The Gate

There are two kinds of people: Those who worship sacred cows. And those who kill them.

Philosophically, we believe in slaying Sacred Cows: the rules, cues or formulas people blindly follow because “that’s the way it’s always been done.” And advertising people are just as guilty of following them as anyone.

Which is pretty ironic. Because ad folks like to say they question everything. But mostly they just obey the gospel of the marketing gods that came before them.

The problem is, if we don’t question why we do things the way we do, we’ll never do them better. We’ll resist trying new approaches. And invariably repeat old mistakes.

So intrigued by this philosophy was Hyperion Books, a division of Disney, that they asked us to write a book. Being polite and accommodating folk, we obliged: we identified and wrote about 24 common Sacred Cows that businesses blindly follow.

Our book, Death to All Sacred Cows, has been translated into eight languages. Go figure.

EXCERPT | PRESS

FROM NAME TO BRAND TO MARKET.

The Gate offers all the communications resources needed to take a company or product "From Name to Brand to Market.” All these disciplines are handled internally with the exception of database management, PR and, depending on scope, website construction. We use a number of top-tier companies for these disciplines based on client need.

FROM NAME TO BRAND TO MARKET.

Because we are smaller than the giant agencies, our clients have always expected us to develop integrated communications programs. Our clients see us as Communications Architects: setting the marketing and communications objectives, and then identifying the best channel to reach our client’s perfect customers. All disciplines, whether a sister agency or outside partner, work off our communications platforms and communications plans.