Over the course of our 11 years as the food marketing agency, we’ve met some wonderful people and read some amazing food, beverage, and ingredient industry research. Those people and that expertise are what motivate us to keep pushing and growing as an agency. But it’s the people we haven’t met and the things we’ve read that you couldn’t research if you tried that keep us sane and get us over the end-of-Friday-hump! In that spirit, as part of our two-month-long blog celebration of “the ones,” here are 11 of our all-time favorite spam comments left on this blog, curated and presented for your weekend reading enjoyment. (more…)

This time last year, we began discussing our 10^th year as a company. Over the span of a month, we’d regularly talk about our history, clients over the years, and the friends we’ve made and the good work we’ve done. Inevitably, our conversations would turn into reminiscing and storytelling, and we’d say things like, “Remember that one project . . . ?” and “Remember that one day . . . ?” and “What about that one time . . . ?”

And it hit us: we weren’t celebrating “MarketPlace” in general; we were celebrating the “ones”: that “one” project, that “one” day, that “one” time with that employee or that “one” client.

In that spirit, we decided that waiting for this year, year 11 (literally the 1s), would be more meaningful than celebrating our 10^th year. So that’s what we’re doing.

Over the course of April and May, we’ll be celebrating all those ones: moments, meals, projects, employees, clients, friends, etc. From highlighting 11 client moments to creating an 11-layer dip to staging an 11-lap race to posting the 11 most embarrassing photos in MarketPlace history, we’ll be documenting that celebration on our website and our Facebook page, and we hope you’ll check in and be part of it, because if you’re reading this, you’re one of the “ones” we’re celebrating, one of the ones who’s made us who we are today.

Following last year’s move to the Midtown Alley neighborhood, MarketPlace joined the 2nd Annual Holiday Agency Crawl, opening the doors of our new space to friends and neighbors.

In the face of freezing temperatures, blustery winds, and even a bit of snow, fellow members of the ad community walked among the creative agencies on Locust Street, enjoying food, drinks, and the company of fellow creatives.

Crawlers enjoyed Urban Chestnut Harwood Myth (an English-style brown porter), spiced apple sangria, cupcakes frosted with vanilla buttercream, movie theater-style popcorn, and other noshes whipped up in the MarketPlace kitchen. In addition to a spread of tasty treats and libations, we welcomed visitors with chalkboard walls prepped for creativity, a friendly game of MP Land, and cheerful conversation.

We enjoyed meeting all who braved the weather and appreciated the opportunity to visit our Midtown Alley neighbors. Thanks to AdSaint for inviting us to partake in the event, and a special thanks to our friends at Urban Chestnut for donating a keg of their delicious local brew.

From all of us at MarketPlace, warm wishes for a wonderful New Year.

MarketPlace will be welcoming our Midtown Alley neighbors and the St. Louis ad community for AdSaint’s 2nd Annual Holiday Agency Crawl this Thursday, December 20.

We’ll kick off the crawl with food, drinks, and MarketPlace-style merriment at our shiny new space at the corner of Compton and Locust. Stop by between 5:30 and 6:30pm to check out our new digs, imbibe, and converse with fellow creatives. Continue crawling at Spoke (5:30-6:30pm), Mercury Labs / Atomicdust (6:30-7:30pm), and happyMedium / Scorch (7:30-8:30pm).

Join us on Twitter @MarketPlaceSTL and partake in the #AdStCrawl conversation.

For further details and to RSVP, visit AdSaint’s event page on Facebook.

At a recent industry trade show, several attendees asked me, throughout the course of an afternoon, what a food marketing agency does and why an agency would have a booth at a food show. Though my colleagues will tell you I’ve never offered a simple answer in my life, the answers this time really were quite simple. (more…)

We’ve enjoyed every minute in our current space, but as you know if you’ve visited recently, elbow room has become increasingly difficult to find, so it’s time for a new home. In a few rapidly approaching weeks (we’ll be closed May 31 and June 1), MarketPlace will be moving from the corner of 17^th and Delmar to a new home nearby, just 1.3 miles west to the corner of Locust and Compton in the bustling Midtown Alley area. We’re hextupling (very cool word) our current square footage as we upgrade to a fantastic two-story building (with free, private, gated parking!!!) Here are a few reasons why we made the move:

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How do you brand a body of people? How do you market a symbol? How do you design a great user experience for a constantly changing demographic group? Those are but a few of the many, many worldview-heavy challenges we faced as we created a website for Memorial Presbyterian Church (PCA) in St. Louis. (more…)