2 min read November 2021 — In an interview with Invest:, Scott Morgan, president of marketing services agency Brunner, talked about the benefits of doing business in Pittsburgh and how his company is faring in a growing post-pandemic economy. He also discussed innovations in the field of marketing and his outlook on the future of the industry.
How would you describe the strength of Pittsburgh’s consumer base?
Allegheny County, which encompasses Pittsburgh, was second only to Dade County in Florida for the geriatric population at one point, but a transition has occurred within the last few decades with younger people staying and others moving into the market. As a result, the consumer base is changing and becoming much more diverse in age and ethnicity. It’s really an emerging market. On the consumer front, we’re seeing a lot of development and investment in residential properties, like single-family homes and multifamily apartments. Leading technology companies, like Google, Facebook, Uber and Amazon have a significant and growing presence here, which is contributing to the changing consumer base.
How does demand for your services today compare to pre-pandemic levels?
If you look at where our business was in 2019, it was strong out of the gate. When everything hit the fan, we were very concerned that the market would flatten out and we would lose momentum. However, we were able to weather the storm in 2020 and we are seeing continued growth that has flowed into 2021. A lot of it is driven by all things digital and the various marketing technologies that we’re building our services around.
How does Brunner innovate in its market?
We were one of the first marketing agencies in the country to have an innovation lab. We were working on mobile technologies, A/R and V/R and other technology applications to start. It’s transitioned towards analytics and platforms and tools that include marketing-mix modeling, automated consumer insight tools and “what’s next” types of things like Explainable AI.
This kind of innovation has also changed the diversity of talent within our company and their expertise. We’re much more analytical now than we have ever been before. Our business strategy is to build on the convergence of creativity, technology and analytics and that is really the basis of everything we do for our clients.
What should be the main points of focus when it comes to marketing strategies today?
It depends on what goal a company is trying to reach. Consumer companies are so focused on the customer experience and that’s also becoming much more critical for B2B companies. As you look at how the leading-edge consumer brands are handling the customer experience, B2B brands should be doing the same thing. Regardless of industry, your company needs to be easily found and you need to be creating content that can be readily seen by prospective customers – those are fundamental components of a smart marketing approach. The multiple services we offer align with those necessary components of the customer journey and that holistic support is a necessity today.
What is your general outlook for the next three to five years?
I think a lot of the disruption that we are all experiencing today is going to help us reach a better place when it comes to business as a whole. I think the coming years will be strong for humankind and business. The hard times we’re going through today will make us stronger across the globe.
For more information, visit: https://www.brunnerworks.com/
