THE CREATIVITY ISSUE: Cultured pearl

Executive Summary
Company. Pearl Industry. Advertising Key. Weaving nostalgia and history to tell a story is effective branding.

Once a month, the staff at Pearl shuts down the office on a weekday and the team goes bowling, fishing or painting.

“It's a chance to get the whole team away from the work environment,” says Scott Qurollo, president and founder of the Fort Myers-based branding firm. “Nobody talks about work. We're not checking e-mails; we're not taking calls. We let our clients know.”

Qurollo, who has dubbed these special forays “cultured pearl days,” says fun days help employees recharge their creative batteries, boost morale, relieve stress and build teamwork because employees get to know each other better outside the office. Plus, it's a great way to attract talent.

That kind of culture has its financial rewards, too. “I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think it was beneficial,” says Qurollo, who posts photos of these fun outings on the company's website.
Although he declines to cite specific financial results, Qurollo says the firm's billings quadrupled in 2014 compared with the previous year. Earlier this year, Pearl was the only agency from Sarasota to Naples to win a gold medal at the statewide American Advertising Awards in Orlando and be eligible for the national awards.

In February, Pearl won the national advertising and brand-management for Bayliner Boats, which has been in business since 1957 and has 400 dealers. Bayliner is a division of Brunswick Corp., the largest recreational marine company in the U.S. with iconic names such as Mercury engines and Boston Whaler boats.

With that kind of growth, Qurollo is already planning to expand his six-person staff and downtown Fort Myers office. “We're looking at more space,” he says. “I'm talking to the landlord.”

Nautical themes
Qurollo estimates that a majority of Pearl's most notable work has been nautically related. Besides Bayliner, Pearl has branded a wide range of clients, from the sinking of a World War II ship for an artificial reef off Sanibel Island to a Naples seaplane operator and a documentary on the shrimp-boat fleet on Fort Myers Beach. [Disclosure: Business Observer and parent Observer Media Group have commissioned Pearl for work in the past.]

An avid boater and fisherman who also hunts alligators, Qurollo started his advertising career out of college at Bass Prop Shops' headquarters in Springfield, Mo., where he helped the retailer design ads, catalogs and brochures. He moved to Southwest Florida in 1991 to work for several advertising agencies that had water-related businesses as clients.

When his last employer folded and he was laid off in 2008, Qurollo started Pearl. “We started on a wing and a prayer,” he laughs.

But many people who were laid off during the recession had started their own businesses, too. “Everybody needed branding,” Qurollo says. “It turned out to be a good time for us.”

One of Pearl's most high-profile projects early on was the branding of the sinking of the USS Mohawk, a World War II-era ship that was destined for the scrap yard. Lee County acquired the ship and sank it off the coast, with Pearl branding it as a veteran's memorial that included a ceremony with one of the surviving sailors from that war. The project received widespread coverage in local and national media, giving Pearl work a big boost.

Pearl used vintage film of the ship's past to create videos, posters and print ads with old and new photos to illustrate the Mohawk's past and its potential as a unique destination for scuba enthusiasts. “I love history and I love stuff that has nostalgia,” Qurollo says.

It shows. Thematically, Florida's history shows up in many branding campaigns Pearl has done, from seaplanes to the shrimp-fishing industry. Even Pearl's office inside one of Fort Myers' older buildings with its exposed-brick walls has a historical feel.

Small and efficient
Pearl has produced a substantial portfolio with a staff of six people. “We're a small, efficient and creative team,” Qurollo says.

While the small staff may deter larger clients, its growing recognition among its peers at advertising competitions such as the American Advertising Awards has given the firm a higher profile. “It's credibility when you have an agency this size,” Qurollo says.

Like many firms, clients demand a comprehensive approach that increasingly requires sophisticated digital marketing. For example, in one recent campaign, Pearl mailed iPads to 40 large prospective boat dealers preloaded with personalized videos from Bayliner's chief executive.

The dealers who received the iPads clicked on the icon once the tablet was turned on to hear the Bayliner message. “They got a lot of calls right off the bat,” Qurollo says. “That was the project that landed us the Bayliner account.”

To create campaigns, Qurollo and his team schedule creative meetings in advance so everyone has time to think about them. He insists that the staff be there in person to brainstorm ideas around a conference table or lounging on comfortable sofas and armchairs in the middle of the office. “Sometimes it's Friday afternoon with a beer,” he says. Production meetings are held every Tuesday to manage the workflow and identify any bottlenecks.

Qurollo says Kara Siefert, the vice president at Pearl, keeps the creative folks focused and on task. “She manages all of us,” Qurollo smiles.

Recruiting talent so far hasn't been too difficult. “We've been lucky enough so far,” he says. “They know we're a fun place to work.”

THEIR WORK

To promote the sinking of the USS Mohawk as an artificial reef off Lee County, Pearl used historical photos to recall the ship's past glory. The resulting publicity generated national media coverage.

Pearl created a branded documentary in partnership with the public broadcasting station in Fort Myers to communicate the plight of the shrimp-fishing industry. It used the words “pink gold rush,” a term coined during the early days of the industry's boom.

Pearl created a promotional campaign to attract 40 prospective dealers for Bayliner Boats using iPads preloaded with a message from the company's chief executive and information about the boats. The campaign helped Pearl land the Bayliner account.