Photo by Tom Jenz
Jacque Moore, CEO, CMRignite
Jacque Moore, CEO, CMRignite
Jacque Moore, CEO of CMRignite, had two strikes against her when she founded her marketing agency in 1995. She is Black and a woman. “One woman agency,” she called it. Today, CMRignite has expanded into a full-service, strategic communications agency that specializes in cause and behavior change marketing for Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits and government agencies. The agency's mission is to develop cross-cultural marketing campaigns that lead to positive change. Moore calls this approach, “The Total Marketing Model.” With a team of 55 diverse employees, CMRignite is Wisconsin's leading multicultural marketing agency.
I met Moore in the expansive 9th floor CMRIgnite conference room with a sweep of windows offering a dramatic view of downtown Milwaukee. Her enthusiasm is catching, and she speaks of her company like a proud coach inspiring a sports team.
You are the founder and CEO of the highly successful marketing agency, CMRignite in Milwaukee. Tell me about your background—your community, neighborhood, parents, schools, and your education.
I grew up in Chicago on the friendly west side, went to Catholic schools, and never got in any trouble. My dad died in a car accident when I was a child. My mother was a young widow, and she raised her two children by herself, and made our family work. She was a schoolteacher and always instilled education as a primary requirement and higher education as the only path. She got a master’s in education, then later retired from teaching, and eventually moved up to Milwaukee to help me with my own two children. She passed in 2000. I ended up going to Marquette University because it was fairly close to where my mother lived in Chicago. I earned my undergrad and master’s degrees in business administration.
What was your first job after you completed your MBA degree?
I started at IBM in marketing and worked there for about five years. Then, I moved on to General Electric in the field of information services management. I got married, had two sons, and we lived in Brown Deer. Eventually, I quit corporate America to devote time to my family. Both my sons later ended up attending University School for their high school education.
When and how did you create your marketing agency, CMRignite?
While raising my children, I started doing consulting work, writing business plans for small businesses to help them get loans for their marketing. Finally, a client asked me if I could implement its marketing plan. That experience launched my company, CMR (Creative Marketing Resources), in 1995. For a while, I was a one-woman show. In 1996, I had the chance to work on the city of Milwaukee Recycling Campaign when garbage containers were switched from bins to carts. The city hired me to create the Recycling Campaign, and I hired subcontractor creatives. We called the campaign, “Do the Blue,” and that slogan appeared all over the place. Very successful results, and that lighted my fire. I realized I wanted to do things that would change behaviors. Almost 30 years later, we now have over 50 employees.
You are the Chairman and CEO of CMRignite. And your son, David Bowles, is the President, correct?
Yes. David travels between Arizona and Milwaukee. My other son, John, is our Director of Finance. We have staff members all over the country.
What services does CMRignite offer to its clients, and how do those services work in the marketplace?
We are a full-service marketing agency. We do initial research, then we write a marketing plan based on our research, and then we do the account services, the creative, media buying, social media, and the end metric results. We are not an ad agency. We only do marketing communications. We look at social change as it relates to consumers and their behavior for markets. In other words, what is a company’s social impact in their community. Currently, many consumers make decisions not just on price but also on social impact.
You have me thinking that social media currently has a great deal of power as it relates to influencing consumers on their buying choices.
I know. I urge my clients to make sure they are a good corporate social media partner. We are seeing this kind of shift in consumer behaviors. Through our marketing communications and tracking of the metrics, we inform consumers as to what our clients are doing regarding social impact.
In a way, you are kind of teaching your clients.
Absolutely. We help them understand the power they have to influence a consumer. Too often, they do not use that power.
From my followers and connections, I am noticing more and more that Black consumers would like to support Black owned businesses.
Black owned businesses often hire people of color. This behavior can be interpreted as cultural differences. Many white businesses in the past have been reluctant to employ people of color. If your demographic is not white, then in marketing terms, you are considered the “other” in America. Meaning you are not white. It’s “white” and it’s “other.”
And your own staff of employees is quite diversified, right?
Yes, we have an all-inclusive work culture and not just people of color.
Can you talk about some of your large clients?
