Memphis' Loaded for Bear marketing has foot in France

A Memphis marketing executive emceed a contest this week at Paris' Hotel Potocki  where 10 French businesses made three-minute pitches for a chance to win branding support to succeed in the U.S. market.

Joel Halpern and his Loaded For Bear, the same young company that has guided the brands of Crosstown Concourse, Evans Petree law firm and Christian Brothers High School, aspires to take the stage in the French marketplace.

The eight-employee firm is working to position itself as the go-to company for French start-ups wanting to establish their brands in the U.S.

"All the agencies here (in Memphis) play in one sandbox,'' said Halpern, co-principal at Loaded For Bear with Michael Carpenter. "... We really saw France as an opportunity to show our creative force and really compete on an international level.''

Said Carpenter, "Helping our European clients enter the  U.S. market is an amazing opportunity. We get to showcase our talents on a global scale and expand our own reach overseas.''

French start-ups and innovation are booming now, and many of those firms want to tap the U.S. market, Halpern said. But while great at engineering, most French firms are not so good at building a brand and message for the American market, he said.

"In France, it's a small eco-system. It's all connected on the Web,'' Halpern said. "But the U.S. is so vast, there are so many different markets and it's easy to get lost when you are trying to market in the U.S.''

The roots of this French connection go back to relationships Halpern made in 2005 while studying abroad. While he was a student at Memphis College of Art, he attended the School of Fine Arts in Paris.

Now, Loaded For Bear is a partner with StringCan, a French marketing firm. StringCan provides Loaded For Bear's base for operations in France, but the Memphis firm expects one day to have a brick-and-mortar address of its own there.

StringCan co-founder Jason McDonald agrees that messaging and branding are a weak spot for many of the French companies that are part of the "massive tech movement happening in France.''

"When we met Loaded For Bear we knew pretty quickly this was the team to lead these efforts for our clients,'' McDonald said this week in an email response to questions. "They are not cutting edge, they are bleeding edge. They understand the U.S. startup scene.''

Loaded For Bear forces a company to "think beyond a logo and colors and focus on their 'why,' their reason for coming to work each day,'' McDonald said.

"It's a bit like sitting down with a business therapist when you work with them. They just re-did our brand, so I am speaking from experience. ...

"Bringing this to France will not only super-charge a company's efforts in accessing the U.S., it will give the teams coming to the U.S. the confidence they need to succeed,'' McDonald said.

Loaded For Bear focuses more on guiding clients to create their own voice than using traditional advertising. An example is Crosstown Concourse, the former Sears mail order center that is being redeveloped into mixed-use tower of businesses, health centers, apartments, arts organizations, public school, restaurants and more.

Crosstown now offering 165 apartments

Crosstown Concourse has succeeded in signing business and residential clients, and getting people to open its emails and spend time on its website. Halpern said the key is "building a solid brand and communication plan that is organic in nature, using email communication a smart way, original content in a smart way, a solid media strategy in a smart way that is consistent. Constantly communicating information to that core audience.''

Loaded for Bear has traveled to Paris six times over the past year. The principals feel they are starting to establish a presence by accepting speaking engagements and co-sponsoring events like Monday's startup competition.

"The first question is why Memphis. I often tell people there you could hire a firm out of New York or San Francisco, but they don't really have their finger on the pulse of the American public,'' Halpern said.

"(But) Memphis is at the perfect cross-section of what the U.S. population is. And the cost of operating in Memphis is less; their Euros go further when they engage with us,'' Halpern said.

The French firm that won Monday's contest in Paris should  hit the ground running in the U.S. — digitsole makes "smart'' running shoe insoles to provide training and health information for runners.