Client Spotlight: Ameriprise Financial Ad Program

The future isn’t certain.

Try as we might, we simply can’t predict what’s going to happen to us tomorrow. And though we can’t predict, we can prepare - especially when it comes to our finances.

Ameriprise has helped millions of people not only prepare, but ultimately reach their financial dreams and enter confidently into retirement.

A Customer entrusting their financial future to Ameriprise form a lasting relationship with their dedicated advisor. Because Ameriprise is one of the largest, most trusted financial planning companies in America - there are over 10,000 advisors managing accounts for clients across the country.

Anytime a company has that many moving parts and employees, challenges inevitably arise. For instance, while the advisors are out helping ensure customers’ financial futures, they need a little help marketing their own services.

Creatis Studio & Ameriprise Financial

The Creatis Studio services team offered the perfect solution to the advisor’s challenges.
In 2012, Ameriprise Financial corporate entrusted the Creatis Studio team to exclusively manage their Ad Program, and that partnership continues today. 

Thank you so much for what you do - the ads always look great! - Tara, Ameriprise Financial Advisor

What We Do:

Creatis Studio works on approximately 50 to 60 advertisements per month that include; billboards, presentation signage, business cards, print & digital ads, mailers for Ameriprise Financial advisors and much more.

Our talented, flexible team of project managers and graphic designers create, update and refresh branded templates for advisors and corporate campaigns - all from our home office Minneapolis.

Over summer of 2018, Ameriprise also entrusted another big project to the Creatis Studio team: a major brand and design refreshment for all advisors’ templates and other print/digital advertisements.

How It Works:

An Ameriprise advisor works directly with a Creatis project manager to process a request. Our graphic designers will complete the project, and we return the final version of the project to the advisor.

We’re able to complete the advertisements because our team has already been trained on Ameriprise brand standards. This process has created a more personal and collaborative experience for Ameriprise advisors, and our payment processing services help save advisors time and money as they are managing customer finances.

The Creatis team has been very fast and helpful the last few months. Thank you! - Brent, Ameriprise Financial Advisor

We’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish to help Ameriprise Financial continue leading in the financial management industry, and we can’t wait to continue this fantastic partnership!

Vendor Profile: Gravie

 We live in the Age of Options. There are innumerable choices available to the American consumer today. All the TV shows, smartphone apps, internet content, clothing brands, etc. The American workplace is following suit, also offering more flexibility and options for working professionals. So why shouldn’t employers and their employees have options when it comes to health insurance?

Well, now those options are an option! Enter Gravie: an industry-changing healthcare company whose goal is to make health benefits easier and more affordable for both employers and employees. More than half of Americans still get their healthcare insurance through their employer, which can be costly and time consuming for the employers, and a headache for employees.

Like tailors do with fine suits, Gravie does with healthcare plans. They know there's no ‘one-size-fits-all’ health plan that works for everybody. Acting as a third-party broker through employers, Gravie helps employees find the best healthcare plan to fit their needs and budget— both on-exchange (through the government-run marketplaces), and off-exchange (directly through insurance companies, i.e. HealthPartners, UCare, BlueCross BlueShield, UnitedHealthcare etc). Whether a high or low deductible is appropriate for the employee, they offer the best plans from the best insurance companies, at affordable rates. Their goal is to remove any obstacle that stands in the way of someone understanding how their plan and coverage works.

Why did we choose Gravie?

In 2014, Creatis was looking for a new way to provide health insurance options for our employees. As a small company, it was becoming extremely difficult to find a group health plan that worked as costs were rising and yet the options for coverage were becoming more limited. We needed a partner who could help us navigate the changing health care landscape and provide us with more flexible, affordable options for our growing number of employees.

On our search, we connected with Gravie, a company based in our hometown Minneapolis. They answered our questions about the shifting insurance market and how a creative/marketing company of our size might best provide insurance options for its employees. Another equally important factor in our decision was that the Gravie team - led by CEO and co-founder Abir Sen - embodied values that aligned closely with our own. Gravie, like Creatis, is a people-first, service-oriented company. And like us, they understand the principle that connecting people with the right choice – whether in creative/marketing or healthcare plans – is essential. They help us help our employees and alleviate so much stress. Our Gravie representative, Darius, says it best, “We focus on providing and administering employee benefits, so Creatis can focus on what they do best - creative & staffing solutions.”

How does the Gravie and Creatis partnership work?

