Virtual Farm Creative wants to be more than an advertising agency to a region full of promising small businesses. We want to actually contribute to the revitalization of a region that will be meaningful for decades. We want to help the brands that we do partner with matter more.
VFC has always proactively targeted companies and organizations whom we not only believe will benefit from our style and philosophy, but who are founded on a style and philosophy in which we believe.
Sometimes it has meant turning work away. It’s meant settling for smaller contracts. It’s meant watching competitors grow, all while we set up programs to help small businesses and organizations who are the backbone of the regional economy.
It’s not just a trite cliché. Independently-owned small businesses are the ones that need to succeed for any economy to be strong. It’s
the volume and the diversity that creates a deeper base and a more formidable network.
We’ve seen it happen in the past– when a local economy is dependent on one, two or just a few bigger entities and they fail, the repercussions are devastating. It was evidenced when manufacturing left small towns in the south, when automakers left Michigan and it happened when steel and iron left the towns that made Pennsylvania great.
On the other hand, when a greater number of privately held concerns comprise the regional economy and when the majority of them grow intelligently with thoughtful business and marketing plans, the economy may grow slower but it also grows smarter and more people are vested in the region’s success. Small businesses are also supportive of one another and very passionate about how the rest of the region develops.
Similarly, VFC has always – whether at non-profit rate or as a pro bono agreement – partnered with those like-minded organizations that are serious about professional and competitive branding while stewarding their mission. We’ve worked with multiple environmental and human service organizations all around the VFC studio because we believe that they contribute positively to the greater fabric or network that creates this community.
It wasn’t until very recently, however, that VFC’s purpose as a regional marketing partner for businesses and organizations became crystal clear. Suddenly it all clicked… the large manufacturer that we represent is philosophically aligned with the geographic region we are promoting as well as the reinventing municipality we are branding. And that is only three clients.
The realization that all of our clients are dependent on one another because they are all ultimately dependent on a successful regional effort is important and it’s given VFC renewed focus, energy and purpose.
