Using Risk as the Opportunity for Transformative Change

Moira Vetter, Founder and CEO of Modo Modo Agency (Atlanta, Georgia), built her company with a focus on "marketing for business people." Modo Modo serves a B to B client base and some larger organizations with B-to-B and B-to-C challenges—leveraging value, developing story, and strengthening brands in the face of company carve-outs, acquisitions, divestitures, and reorgs—times of great potential risk—and great opportunities for transformative change.   Moira notes that companies often come to Modo Modo with what they perceive as isolated problems, e.g., "We need to improve our website." Rather than addressing a discrete issue, Modo Modo uses a broad approach, digging for strategic objectives (not "What do you want to do?" but, "What do you want to achieve?" "What are your strategic objectives?"), analyzes options, and implements connected marketing initiatives—to produce ever-better long-term value for clients.   In this interview, Moira addresses crossroads perception (how we see our options), the relativity of risk and how it affects decision-making, and the importance of milestones as motivators. She talks about the difference between using "the community's filter to assess risk," falling back on your "parents' filter," or, at some point, developing and adopting your own filter; and then explains how assessing progress in one parameter relative to another (e.g., I am this age, and I am here in my career) can provide the needed impetus to inspire change. She illustrates this with examples from her life—when external situations collapsed her rising career trajectory, and she made subsequent decisions that led to even greater success—and with examples of marketing at-risk companies and brands, and positioning them "in a new space."   Moira can be reached by phone at 770.436.3100, ext. 702, on the company website at: modomodoagency.com, by email at: [email protected], and on Twitter: @moiravetter and @modomodoagency.