Wacko Trinkets Help One Law Firm Stand Out From Crowd

BUFFALO, N.Y.  In this city, as in so many others, there are more than enough lawyers outside of a few hot specialties right now, such as bankruptcy.  “We’ve got people around here who are snapping off their pencil points just so they’ll have an excuse to sharpen them,” says Michael Zucofska, managing partner at DeWitt, Havre & Lord.  “Others spend the morning separating their large and small paper clips, then mix them up again in the afternoon.”

Bo-ring.

Faced with a need to distinguish her firm from so many other faceless collections of lawyers, marketing director Sue Allenweis has made a virtue out of necessity.  “Mr. Zucofska told me he had to cut my budget 25% because of the economy, but now is not the time to cut back on marketing,” she says emphatically.  “Of course, there’s never a good time to cut my salary, but that’s another subject altogether.”

Sea Monkeys!

Allenweis responded to her straitened circumstances by replacing traditional law firm gifts–Cross pens, fruitbaskets and computer bags bearing the firm’s name and logo–with less costly but unique gifts that have made her the odds-on favorite to win the Erie County Bar Association’s Law Firm Marketer of the Year award.

“We dig down deep to solve your legal problems!”

“I was poring over expense reports late at night with cable TV on in the background,” she says, “when a Chia Pet commercial came on and I thought–’That’s looks like Mr. Havre, one of our founders!’” 

Our Founder

So Allenweis ordered a gross of the novelty items, and a marketing campaign was born.  “While other firms have cut their rates, we’ve always been cheap!” was the slogan that she came up with, and the business community responded with the enthusiasm.

“I don’t have time for lunch,” says Emil Notarski, owner of a sheet-metal fabricating company that employs 65.  “I’d much rather watch sea monkeys than sit with a bunch of lawyers telling me how great they are,” he says of the commemorative tank filled with brine shrimp he gazes upon to forget the high cost of worker’s compensation insurance.

“What are those little black things crawling around in your salad?”

The strategy isn’t risk-free, however, and Allenweis cautions other firms to be careful in choosing their gifts.  “We gave the CEO of a big client an Ant Farm at lunch one day,” she recalls ruefully.  “The little buggers escaped into his salad and he asked for his retainer back.”

Tags: comedy, humor, satire, spoof