Wisconsin Department of Tourism. We did a lot of work selling tourism to other states in this region. We’ve done work for McDonald’s and Northwestern Mutual. Another client is the Federal government Department of Health and Human Services. One of our biggest growth spurts was in 2020 during the Covid outbreak. There was skepticism around vaccinations, especially around communities of color. We were hired by the government to get the message out that vaccines are safe. That was a nationwide campaign, and we showed measurable results in terms of enough people vaccinated. In a short period, CMRignite went from 20 staff people to 50. That was a management challenge.
I found this on your website, and I quote, “CMRignite is a full-service, strategic communications agency that specializes in developing cause and behavior change marketing for Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits and government agencies.” Can you expand on this further, maybe give an example or two of how you go about strategizing with your clients?
One example is the work we did on the anti-tobacco campaign for the state of Wisconsin. We focused on youth, who tend to do what is “cool.”
Smoking was cool for several generations. Movie stars even promoted cigarettes.
Right. Our marketing angle was to get young people not to start smoking because tobacco is addictive. We helped change young people’s attitudes about smoking. One of our ads stated, “Kissing a smoker is like licking an ashtray.” We watched the rate of smoking go down among the youth. We’ve done a number of campaigns for the state of Wisconsin. For instance, WIC, Women, Infants & Children. WIC participants receive a stipend from the state for nutritious food. We did a campaign on educating WIC participants about nutritious foods. The goal was to change the behavior of how women use their WIC benefits. We’ve also done a campaign for the Milwaukee County Transit Authority when it was changing their bus routes. And we did a baby immunization campaign on educating parents to get their kids immunized for measles and mumps before they were two years old. Also, for the last 20 years, our client has been the Wisconsin Lottery, the ‘responsible gaming campaign,’ which states, ‘Go ahead and gamble but gamble responsibly.’
I understand that your agency's mission is to develop innovative, cross-cultural marketing campaigns that lead to real, positive change. What do you mean by cross cultural?
Cross cultural means everyone is included. We do campaigns where everyone can get on board with this cross-cultural message, not just Blacks or Hispanics, or one ethnic group. What helps is that our staff is cross cultural, and we discuss our employee perspectives and how to reach all audiences. We learn about other cultures from each other.
Your son David once told me that you were able to obtain a nine-year certification that allowed CMRignite to qualify for certain Federal government contracts. How did you accomplish that and how has that certification worked out for you?
That was work I got through the Small Business Administration and its interest in small business startups—business loans, business plans. We were an established business with a good reputation, and this helped in obtaining certain Federal government contracts.
Your son David also told me, “We don’t sell iPhones or new cars. We focus on how to use behavioral science to drive impact.” Can you elaborate on that behavioral science focus?
Yes, we talk about how people change their attitudes over time. For instance, we educated people on Covid vaccinations and helped change their behavior. One classic example of behavioral change was when people used to cough into their hands, which would spread germs through handshakes. But now people cough in the bends of their arms. That is a behavior change.
One of your trademarks is the “Total Marketing Model?” What is that exactly?
We ask clients, “What are all the things that influence the buying decisions for your products?” For example, Apple is not our client, but what would be the important things for people who use iPhones? We would identify those types of things. If we identify consumers who want an environmentally safe iPhone, then we market that idea. We don’t market bells and whistles. We are not an ad agency. A company can have the best product, but if consumers don’t like what that company stands for, then it will not sell enough product.
You have a diverse staff of employees from all over the country, I believe. For instance, your creative director lives in Detroit and your P.R. person lives in Washington DC. Even your president lives part time in Arizona. How many people work for you and what is the ethnic breakdown?
We have 55 staff members, who are evenly diverse and include white, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Indian and women. That diversity is part of our business culture. When we recruit, we make sure job applicants are comfortable being around people who don’t look like them. About half of our staff live in Milwaukee.
CMRignite is a successful business in Milwaukee. What are some of the important business issues facing the city now and in the future?
How do businesses help recognize that Milwaukee has a lot to offer. A disappointment for me is that when some Milwaukee people go off to college, they don’t return. Milwaukee has to step up and have something to offer them, and that means quality jobs, the opportunity to thrive, and a good social life. We also need to have better public schools in the city to attract parents.
You can reach Jacque Moore and CMRignite at the website cmrignite.com
