We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michael Satterfield. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michael below.

Michael, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear from you about what you think Corporate America gets wrong in your industry and why it matters.

So often they are hiring the wrong agencies to represent their brands. As someone who has worked in media for over 20 years and owns a boutique marketing firm, I can’t tell you how many times I have been hired as the second, third, or even fourth agency in the line on a project. Collaborating with other agencies is always great, but many times we are called simply because the agency that has been hired doesn’t understand the industry, product, or brand at all.

A good example of this was a project I worked on with a large agency out of New York, they were contracted by an automotive brand to develop a marketing strategy. It was a brand that our agency had pitched and developed an entire deck for, but we had been told they went in another direction. Since we have a large footprint in the vintage automotive world, I wasn’t surprised to see that the firm they had chosen reached out to hire our agency to actually make it happen, what I wasn’t expecting was to get a slightly edited version of our own pitch deck sent over outlining their amazing plan to revive a historic brand that they knew nothing about. Far too many brands are simply throwing away marketing dollars by allowing their “creative agency” to subcontract out their entire marketing program because they hired an agency that doesn’t understand their brand.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

From an early age, I loved telling stories, through words, photos, videos, and later Social Media. So much of my career has been defined by the automotive industry but I developed a real passion for heritage brands and the stories that could be told around them.

In 2007 I left my corporate job in the automotive industry to launch my own media and marketing company, Satterfield Group LLC. which includes media brands like TheGentlemanRacer.com and my wife’s brand JenniferSatterfield.com and events like the Groesbeck Grand Prix organized under our Groesbeck Sports Car Club brand. Clients value my perspective because it is based on unique experiences, from volunteering in the jungles of Nicaragua to racing historic cars at Circuit of the Americas I bring all of that to every project and tend to see things from a different point of view. Jennifer, my wife, and business partner has a background in philanthropy developing major gifts for Texas A&M and is a contributor to several local publications and TV stations.

Every member of our team brings a wealth of unique experiences and perspectives that help us tell stories better.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

There are so many great stories that should be told, our industry is often focused on instant gratification, so a lot of agencies will pitch a celebrity ambassador or just pay a big influencer to post on social media. But we have found that telling interesting long-form stories and multifaceted content provides long-term benefits to brands that they can reshare or reuse for years to come.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think everyone is creative in their own way, as someone who does creative marketing for major brands, I have quickly learned that being creative also means you have to be creative in your presentations. If I am pitching a project from a promotional vehicle to a live activation and the decision maker doesn’t get it, that is on me. Learning to tailor concepts to your audience is the only way to survive, especially with a new client, it is all about establishing trust, be it with a small business owner or a global 500 company. You are asking to tell their brand story and that can make or break a company.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.satterfieldgroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/satterfieldgroup/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/satterfield/
• Other: www.thegentlemanracer.com www.jennifersatterfield.com