Sometimes, you become so immersed in your own company’s culture that you don’t see how it’s different and special. Take Launch. Take Meridian Group, its parent agency. Take Launch’s participation in our annual agency cook-off, the Q.
The Q is now in its seventh year. Everyone in the Meridian Group agency (including Launch Interactive’s web designers, social marketing specialists, programmers and account managers) is named to teams that compete for prizes and bragging rights as best cooks.
The Q is hosted by Joe Takach, Meridian Group founding President and lead epicure.
There are judges. This year’s panel included the food editor of Hampton Roads’ regional magazine and a hospitality management group’s VP of Marketing who has dined in and critiqued the nation’s best restaurants – including those at his own hotels.
The Q is a lot of work, and it’s fiercely competitive, in an “I’m pretending not to give a flip but I’ll break your leg if you take first prize in Pork Butt” kind of way.
Amazing food is the result. So is respect for colleagues who put real, smart effort into concepting, producing and presenting their creative output. Gosh, just like work.
So if you work in an office where the hot recipes being shared around are for Dump Cake and Moxie Salad (”steep one can fruit salad in one can Moxie Cola!”), then you might want to leave this page now.
Provided three meats (shrimp, pork tenderloin and ground sirloin) and a charcoal grill, each team met for about five minutes to nail down the following day’s menu. My team’s entries were:
• Grilled marinated shrimp wrapped in Bibb Lettuce with rice sticks, fresh mint, matchstick carrots and peanut sauce
• Crab, avocado and muenster topped burger, with sriracha sautéed onion and red pepper aioli, on Miami roll
• Molasses/Hoisin Pork Tenderloin, sliced thin over Asian slaw of baby bok choy, cabbage and peppers, with tamarind drizzle
We – Launch’s Melissa Williams and Kim Boykin, and Meridian Group’s Ha Koehler - came in second overall. We didn’t win awards for individual dishes, but we were strong across the board. It’s not so bad when you lose to some seriously good cooks. The winning burger was served with sliced fennel and figs. The winning pork was branded with a huge M – Meridian Group’s ID.
Each team’s dishes were the mouthwatering equal of anything found on a hot, local restaurant’s menu. The preparation and presentation were exacting and photo op ready.
The whole process was a reminder of the identities of Launch Interactive and Meridian Group Advertising.
We are driven to solve problems in substantive style. We adapt. At the Q, to delivering a “creative brief” in under 24 hours and to grilling in a downpour. In this economy, to devising marketing/branding solutions through creative that uses every aspect of the web to best advantage.
Want our recipes? Set up a meeting, and we’ll share them.