When a new Creatis employee is seeking individual health insurance, we connect them with a Gravie advisor who then walks the employee through the process of selecting and utilizing a customized healthcare plan. Employee benefits are incredibly complex, and Gravie knows that providing people with options only works if those people have a guide for the process. Their advisors are always available – throughout the year – for a call or online chat to answer our employees’ questions about everything from which primary care doctors are in their network, to what an in-office visit might cost under their specific plan. The feedback we’ve received from our employees about Gravie is universally outstanding. Their expertise on healthcare is made even better by their unique ability to explain healthcare in plain English!

Learn more about Gravie here: https://www.gravie.com/

Employee Spotlight: Matt Knox, Designer & Production Artist

Matt Knox is one of the longest tenured employees in Creatis history. He’s been an active employee almost as long as we’ve been in business - 17 years. As a graphic designer through the 90s, 00s and 2010s, he’s seen the creative/marketing industry evolve from the inside out, primarily as a contractor, which is a unique perspective. Through his tenure with Creatis, he’s grown as a graphic print and digital designer, art director, and production artist.

Matt has supported a wide variety of clients through Creatis over his career including: Trend Enterprises, Inc, Wunderman (Best Buy), Musicland Group, Inc., US Bank, Life Time Fitness, Medtronic, Thrivent Financial, Skyline Exhibits, and Builders Association of the Twin Cities.

But how did it all begin? What’s the Matt Knox and Creatis origin story?

Flashback to ‘99: Matt was working as a full-time employee at Best Buy, and it just so happened that Creatis had several contractors working on that same creative team. This was Matt’s introduction to Creatis. He got to meet and work with the kinds of people whom Creatis employed - service-oriented, fun, and focused on doing excellent work. They really made an impression on him - perhaps more than he knew at the time.

Flash forward a couple of years: new millennium, new company and new full-time job for Matt. But when the company Matt worked for rather suddenly closed its doors - only 6 months after he’d started - he was back on the job market. He began to recognize the appeal in using his design and production skills as a contractor. The idea of doing a variety of design work, seeing different environments, and working with many influential brands felt exciting. So he reached out to two Twin Cities creative/marketing staffing agencies at that time to explore contract opportunities: another creative staffing firm and Creatis.

Soon after he’d connected with Creatis in September of 2001 and that other staffing firm, both companies offered Matt same contract position at his former place of employment – Best Buy. Small world, isn’t it? Though it felt good to be in such high demand, Matt had a decision to make. And when asked why he went with Creatis back then, Matt said, “I chose Creatis because of the relationships I’d formed with its employees. They were collaborative, worked hard and had fun.”

Matt’s shared journey with Creatis may be unique in its longevity, but it also shows how consistent we are when it comes to building lasting partnerships with employees. Matt understood our mission and values, and stuck with us. In return, we were able to offer him the chance to tour the Twin Cities by contracting on nearly a dozen different creative teams and client sites. He trusted that when one contract assignment was coming to an end, Creatis would help him get another role. Mutual trust pays off. We truly believe that. Matt brought the skills/design chops, and we helped him connect the dots to forge a career path.

One of the best parts of Matt’s story is that after all these years, in 2017 he was offered a position to work onsite in the Creatis Studio as a designer. It was a homecoming of sorts, and we couldn’t be happier that he’s around every day, bringing his upbeat attitude, team-oriented work ethic, and trademark wry sense of humor to help keep things light during stressful times. Here’s to 17 more years!

Employee Spotlight: Seth Conover, Marketing/Content Specialist

Wait, I know what you’re thinking, “He’s doing a profile on himself?” But this isn’t about a quick pat on the back. I wanted to provide some insight into what I do and about my ongoing journey with Creatis. And because I’m also developing content for this very eNewsletter that you’re reading, this was the perfect chance to grab the mic. 

After two years of serving as the Staffing Specialist, I’ve transitioned into a new role at Creatis – Marketing/Content Specialist. My job transition is unique in that I didn’t have to job search or “go with grace” as our president, Kathy Hollenhorst has described the professional transition period (Read her blog Go with Grace). But I did get the chance to “stay with grace” at a company I value and that values what I bring to the table. Let me explain.

Throughout my time in the Staffing Specialist seat, I grew immensely as a professional communicator. My responsibilities included meeting and placing fantastic candidates for our clients, fostering ongoing relationships with employees and doing the gritty, detail-oriented work that kept the Staffing team's engine oiled. It helped me become a more effective communicator and sharpened my analytical mind. It also gave me incredible insight into the marketing industry (both client and agency side); I saw how the process works from strategy through execution. Because of Creatis’ commitment to put the right person in the right seat for our clients, it truly felt like we were matching up puzzle pieces, which I found incredibly satisfying.

