L.A. County Honors Brand Orbit for 50-Plus Years of Community Service

Brand Orbit, one of the longest and most successful boutique marketing agencies in Southern California, has been officially recognized for its more than 50 years of achievements by the County of Los Angeles with an official scroll presented by Supervisor Kathryn Barger.

In a colorful ceremony at the Altadena Community Center, the county cited the firm’s staying power in a typically volatile industry (52 years), its 42 years of job creation in the county and its award-winning campaigns for a wide variety of regional and national clients.

Present for the honors were Brand Orbit’s founder, Edward Beckett, and its president, Sharon Bailey Beckett, who said the “keys to our success are about developing trustworthy relationships with staff and clients and staying current with the digital age by leveraging new and emerging technologies and trends.”

For an ad agency to last 52 years is an anomaly, according to Beckett, a managing partner and member of the Pasadena Angels investment group. Citing statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other studies, she said “about two out of every three businesses with employees last two years. And small professional service firms like Brand Orbit have about a 30 percent chance to celebrate their 10 th birthday.”

A major reason for this industry fluctuation is based on the agencies’ ability to manage client and employee retention, she added. “We currently employ seven on-site staff and eight remote or virtual staff, an employment balance that allows us to keep payrolls more manageable as client demands ebb and flow for a broad range of services.

“We’ve been successful by evolving with the economy, surviving the savings and loan debacle, the Internet Bubble and most recently the Great Recession.”