Pssst, did you hear?

By Lyn Riddle  

AUGUST 20, 2010 8:32 a.m. (0)

For Robbin Phillips work and life are completely blurred.

“This is a fun way to make a living,” she said. “There’s not a day I don’t get up and say ‘I can’t believe I get to go here.’”

Here is Brains on Fire, a company that completely embraces the name of the building it’s located in – Innovate.

As the president – at Brains on Fire her title is actually courageous president – she, along with partners Greg Cordell and Greg Ramsey, has guided a company beyond traditional marketing to embrace what has become known as word of mouth marketing.

Brains on Fire has become a national leader in this niche market – developing companies’ identities – so much so that the nation’s largest business book publishing company John Wiley & Sons tapped it to write a book on the subject.

Aptly called “Brains on Fire” it explains in simple terms what it takes to create movements to push a brand into the marketplace, to go beyond getting noticed to create product loyalty and a unique identity.

One of their successes was Fiskars, maker of the iconic orange-handled scissors. In researching the company and its customers, Brains on Fire folks found it wasn’t so much about scissors, but about what people did with them. And there was a passionate following for people who do scrapbooking and crafts.

They assembled a group of four women as leaders for a movement that now includes thousands of loyal fans who named themselves the Fiskateers. This group has conventions and has taken what was once a catty world of people criticizing others’ crafts online and turned it into a positive nurturing community.

They also take an early look at any new products and share their thoughts, which the company uses to improve the product.

The group is completely independent of the company. A scary idea for many company presidents, perhaps, but what Fiskars has found is that sales are much higher in stores where Fiskateers appear.

Word of mouth goes against conventional wisdom in many ways, not the least of which is companies are encouraged to admit mistakes. Lessons learned is what they call it.

And another tenant: share what works, also known as opening your kimono.

“We’re all in grad school,” Phillips said. “This is a brand new industry. This is not a fad.”

It’s about finding advocates and unleashing them.

Phillips’ road to courageous leader began with a simple upbringing in Spartanburg. Her grandmother, who couldn’t read or write, married when she was 12, her husband 29. She called him Mr. Green until the day she died.

But Phillips’ mother was an advocate for reading, and read through every book that interested her in the Spartanburg County Library.

“We went to the library every single day,” Phillips said. “It’s how I escaped.”

Phillips was the first female in her family to attend college. She went to the University of South Carolina with a plan to study engineering, then changed to art.

“I couldn’t believe I was going to college. I just sucked it up,” she said.

She worked in a few advertising agencies, one of which she called “a small version of hell.”

Then she found Mike Goot, a partner in a three-partner agency. Before long, one of the partners wanted out and Phillips wanted in. The company grew but in 2006 Goot moved to Mexico.

“Mike leaving was a tremendous change,” she said. “He is iconoclastic in his style and elegance.”

She had been president for a short time. She and the two Gregs looked at each other and said in so many words, “Now what?” Identity branding was the answer. And they knew they would have to look beyond Greenville for clients.

“We can’t do business in our own backyard,” she said.

They hit the streets and made appearances wherever anyone wanted them to speak. They started a lively blog. The business grew with a hugely successful campaign to combat teen smoking called Rage. The Fiskars business and others.

Then the recession hit and like most businesses, Brains on Fire had to adjust. The company went from 20 employees to 12, but business is picking up. In July they signed $1.4 million in new business.

Their clients are all over the country and Phillips is negotiating a deal with a company in the United Kingdom that will take them global. They’re working with Greendot, a public school program in Los Angeles, the National Center for Family Literacy and Colonial Williamsburg.

“We’re teaching and helping companies become more human,” she said.

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