollow at best.
Wild Alchemy :: Culture Cases 40

Case Studies

Wild Alchemy 41

experience
• Extensive work has been done across a variety of categories but with a
similar mission: to create greater flow, improve employee engagement
at the workplace and better work as a result.

• Similar work has been conducted for:

Young & Roer Columbia Sportswear
Grady Britton First Independent Bank
Nemo Oregon Shakespeare Festival
Liquid Agency Perkins Accounting
AHA Writers Group Patagonia
Citrus Adidas’ Global Innovation Team
Clarity, Coverdale, Fury DoveLewis Emergency Animal Hospital

• A client list with reference quotes is appended and a full list can be
found at wildalchemy.com.
Wild Alchemy :: Fiction 42

What follows are summaries and quotes from
various clients. They are intended to provide an
overview of the type of Wild Alchemy’s cultural
alignment work with them and the resulting
success achieved.
It should be noted that the specific workshops
and/or cultural activities each undertook varied
by client – from a single workshop to more
intensive and specific alignment work which
affected the scope of impact, but all found relief
from major pain points.


Young & Roer
Small Tech Agency, PDX, OR
This agency was in crisis when I was asked to help. New management was
brought in by the Board in order to keep the agency from becoming
insolvent. Internal discovery sessions revealed areas of latent pride and
sources of frustration and inefficiency. Workshops provided a common
language and sense of purpose and process but there were a few speed
bumps that had to be addressed specifically.

To reduce ‘meeting hell’, clocks were installed in meeting rooms and chairs
removed. Hotel bells were installed around the office to signal a ‘change of
language’ to break bad habits of negative communications. Small changes
were made to the décor to improve inspiration and clutter was cleared out.
Common goals were posted to redirect energies to nobler goals. The
cultural changes affected the tenor of the office as much as the workshops
did (to provide a new framework.) Excitement was palpable immediately and
momentum fed on itself.


Y&R Client Testimonial
“Having Lynette and Wild Alchemy work with our agency was the most
productive and enjoyable thing we’ve ever done as a group. Aside from
great teambuilding and exercising some creative muscles, our business
improved immediately and dramatically. The team gained new confidence
and began to enthusiastically approach clients and prospects with an
“anything is possible, let’s figure out how to make good things happen”
mentality. Our new business win percentage hovered in the 70% range,
margins went up as team members figured out how to provide great work
and service at lower internal cost and, in the year following our sessions
with Lynette, our revenue, margin, and net profit all exceeded the
previous 10 years combined.”

-Mike Heiser, former Managing Director of YRG
(note: YRG was successfully purchased)


Columbia Sportswear
Outdoor Apparel Company, PDX, OR
Columbia Sportswear has many teams working across multiple product
lines and brands across the globe. They had great innovations but seemed
to be at a plateau in terms of market share. A new brand manager opened
the door to addressing some issues she saw with their brief writing as an
easy point of entry.

While they thought they had the brief nailed, a ‘pop quiz’ showed a lack of
unity and understanding in the brand promise (and benefit to the
consumer.) In addition, several process issues were causing undue stress
and undermining positive behaviors – resulting in heated tempers, late
nights and missed opportunities (inefficiencies) in communications.

Recommendations from internal surveys and workshops addressed both
process and cultural issues as well as branding and brief writing skills.

Columbia Sportswear/Sorel
Outdoor Apparel Company, PDX, OR
As a foray into ‘thinking about their brands more creatively’, the Creative
Director of CS wrote a Haiku for the brand which helped create a common
platform/language around the brand’s essence that the organization found
truly inspiring and easier to share/refer back to
Warm Dry Cool Protect
Active Outdoor Persona
I Have No Worry
Post-workshop, new trafficking software was installed, briefing processes
augmented and briefs reworked (to be more creative and brief.)
As a result, they are enjoying newfound cohesion, impact and momentum
across all product lines/teams and have seen great success from recent
global marketing campaigns for several brands.

Columbia Sportswear/SOREL
“Killer Briefs has transformed the way we work together.
Briefs are clearer, more potent and purposeful.
The work is more compelling. Inspired, brand right and market right.
Lynette started something remarkable that we have seized upon and
amplified; she helped us quickly and efficiently uncover our brand’s core
truths.
Our collaboration is more meaningful, we have more more fun embracing
challenges, and the work is better.”

