Scott Harris was perusing the want ads for a 1965 Mustang when he came up with a name for his advertising and marketing company: Mustang Marketing. That was in 1986. The name was only supposed to be temporary until Harris and his then-creative director Bill Rink came up with something more permanent. But it stuck. And 25 years later, the company’s name has proved to be quite valuable, Harris said. “We built up so much brand equity it wouldn’t do (much good) to change it,” he said. Mustang, which has its own distinctive identity, has become known for offering its clients traditional advertising and marketing services with a twist of creativity, Harris said. The firm’s services range from helping clients to plan strategic advertising and marketing campaigns, to developing product packaging and assisting with public relations. By adapting to changing technology, Mustang also has helped companies to build new media campaigns, and has grown itself, he said. Mustang’s clients range from large, nationally known companies such as Dole, J.D. Power and Associates, and Baskin Robbins, to small regional firms such as Community Bank and Sun Air Jets. Mustang also serves municipalities, including the cities of Thousand Oaks, Oxnard, and Westlake Village, and health care providers such as Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center. The firm’s first client, Burbank manufacturing company Comco Inc., is still an active client. “We don’t specialize in any one type of client, except for those who want good marketing,” Harris said. Mustang is a small firm that generated $2.1 million in revenues last year and has eight full-time employees. Harris says he has managed the company’s growth on purpose, so he and wife Randi, who is the company’s vice president, could raise their children and maintain a tightknit corporate family. Year Founded: 1986 Revenues in 2009: $1.7 million Revenues in 2010: $2.1 million Employees 2009: 6 full time; 5 part time Employees 2011: 8 full time; 6 part time “The goal was to build a small company, with good people and good clients,” he said. Mary Kaiser first worked with Harris and his team at the United Way in Ventura County and kept up that relationship after becoming president of the California Community Reinvestment Corp. in Glendale. As a nonprofit, the CCRC doesn’t have much money to spend for marketing, Kaiser said. But Mustang has been a valuable partner in communicating with investors, developers and the public, Kaiser said. “Mustang makes sure that even the business cards and stationery conveys who we are and symbolizes what we stand for,” Kaiser said. Mustang helped Comco learn about marketing, said Neil Weightman, the manufacturing company’s recently retired chief executive. “He helps people understand the value of a (media) campaign,” Weightman said of Harris. “He asks the tough questions.” New media, traditional tactics When Harris was an advertising salesman for a half dozen publications, he liked all the aspects of the job — except for the selling. In meetings, Harris found himself thinking about ways he could help a client better market their company, rather than closing a deal. “I asked myself, ‘Who makes those decisions?’ It was ad agencies,” Harris said. “So I started one.” Good marketing helps to convince a consumer to make a buying decision. The principles of creating that desire have been the same for generations —setting a goal, identifying the audience and developing the message to deliver to that audience, Harris said. What has changed the most in his 25 years is selecting the right way to deliver that message, Harris said. Mustang has embraced rapid advancements in technology, blending new media with traditional print and direct mail advertising, he said. Having young people on staff has played a big role in the company’s ability to adapt to technology and help its customers reach an online audience, Harris said. For example, the staff pushed Mustang to increase its online advertising services and brought attention to the use of QR codes, special barcodes read by smart phones that take the user to any number of applications, he said. The QR code on Harris’s business card leads to Mustang’s Web site. “Part of their job is to stay in front (with technology) to bring those options and opportunities to us,” Harris said. The danger in becoming enamored with new technology is forgetting traditional methods are still valuable. But Harris said even tried and true marketing methods get a creative spin at Mustang. For example, the annual report booklet Mustang made for the CCRC tells stories of the people it serves — low-to moderate-income families and individuals, Kaiser said. “They are careful to craft it in a way to say who we are,” Kaiser said. A recent campaign for Comco to demonstrate the use of its equipment for dental implants involved sending out a sample of titanium alloy with a smoothed finish done by a Comco machine. Mustang designed the display case for the sample, the literature accompanying it and came up with 150 companies that should receive samples. The result was to make contacts for a market the company had not previously served, Weightman said. “The way they presented the visual was effective,” Weightman said. The color purple Mustang’s offices and corporate color palette are out of the ordinary, but Harris says they make an impression on customers, which is what the company aims to do for its clients. Harris works out of his home with front and back yards decorated in a Western theme that mimics Knott’s Berry Farm — gold mine sluices, a water pump, multiple wagon wheels and oil lamps, a mining car, and an old wagon filled with barrels, milk cans and a trunk. Out back there are chickens and horses (although no mustangs). The western theme ends at the office door. Inside, the atmosphere changes to a color scheme dominated by purple. Chairs, desktops and walls, paper clips, rubber bands, file folders, pens and business cards all sport the color. The color has become part of Mustang’s identity, said April Harter, the director of social media and public relations. “There are a lot of people calling us the ‘purple agency,’” Harter said. It was another of the lasting influences Rink had on the company during his 12 years there. When coming up with the Mustang logo, Harris recalled he told Rink he didn’t care about the design or color as long as it wasn’t purple. But then Randi happened to like the color, so it stuck. With 25 years behind him, Harris decided to put his ideas into a book on marketing strategies scheduled for publication in the fall. (Harris has also written an occasional marketing column for the San Fernando Valley Business Journal.) Going forward, Harris said he wants Mustang’s mission to stay much like it is now — to help clients who are in need of a creative push get their message to the public. Harris says he plans on doing that under the permanent temporary name borrowed from an iconic American car. Oh, and that ’65 Mustang Harris was looking for back in 1986, did he ever buy it? “No, I didn’t,” Harris said. “I couldn’t afford it because I started the company,” he said.
Saddled Up for Success