But earlier this spring, I knew it was time for a change. I have a deep background in creative writing and editing, and I wanted to explore opportunities that more closely aligned with those skills. In keeping with one of the Creatis values to “do what’s right,” I wanted to be transparent with my supervisor and tell her how I was feeling. I was so grateful for my time as Staffing Specialist and yet ready to grow in different ways in another role. And rather serendipitously, this Marketing/Content Specialist role opened and it happened to focus on developing and writing marketing content for Creatis! Needless to say, I was pretty psyched.

So here I am. New office, new responsibilities, same company that has helped me grow in myriad ways. I’m able to take the things I learned from my previous position and apply them to my new one. In the coming months, I’ll be busy developing all kinds of content for events, our website, clients, and employees. My professional advice on job transitions is: be honest, do the work, and keep learning. Excited for what the future holds!

-Seth

Deb Olson - Marketing Project Manager

Who do you call when you need a triple threat candidate with healthcare marketing expertise, adaptability and strong values?  Deb Olson.

That’s just what we did 2 years ago, when one of our relationship managers connected with Deb while searching for a project manager for a contract position at one of our high-profile clients in the healthcare industry. We knew from the get-go that Deb was not only a skilled and seasoned marketer - bringing 20 years of experience, including 16 years in and around the healthcare industry - but what also drew us to Deb was her immediate understanding of the Creatis model. Deb, in turn, found that the Creatis team offered something different from the other staffing agencies she’d worked with: a real commitment to long-term partnership. In her own words, “When I saw first-hand how supportive Creatis was to their employees, I sent my resume in near the end of my contract [with another staffing agency] and got an assignment with Creatis immediately.”

Creatis employees like Deb are an integral part of our extended team. What Deb’s story shows is how our model provides individual employees of Creatis with an opportunity to work on different teams, explore new responsibilities, and still have the security of knowing that when their assignment is winding down, we are hard at work to place them in another great role. But that hard work comes from both sides - our best employees also help themselves secure more work too, as Deb has done repeatedly through her roles at our healthcare client.

In 2 years, Deb has already worked on 3 separate teams at the same company and received glowing work reviews from each of her supervisors. She was able to transition between assignments as a Creatis employee in part because of her proactive communication. For example, as her first Creatis assignment wound down, she heard of an opening on another team within the organization that seemed to be a perfect match, so Deb let her dedicated Relationship Manager know about the potential opportunity and was place with a fantastic new client in the process. Our commitment to fostering lasting professional relationships – even through job and role transitions - is a big part of why we’restill growing as a company.

To Deb, partnering with Creatis is truly exciting. It allows her to keep learning, add further to her impressive resume, and to connect with many different professionals in the marketing industry. On being asked what makes it exciting, Deb said, “I really like the projects where I’m learning something new – new skills, new info, etc. Typically, I work as part of a team but this summer I was assigned a project where I led it. The timeline and clients were extremely challenging, but it will meet the deadlines and satisfy the clients,”

Deb made such a great impression on Creatis as a company that our team chose to honor her as the winner of our 2018 “Shared Journey” Core Value Award. Because she’s contributed to Creatis’ success over the long-term, taken personal responsibility and performed with excellence, there's no one who deserves this award more than her!

Client Spotlight: Marketplace Events

Marketplace Events does more than simply provide space for exhibitors and consumers to interact. They are not in the tradeshow business. Their aim is more artful: produce events that are like experiential tapestries designed to make the exhibitor/consumer connection vibrant and meaningful. Each event they produce - both the holiday boutiques and home/garden shows - offer sellers the chance to give potential buyers the best one-on-one marketing experience available. They provide the kind of environment that creates and sustains trust, transparency and consistency.

This spirit of artful innovation has paid off. Today, Marketplace Events is the largest producer of B2C home shows in North America. MPE produces 64 events annually, spread across 29 markets, where they attract over 20,000 exhibitors, 2 million attendees and 3 million web visitors. As you can imagine, producing this many events per year means MPE’s logistical and marketing challenges are unrelenting.

So in 2015, when MPE needed to refresh the look and feel of their brand for upcoming holiday boutiques and home/garden shows, they looked externally for design support. And the Creatis Studio was the perfect match. Our team of creative designers and project managers had the capacity and talent to quickly learn the brand and deliver quality work.

