Michael Eads

Sametz Blackstone Associates

Sametz Blackstone Associates, Boston, is a brand-focused strategy, design, and digital media firm that helps evolving organizations use integrated communications to better connect with their constituencies, build lasting relationships, and successfully navigate change. We work with educational, research, healthcare, and cultural institutions, as well as professional and financial services enterprises. For more than 35 years, we've collaborated with this shared philosophy as our foundation: *Learn enough—by looking inward and outward—through interviews, audits, and quantitative surveys, to understand clients' goals, challenges, competition, and constituencies (and what those people care about––what influences their decisions) *Craft content and digital strategies through analysis (tempered by years of experience) that make the best use of media, connect constituent passions to organizational priorities, and serve as a basis for developing specific stories that advance and prove big-picture themes *Evolve systems for visual expression that are informed by an organization's attributes––those that are "owned" and those that are aspirational––that can both build coherence across communications, and have the flexibility needed to "tilt" for different audiences and initiatives *Build whatever needs to be built, whether that involves a complete digital universe or integrated marketing collateral (or simply a brochure!) *Document and train our clients' staff and vendors, so all who communicate on behalf of an organization can do it effectively, creatively, and fluently *Ensure that our clients own the thinking and system that comprises their brand, so whatever we've collaborated to do is an in-house asset that continues to deliver value. Whether we're working on a broad brand system or a discrete project, we aim to advance organizational goals both internally and externally—and often, save some money and time along the way.