Ross Advertising pays it forward with U.1.1.2 project

Business Day sat down with Ross Advertising’s CEO and Creative Director, Ernie Ross, to find out more about the project which is meant to help struggling local businesses and entrepreneurs find the path to success.

“Rather than boast about our huge win, we decided to give back via our U.1.1.2 campaign. So it is our awards, your reward. We launched it last September - If you were a struggling or emerging brand, you were invited to submit an application. The response was so overwhelming that we extended the deadline for submissions, that’s why we are only now making our final selections.”

A diverse group of businesses applied for help, ranging from those in the clothing sector, to food and beverage, technology, to one providing support services for the elderly.

How does U.1.1.2 work?

Ross explained that because 16 of the 112 awards were for ads done for the local market, they decided to work with 16 local companies.

“We also won three best of show in the local awards, so we chose to provide weekly three-hour strategic sessions for the winners. Then, because we won a total of 112 awards, we spread out the sessions over 112 days. Our awards, your reward. So 16 local companies will get three-hour strategic sessions each week for 112 days, to develop their brand and/or turn their struggling businesses around.”

Ross expects to announce the 16 winners next Monday (April 10) but knowing that more than 100 applications were submitted, he is trying to get financial institutions to “come on board and tutor the other applicants.”

“So they’d all come in, we would present the whole concept to all who applied. Only 16 are going to get the free media and production costs et cetera but the rest would get the benefit of how to turn their business around, with the financial institution telling them about how to restructure their finances, their business. So they would get the financial benefit as well because what Ross Advertising does is branding.”

Ross credited his team’s success at the Addy Awards and in general to the agency’s “special branding theory” known as Intangience.

“We’ve actually registered it as a branding theory. Intangience is based upon an unusual way that global brands are all doing successfully. We found incredibly compelling evidence of one thing they all had in common, they were all using this particular science, so we blended that and came up with our own theory.”

“That’s what we’re going to be sharing with these 16 companies - how do you make the difference in your brand, how do you develop something that has lasting, meaningful, human connection? Not just advertising your brand, how do you create an emotional connection with your brand? It’s not just about building a business, it’s about building a relationship. That is what is going to make a significant difference and that is what Intangience is about. We call it the science of human connection,” Ross shared.

Referring to the current economic climate and the fact that scores of workers having been sent home, particularly in the energy sector, Ross told Business Day the idea of paying it forward, of helping others be successful, could only be to the greater benefit of Trinidad and Tobago.

“I’m putting this out to the corporate community, including financial institutions, and to the advertising agencies. If each of us took a few companies or persons who are looking for branding/business advice and provided them with incredible gifts of wisdom and profound insights that can help turn these companies around, we can help save a lot of jobs.”

“We can also help a lot of people get started on entrepreneurial ventures, showing them how to build a brand, how to create an emotional connection between their brand and their customer, how to run a business. Imagine if we all gave an hour of our time? It would be amazing. Perhaps help persons who’ve been let go to open their own business. If we can make this thing national, it will be huge,” Ross said with a smile.