~Kimberly Barta, Senior Global Brand Director


DoveLewis
Emergency Animal Hospital, PDX, OR
After successful rebranding work and capital campaign, this
non-profit was able to focus on the last piece: issues and
drama amongst medical staff.

After one-on-one ‘counseling’ conversations with all medical
staff (and leadership), several small things were uncovered
that led to a full cultural recovery (staff started getting along,
showing up to meetings, having conversations, not calling in
HR, etc.) One example: medical staff were often running at a
pace that prevented them from taking breaks (and eating.)
Allocating budget to have high protein snacks on hand (vs
sugar) was a pivotal lever in changing the tenor of the floor.
Wild Alchemy 49

Agency Client Testimonial
“Having Lynette and Wild Alchemy work with our agency was the most
productive and enjoyable thing we’ve ever done as a group. Aside from
great teambuilding and exercising some creative muscles, our business
improved immediately and dramatically. The team gained new confidence
and began to enthusiastically approach clients and prospects with an
“anything is possible, let’s figure out how to make good things happen”
mentality. Our new business win percentage hovered in the 70% range,
margins went up as team members figured out how to provide great work
and service at lower internal cost and, in the year following our sessions
with Lynette, our revenue, margin, and net profit all exceeded the
previous 10 years combined.”

-Mike Heiser, former Managing Director of YRG
Wild Alchemy
(note: YRG was purchased)
50

Clarity Coverdale Fury
Creative Ad Boutique, Minneapolis, MN
A staff audit helped identify equities in the current culture: a
clear sense of what doing a good job meant that happened to
be a mantra (a phrase one heard regularly in hallways was
‘grow your clients’ business’.) This led to a retooling of the
agency’s brand as a Growth Company (vs. ad agency) and
subsequent case studies/new business presentations.
Leadership interviews helped identify a good ‘cultural fit’ for
the agency and found a one word description: earnest (in
what they’d look for in a potential new hire.) This clarity and
refocus helped them gain new, better clients and streamlined
processes internally – resulting in a fat bottom line.

Clarity Coverdale Fury
Creative Ad Boutique, Minneapolis, MN
A staff audit helped identify equities in the current culture: a
clear sense of what doing a good job meant that happened to
be a mantra (a phrase one heard regularly in hallways was
‘grow your clients’ business’.) This led to a retooling of the
agency’s brand as a Growth Company (vs. ad agency) and
subsequent case studies/new business presentations.
Leadership interviews helped identify a good ‘cultural fit’ for
the agency and found a one word description: earnest (in
what they’d look for in a potential new hire.) This clarity and
refocus helped them gain new, better clients and streamlined
processes internally – resulting in a fat bottom line.
Wild Alchemy 52

The Source of My Cultural
Fascination and Gold Standard

Wild Alchemy 53

The Richards Group
My perspective is based on having worked for, what I
believe to be, the cultural Holy Grail: The Richards
Group.
This agency is one of the biggest, most profitable
privately held agencies in North America. From my
tenure there, they have grown from 60 people to 600+.
The culture not only helps this agency create award-
winning, effective work for clients such as Corona, Motel
6, Home Depot and Hyundai, it does so with efficiency
(profits are awe-inspiring) and fun. Great people –
especially creatives - who worked there in the early 80’s
when I was there are still there 30 years later, producing
outstanding work. And that, friends, is priceless.


The Richards Group
TRG was my first agency job. It is to this day one of the largest
privately held agencies in North America and the best agency
experiences I’ve ever had. I credit much of their success to the
wonderful cultural tenets Stan put in place.

One of the keys to his magic was cultivating efficiency at every
turn. Everyone had a Mac. He created a word processing center
to clean up all documents and ensure consistency (we were only
responsible for content.) He instituted bowling lunches every other
Friday (mandatory) and invited us to discuss ads we’d seen in CA
with creatives (establishes taste, language and trust talking about
creative that wasn’t their creative.) He defined our task. He sent
us home at 6 pm and encouraged us to come in at 4 am instead.
He created an environment that demanded excellence…and fun.
Wild Alchemy 55

The Richards Group
When the agency nearly doubled in size from 150 people to
300, we had an issue with fueling conversations. Email was
new (yes, I know I just dated myself) so he banned internal
email. Clients only. Because ideas happen in hallways. He
created telephone lists with pictures and first names only. He
held all agency ‘teaching’ meetings once a week (an hour only –
rotated 3 disciplines to chat about what they were doing for 20
min each.) We had an all-agency status meeting (2 minutes for
each representative from each department) which made us
accountable. We had ‘stairwell’ meetings to address ‘news’ and
‘rumors.’ I have so many more examples (ask me sometime ;)
but the idea is that he did everything around creating efficiency
while also inviting conversation and sharing – often at opposing
ends for many organizations.
Wild Alchemy 56

