The preamble to this article is simply this – Studio Two is IN BUSINESS and IN THE BERKSHIRES. We are just transitioning from a real office to a virtual one to better serve our clients and allow us to develop and change.
Dear Friend of Studio Two,
For the last 5 years Studio Two has been engaged in deliberate change. Many people know us as the branding and marketing agency of the Berkshires, located in Lenox, MA. Indeed, that is who we are – we’ve been working since 1994 with many of the greatest organizations, institutions and people across the county. In that time we’ve helped to define the creative economy, branded startups like Barrington Stage Company and Berkshire Mountain Distillers, grown dynamic entrepreneurial businesses like Barrington Coffee Roasting Co. and McTeigue & McClelland, and helped numerous other businesses develop and thrive.
We learned a lot from our experiences. Starting in 2008 we decided to see if our experience and capabilities could take us farther. We began to explore the possibilities – we talked with people about our ideas – we traveled to new places. We engaged in a deliberate act of change and progress.
Since that time, we’ve opened up new markets and new sectors across the country. We expanded our office in Lenox and grew our staff. We opened a satellite office in Miami, FL.
In the last two years our office has continued to evolve. The challenging weather of winter 2014/2015 meant that there were many times that employees couldn’t safely make it to Lenox from their homes. We equipped everyone with the tools to work remotely and discovered that a: everyone liked it, and b: generally we were more productive.
At our location in Miami we recruited new clients from South Florida – but in a development that was a hoped-for surprise we began seeing business come in from everywhere. It had been our hope that if we demonstrated what Studio Two could do outside of the Berkshires that perception would become reality – and this is exactly what has happened. Business inquiries, new relationships and connections emerged from across the country. Two years into opening the Miami office we now count clients from Toronto, Maryland, Washington DC, New York, Boston, New Mexico and California in our roster.
What we discovered in the last few years is that the real value we bring to our clients isn’t about an office – it is about the quality of our work, the responsiveness of our team, our ideas and creativity, and our ability to learn new tools, strategies and techniques that will help our clients prosper in the 21st century.
In the Berkshires we have maintained the office in Lenox. Shortly we will be closing that location – but we will NOT be closing our presence and commitment to the region and our clients there. We believe the Berkshires is a unique place with amazing people and stories to tell and we look forward to continuing to work with everyone there.
We are a core staff of 6. Christine Cooney and Amanda Hill are in the Berkshires. Heather Rose, Chris Illes and Kevin Sprague are in Miami (most of the time). Jason Toews is in Seattle. Every day we are at our desks – reachable by phone, email, and video conference. We share files across a global network in real time and synchronize our files regularly. We are no longer about place – we are about presence. Through the new tools of communicating and connecting we have found we are more efficient, more effective, a better value, and more responsive than when we had our fixed offices. In real terms we are travelers – if we need to meet in person, or do a project that requires being in the same place – we can do that – but unless it requires our physical presence we will be working online.
For some people this has been an unwelcome development. We understand – we liked our offices also – but we had to make progress, and change, and the office was holding us back.
Studio Two is still here. We are in business. We are ready to tackle your projects and to help you grow. If you haven’t tried google hangouts or gotomeeting.com yet now is your chance – give us a call at413-447-5433 or drop an email to info@studiotwo.com and let’s meet online. If you have any questions, please give me – Kevin Sprague – a call at that number.
Thanks for your time. – Kevin
