Some great people,
saying some great things:
Confession: I don't have a ton of awards for my work. I have three.
But I have some friends with roomfuls of awards, who have always seemed to like my work. So I decided to ask.
I also got the opinions of a few clients, past and current.
Here's what they said:
Harry Webber.
A giant of the advertising business, Harry Webber also has credits in reality television, the movies and online media. His online column, MadisonAveNew, sits at the crossroads between old and new media and draws readers from every major national advertiser - and agency - in the country.
For the last four years, his think tank, iapia.org, has laid the theoretical groundwork to bring the marketing disciplines into the 21st century. Now his agency is putting that road-testing that work in the marketplace.
In his spare time, Harry's latest cause is building a new future for General Motors.
"This is a commercial for Mary Baum.
You know other commercials I've created.
"Stuck on Band-Aid Brand."
"Quality Is Job 1."
"Chow, chow, chow."
"Thanks, I needed that."
"A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
Well, a mind is a terrible thing to waste. So if you are considering a marketing strategist and an all-around creative practitioner and you still have several candidates on your short list, don't waste any more mental anguish over making the right decision. Mary Baum is pound for pound the best intellectual asset you can have on your team.
"I have worked with Mary since 2007 on one of the most difficult projects I've tackled during my thirty-some years on Madison Avenue. As a member of the steering committee of the Institute For Advanced Practices in Advertising, in Los Angeles, Ms. Baum has literally been at the forefront of reinventing the business model for the advertising industry going forward into the Post-Advertising Era. We put the question to her. "What can be done to make advertising more engaging to an audience that has become advertising immune? Her response has led to several breakthroughs in the practice of building the NeoAdvertising Networks that will shape the way we go to market in the coming millenia. If you're looking for break-the-mold thinking and that elusive competitive advantage in motivating your market, I have two words for you. Mary. Baum."
Phil Wiseman.
Now at McCarthy Construction after more than 20 years as VP-marketing at Maritz Research. On Phil's watch, Maritz Research did more automotive research than JD Power and Associates, did more custom research than anyone in North America and was consistently profitable – even when other Maritz operating units were under pressure.
"Mary and I started working together in 1993, when she designed and produced the very first prospectus for the Maritz Automotive Syndicated Studies. For the rest of the 1990s she was essentially the agency of record for the Maritz Automotive Research Group, and the quality of her work set a new industry standard for marketing creative.
"In the 2000s, we called on Mary to develop materials that helped our clients promote research programs to their dealer networks and other stakeholders.
Internally, we also asked her to translate complex intellectual concepts into much simpler, clearer presentation graphics.
"To this day I rely on Mary when I need someone to develop a whole project - or a whole program - whether it's for an internal group or an outside client. In my new role at McCarthy, I'll be looking for opportunities to work with her again."
Bob Jones.
Founder, Chairman/CEO of R. T. Jones Capital Equities Management, Inc., the developer of Artesys®.
"In 2002 I was running a small, private money-management firm that, because of our proprietary approach to investing, was doing well in spite of the fact that 9/11 had thrown the markets into turmoil.
"Mary came in and, after seeing our 90-minute presentation for the first time, immediately got the concepts. She also saw the same long-term potential for our approach that I had for years: as a branded, wholesale investment product that other companies could sell as part of the huge – and growing – 401(k) market across the entire country.
"The first thing we needed was a web upgrade. Mary used that project as the basis for a comprehensive rebranding, to give the firm a more professional look in the local market.
Next she named the product – Artesys. And she simplified our terminology, so clients and prospects could understand the important concepts faster.
"Over the next five years she would take Artesys through two separate stages of identity upgrades to get it ready for where we stand today: As a top investment choice for one of the country's largest retirement-plan providers.
I wouldn't have thought a professional identity would make this big a difference in our growth trajectory. Naturally, we had to have the product, the methodology and the proof that it works. But I also don't think we could have done it without the branding."
Jack Goldenberg.
A veteran of big ad agencies in Chicago and New York, Jack launched the Happy Meal and then the Cabbage Patch Kids. Now he's at Bristol-Myers, working on chemo drugs. In the fall of 2006, Jack and I almost started a watch company.
“Mary is an exceptionally bright art director and designer who thinks like a strategic marketer. She has a head and a heart than anyone would admire and respect. If she says she can get it done, WHATEVER it is, she can.”
And . . . "Mary is one of the nicest AND smartest people I've met online . . .a well versed, interesting and intelligent writer."