Three years later, and we’re still sharing a journey together as design and execution partners. As MPE continues to produce even more experiential events, our support grows too, because we’re equipped to flex our talent as needed to get more work done. In 2017 alone, the Creatis Studio worked on 42 consumer events which were produced over 32 short weeks. During this period, we created over 10,000 elements of print and web marketing collateral, including: tickets, digital ads, print ads, flyers, and billboards.

Now, in 2018, we’re refreshing concepts in preparation for Marketplace Events’ fall shows, in addition to the consistent production design work we execute day-to-day. Marketplace Events US Marketing Director Carrie Linde says of the partnership, “Creatis is an extension of our team, providing insight on ad layouts, color schemes and images that will resonate with our target audience. They manage timelines extremely well, even when we request the occasional quick turn-around project. We’re incredibly happy with the consistent value they deliver to our organization.” Because we’re able to do all the work from our Studio, we can also function as their team in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Denver, Atlanta and many other regions across the US.

Our designers and project managers love working with the MPE because the design and execution work is fun and dynamic, and because the communication between our teams is so clear. This is the result of a close and transparent working relationship that is at once high energy and fun, as well as being clearly defined; Marketplace Events sets clear expectations on what they need delivered, and in turn, we deliver.

More about Marketplace Events: https://marketplaceevents.com/

Client Spotlight: Portico Benefit Services 

The word “portico” quite literally comes from the Latin word meaning “porch.” Over the centuries the definition has shifted slightly to mean “a structure with a roof.”
And what does a roof provide? As Bob Dylan might say, a little “shelter from the storm.”

Portico Benefit Services is that roof and shelter for leaders and employees of the ELCA and other faith-based organizations. It provides health benefits and wellness programs that help members live well through retirement and beyond. Their work is not only unique and inspiring, but also requires many unique resources so that their members can take full advantage of the available benefits. And with more than 50,000 people to serve across the U.S., their marketing team needed some extra arms and legs to help spread the word.

Cue Creatis! If Portico is the roof, then that would make Creatis one of the support beams.
Because we’re a one-stop-shop helping companies get marketing work done quickly and with excellence, we offered exactly the type of services they could use.

So for the past five years, Creatis has provided on-site resources and studio services to support Portico’s many marketing needs. Currently, we’re completing around 30 Portico projects per month in our studio, including: e-newsletters, brochures, website content, flyers, trade show booths, video edits and much more. We’ve also placed healthcare writers, project managers and other marketing resources on-site at Portico to bolster their internal team.

As an example of how well our hybrid model works, here’s a fun fact: One of the fantastic project coordinators we placed as a contractor at Portico was recently hired as a full-time employee - and now our studio project coordinators work with him almost everyday! How’s that for full circle?

The partnership has been so effective that Portico utilizes Creatis exclusively for their additional marketing needs. So what’s the secret?

Portico Vice President Kristin Steffen sums it up nicely, “Our partnership with Creatis is effective because of the mutual respect and understanding between our companies. The Creatis Studio functions as an extension of our internal team to quickly and efficiently create and update a variety of digital and offline content for our members. Likewise, the Creatis Staffing team saves us precious time in recruiting and sourcing contract resources as our business needs shift and change.”

Both companies walk the talk when it comes to service. We both understand that a healthy working partnership takes transparency, accountability, and trust. We’ve developed this special rapport by fostering ongoing relationships with individuals, and not just by blindly making demands and requests.

Here’s to 5 more years (and then some!) of being a Portico support beam.

For more information on Portico Benefit Services, please visit:
https://www.porticobenefits.org/

Creatis + Greater Twin Cities United Way = Jobs For All

Did you know that by 2024, it’s projected that Minnesota will have 400,000 jobs requiring skill and education beyond high school that will go unfilled? And because of this increasing workforce shortage and the economic disparities in Minnesota, communities of color have been particularly affected in terms of access to training resources and assistance in finding the right employment.

That’s why, as part of our Creatis Cares program, we’ve joined forces with the Greater Twin Cities United Way to promote their Jobs for All campaign. This campaign raises money for proven local job training programs to help people gain and leverage their skills to find meaningful work, which in turn will help fill the growing gaps in the Minnesota workforce.

We are proud to have contributed $5,000 in a matching donation.

With our help, Jobs for All has raised over $13,000 in support! That $13,000 means more training for high-demand industries, employment search kits, interview tips and more for dozens of job seekers in this community.

This campaign goes to show that when organizations in this community are living and giving united, we can do amazing things to ensure that job seekers have the skills to enter the workforce and fill employers needs.

Give to "Jobs for All"