Our Albany Office Hits Year and A Half Milestone – The Martin Group

After working with clients across New York State and beyond since 2001, The Martin Group formalized our Albany office in March 2018. We started out with two key team members, who together opened the office and led the charge building our presence in the area.

Now solidly into our second year, we are taking a moment to reflect on what we’ve learned, the work we did, and what we’re looking forward to in the years to come.

Communication is everything

As communications professionals, we know this is key for our clients, but how does that saying go? Practice what you preach! Nothing is truer when you are building an office in a new region and working with team members three to five hours away.

Aside from having technology, systems, and processes to make our projects flow effortlessly, clear and prompt communication have been essential to helping everyone deliver for our clients.

But the other client we think of is our team – and at the heart of that is taking part in office fun, which we’ve fueled with collaboration and community.

While we grow our team and unique Albany traditions, we make a special effort to join in on our company culture from afar and sometimes in person – whether rocking our favorite team colors for Super Bowl weekend, jumping into an endless stream of Giphys and “Clown Kates” on Slack, tearing it up in Buffalo at the holiday party, or starting a fierce (and still contentious) debate about which region has the best pizza. (It’s DeFazio’s in Troy, if you weren’t sure. Jen’s blog = Jen’s choice!)

Clients, campaigns, and new employees!

There’s nothing better than being in the backyard of your clients. The Albany office opened as we put the finishing touches on the Albany Empire arena football league logo. We launched a brand campaign with Excelsior College and celebrated a few Capital Region MarCom awards in Schenectady.

We joined our friends at Albany Law School to launch their capital campaign, and worked with Passport For Good as they continue their exponential growth. We kicked off important projects to expand awareness of the New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership and the School Mental Health Resource & Training Center – all while continuing to provide support to clients across the state and nation.

We welcomed our third and fourth employees to our office – and inadvertently started a trend of “J” names in Albany: Jen, Joe, John, and Julia. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the other team member who’s been here from the beginning: our printer affectionately named Loretta. Considering renaming her to JLoretta (the “J” is silent).

Hearst Partnership

It’s always nice to have friends when you’re the new kid on the block, and with our office co-located in the Times Union building we were welcomed into a community of passionate Hearst Digital Agency marketers and Times Union journalists and staff from day one. Our strategic partnership with Hearst Corporation continues to bring value to our clients in New York and nationwide, combining the global reach, network and data insights of Hearst with the deep communications and creative expertise at The Martin Group.

Future’s so bright…

We’re feeling pretty sunny about the horizon ahead. A quick poll yielded a range of hopes and plans:

Days spent working from the patio (and working on our tans – that’s multitasking!)
Even more ways to collaborate with Hearst
Accident-free drives on the Northway (knock on wood)
Growing our clients and staff (a “J” name will be a bonus qualification)
The return of OneJet direct flights to Buffalo from Albany (please!)
More coma-inducing lunches at Tipsy Moose, and Warby Parker glasses fashion shows

But probably this one takes the cake:

More cameos of our unofficial office mascot Moosie on the local news.

Here’s to another year, Albany. You’ve been amazing.