Fifty Five and Five
The brand name, ‘Fifty Five and Five’ might sound like a mouthful. And we often get asked questions about it.
‘Is it the number of your first office?’ some ask. ‘Is it your CEO’s age?’ others wonder.
While it’s common for marketing and advertising agencies to shoehorn together their partner names (Wieden+Kennedy, Saatchi and Saatchi, etc.), there are those who choose to go down a different route.
Agency names like “Wexley School for Girls”, “StrawberryFrog”, or “72 and Sunny” are no longer anomalies. And while the approach might appear attention-seeking, even cavalier, most of these names tell a story, pointing to something deeper within the agency itself.
The agency as a tribe
Every tribe has its own set of rules, conventions, and rituals. The ad agency and their clients are no different. Company core values are the set of beliefs that an organisation uses to anchor their philosophy to the way they think and work.
Agency names, along with a company’s website, provide a window into the business and suggest what’s possible for the customer. An agency that can’t successfully market itself is unlikely to do so for its clients.
The agency, brand name and identity, however, is more than client-facing. It helps the company look inward, defining what it wants to be (in an ever-growing marketplace) and how it will do business. The name, in essence, can be a distillation of your company core values.
Take LA-based agency, 72 and Sunny, for example: so-named for its optimistic, “sunny” approach to its business activities. Or Anorak, which takes a detail-oriented look at campaigns (*For all non-brits and non-anoraks reading this: an anorak tends to be an obsessive hobbyist).
These agencies, through their names and the philosophies attached, set a precedent: about the type of work provided, the people who work there, and the culture within.
The Einstein effect
So, what about us?
Well, if you’ve taken a look at our website, you might notice a few clocks dotted around. Or the metronomical ticking of our icons. These aren’t a flourish, but a requisite: a design trope which speaks to the core ethos of our business.
The fives in our name aren’t a coincidence either. The “fifty-five” and the “five” each refer to minutes within an hour. Let us explain.
Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend fifty five minutes thinking about the problem and five minutes thinking about solutions.”
Hence, Fifty Five and Five.
Curiosity, empathy and understanding
We’re a company made up of different people with a breadth of experiences, different cultures and perspectives. The commonality we share is the Fifty Five and Five brand name and company core values which anchors our approach to the work we do for technology companies.
Our clients succeed because we first take the time to understand what success means to them, what makes them unique as a business, and what are the clearest routes to their goals. We call this the “fifty-five” portion of our work.
The “five” part of the equation is where our experienced creators focus on the specifics that will set our clients apart from the competition and allow them to hit their marketing goals.
Fifty Five and Finesse
It’s not about spending fifty-five minutes in preparation for every task (that would be too literal…and super crazy). It’s more that for our clients we:
- Spend time learning about you and what your brand needs.
- Onboard with you faster because we know your industry.
- Think about different routes to solve your problems.
- Employ a set of design protocols and stick to the appropriate guidelines.
- Work to understand why a campaign doesn’t go to plan and fix it.
Fifty Five and Final-touch
It’s not about spending fifty-five minutes in preparation for every task (that would be too literal…and super crazy). It’s more that for our clients we:
- Spend time learning about you and what your brand needs.
- Onboard with you faster because we know your industry.
- Think about different routes to solve your problems.
- Employ a set of design protocols and stick to the appropriate guidelines.
- Work to understand why a campaign doesn’t go to plan and fix it.
Fifty Five and Final-touch
And the final touch? That extra bit of pizzazz that makes you sit up and go wow?
The Fifty Five and Five brand name and philosophy means a lot of preparation and hard work. But it also means getting to the root of what our clients need and the best path to their success. And getting to the root of the problem is central to our company core values.
We are experts in:
- Design
- Copy
- Paid media
- SEO
- Strategy
For all of our clients, we like to bring together the power of our thinking so that we can help them stand out. If you’d like to find out more about what we can do for you, get in touch now.
Thinking about rebranding?
We have worked with many clients to create a successful rebranding strategy. If you are thinking about rebranding or wondering where to start, just get in touch with our team.