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 Company: The Halo Group, New York, New York
Company Description: Founded in 1994, The Halo Group is a Manhattan-based, independent brand development company with $31 million in annual billings. Halo combines marketing consultation and communications services for its international clients. Since its founding, Halo has been honored with more than 200 creative awards, including many in international industry competitions.
Nomination Category: Individual Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Entrepreneur – Service Businesses - Up to 100 Employees
Nomination Title: Linda Passante, Managing Partner, The Halo Group
Describe for the judges the activities and accomplishments of the nominated entrepreneur
during the eligibility period (up to 500 words):
I would like to nominate Linda Passante, a founding Partner of The Halo Group,
for her vision, tenacious focus and skilled management that successfully guided
the company through its most recent growth phase.
Linda founded The Halo Group with Denise Goodwin Pace in 1994 as a private
corporation with a telephone, a chair and a clear vision for the company.
In light of a rapidly changing business landscape, Linda identified that
businesses could no longer rely solely on streamlining efficiency as a source of
growth. They would need to marshal their resources to compete in a new
“Marketing Economy.”
Recognizing the opportunities to expand the company’s reach and judging existing
“agency” models to be shortsighted, she embarked upon a series of bold moves
that laid the foundation for Halo’s growth:
Introduced a New Agency Model
Linda saw an opportunity to uniquely position the company and create a new
source of consultative revenue for Halo. As Managing Partner, she built a new
“agency” model. Linda retooled Halo into a brand development company, designed
to help businesses drive profit by focusing all of their marketing practices –
internal and external – on better connecting with their customers. Halo would go
beyond what agencies want to do and deliver what clients actually need – from
developing marketing plans and budgets, to websites, advertising, retail design,
public relations, viral marketing, to sales presentations and collateral materials.
Entered a More Competitive Marketplace
Despite intensive competition from larger, more well-resourced advertising
agencies, as well as a variety of vertical marketing-related firms, Linda
successfully transitioned Halo from a small regional ad agency (Long Island) to
a brand development company based in the highly contested New York City market.
Built Human Capital Resource
She planned and invested in cultivating the right group of consultants and
communicators required for this model. For example, Linda was an early adopter
of Brand Planning hiring and built a planning department, unique for an agency
of Halo’s size. She also bolstered Halo’s interactive, search engine marketing,
public relations and other capabilities to ensure that it had all of the
expertise to efficiently focus its clients’ resources. Since the move into the
City, Linda has doubled the size of the staff.
Expanded its Global Resources/Revenues
During this period, Linda also guided the global expansion of marketing efforts
of existing clients, like St. George’s University in Grenada, West Indies, to
more than 30 countries. By creating a network of strategic partners, such as
media buying services, she positioned Halo as a single turnkey resource for all
her clients’ global marketing needs. This capability was critical to solidifying
existing business and in securing internationally focused new business.
Winning New Business
Specifically, since the geographic move, Halo has enjoyed successive new
business wins, including Guy Carpenter, the world’s largest risk and reinsurance
broker, The New York Knicks (Knicks City Dancers), online dating site Tango
Personals and Morgan Freeman’s non-profit disaster prevention advocacy group.
In doing all of this, Linda defined a new segment in the industry, grew
capitalized billings by 40% to $28 Million, and has positioned the company for
further growth.
List the URLs (web addresses) of any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that you would like the judges to see that support your nomination. IMPORTANT: List each URL on a separate line, begin each URL with http://, and enclose each URL in square brackets. For example, [http://www.yourcompany.com/pressrelease.html]:
http://www.nyreport.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Calendar.eventDetail&eventId=1841&pageId
http://www.smartmoney.com/news/pr/index.cfm?story=PR-20070906-002138-1258
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Halo_Group
http://media.prnewswire.com/en/jsp/preview.jsp?resourceid=3499031
http://adage.com/smallagency/post.php?article_id=120284
Provide a brief biography of the nominated entrepreneur (up to 100 words):
Linda Passante
Managing Partner
As Managing Partner, Linda Passante has been the engine driving The Halo Group’s
consistent growth and evolution into a finely tuned Brand Development Company.
Halo’s “consultants then communicators” business model is based on Linda’s
belief that brand building begins from within a company with clearly articulated
goals and a single-minded commitment to those goals.
Linda started her first advertising agency in 1982, and through the years
marketers have turned to her for leadership in the art and science of connecting
with customers.
She has been recognized as a thought leader by New York Institute of
Technology’s Executive Excellence Program, SmartMoney.com and was chosen as one
of Newsday’s People to Watch.
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