Branding for Everything in Between

Greg Andersen is CEO at Bailey Lauerman. Fifty years ago, before Greg's time, Bailey Lauerman published a lifestyle magazine promoting activities around Lincoln and Omaha and created ads in the publication for companies in exchange for their financial support. When these companies asked Bailey Lauerman to create ads to use in other venues, the publisher pivoted to start the journey to become the agency it is today—focused on authentic brand connection with people outside America's 10 largest cities.

Why that target market? Greg feels that too much of marketing's focus has been on the people who live in the 10 largest cities in the US, when 92% of the population lives elsewhere, in what Greg refers to the "Everything In Between." He thinks that metropolitan agencies have a hard time understanding these "overlooked segments," but Bailey Lauerman, located in the middle of the "Everything in Between," Omaha, Nebraska, is positioned by geography and philosophy to understand these diverse people.

Greg believes that social media has made influencer marketing too slick, too formulaic, and mainstream. In response, Bailey Lauerman launched the Everything in Between Influencer Network. The company partners with hundreds of bloggers, influencers, and tastemakers "across a range of geographies, verticals and platforms" who will share their pride, values, attitudes, and opinions about the communities where they live. Marketers will have access to small/mid-sized influencer communities from people living "Everywhere in Between." Expect increased engagement, lower cost, and reduced follower fraud as people from these less populous areas share their pride, values, attitudes, and opinions.

A native of Nebraska, Greg spent 23 years in New York advertising agencies and 3 years leading RAPP's LA offices. Omaha, Nebraska is not a hotbed of high-profile advertising agencies, but Greg had been aware of nationally-recognized Bailey Lauerman for years. When he got the call that the agency was looking for new leadership, he knew it was time to return home. The first challenge—how could he take what would be considered a competitive disadvantage (geography) and turn it into an advantage?

By being what it was . . . just as so many years ago, Greg had learned to succeed by being himself—the boy from Nebraska.

When Greg started working in New York, he tried to play it as he expected a big-time New York agent would . . . until he realized that people valued his midwestern background. He had a different perspective and could tell them how things would be perceived in places other than New York. Creating brands that resonate with highly populated metropolitan areas does not guarantee that those same messages will work for the 92 percent of the population who don't live in those super-cities. That, Greg says, is the strength of his company . . . Bailey Lauerman has a long history of "connecting brands to a part of the country" that companies need to reach in order to scale their businesses. Greg is leveraging that history to continue his company's legacy of excellence.

Greg can be reached on his company's website at baileylauerman.com.