Customers happily support companies who provide that certain product that simply “does what it says on the tin”. At Larchmont, we make this come about by carefully considering ever facet of what a product or service provides and then putting it to words, as clear as it can be said. We help our clients demonstrate their respect of customers, and in return, our clients are rewarded with public appreciation. Forward-thinking governments around the world call our philosophy agile communications.

Extraordinary description of what a product does is not the only advantage Larchmont clients enjoy. In order that a company be perceived accurately by the public, prior to making statements it must first discover its “voice”; we help organizations get this right as well.

Call us biased but we’re opinionated about the field we have chosen to work in. We think some things simply have no legitimate place in advertising. We’ll help you avoid tarnishing the image of your firm with crass gimmicks that others may have suggested but in the long run, needlessly burn your company’s cultural capital.

Elaborate, please

A waffle-soled shoe maker out of Portland claims to have bottled the attitude of champions and will provide it to you if you wear their shoes. A sugary drink maker out of Purchase, New York claims that if you drink their teeth-rotter you will “think young again”. In previous eras, a wisdom prevailed that would recognize these claims for what they are: snakeoil and nothing more.

All-encompassing claims are not only dishonest. They are tired and becoming ineffective.

The thing about these claims is that they are outward-focused: here is what our product will do for you. With no limit to the marketer’s imagination, there is no limit to the ludicrous imaginings of what might take place in the life of the poor-sap who spends his last dollar on a pair of waffle-soled sneakers. These unfettered promises running rampant through the modern means of communication are the source of a great deal of the malaise dispiriting a once-proud nation and the public is growing weary of the continual dissonance.

Larchmont is a musketball in a salvo against these slavers. Working in this field, we refuse to create materials that claim “Here are the tantalizing fantastical ways Product X will remake all aspects your life”.

Instead, our materials put the focus back towards the company and the product itself, where the focus belongs. “You might be interested in Product X and if you are here is what you can trust about its design and what took place in its creation”. Our model for this is the ad copy written by T.S. Eliot: “Do you wear pants? If so wear Never Rip! Bulldogs cannot tear them.”

Noble, but is it wise

If you are trying to hoodwink someone into calling-now-within-the-next-ten-minutes, we are not the consultancy for you. Our ethos results in strategy that navigates a clamoring field, where the public struggles to distinguish signal from noise. The other outfits will irresponsibly encourage you to join the crowd; we assist and equip our clients to play the long game. For companies willing to employ messaging that returns the focus to their products and services and the company and people standing behind them, we’re a perfect match.

Case study

Hästens USA Malibu Fire Campaign

Since 2011, Larchmont has been providing consultant services to Hästens USA (The Sleep Spa), Hästens Sängar AB’s leading market. No campaign we have worked on with the Hästens USA team has been of as sensitive a nature or as rewarding as our campaign to address customer concerns in the aftermath of the 2018 wildfires that ravaged Malibu and the nearby coastal communities.

The moment evacuation orders were lifted, Hästens USA was inundated with service requests, damage evaluation requests, and questions from customers in the midst of some of the most difficult days they had experienced. Internal customer care staff were responding as best as they knew how, but the Hästens USA team wanted to carefully make a gesture of support to their neighbors, amid a situation of many charged emotions.

Larchmont Southern California immediately got to work crafting materials for a campaign we understood was far more nuanced than any we had been tasked with for years. Working rapidly, we finessed copy to evoke calm, sympathy, generosity, and availability.

With our copy approved, we launched spends for sponsored posts on social networks including Facebook and Instagram, geotargetted to the vast areas that burnt or had sustained smoke presence (which damages the Hästens product line). With A/B testing of slightly different phrasing, we gauged response and maximized our client’s budget with our most successful copy. Our client was able to delicately extend a gesture of concern, offering thousands of dollars of donated products to anyone replacing damaged materials with a purchase or insurance claim. In parallel with our running posts, internal customer care teams explained in person Hästen’s various responses of getting their clients back on their feet. Well, back on their beds.