Joe Hoke, Marketing Consultant
Lawson & Hoke
The results speak for themselves.
But my clients and colleagues have the last word.
“Joe, you and Alan Mintz created an agency where people mattered.
Where people were treated as individuals and respected, and the drive to do work that makes a difference inspired us every day.
You left us a precious legacy.”
Mary Farrell
Chief Corporate Officer, Mintz + Hoke
“I first saw Joe in action when I assumed a communications leadership role at Aetna.
My team was struggling with how to position a particular business and its products. After meeting one-on-one with stakeholders in the business, our notebooks were filled with inconsistent info on everything from product benefits to competitor messaging.
A lot of time had been invested in the effort, but we had nothing to show for it.
After meeting Joe and learning about the Mintz & Hoke brand-positioning model, I brought our business leadership together with him and his team. He gave the attendees a thorough workout and the session brought out the best of the business. Joe helped us identify our opportunities, get consensus, and shape compelling messages.
The experience fortified me and changed my professional life.”
Bob Nolan
Senior Director, Communications at Fallon Health
“In my 35 years in the PR and advertising business, I’ve never worked with a wiser, more perceptive communications strategist than Joe Hoke.
While it’s a cliché for others, Joe honestly listens to understand. He has an uncanny ability to see the world through the audiences’ eyes. He finds connections between concepts and ideas that others can’t or won’t. That makes for effective positioning and results-generating creative work.
Among other things, Joe taught my colleagues and me how to develop smart brand positioning. His process is so commonsensical that I still use it three decades later. I’ve seen all kinds of “unique branding processes” from multinational agencies on down, but I’ve never found one as effective as Joe’s. No wonder some agencies and clients have ‘borrowed’ it and tried to claim it as their own.”
Bruce Hetrick, APR, Fellow, PRSA
President and CEO, Powerful Appeals, Inc.
Visiting Professor of Public Relations, Indiana University School of Journalism
Some comments from our presentation workshop participants.
“I loved this workshop. I felt it really gave me an edge in giving presentations.”
“I’m much more confident in our people to be able to compete with the best.”
“Being unorthodox is a great approach.”
“I’ve noticed that I already feel more comfortable speaking in front of groups.”
“Many times PowerPoint becomes a crutch, and can be a hindrance.”
“I now know that a typical mistake is to make presentations with lots of words on the screen — all content focusing on ourselves instead of the prospect.”
“I don’t feel so nervous and at a loss.”
“I now think of new business as an opportunity to break the mold.”
“I now see presentations more as a personalized theater. You are not just showing your thinking and work.”
“Sometimes, an agency needs an agency of its own.
Someone to help discover (or re-discover) what makes it special and relevant in the minds of prospects — then to communicate that message in a clear, engaging and memorable way. That's what Joe Hoke did for us. Joe's techniques and insights helped us define and express our own positioning. I don't think we've lost a pitch since.”
Jeff Reynolds
Public relations/Media Director, Stoltz Marketing Group
“Joe Hoke managed to bring out our best, as well as challenge us to be better.
In the last six weeks, thanks to him, we've totally overhauled our new business strategies, and have already nailed two new accounts.
It's rare that an investment of so few hours pays back so fast and so significantly.”
Geoffrey Thompson
Head of Interactive, Brighten Advertising
"Joe Hoke helped take us where our competition couldn't go.
When I was Marketing Director at Rockville Bank, we hired Joe Hoke to be our creative consultant.
He studied several years of our past advertising. When he was done he told me that he could help us make it better.
But, he also told me he saw something in our advertising, something that already separated us from our competitors. Something he felt we should never lose. Our advertising made a human connection. Our competition did not do that, and in his opinion, would never be able to do that.
We went on to tell our story of superior service in a way that kept that human connection, and we did it even better. We also beat our competition.
That included those who tried to claim the same thing. And it included those who outspent us."
Laurie Rosner
President, A Story Making Company
Formerly Rockville Bank’s Senior Vice President, Marketing & Administrative Services Officer
In every generation, visionaries change the way people think.
Joe Hoke is among those creative geniuses.
A master of simplicity and inspiration, he raises the creative bar for everyone on his team. His ideas are big but his touch is light—a rarity in the ad business.
For those of us lucky enough to collaborate with Joe, the result is not just rewarding for the creative team, but profitable for the client. He’s open to ideas. His thinking shines with passion and humor. His work is spare and sizzling at the same time.
Joe says things like, “We consultants better be good collaborators or find another line of work.” The power of his work, his energy and generosity give his collaborators the courage to look at new creative challenges without fear.
He listens. He reflects. He’s a legend.
Jane M. Bradley MALS
Senior copywriter, Martino & Binzer now Bluespire
“Joe Hoke taught me to think.
Joe’s keen strategic sense inspired us to find fresh solutions, whether marketing safety messages to people who didn’t want to hear them, re-positioning jet engines for customers who’d lost faith in the brand or cutting through the health-insurance clutter.
I was always motivated by his clarity, his positive energy and his belief in pushing for the best possible ideas.
Joe insisted that we get street-smart: truly understanding the mindset of the target audience first-hand. It works.
Above all, Joe believes that all work must be measured by results first.
Joe is perhaps the greatest influence on my career, and being able to work for him and with him for 18 years was its single biggest privilege.”
Alan Maislen
National award winning copywriter
Adams & Knight Advertising
“Joe Hoke is that ultra-rare creative strategist.
In my 30+ years in the business, I have never met a more collaborative creative thinker. He makes any project a sheer joy to work on.
As a designer who counts on writers and strategists to team with to design on-target, highly effective marketing communication projects, I’ve worked with many professionals…but Joe stands head and shoulders above the rest for his creative direction, imagination and professionalism.
He knows how to push to get the best out of an idea and branding campaign. I recommend Joe, especially if you’re looking for a creative way to get an edge on your competition.”
Vance Klein, Crosscheck Designs
What the Halls of Fame said.
In 2014, Joe Hoke was the first person in history to be inducted into both the Connecticut Advertising Club Hall of Fame and the Connecticut Art Directors Club Hall of Fame.
The advertising club said this when they inducted me:
“Soon after Joe Hoke co-founded Mintz + Hoke with Alan Mintz, the upstart agency changed the Connecticut advertising landscape, winning awards with the Connecticut Lottery, the Eastern States Exposition and ConnectiCare. The agency soon won a statewide bank, regional food store chains and utilities.
Joe diversified M+H into a consumer and business-to-business force to be reckoned with, winning Loctite Industrial Division and Pratt & Whitney. Then major insurance and financial services companies, including Aetna and Hartford Steam Boiler, signed on.
His strategic insights helped grow the agency into one of New England’s largest.
Adweek New England named Joe one of the 11 Leaders Who Made a Difference. Adweek also named Joe a Creative All-Star.
Comments from Facebook
Hall of Fame publicity generated comments on Facebook. Two examples:
“Good profile today about my long-time boss and friend Joe Hoke, living proof that creativity, intelligence, and integrity can exist in one person — even in the advertising game.”
—Tom Bradley
“Knowing Joe and learning from him has been a gift to me. He sets an example for moral courage as well as creativity in advertising and in life.”
— Alan Maislen
Joe Hoke • Lawson & Hoke • (860) 693-6499 • joe@lawsonhoke.com
©2017 Lawson & Hoke, LLC