Ways to Engage

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If You Like What You See
Let’s discuss how we can work together. I’d be
happy to chat with you about the best way to work
with you to conduct all or part of this process.
There are three general scenarios for budgeting with
varying degrees of autonomy/facilitation:
Classic Wild Alchemy Audit + Recalibration
Two-Day Retreat
Muse

Wild Alchemy 58

classic audit + recalibration
E-Survey to All Employees + 2 Moderated Listening Sessions

Leadership Sessions to Debrief / Discuss Recommendations

Brand and Culture ‘Training’ Workshop with Agency for Cohesion

Set up cultural anchors for change and metrics to measure impact
59
Wild Alchemy

2-day retreat
Develop and send an e-survey to all employees/analyze for presentation
at retreat. Note that a key client can be included in the following.

Set-up and Conduct a 2-day Retreat (including defining the ideal,
discussing lifts and drains and possible cultural recommendations as
well as brand/brief training to get on the right path.)

Reconvene with Leadership to agree to critical changes and establish
reinforcing anchors, metrics and rewards to gain momentum.

Provide input as needed to resolve any lingering issues (e.g. software
solutions.)
60
Wild Alchemy

muse sessions
Meet with Leadership to walk through agency audit exercises and
provide direction for and ways to gaining agency buy-in

Develop and send an e-survey to all employees to understand
motivators and obstacles to flow/ help with listening sessions

Recap findings with Leadership to assess key levers to be addressed
(cultural elements that impact success)

Present summary of key recommendations, cultural anchors for change
and set up metrics to measure impact. Conduct agency presentation of
recommendations (if desired.) 61
Wild Alchemy

Other Wild Alchemy Resources
(Training DVD + Handouts Available)

• How to Write Killer Creative Briefs
• BrandThinking and Creative Research Techniques
• Stellar Account Service
• BrandYou and Creative Momentum (for Individuals)
• Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp

Wild Alchemy 62

Lynette Xanders is Wild Alchemy’s Founder/CEO and Chief
Strategist. Her extensive marketing and consumer research
experience comes from being a 20-year Account Planning veteran of
advertising agencies such as Cole&Weber, DDB Seattle, BFS/Chiat Day,
BBDO Vancouver and The Richards Group as well as an external partner
for some of the best agencies in North America (such as W+K.) She is
the author of the Chaos Creativity Journal and teaches at the Art Institute
of Portland. She and her family live on Mt. Hood, Oregon to appease her
skiing problem.

Food & Beverage


Agency Financial Non-Profit


Sports/Outdo Luxury Home Tourism
Shoes
or

67
Wild Alchemy :: Fiction

Luxury Technology Retail
Cars
Leisure

68
Wild Alchemy :: Fiction

Education Healthcare Senior Living Travel


As Cultural Alignment Partner

“Having Lynette and Wild Alchemy work with our agency was the most productive and
enjoyable thing we’ve ever done as a group. Aside from great teambuilding and exercising
some creative muscles, our business improved immediately and dramatically. The team
gained new confidence and began to enthusiastically approach clients and prospects with an
“anything is possible, let’s figure out how to make good things happen” mentality. Our new
business win percentage hovered in the 70% range, margins went up as team members
figured out how to provide great work and service at lower internal cost and, in the year
following our sessions with Lynette, our revenue, margin, and net profit all exceeded the
previous 10 years combined.” -Y&R

“Lynette has the whole package: Creative. Innovative. Senior. Hard-working. And
fun to work with. She helped refine our new business platform and get us all on board which
gave us a great sense of unity.”- ClarityCoverdaleFury

“Lynette helped our agency clarify our positioning and reconnect with our staff. She truly
understands the creative business and It was great to have her independent observations.
Her client and employee surveys gave us insights that have changed how we do business. I'd
recommend Wild Alchemy to any creative shop needing a fresh outside perspective.”
- Nemo Design

As Agency Strategic Partner
“Wild Alchemy is our go-to strategic partner. They bring energy and enthusiasm and extensive expertise to
the table, and never disappoint when it comes to really insightful recommendations or thoughtful analysis.
Wild Alchemy is neither wild, nor do they make gold, but they do provide brilliant insight and thoughtful
recommendations that are wildly successful and result in real value for the client.” - Rick Braithwaite,
Partner, Sandstrom Design.

