The Splinter Group began in 2000 after branching off (splintering, if you will) from Disney-owned Mammoth Records. After working together at the record label for twelve years as GM and Creative Director, respectively, Steve Balcom and Lane Wurster decided to get into a more honest line of work — advertising. Our idea was to take what we had learned about branding and marketing music products and offer it to businesses and organizations that were interested in a more creative marketing approach. Nineteen years on, The Splinter Group has stayed true to its mission and has earned a reputation as one of the most agile, creative shops around.
We tell compelling stories about things we believe in, whether it be a shoe company, a restaurant, a garden center, a mortgage company, a food brand or a band. We seek to capture the essence of our client’s work (both what they do and how they uniquely do it) and turn that into an easily-understood narrative. The story generally begins with a visual identity and is then conveyed via a variety of modes, generally dependent on budget. While we see ourselves as brand developers, The Splinter Group is a full service agency. Each and every day you will find us developing brands, designing collateral, building websites, creating content and deploying it, devising and managing full marketing campaigns and doing just about anything else our clients need or want.
We collaborate closely with our clients, creating custom work that is inspired by their personalities and unique approaches. We undertake this task with a tremendous sense of responsibility and respect. Over the years we’ve developed a few operating beliefs:
1) Marketing can’t be more important to us than it is to the client.
2) The worst type of client is one you don’t care about impressing.
3) The second worst is one who knows exactly what they want.
4) We’ve kept our shop small and we don’t have a B-game. If we can’t give a project our best attention, we’ll pass rather than disappoint.
5) With no disrespect to Keith Richards, Mick Taylor was the Stones’ best lead guitarist.
If you’re still reading this, we should talk…