TRIBUNE BUSINESS WEEKLY

Week of August 21,2006 - South Bend Tribune

A Force to be reckoned with

By GENE STOWE
Tribune Correspondent

Tribune Photo/MARCUS MARTER

Force 5 Media owners Dave Morgan, left, and Deb DeFreeuw sit with employee Brent Decker and office dog Archie in their office in the Prairie building downtown South Bend.

From a California spa to a South Bend concrete company, Force 5 Media makes marketing communications a breeze.

The company was formed in 2003, as industry convergence trends led Deb DeFreeuw, whose Wildfire Media was mostly electronic, and Dave Morgan, whose Vision was mostly video, to combine their forces.

"I kept working with David more and more," DeFreeuw says. "Our paths were crossing all the time.We just kept converging. We decided after three years to merge."

"All the electronic media have converged over the last few years into integrated marketing," adds Morgan, explaining that video always goes to Web, and Web needs print to drive customers online." We worked with each other for probably 10 years."

Each is a sailing enthusiast, so they chose Force 5 – a measure of wind speed between 19 and 24 mph – to brand their own sales.

"Force 5 is defined as a fresh breeze and a challenging sail," Morgan says.

The range of challenges makes coming to work fun, say the partners, who keep a creative, laid-back atmosphere in their office on the third floor of the Prairie Building in downtown South Bend, complete with Archie, the office dog.

"Force 5 Media...blends the right mix of strategy and creativity...the analytical and logical with the emotional, intuitive and visual," the company's own communications say. "F5M helps clients find the balance between logic and magic to sell products and build brands by designing and developing marketing, advertising and promotion, electronic marketing, website design and development, search engine optimization strategy and public relations."

This month, the company announced both the completion of a comprehensive branding campaign to launch Revive Studios of California and an agreement with South Bend-based Kuert Concrete to introduce SpectraCrete a new decorative concrete coloring and stamping system.

Force 5 developed a logo, website, signage and packaging for the California destination that includes a yoga studio, art gallery and coffee shop.

"That was a client that had ties here to the Midwest that I had known," Morgan says. "When they needed an identity branding program, they called us."

Most of the work was done by phone and e-mail, with a couple of face-to-face meetings, DeFreeuw says.

Far-flung clients seem comfortable finding service in South Bend.

"A lot of my work on the staging side has been on a national and international basis," including a show for the Federal Aviation Administration that went to Paris and Singapore," Morgan says. "As we grow, we find clients."

Talent to meet those clients' needs is abundant within an hour of South Bend, he says. "You don't have to be a Madison Avenue or Chicago-based firm to give good work. Once they see our work, it's no longer an issue. We can compete with the big boys."

The firm has broadened its services this year by hiring Kathleen Murphy, whose corporate background, where she did strategic planning and high-level marketing and communications, gives her much in common with clients.

"She comes to it from a client perspective as well," Morgan says, adding that Murphy, vice president for marketing and business development, works on both strategic planning with clients and with branding Force 5's own business.

"We've essentially become fullservice with the addition of Kathleen," DeFreeuw says. "We're doing more print. We're doing strategizing and branding and marketing and everything integrated. What makes us different is our technology, what we can do in-house."

"It is not the computer or capital assets that make us good, but the human capital, our valued employees," Morgan says. "It is their talent and passion which make us good. We hire the best and the brightest who can adapt to ever-changing technology and we pride ourselves in a talented, flexible staff producing what the customer needs, not what we want.

The company has the capability to design and develop webbased data base applications, DeFreeuw says.The staff includes project manager Audrey Murray and multi-media developer Brent Decker. University of Notre Dame student Elizabeth Stalica, who has been interning, will work part-time during her senior year.

While the long-distance client relationships are appreciated, the firm enjoys extensive work with local businesses and organizations including College Football Hall of Fame, Studebaker Museum, manufacturing companies, health care, higher education and the new concrete project.

"A partnership with a sophisticated marketing organization is critical to our revenue success, especially in light of the fact that consumer marketing was new to Kuert," says Steve Fidler, president of Kuert Concrete. "We believe developing a strong brand message using the best media available will be a key component of a successful market entry and Force 5 Media will help SpectraCrete achieve its sales goals."

The diversity helps keep Force 5 busy even when the ebb and flow in the economy leave some sectors uncertain about investing in the services.

"We are usually very successful when the economy's good," Morgan says. "We're pretty good when the market is actually down. When the economy's going down or coming back up, people are a little more sensitive."

The local economy is looking good, Murphy says. Force 5 could grow to eight to 12 employees.

"Locally, we see some developing economic activities," including investment by governments, medical groups and Notre Dame for the in-development technology park, Innovation Park at ND, she says. "There are lots of good things going on here locally."

For more information on Force 5 Media call (574) 234-2060 or go to the company's website at www.force5media.com.