The Other Side of M3

To an extent, we all live with dueling personalities.

There’s a part of us that we show to the world, and another that lives deep inside our beings. The spectrum on which these personalities live is different for everyone. Some like to let it all hang out, while others keep their true colors quietly tucked away. The team at M3 prefers to live in the former, and it’s time we came clean.

The goal of our agency rebranding is three-fold:

1. Keep the conversation going
2. Help clients find their aha moments
3. Remain transparent on all levels

What could be more conversational, aha-riffic or transparent than the personality each of us nurtures and exudes daily? Our brand deserved the creativity and uniqueness of every employee under the roof of 614 Seymour. Then, we had an aha moment of our own.

We wondered, why is it that so many creative, or “creative” agencies aren’t capitalizing on their most creative asset: the team? If there were any photos at all on agency sites, we found most of them to be generic, run-of-the-mill staff headshots or buttoned-up photos of CEOs and VPs and CDs. Bor. Ing.

That’s not us! That’s not the kind of show we’re running here. We’re not perfect headshots or buttoned-up black suit/white shirt and tie combos.

We have hobbies and passions, and make Rubik’s Cube costumes for Halloween. We like playing with desk tchotchkes and laughing and eating Cheetos out of fanny packs. We grow vegetables, wear jeans to work and go barefoot in the office if the mood strikes us.

There was no good reason our photos shouldn’t reflect all of this and more. If our clients are human, why can’t we be human, too?

So, Lynne Brown and her team at Perspective 2 in Old Town, Lansing, put on their working pants and carved out an entire day to capture the essence of our team.

After a bit of planning, coordination and about a dozen trips to the studio on a sunny day in July, we did it: a real staff photo shoot, complete with the zest and personality of our team.

It was no easy feat (we assure you), but the fruits of Brown’s labor and that of her camera are simply incredible. (Thanks, Lynne!)

If you haven’t discovered these photographic gems, visit the talent pages of our site. You can roll over the team’s professional photos, (as close to buttoned up as we’re going to get), to reveal our true(r) personalities. And for your efforts, we’d like to reward you with a video.

Here are the outtakes and M3 team photos we didn’t want you to see (at least not right away). Enjoy getting to know us in another light; then, go ahead — give us a call. We’ve got nothing to hide, and everything to show. Your aha moment awaits …