“I’ve been a client of, and partnered with, Wild Alchemy on numerous occasions over the past 10 years and
I can honestly say I’ve never had a more inspiring or truly collaborative experience as it relates to consumer
insights or brand strategy. Plus, they have really great taste in wine.”
- Rebecca Armstrong, Managing Director, North

“Lynette is the kind of planner creatives love to work with. Not only is she creative herself, she knows how
to find an insight and mold it into an interesting place that’s ripe with creative possibilities.” - Jim Elliott,
ACD, Cole&Weber

“Lynette gets it. She’s smart. She cares about the work and helps make it better.”
- Tony Lee, ACD, Leo Burnett Toronto

“Wild Alchemy’s immersion into Outward Bound, and their ability to see deep into the possibilities of the
brand, allowed us to make meaningful change, fast. Wild Alchemy has the ability not only to gather critical
information, but they create the stories, paint the picture and provide the tools necessary to motivate people
and catalyze action.”
- Craig Trames, Executive Director, PCOBS

As Research Partner/Moderator
“Lynette produced insights that were creative, smart, AND actionable.” - Doc Martens

“As a marketer, I would never think of doing positioning work without enlisting the help of Wild
Alchemy. They are true partners in discovery, creativity and brand strategy.” - Nike

“Wild Alchemy led a series of engaging, productive and insightful branding meetings with the
board, staff and patrons. Armed with our shared understanding and alignment, updates to our
website, facilities and materials were extraordinarily successful and much more cost effective.”
- Artists Rep Theatre

“Lynette is more than a market researcher. She is an expert in using research to guide and
improve a creative process in a way that both clients and agencies can get what they need to
move ahead with confidence. She is wonderfully objective and honest, and makes the rest of
us look a lot better.” - Meredith Publishing/Nestle

“Lynette is the best qualitative researcher I've ever worked with. You would expect her to be
extremely smart about understanding the issues and opportunities underneath the research
brief. What is even more useful, however, is the way she employs her great interpersonal skills
to disarm, charm, empathize and relentlessly pin down her respondents without ever
appearing more showy or threatening than a really nice, interested friend. It’s a wonderful skill
to watch and I can recommend her without any hesitation as a joy to have on the team.
- Cole & Weber Agency Head

As WORKSHOP Leader/Speaker
“I am still drawing energy and benefits from those remarkable two days.” - Creative Director

“One of the most thorough and inspirational introductions to brand
analysis in which I’ve ever participated.” - Managing Director

“Love working with Lynette. She can make an all-day workshop actually
work, with great results.” -Senior Copywriter

“Your collection of wisdoms and exercises is outstanding. Very functional, yet mysterious and
curious and challenging.” - Business Owner

“One of the best speeches on branding I’ve ever heard.” - Gov. Conf on Tourism attendee

“Suffice it to say I found it wonderful, extremely helpful and it gave me the motivation I
desperately needed to start making the baby steps on the way to solving bigger problems. I
just think you’re the cat’s pajamas.” -Microsoft employee

“There are workshops and there are experiences; there things that make you think and things
that inspire you. Spending a day with Lynette Xanders in Brand You was an inspirational
experience while unlocking a level of insight, clarity and creativity that is inspiring me in every
aspect of my personal and professional life” -Business Owner/Author

JOURNAL Quotes

“You’ve produced an outstanding journal. Thought-provoking, intelligent, and very well art
directed. Congratulations.” - Stan Richards, The Richards Group

“It’s my touchstone. My brain. My diary for what others call ‘work’.”
- Susan Bladholm, Port of PDX

“[This] journal is unique in its inherent capacity to invoke thought, intention, and action. I have
found it to be a remarkable tool for stimulating creativity, decision-making and strategic
planning. It is a place to foster personal exploration and development. The journal is very
inviting, interactive and engaging.”
- Sharon Kitzhaber, Kitzhaber Communications

“The Creativity Journal has such a sense of playfulness that is so helpful for creative business
thinking and strategizing. I’m a huge fan! Thank you!”
- Ryan Buchanan, eRoi

wildalchemy.com
Lynette Xanders
Lynette@wildalchemy.com
206.755.6800
:: Creative Research :: Brand Strategies + Copywriting ::
:: Culture :: Workshops ::

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