As a brand-new business, we thought it’d be helpful to provide some background on what Matinee is, and why it exists.
Let’s start with the last question first:
Why? Why would a married couple give up the stability and security of full-time employment to go it alone?
We had three reasons.
Adventure.
Before launching Matinee, we worked at a full-service ad agency as associate creative directors. We were often overseeing, rather than doing, the work.
And we grew weary of that. We also grew weary of the repetition of the 9-5 lifestyle. Earning four paychecks a month helped us feel secure, but it didn’t make us happy.
Intellectually, it wasn’t easy for us to say, “Hey, let’s chuck our well-paying jobs and strike out on our own!” But emotionally, it was surprisingly easy—even though it meant saying goodbye to some great friends.
Why? Because we realized that launching Matinee would be a superbly exciting adventure. We could shape our own brand, identify our own audiences, take our own risks, and try (and fail at) our own dumb ideas.
In short, it meant we would have…
Freedom.
Now, it’s not like we were shackled to desks at our old jobs. Quite the contrary; we had a lot of day-to-day freedom, and we appreciated and enjoyed that.
Still, when working for another enterprise, you’re helping another entrepreneur fulfill their vision, achieve their mission, and accomplish their goals. We wanted to spend the final third of our careers doing that for ourselves.
And we wanted to do it by concentrating doing things that we really…
Love.
And what we love is the work.
We are, at the end of the day, above all else, doers of things. We love the work, and we love doing the work together.
And it bears pointing out that we also love each other.
Sorry if that’s TMI, but it’s relevant, because it gives our work a certain chemistry-driven verve that’s hard to find among ordinary creative teams. We “get” each other in a way that allows us to click as creative partners. And we have permission to be honest with each other in a way that isn’t possible on non-married creative teams. That chemistry and honesty drives a higher level of work.
Ah, but what kind of work? Let’s get to those other questions:
What is Matinee? What does it do, and who does it do it for?
This is probably a good time to point out that “Matinee” isn’t just an obnoxious play on our two names (although it is definitely that). It also speaks to our ability to offer a reasonably-priced version of something that, for smaller businesses or nonprofits, is almost prohibitively expensive.
We are the “matinee” version of a creative agency. We don’t have a sprawling office or a stable of employees to support. But we’ve spent years working in those types of places, and we’re confident that we can provide the same level of expertise and quality (and, we humbly believe, a lot of times even better) at a fair and reasonable price.
As for what we do and who we do it for: We cover that pretty thoroughly over here. Also, if you’re interested in our crusade against bullshit in marketing and advertising, you can read all about that here.
On the other hand, if you want to cut to the chase and find out how we can help you do something really, really cool, then, by all means, contact us now.