If your home office is a little lacking in motivational and inspirational energy, Susan Meier’s new project may help you redesign a creative space. The project she co-founded with photographer Hallie Burton showcases the inspiring home workspaces and the stories of those who work there. This post profiles the home office and insights of art director Marcus Hay.  What do you do? I’m an art director or creative director, and my main focus is creating imagery for photoshoots. I…

  Susan Meier asks us simply to think about love and how it works when we want to bring positive and productive energy into play.   “Think about love. In the early days of running my own company, I was feeling nervous about a pitch meeting with a potential new client. My friend suggested matter-of-factly, “Just think about love.” I laughed at first, because love seemed like an odd thing to be thinking about while discussing digital media strategies in…

Umbrex is pleased to welcome Tomás Elewaut with Hopen – Management Consulting.  Tomás spent seven years at McKinsey & Co., leading projects in South America, and has been running his own consulting firm focused on strategy, organization and business development since 2012. Before starting his own consulting practice, he was founder and business development manager of and important agribusiness operation that raised capital from US institutional investors and the IFC (International Finance Corporation). Prior to McKinsey, he worked for the…

  Susan Hamilton Meier was recently interviewed on The Whole Person Podcast with Evan Herrman where they discussed everything from building a brand with values and creativity, to those important life lessons we’ve learned in our careers.  In the world of social media, and instant, easy communication. we ourselves are building our own brands, whether or not we’re actually entrepreneurs. And so if we’re starting a business, or we have a business, the first thing to think about is, you…

  In this podcast, Susan Meier shares the story of her interesting journey and her strategic approach to brand alignment. I think what’s a great thing about a liberal arts education is that perspective of try everything, see as much as you can, and then make connections between those things.  And so, I’m very much a product of that, as you pointed out, I kind of live in these two seemingly very disparate realms, but for me, in my world…

  Susan Meier shares an always-relevant post on storytelling that explains why brevity, honesty, and making it memorable are key components of a good story well told.  There’s a passage from the childhood classic One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish that I personally consider to be the best story ever told: ‘My hat is old, my teeth are gold. I have a bird I like to hold. My shoe is off, my foot is cold. My shoe is…

  In this concise but valuable post, Susan Meier explains how looking at a brand through the lens of empathy can inform and build strong brand relationship marketing strategies. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It’s putting yourself in their shoes. And it’s the key to good branding, because the brand relationship is built on understanding the customer’s world view and desires.  Hey, you got a lock? Would you make a key and then…

  Susan Hamilton shares a thoughtful post on creative thinking and the pursuit of possibility. September has always been my favorite month. The smell of new notebooks, the crispness in the still-warm air. A season full of unknowns, full of possibility. This year, the back-to-school season presents a different riff on unknowns to be sure, but I am still filled with a sense of excitement at the possibility that awaits. People who are open to seeing possibility have a powerful…

  Susan Meier Hamilton identifies the need for solitude and how to find it in a noisy world. Once upon a time, I spent 8 hours a day completely alone, working from home. I am an introvert who needs solitude to recharge my batteries and focus, and I enjoyed that. These days, the vast majority of my time is spent in the company of 4 other people who are, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, also now working from home. It’s…

  In this podcast, Susan Hamilton and Ethan Beute discuss brand psychology and how your breakfast cereal makes you feel about yourself.  Much like having a relationship with another human, a lot of it is about how that other party makes you feel about yourself. Or how you are able to see yourself via that other party.’ You know, I think the customer experience is very much about the relationship that you are building with your customer. In fact, I…

  In this inspiring podcast, Susan Hamilton Meier and Ross Swan talk about how leadership sets the tone and direction of a brand.  Branding requires leadership. One can start or have a company with great products or services and doing well in the market. But a brand can be nebulous or inconsistent and it really requires a top-down perspective to define what is it that ties all the products, the people behind it together and what the brand stands for….

  Susan Hamilton unlocks the beautiful paradox hidden in the boundaries that constrain us, whether physical, intellectual, or emotional, and reveals a few obstacles that have stimulated creativity.  At the moment, many of us are encountering more constraints than we have ever experienced in our lifetimes. Options and freedoms of all kinds are limited. Your summer vacation plans? Canceled. Back to school in the fall? Not so sure. Even a simple trip to the grocery store has become a somewhat…