Second City director Sandy Marshall’s boutique Marshall Creative has ballooned through word-of-mouth into a full-service marketing agency for small-to-medium sized businesses, with its distinctive comedic approach to brand-building.
“we offer a whole new way of doing business that’s beyond marketing,” he says. “We’re more interested in how clients can develop their business and project a voice that sounds authentic to the right people.”
Marshall is a director for Second City’s national touring company. He’s back from directing improv and sketch shows for a Norwegian Cruise Lines New York-Nassau cruise.
His team of staff and freelancers draws from friends and colleagues across Chicago’s creative industries. COO Nick Keenan was a Goodman Theatre sound engineer. Creative director Bumper Carroll was the first group creative director for Second City Communications.
Marshall started his boutique service in 2006. Many of his clients are in real estate, a field in which he worked for years, including six as a loan officer.
Marshall’s “Office”-style “PERL Mortgage Podcast,” starring Pearl agent Dean Vlamis, has become a staple among Chicago realtors. Chicago Agent Magazine named Marshall Creative “A Leading Marketing Agency” in 2009
A recent example of Marshall’s signature offbeat approach is Steve Delahoyde’s music video for Lakeview’s Strongbox Self Storage, to supplement the blog Marshall Creative developed for sister company Strongbox Wine Storage.
“It’s mostly for buzz, to make a splash and help deliver a vibe,” Marshall says. The main clients we’ve worked with get what we bring to the table and let us run with it.”
