Business: Marketing firm specializing in “creative intelligence”
Headquarters: West Palm Beach
Leadership: Ann Savage, Founder & CEO; Shane Savage, Chief Strategy Officer
Employees: 20 full-time
Clients: hospitality groups, automotive, retailers, financial firms, hospitals and community organizations.
Website: wearepathos.com
Hannah Haywood walks, Fabiana Otero bikes, and Luke Liscom soon plans to One-Wheel to work. And that’s just how their employer, Pathos, likes it.
Pathos is a creative intelligence firm, specializing in full-service enterprise marketing, and is located in downtown West Palm Beach. A big part of its culture since the 29-year-old company rebranded and moved to 319 Clematis Street about a year ago has been to get more involved in the community. For team members Haywood, Otero and Liscom as well as others, that’s easy to do when you work where you want to live – and vice versa.
“We have hosted more than 40 events that have gotten community members from all walks of life into our offices. We also go to other events around the community – it is part of our culture,” said the 24-year-old Otero, who is Brand Coordinator for Pathos. She has been working at Pathos for one year, and before that graduated from UF and did marketing work for the university. “And with our open office, we learn from each other every day. That is ingrained in our culture, too.”
Luke Liscom presents a workshop during the Leadership Grow Program Media & Arts Day.
Liscom, 23, is a Motion Designer at Pathos. He interned twice for Pathos while studying at Ringling College of Art & Design. Now he’s fulltime at Pathos working with cutting edge technologies such as 3D mapping and augmented reality, and he’s planning to move downtown soon. One-Wheel, he says, is his primary mode of transportation and you are likely to see him on One-Wheel group rides around town, too.
“We look at the community as part of our effort to create creative capital. To be in a space where we bring people in and work with each other and help grow the creative community has been wonderful,” he said.
From top left to right: Elana Kerr, Kim French, Hannah Haywood, Ryan Kader and Fabiana Otero attending the 1909 Accelerator Program Prelim Pitch.
Haywood, 23, is Media Coordinator at Pathos, working with clients on their media assets as well as diving into media research for them. But on Saturdays, you’ll always find her at downtown’s Green Market when it’s running. For her, like the others, the live-work-play lifestyle is natural. “We love the city feel, with all the the local vendors and small businesses.”
“Pathos is so unique and special to us because we aren’t scared to search for what makes us happy in our work life and Pathos provides a great balance of play and work and just being happy to go to work every day,” she said.
Achieving that balance and community engagement were the goal a year ago when Pathos moved downtown, said Shane Savage, Pathos’ Chief Strategy Officer, “We want to open our doors into the community, have that neighborhood feel, and start building things with those around us,” he said then.
Mission accomplished. In addition to the 40 events the company has hosted this past year – including for Creative Mornings, Leadership Palm Beach County, Junior Achievement and various high school groups that get to experience augmented reality, 3D modeling and video production – Pathos’ team gets out in the community too, such as holding open office hours at 1909, helping Wellington High School prepare for its dance marathon, holding branding workshops with Palm Beach Gardens High School, and regularly attending meetups like Blood, Sweat & Beers.
Pathos hosted a Creative Mornings event in its office.
Savage said the move downtown and a focus on getting out into the community has paid off in several ways. Pathos has found it easier to attract like-minded creatives to join the team full-time. The company is also attracting community-focused clients. Pathos is currently helping Good Samaritan Medical Center with its 100 year anniversary and it started working with the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, in addition to adding two large statewide organizations to its client roster, Savage said. “We’ve grown our profits as well, just through these initiatives.”
Savage said the stories of Haywood, Otero and Liscom, all native Floridians, show that students and young professionals don’t have to leave the state to find the innovative companies and challenging career paths.
Looking ahead, Savage added: “We want to continue to help build West Palm Beach into a creative capital.”