Meet the Branding & Advertising Cool Kids at Pyper, Inc.

If you are familiar with the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce, the University of South Florida, 82 West Distillery, or even yours truly, the St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership, then you have seen their work. But there’s a lot more to Pyper, Inc. than just beautifully designed websites and stunning marketing pieces. Strategic branding is their calling, and for everyone on the team, learning is a core value. They are committed to learning as much about their clients as they can so that they can create marketing pieces that fit into an overall strategy for them. Let’s take a page from Pyper Inc.’s book and dig deeper into this amazing company. 

After 20+ years in the industry, Kelly Pyper, the firm’s founder, saw the need for an agency to take a different approach to marketing. As the world became more digital, she identified that it was important for organizations to change the way they tackled marketing strategy and how they deployed those strategies. So she left her former agency in Tampa, knowing that there was an untapped place in the market for a strategic branding and advertising agency with a holistic view of marketing. In 2012, the agency was born. 

In the search to find the perfect location for their offices, Pyper recognized that Downtown St. Pete was the epicenter for the arts community in Tampa Bay. They looked at all the available corporate spaces they could find, but never found the right fit. One day as they were walking around the first block on Central Avenue, they saw a rental sign outside an office space above Mastry’s Bar. They immediately fell in love with the exposed brick on the inside and the two porches, overlooking Central Avenue in the front and Jannus Live in the back. They decided to make this space their home, and, in our opinion, it’s one of the coolest office spaces in Downtown St. Pete! If you have never had the pleasure of visiting their offices, check out some pictures below. 

Pyper advocates that a brand should be a living, breathing thing that evolves and grows over time to better fit the organization as circumstances change. In 2016, co-founder Tracy Young left the company, and Lindsay Petty and Cat Lim (See the entire leadership team to the left) joined the team to bring more insight to the agency’s strategic and creative offerings. Two years later, they decided to take their own advice and rebrand the company, changing the name to Pyper, Inc. The inspiration for their logo, which sports Prince purple (yes, named after the musical legend himself) and Del Mar turquoise, came from a restaurant placemat that Pyper had fallen in love with years before in New York City. After showing it to Lim, she was able to create their current logo, and the natural, spunky voice of the team really came out in their branding from there. If you don’t already, be sure to follow Pyper, Inc. on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn) so their sassy, fun posts can brighten your day! 

These days, Pyper, Inc. is focused on helping their customers navigate the turbulent waters created by the worldwide pandemic and national civil unrest. One client, Kozuba & Sons Distillery, pivoted their operations back in March to creating hand sanitizer to help alleviate the lack of supply. Pyper, Inc. helped them tell that story, as well as created an e-commerce site for them that allowed them to sell their hand sanitizer and alcoholic selections online, something they had never done before pre-pandemic. 

Another client, Massage Studio Spa, was desperate for a way to engage her members during the Stay at Home order that prevented them from coming in for their monthly massage in April. Pyper, Inc. helped them to set up a program where members could donate their massage to local healthcare workers at St. Joe’s Hospital and St. Anthony’s Hospital, and through this effort they were able to donate $20,000 worth of massages. 

These amazing solutions would have never come about if it wasn’t for Pyper, Inc.’s team. The perfect blend of creative and strategists, the team currently consists of 6 people (See the team to the right), though they have created a strategic plan and are working towards being able to grow to a team of 10-12 people, which they think is the sweet spot for their kind of brand strategy work. Enough people to come up with diverse, creative solutions, but a small enough team to be nimble and be able to integrate into whatever business they are working with. At the Partnership, we have been very impressed with their work, and appreciative of their willingness to really become part of the team and learn the ins and outs of our unique organization. If you are looking for unique marketing solutions and a killer brand strategy, then give Pyper a call! You can learn more about them and see all their work on their website.

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