Greteman Takes a New Direction

Thursday, July 10, 2008

BY JERRY SIEBENMARK
The Wichita Eagle

Greteman Group, one of the area's biggest branding agencies, is throwing out its "Burn to Create" brand. In its place is "Altitude Attitude."

For the 24-employee agency that had nearly $25 million in capitalized billings last year, it's more than a different slogan.

It's a sign of change for the 19-year-old agency.

"It's not sustainable," said Sonia Greteman, the agency's founder, chief executive and creative director. "We were burning to create something and there can be burnout in that.

"To me 'Altitude Attitude' is rising above the fray and the chaos."

Sixty-hour workweeks, once a standard at the agency, have been replaced by a focus on a balance between work and play, outings to museums, employees leaving at 6 p.m. --most weeknights.

It's change that's been driven in part by a breast-cancer diagnosis for Greteman about two years ago.

The diagnosis and yearlong recovery gave 49-year-old Greteman a lot of time to reflect on herself and her agency, which she considered selling at one point.

"I realized that I had a built a business that was much bigger than me," Greteman said. "I considered it a year of my life that I got time to do some reflection, think about what was important, maybe re-evaluate my stress level because I think stress is what gave it to me.

"And I also needed to put my life in balance. I needed more downtime, and so I think I'm a better person for going through what I went through."

HARD-DRIVING WORK ETHIC

Greteman said for many years she was a "workhorse," and "I drove my people really hard."

Deanna Harms, Greteman Group senior vice president who has been at the agency for 12 years, said that's what she remembers, too.

The hard-driving ethic combined with an agency that was lean on employees made it " kind of a pressure cooker," Harms said.

But it was that kind of work ethic that helped the agency to grow and net one of its first big clients, the Kansas Health Foundation.

Marni Vliet, former KHF chief executive, said Greteman's "extra mileage" helped her agency win the business of producing KHF's annual report.

"She had done her homework," Vliet said. "She knew where we wanted to go and what we wanted to do and how we wanted to communicate to the people of Kansas."

Winning that business was a turning point for the agency, Greteman said. "At that point we were on people's radar because our work was so creative and so unique," Greteman said.

"But we were not proven, and Marni took a chance."

Vliet eventually became a close friend of Greteman.

She also was one of two friends who went with Greteman to the doctor's office after Greteman learned of her breast cancer diagnosis.

That visit taught Greteman something.

"When someone's hurting or going through a traumatic event in their life, you just drop every thing and you be there for them," Greteman said. "You show up for people. Not only in their hard times but their happy times."

Greteman said when she heard the diagnosis, it was disorienting. For a time, she thought about selling the agency and getting completely out of the business.

"Once you get the news, you're kind of incapacitated for a while," she said. "You're just kind of dealing with it, so I don't think you're fully engaged."

She said she spent the next year focusing mainly on herself and beating her illness.

During that time, she said she learned not to sweat the small stuff and to trust her staff.

"I don't feel like I need to make every decision because they made some great decisions while I was out," she said.

But she wasn't completely absent during that time, said Dave Franson, former Bombardier-Learjet spokesman who now runs his own public relations agency and works with Greteman.

Clients may not have known it, but Greteman was still doing some work behind the scenes despite her illness.

"She was never out of the picture," Franson said. "She's just a really, really special person, and that's the kind of people she hires."

Harms said the experience also led Greteman to move away from working long hours and expecting the same of employees.

"You have to come to understand if you're at a desk for 60 hours a week you'll actually be less productive," Harms said.".. She sees value in that in a way that perhaps early in her career she wouldn't have."

THIS IS A GREAT SIZE

Any thoughts of getting out of the business were quickly squelched once Greteman returned to the agency full time, she said.

"I thought, 'What was I ever thinking?' " she said. "I can't stay at home and be a homebody."

She said the agency is at a point where it has a good mix of clients in different industries. And she said the agency can pick and choose its clients, turning down more business opportunities than it takes in.

"This is a great size," she said. "I don't see us getting any bigger. We're all about the work. I think when an agency gets bigger, the work suffers."

But the agency isn't stagnating. It's added some new business this year, including the design of Dean & DeLuca's 72-page wine and accessories fall and holiday catalog.

It's also helping Spirit AeroSystems with its branding and recruitment.

And next week Greteman will realize a major career goal: judging Communication Arts' 49th Design Annual.

The annual is considered the industry's most prestigious, Greteman and other area design and advertising executives said.

Her last day of judging on the nine-member panel in Menlo Park, Calif., falls on her 50th birthday.

For Greteman, her life and business at the agency are at a good place.

"Life's too short," she said. "There has to be a fun factor in it for me at this point."