Titanium Member Spotlight: Deborah Garry, CEO & President of BBG&G Integrated Marketing
Deborah Garry, founder and CEO of BBG&G Advertising, Inc., leads a full-service award-winning marketing communications and creative team that develops successful and effective integrated marketing programs.
Debbe began her career as an illustrator for agencies, publishers, and media. She then moved into providing marketing and design services directly to businesses and organizations. In 1997 Debbe teamed up with three other professionals to form BBG&G. 25 years after founding BBG&G, she remains passionate about reimagining solutions for the agency’s clients, and helping them achieve business growth, expansion and success.
A Certified Account Planner and Marketing Automation Specialist, Debbe sets strategic direction for the agency, leading and empowering her team to make sure that the agency’s marketing communications win the hearts and minds of client audiences, achieve client objectives, and help them reimagine their future.
THE PROFESSIONAL
Q: You’re a leader in your industry now, but did you always know this is what you wanted to do?
A: I started out as an illustrator and believed that would be my direction as a creative person. I was very focused on using painting and drawing to tell a story.
As I began to take on graphic design work, and then expanded to developing marketing and advertising tools for businesses, I realized that what I excelled at was developing solutions and solving problems through visual communications. It still comes down to telling a unique story and moving an audience.
And that is the creative process which I still find very exciting and satisfying – helping brands and clients successfully tell their story through strong ideas and various forms of creative communication.
Q: How does the reality of your work compare with what you thought it would be?
A: When I first entered the industry, I certainly did not expect to build an agency of my own! But I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit, willing to explore new ideas and different ways of telling a story.
It has taken years of perseverance, building relationships, charting long-term vision, adapting emerging technologies, and an enduring passion for our clients’ success to transform BBG&G from a small startup to the award-winning marketing firm we are today.
It is not what I expected, but has turned out to be exactly what suits me.
Q: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned over the course of your career?
A: It's all about relationships, integrity, and genuine dedication to the people around me. This creates trust, synergy and opportunity, regardless of whether I am interacting with clients, potential clients, vendors, my team, partners and peers, or anyone else I engage with.
Showing up with integrity, willingness, respect, and enthusiasm has proven the best route, and leaves me with no regrets.
Q: What does success mean for you and your line of work?
A: If we help our clients experience successful business outcomes and meet or exceed objectives as a result of our creative solutions, then we have been successful.
Success also occurs every time we build a trusted relationship with a client. Then we are freed to provide our full value. We are in this business to make a difference.
Q: How do you bring your work to life to make this happen?
A: Our motto for years has been "It's the Work we do before we do the Work". For us that means taking the time to fully understand our clients, their products and market, and discerning what is truly most unique, meaningful, and relevant to their customers, before we engage in any creative solutions.
This sound planning lays the foundation for marketing communications that really work for our clients, and attains the business results they are looking for.
Q: What is a common myth about your job or field of expertise?
A: Unfortunately, there are agencies out there that promise big and deliver little. They look and sound great, but leave clients frustrated and feeling taken advantage of. Their solutions just don't work, or are self-serving.
We are very focused on delivering value, results, and a seamless and trusted client relationship. Many of our clients comment on the "BBG&G difference", and appreciate our way of building relationships and results.
Q: I know that no two days are alike, but if you had to sum it up, what does a typical day in the life of Deborah Garry look like?
A: If I had to sum it up, I would say that my role revolves around empowering those around me – my team, my clients, my colleagues. Whether I am developing strategy, content, proposals, or relationships, I am focused on how what I am doing will help move them forward.
The BB&G team enjoys quality time together on a company outing.
Q: We’re always looking for new trends. What new industry trends are you keeping up with and which ones do you wish would go away?
A: Being a full service agency in the digital age, we are always watching new social, digital, and web trends, and evaluating how to best layer them into our strategies for our clients and ourselves. Some will flash and disappear – others offer more long-term value.
We encourage clients to evaluate ROO (Return on Objectives) as well as ROI. Measuring and tracking ROO often provides a better evaluation of the successful impact of marketing and media.
THE PARTNERSHIP
Q: What three words would you use to describe Titanium?
A: Exciting! Purpose-driven! Visionary!
Q: What do you value most about being a member of Titanium?
A: I love having a circle of peers that I can share ideas with, be inspired by, and collaborate with. I feel so empowered by the resources the collective offers to me, the brilliance and different skill sets of various members and the opportunities to work on brands that we would not otherwise have. We complement and expand each other's horizons!
Q: Titanium is the first collective agency of its kind. In your own opinion, what’s the power of partnership?
A: As a collective, we are able to bring a broader array of skills and services to the table than any of us would individually. We are lifted up, expanded, inspired.
THE PERSON
Q: What do you draw inspiration from?
A: My family, my friends, and my faith. My parents grew up during the hard times of the Depression and WWII. My grandparents and great-grandparents forged new lives from nothing in a new country. They taught me the value of hard work, ingenuity, kindness, and perseverance. I am blessed with wonderful friends. I regard life as a spiritual journey.
Q: What does diversity and inclusion mean to you?
A: Respecting all, listening to all, and being open to a variety of opinions, beliefs, and points of view. Being authentic, and allowing others to do the same. We articulate this at BBG&G in our Core Values: Respect First. Team Works. Own it. Growth Mindset. Be Bold.
Q: What three books would you recommend?
Any book by Susan Vreeland. I love how she delves into the lives of famous artists and their work and so richly describes the creative process.
The Four Agreements.
The Big Leap.
Q: What quotes or words do you live by?
"To act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." –Micah 6:8
"Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Mother Teresa
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” —William Faulkner
Q: Do you have any final words of wisdom?
A: Dream big. Be yourself. Don't waste the present by regretting the past or worrying about the future.