Get to Know NorBella and How They Contribute to the Hustle of the Hub.
Agency Spotter is all about helping marketers and agencies get to know each other. Discover the talent that makes Boston’s NorBella a young agency staying ahead of the ever-changing media landscape.
Location: Boston’s South End
Core Service: Advertising
Additional Services: Social Media, Content Marketing, Marketing Strategy
Could you share NorBella’s origin story with us?
Stephanie Noris spent 10+ years between five different large and small agencies in New York City and Boston, gaining invaluable experience with a diverse range of brands from AT&T to David Yurman. Once she became more senior in her career she realized her way of approaching client campaigns and solutions was different, holding the bar high while looking at communication plans with a holistic and creative eye. In 2009, NorBella was born.
NorBella turns five years old this October and has grown from a closet sized office, doing work on the floor while we waited for our furniture to arrive, to a large top-floor sun-drenched South End loft, home to 19 employees and currently hiring.
What’s fun about being a small agency in Boston?
Boston may be a big city, but its got a small town vibe. We’ve built an amazing network of creative partners, publishers and vendors. We’re able to stay on top of trends and ahead of the curve by creating and nurturing these relationships. Because of our size we’re nimble, as we don’t have some of the internal constraints that larger agencies have. There’s no politics or egos here, everyone is able to contribute their best work and ideas. We’re able to shift as an agency with industry trends as the communication and marketing landscape continues to change.
What makes NorBella more than your standard media buying agency?
Yes we buy media, but that’s not all we do. We’re not just going to strategize and plan your media buy, we’re going to offer unique executions that will make consumers think twice and immerse ourselves with our clients’ agency partners to make sure no stone is unturned. We make paid, owned and earned work together.
How would you characterize today’s media landscape?
As media strategists, we’re always asking ourselves if we’re learning as fast as the media landscape is changing. How people consume media is always evolving, from the latest and greatest in wearable technology to the next ‘wow’ experiential campaign, not to mention targeting and data options, media is more complex than ever. This exact challenge excites us, as it’s up to us to pave the way for our clients to connect with their consumers.
Tell us about a great project you worked on recently.
Last year, CBS announced that they are discontinuing the national broadcast of our beloved Boston Pops July 4th Fireworks Spectacular. To maintain viewers’ passion for the brand, The Boston Symphony Orchestra created a truly unique opportunity to reach national viewers who would normally tune in to the event. This year, The Boston Pops are hosting a free, live web stream of the event.
NorBella was challenged with developing a strategy to reach Pops enthusiasts on a national basis and change their viewing behavior. We created a digital campaign with high impact units to engage users, create excitement and drive viewership of the upcoming Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. We’re excited to see how people will view the show this year!
Let’s say the City of Boston wants to collect user generated content from its citizens. What hashtag would you recommend?
We’d keep it simple and use something that people are organically posting with to express their everyday Boston centric moments, living and breathing all things Boston: #BostonLiving. For a specific campaign or goal, we’d switch it up and use something to drive more buzz around that topic, of course, being strategic with our approach!
Thanks for chatting with us, NorBella!
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