Today’s economy requires law firms to be different, creative, innovative and, in a word, rebellious against the “old normal" of stiff shirts and tweed. The “new normal" for law firms means embracing innovative marketing techniques, including social media, and even enlisting clients in their gambits. At Boston-based Foley Hoag this new normal is catching hold. As part these efforts, earlier this year Foley Hoag set out to make a guerilla marketing impact by joining with client SCVNGR’s new geo-location marketing application, LevelUp.Today’s economy requires law firms to be different, creative, innovative and, in a word, rebellious against the “old normal" of stiff shirts and tweed. The “new normal" for law firms means embracing innovative marketing techniques, including social media, and even enlisting clients in their gambits. At Boston-based Foley Hoag this new normal is catching hold. As part these efforts, earlier this year Foley Hoag set out to make a guerilla marketing impact by joining with client SCVNGR’s new geo-location marketing application, LevelUp. LevelUp (www.thelevelup.com) combines location-based gaming mechanics with free credit to spend on whatever you want at a merchant, creating a powerful new model for building customer loyalty. Customers returning to that merchant and paying with LevelUp progress toward unlocking more credit, creating a reward system for return customers. That’s leveling up. There was LevelUp Your Burrito, LevelUp Your Rock Climbing, even LevelUp Your Fitness. That’s when Foley Hoag LLP came up with the idea of LevelUp Your StartUp. As part of Level 1 of the program, partners at Foley Hoag met with entrepreneurs to help get their companies incorporated and on their way to bigger and better things. (Buying Level 1 unlocked Levels 2 and 3, which involved meeting with top-tier venture capital investors and startup accountants.) This created tremendous awareness for Foley Hoag among young entrepreneurs who are steeped in social media, and validated Foley Hoag’s commitment to using fresh, even unorthodox marketing tactics in ways that make sense to the new generation of emerging companies. The program sold out in less than one hour, with a raft of entrepreneurs coming in the door.
