Comet Branding - Branding | PR | Social Media

Comet Branding boosts brainpower through addition of left brain partner, Sara Meaney (May 18, 2009)

Boutique branding + PR shop helps businesses drive social media strategy into their marketing mix.

MILWAUKEE (May 18, 2009) — The stories behind how businesses start and partners join forces say a lot about the individuals themselves. This much is true for the partners of Comet Branding (cometbranding.com), a Milwaukee-based branding, marketing, public relations and social media agency.  With the titles of right brain and left brain, respectively, the pair has 25 years of diverse experience in both client-side and agency-side marketing, branding and public relations.

Both Wisconsin natives, the would-be-partners met in early 2008 while volunteering for a local non-profit organization’s marketing committee. The two struck up a friendship and as Krueger worked to get the company he founded in November of 2007 up and running, Meaney and he would often meet for coffee before work to bounce around new ideas, brainstorm project challenges and share general professional insights.

“Some of the most effective working relationships are between people who approach things from different perspectives,” said Al Krueger, founder, partner and right brain of Comet Branding. “Sara’s strong knowledge of the research, process and numbers side of things was a great complement and contrast to my perspective and it was always valuable to bounce ideas around and get her insight. It strengthened my ideas.”

It quickly became apparent that the two shared many of the same business ideals and philosophies for how great branding and PR is created and managed – and how to treat

and work with clients. It was also clear that their different perspectives could be used to develop a strong strategic-creative dialogue.

Prior to founding Comet Branding, Krueger was the director of public relations for a branding communications agency, national brand manager for a large leisure travel company and a brand coordinator for Wisconsin’s largest health care system, among other roles. He has helped small and large business-to-consumer and business-to-business organizations evolve their brands, guided launches for several products and has led nation-wide campaigns that have driven significant results in several industries. He holds a Bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin – Whitewater.

Sara Meaney held several marketing and communications leadership positions before joining Comet, including VP of a communications agency, firm-wide head of marketing for a top-tier national accounting firm, managing director of marketing and communications for a private equity and turnaround investment company, and marketing director for a startup biotech company, among others. She has led national and international teams on both sides of the client/agency fence to launch and grow a myriad of business-to-business and consumer brands across diverse industries. Sara holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison and has completed executive education programs at both Harvard Business School and Kellogg School of Management.

The Comet partners also share an affinity for the effective use of social media as a platform to enhance great marketing and communications strategies. Comet Branding has used its own brand as a test case for many of the social media strategies and tactics the company offers to its clients.

“By employing the same social media platforms we recommend to our clients, we hope to add value by demonstrating the strategic business outcomes our clients can expect from their own investment of time and money. We make an effort to practice what we preach,” commented Sara Meaney, partner and left brain of Comet. “Social media is really a fourth media platform available to brands to communicate with their customers – along with print, radio and broadcast – but it’s the only platform that allows two-way dialogue with customers, which can be incredibly valuable if leveraged wisely,” she added.

In support of its own brand and business growth, Comet regularly contributes original content to its blog, actively leverages Twitter (@alkrueger @sarameaney), Facebook and LinkedIn (Al, Sara) to expand and enhance its professional networks and relationships, utilizes several multi-media sites such as Vimeo, Flickr and YouTube to post and share relevant content with others in the industry, and hosts the weekly Comet Branding Internet Radio show featuring experts in marketing, branding, public relations and social media.

About Comet Branding | Milwaukee-based Comet Branding is a progressive branding, public relations + social media agency. 1 works with clients in a variety of industries by developing and evolving great brands that drive marketing, communications and public relations initiatives. Comet helps brands and companies connect better with their customers to grow business through the effective use of storytelling and personality across all available communication platforms. For more information, visit cometbranding.com or call 414-672-8777.

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