Ad agency changes name to disassociate from Greenleaf

Greenleaf Marketing owner Ron Marshall employed a simple formula five years ago when he named his advertising agency: Pair a color with an object.

Earlier this year, he begrudgingly applied that rule again to christen Greenleaf's successor, Red Crow Marketing.

Marshall didn't want to part with his beloved brand, but another Springfield-based company with virtually the same name - Greenleaf Cos. LLC - forced his hand.

In early December, authorities armed with a warrant searched the South Campbell Avenue offices of Greenleaf Cos. and sister company The Real Estate Co. in connection with an alleged real estate investment scheme. A week later, the Securities Division of the Missouri Secretary of State's Office hit Greenleaf with a cease-and-desist order that prohibited the company and its owners from selling securities in the Show-Me State.

Greenleaf Cos. has been ensconced in negative publicity ever since.

Property investors and third-party buyers who contracted to buy homes from Greenleaf in Missouri and Arkansas have filed lawsuits accusing the company of fraudulent business practices.

Greenleaf's contract-for-deed financing model imploded last year under the weight of the mortgage meltdown. The company stopped cutting monthly checks to investors in April, when officials diverted payments from third-party buyers to cover business expenses. Lenders, in turn, foreclosed on many of the investor-owned homes and forced out tenants.

As his agency's name continued to appear in headlines, Marshall received phone calls and e-mails from clients wondering if the two companies were connected. He repeatedly explained that they were not, but damage control became the norm. Potential clients were particularly dubious.

"When you say Greenleaf, the smiles freeze and the eyes look down," Marshall said. "The new business dried up. It hit a wall. ... The name is fatal."

Not coincidental

Marshall acknowledges he's partly to blame for his misfortune.

As an advertising account executive at KOLR10 several years ago, one of Marshall's clients was timeshare company Grandvista Resorts. His contact at Grandvista was manager Scott Dasal, who is now president of the embattled Greenleaf Cos.

Both Marshall and Dasal struck out on their own in April 2004, and they agreed to share office space, administrative staff and equipment to keep their overhead low. Marshall formed Greenleaf Advertising LLC and a graphic artist who worked for Dasal designed the logo.

Marshall said he briefly considered partnering with Dasal on the real estate venture, but ultimately decided to move into his own office and start Greenleaf Marketing, citing a "difference in business philosophy."

At the time of the split, Marshall said he and Dasal agreed that Dasal's holding company could incorporate Greenleaf into its name.

"I didn't think they'd be around that long," Marshall said. "I looked at their business model. It looked like a house of cards to me."

Greenleaf Cos., however, enjoyed a great deal of success early on. CEO Eric Gagnepain told Springfield Business Journal in May 2007 that the value of property and sales managed by Greenleaf in 2006 was $90 million. But when cash flow slowed to a trickle in early 2008, Greenleaf's survival strategy came at the expense of its investors and homebuyers, igniting a firestorm.

When the flames of controversy didn't subside after several weeks, Marshall and wife Patty realized rebranding was their best option - albeit a costly and time-consuming one.

"I can't say, 'I'm not that Greenleaf' in all my marketing and advertising," Ron Marshall said.

Dasal said Marshall's desire to disassociate the ad agency from Greenleaf Cos. - a name that's not going anywhere for the short term - is understandable.

"Branding is everything in his business," Dasal said. "I get it, and I wish him well."

For weeks now, Patty Marshall, the agency's office manager, has been buried in paperwork associated with the name change. She started by registering Red Crow Marketing with the secretary of state's office and now estimates that she's filled out forms required by some 25 entities.

Printed materials, such as brochures and business cards, bearing the Greenleaf Marketing name and logo are Dumpster-bound, and the agency's in-house talent has been on a tight deadline to build a new Web site - www.redcrowmarketing.com.

"It's like trying to change a tire without having the luxury of stopping," Ron Marshall said.

Taking flight

Marshall said Greenleaf Marketing evolved into a full-service agency for small- and medium-size businesses, many of them local.

And while the company's name has changed, its niche remains the same, he said.

Red Crow's services include media buys, jingles, logos, graphic design and on-site production of TV and radio ads at its 1320 N. Stewart Ave. office, just north of the Solo Cup plant in northeast Springfield. The agency has seven full-time employees.

Marshall said longtime clients - a list that includes Citizens Memorial Healthcare, Ott's Salad Dressing and Destination Powersports - have been sympathetic to the public relations fiasco.

Tamera Heitz-Peek, marketing director at Citizens Memorial, said she urged Marshall to leave the Greenleaf name behind after speaking with him about the perceived connection.

"There's a lot of confusion right now," she said. "I think it is a good move on his part to try to move away from that and to establish a new identity ... for future business."

Jack Burke, who owns Sound Marketing in Branson, characterized Marshall's plight as the "perfect storm" because the company names were nearly identical, both are based in southwest Missouri and the troubled Greenleaf Cos. has dominated local news in recent months.

"It would be like having a company known as Enron Marketing when the misadventures of Enron were daily headlines," Burke said in an e-mail. "You're guilty by association."

Brady Burns, owner of Springfield-based Green Leaf Landscaping, said even his company has been negatively affected by the clamor surrounding Greenleaf Cos.

"I've had several customers calling me over the last couple of months and saying, 'Are you guys affiliated?'" he said.

Burns said he considered changing the name of his company but didn't want to take on the expensive hassle.

"Somebody told me any publicity is good publicity," he said. "I can't let somebody else's ... practices make me go spend thousands of dollars to switch up my game plan."

Marshall said he's been unable to quantify the effect on his business in dollars. Farming out the Web site work would have easily cost $15,000. Then there's the lost productivity.

"I don't even know how to assign a value to this," Marshall said.[[In-content Ad]]