At Duffy & Shanley, it’s not just about tapping into your creative psyche to produce the best possible product for your client – it’s about how you get there.
The Providence advertising, marketing and public relations firm performs a number of tasks for its clients, including packaging, crisis communication and catalogue design.
And if you ask Duffy & Shanley President Jonathan Duffy about how the company succeeds in these areas, he’d tell you it’s all about generating good ideas.
“The best idea wins here,” said Duffy. “Our solution is discipline-agnostic and that’s how we know the best idea wins. … Everybody works together no matter what department they’re in,” he said.
The concept is called “Duffy United.” Instead of each department working independently from one another, all the employees’ talents are brought together to solve problems. In the end, the company believes, the firm’s public relations work is better for having a direct response expert at the table, television campaigns are stronger for having an interactive strategist in the room, and media plans are more unique for having a copywriter working on them.
The family business has been around since 1973. And what’s unique about the firm is its direct creative team – something not all firms have.
“We expect a lot of our new kids,” said Duffy. “What’s good is, you’d better have an idea – what’s bad is, you’d better be heard.”
From magazine spreads to T-shirts to billboards, those ideas can be seen almost anywhere.
“We go from sunglasses to beer to car seats,” Duffy said.
Recently, the company launched a new branding campaign for Foster Grant – a company that sells more sunglasses than any other company in the world at major discount retailers.
Duffy & Shanley developed a new identity and logo, new look and feel for the brand, and a $7 million national television campaign.
Assistant account executive Shawna Hassett said she is proud of the hard work she and her colleagues put into the Foster Grant campaign.
“They really give you the freedom to establish relationships with clients,” said Hassett. “You do what you have to do, to do your job well – I feel here, not only is the client happier, but everyone here is excited as well.”
“Passion – that’s the big one,” said Michael Silva, the firm’s creative director. “We care about the work. Monday isn’t dreaded, Friday isn’t anxiously awaited.”
Silva said he has worked in a five-person company and a 500-person company. Duffy & Shanley has about 30 employees, and that is perfect, he said.
The company has a mixture of 20-something-year-old employees and 50-something year-olds. That, Silva said, makes Duffy & Shanley unique.
“There are more senior people here who use their experience and wisdom to mentor others,” he said. “And then on the other side of the equation, there are lots of 23-year-olds who educate those seniors on what’s new and smart and next, keeping the rest of us from walking around here using words like ‘dope’ and ‘fo’ shizzle.’ ”
“It’s a really diverse, interesting group of people,” said Duffy. “It isn’t corporate, we treat people like adults. It all comes down to one simple thing, and that is we have to prove great things for our clients.”
