When I visit web sites, I like to see that there are people behind the organization—real people who are accountable to and concerned about their customers. Moreover, people profiles radiate personality—often a memorable differentiator. Accordingly, here is my creative profile. “Creative” does not refer to fictitious content. It refers to the quality that I provide my clients.

Marketing Background

Briefly, I started as a teacher (history, social science, constitutional law, etc.) and loved it. However, I promised myself that I wouldn’t limit myself to one defining definition in my epitaph. I wanted to keep informing, teaching, and writing. So I got into publishing penny savers. Had to sell and create advertising to generate revenue. Customers liked the ads and asked me to do all their ads so I started my advertising agency Kaplan & Stuart Inc. Grew from one to ten people and worked with hundreds of clients over a 10 year period. I wrote all the copy, directed the creative, developed and produced TV and radio ads for my full-service advertising agency. In the early 90’s, I decided to expand the epitaph one more time and became a strategic marketing consultant.

Avocations and Relaxation

The music you heard upon entering this site was recorded by my jazz trio Jazmen. Improvisation is a creative and growing experience that I enjoy immensely. I also enjoy writing, reading, movie buff, hiking, Tai Chi, history, social sciences, chess by email at almost all times, Italian, Spanish, (a little Russian, Hebrew, Latin), audio, sports, more.

Sample Marketing Tactics/Case Studies

The marketing strategies I have employed to create results are too many and too involved to describe here. However, here are a couple of quick example of tactics:

Breakthrough Small Space Campaign

Introduce a totally new concept in one phrase. How do you lease office space that's more expensive than others? It includes sharing such amenities as secretarial help, a conference room, etc., now known as a shared office. Our solution was the headline that built the industry: Your Office and Staff Await You

Change an Enterprise for Less than $10,000

I worked with a client for about five months. We changed her business; renamed it; new and superior web site including concept, organization, and copy; accommodated more than six revisions and authors’ alterations, developed a sales plan and talking points, and articles—all for less than $10,000 (exclusive of design which ran about $4,000).

Rebrand a Law Firm

While acting as an interim outsourced marketing director for a regional law firm with about 75 attorneys, we completed a transformation. Repositioning, new look, new messaging, new collateral (logo, practice area pamphlets, firm brochure, etc.), publicity, advertising and culminating in a fairly spectacular client appreciation event allowed the firm to break out of its geographic limits and paved the for expansion.

Audacious Headline Delivers Results

My agency had a client whose product was demonstrably superior but trailed the market leader by a wide margin. They couldn’t even get anyone to try their complimentary samples. We ran small space ads in the trades under the headline Semi-Free Sample. The copy stated that although the sample was free, the recipient was obligated to really test the product and put it through its paces. The audacity of the headline generated enough punch card responses to break the record in almost every publication in which it appeared.

Creative Headline

I had a client with a database whose greatest attributes were speed and ease of use. How to capture that in a headline for magazine ads? Fly through the Ware with the Greatest of Ease

If you'd like to find out how creative marketing can help your company, contact me.

Don Kaplan • 50 Sevinor Road, Marblehead, MA 01945
don@kaplanmarketing.com • 781-631-7070 • 781-631-7178- FAX
Copyright 2008