Adding to our automotive expertise is Blue Magic, makers of car care and appearance products. As agency of record, our first task will be to launch an all-inclusive wheel and tire cleaning kit with creative launching this spring.

National Cheerleaders Association (NCA) and their dance counterpart, National Dance Association (NDA) selected us to be their agency of record to help them raise their profile and preference among teenagers and school cheer/dance programs. Our work will include a national print campaign as well as promoting their camps and competitions.

Western Governors University is one of the most highly regarded online institutions in the country and we were proud to be selected to launch their new WGU Texas branch. An introductory campaign comprised of TV, radio and outdoor will break late January with the goal of encouraging thousands of prospective new students to get the degree they’ve always wanted.

Last, but certainly not least, we’re very pleased to add another media client to the roster. Verizon Fios has tapped our local expertise on a planning project to help them gain better awareness and penetration into the DFW market.

Work is already well under way for each of these terrific new additions and we look forward to generating great results for them in the year ahead.

So today a few members of the Interstate team went over to the Interstate All Battery Center to do some outrageous decorating for the upcoming holiday season. We set up a tree, cleaned the windows, plugged in the lights, hung green bulbs, sprayed fake snow, hung more green bulbs, sprayed more fake snow and made the store look very festive. We even set up a jar of green peppermint candies and gave the employees green “Santa” hats. As I was cleaning the windows, a bright and shiny Firehouse truth dawned on me. That is that Firehouse will do anything to help our clients look great, even if helping them look great means taking a few hours to decorate a store for the holidays.

What other types of “anything to look great” has Firehouse done for their client family? How about this, Firehouse took a simple request for three low-budget, low-production sales driving ideas for a frozen snack line, and delivered five even lower budget, smaller production ideas that would cheaply blow sales out of the proverbial water. Or how about when Firehouse got wind of a client’s internal issue over the visual of a branded NASCAR car, and then, in a pinch, delivered what is potentially the coolest, wildest, product centered, “Johnny on the spot messaging,” and “even people that don’t watch NASCAR would love this,” car design you’ve ever seen. That’s right, it’s amazing. Just last month Firehouse took a Mexican lucha-libre fight in Corpus Christi and flipped it for our client, Stripes. People left the venue, not even remembering who the luchadores were, but chanting “Stripes!” and sporting their red and white Stripes branded luchador face-paint.

So because of this little treasure of information that hit me while washing the ABC windows, I decided to take a step of my own, and washed the windshield on the car of an All Battery Center customer, courtesy of Interstate; because we’ll do anything to make our clients look great.

So if you’re looking for some branding or local store marketing or design or pretty much anything that’s beyond the average and above the norm, look no further than Firehouse. We’ll make you look great.

Not for making music.

Isn’t that like going to meet with a home builder and quizzing her about the carpenters she employs? Sure I expect her to hire the best people, but what I care most about is what I can expect my home to look like and why it’s the best fit for my family and me.

So, I’d like to suggest that a more productive initial discussion might be to focus on how the agency gets to ideas and past examples of great insights, rather than the tools they have at their disposal. Having been a client myself for several years, I know that if I had to pick between an agency dedicated to insights and an agency that employs dozens of Flash developers, I’d go with the first scenario every single time.

So, how do you identify an agency that’s truly committed to building brands based upon identifying stronger and deeper insights? Here are some things to keep your eye on:

See what the agency thinks are great insights. Put them on the spot. Every single piece of work ought to be based upon a key insight into that client’s business, customers or competitive situation. Telling that story should come as second nature.

Follow the money. A pretty clear indication of their commitment is how much they have invested in this area. Do they have Account Planners on staff? How much do they spend in research tools or research facilities? If the head of Account Planning is not present in your first meeting, maybe they’re not really committed to discovering those nuggets.

Ask whose job it is. Oftentimes, agencies play the “it’s everyone’s job” card. While certainly all of an agency’s efforts should be focused on getting smart about the client’s business, their target and their marketplace, truly great agencies treat insight gathering as a separate discipline. If they don’t, then it’s clear that relevant ideas are not seen as the strategic foundation of the organization.

Today’s agencies need to be more insight-centric and far less obsessed with narrow production capabilities. I’m sure we’d all agree an agency shouldn’t be tied into making recommendations based on its capabilities. It goes to the old saying about, “if the only tool you have is a hammer, then everything starts to look like a nail.”

But, don’t take my word for it. In this Ad Age video, Patrick Edson, VP Marketing Innovation, MillerCoors points to hard-to-find insights as the reason behind the success of the Rocky Mountain Cold Refreshment campaign. Funny, he never says a word about his agency’s production capabilities.