As I'm sure many of you already know, launching a new website can be a time-consuming and daunting task. It's taken me some time to pull this together using a Wix template that I completely tore apart and reworked to try to best fit my new venture — Griffin & Stebbing / Media, Marketing, Communications. Thank you for finding my new site and business!
At Griffin & Stebbing, I'm proud to offer a number of services in marketing, media, public relations, internal communications, video production, print publications of all kinds, and content creation and planning assistance for almost any kind of corporate meeting and event. I have extensive experience compiled over the years in working both as an employee and a consultant for a wide range of companies and organizations. I have written, directed, shot, edited and produced almost all types of video programs across the country and overseas.
For one major corporate video I produced some years ago, I had a crew of three plus an actor and two clients. We left Chicago and landed at dawn in Amsterdam, drove about two hours to the town of Hengelo, shot interviews and b-roll there for a few hours, drove back to Amsterdam/Schiphol, went through customs, flew to London/Heathrow, drove an hour to Windsor, shot for a couple more hours, went back to Heathrow, went through customs again, then flew to Paris/de Gaulle and made it to our hotel off the Arc du Triomphe by about 1 a.m. local time. The next morning, we shot in Paris for a few hours, went back to de Gaulle and then flew to Brussels where we shot again until about 7 pm. The next morning we were back in London for a day and a half, then it was home in the States for three days in Chicago and San Francisco before we went to Tokyo.
Of course, I'm sure just about all of us have our "war" stories in marketing, PR, advertising, and that's just one of mine. But the fact is that I've had an opportunity to cross just about all boundaries in this business and am excited to be back in a position to work with a variety of corporate clients, associations and other organizations. I'm looking forward to helping people develop exciting and informative print materials — such as high quality brochures and publications —planning and executing live events, developing media and PR initiatives, producing more video programs using my 4k/HD video production and editing package, and launching sales promotion and advertising campaigns.
For the past five and a half years, I was Director of Marketing & Public Relations for a hospital system in suburban Chicago. In that capacity I had direct responsibility for every aspect of messaging that went out to all of our various audiences. That included everything from planning billboards throughout the county to serving as the Public Information Officer on the Crisis Management Team to working with all clinical groups to help improve the system's all-important patient satisfaction scores. Prior to that position, I spent about three years in an Associate Director of Marketing Communications for a major teaching hospital/medical school and healthcare system. Earlier in my career, I was Internal Communications Manager for a national retail chain and a Senior Editor of Publications for a large insurance company. And for a good portion of my professional life, I was a marketing communications consultant, writer and video/event producer who had the chance to work with many large corporate clients on projects like the one that took me to the Netherlands, Windsor and Paris in the one day.
So with that, I am delighted to return to marketing consulting for various clients. I hope you will of course keep me in mind should you need some help in any of my areas of expertise. I'd be more than happy to discuss any upcoming projects or help you might need and provide you with a competitive quote. BTW, you may be wondering about the "Stebbing" half of the Griffin & Stebbing name. In relaunching my consulting business, I looked into claiming some version of my name or initials and any iteration of "media," "marketing," "communications" or any other such word, and what I found is that a number of others out there with the same last name as me — Griffin—already have claimed every single one of those variations. "Stebbing" is the maiden name of my wife, Jennifer, who also happens to be in marketing communications (with a strong specialty in IT communications). When I realized that no one else could possibly have the combination of "Griffin" and "Stebbing," I grabbed the business name and domain for myself. Not only is it a way to distinguish the business a little bit more, but it's also one small way to repay her for all of her own hard work over the years.
That's it for today. I will try to make it a point to regularly add to this blog at GriffinStebbing.com and hopefully come up with some business-related tidbits that you may find of interest now and then. I plan to post some video clips up here of projects I've completed, as well as other samples. Again, thank you for finding this site and for taking the time to read through my stream-of-consciousness blog.
Best wishes,
John Griffin