merit
1980
Boulder, Colorado
We’re a women-owned, certified B Corp creative agency that builds brands worth believing. Because if you’re not 1,000% sure of who you are, why you do what you do, and how you show up—how do you expect audiences to believe in you (and what you sell)? How do we do it? Great question, we’d love to tell you. We create, redefine, and build brands through three core products: Brand Development, Brand Tools, and Brand Growth for clients in outdoor & environment, health & wellbeing, and purpose-driven CPG.
15
Underdog
We use play as a business tool. Because while the business of the business is serious business, we can only really (like, reaaaaally) solve our clients’ problems when everybody feels truly free with each other. Here’s what bringing “play” unlocks with our partners:
Disarms clients’ “arms-length posture” and fully invites them into the partnership
Evens the power dynamics to cultivate more revealing and innovative business and creative opportunities and solutions
Empowers everyone at the table to say the most important thing that needs to be said — especially when it’s hard
Keeps company culture and friendships in our fully-remote-for-now model
It’s not “play” for the sake of getting to the funny or absurd idea. Or an ice-breaker that’s doomed to be more awkward than connective. It’s “play” to get us back to the “That looks like fun, can I play with you guys?” playground’er inside all of us. And, it’s a tool that’s authentically us.
We answer to our own integrity. And to the relationships we have with our clients. This philosophy allows us to take (and stay committed to) a person-first approach to running our business.
That means—whatever the sitch—one of the first questions we ask ourselves is: “What’s right for our team right now?” And while the answers might range from “Order-in dinner on us tonight” to breaking up with a client, you’ll never hear us utter a cost-cutting or people-harming solution on the Top 5 list of possible solutions.
A philosophy that’s (deeply) rooted in integrity and relationships might sound mundane—hell, maybe even too on the nose. But as the “service” in a client-service industry where the pressure to do work faster, cheaper, and more artificially increases every day, it makes sense why non-Indie’s are seduced/coerced/sweet-talked into short cuts and cutting corners. The faster they can hit—and preferably exceed—growth numbers and stakeholders’ personal financial expectations, the better and “more successful.”
To answer to our morals and do the right thing on behalf of our team isn’t always easy. And, at times, it can feel as nerve-wracking as going on a blind date (because what if it’s “not good business to be that transparent”?). To that we say: well, it’s contributed to our team’s average tenure of 7 years, 45 years in business, and consistently positive client relationships (even after a partnership runs its natural course).
At Vermilion, independence has meant building, evolving, and growing a business on our own terms—and continually proving it works.
Becoming a certified Women Owned Small Business was an important milestone to demonstrate how independent agencies contribute to greater representation and visibility in an industry where female leaders are still under-recognized and -represented. The badge also communicates our commitment to prioritizing pathways for women in leadership, and broadening decision-making perspectives—proving that diverse ownership really is good for business.
Independence has also offered us the flexibility to continually rethink how and where we work, even B.C.—Before Covid. In a time where return-to-office mandates have picked up, we can openly ask “What’s right for our team right now” (we love a good callback). And what continues to be right for right now is continuing our remote-for-now approach to best support our team professionally and personally.
Finally, independence has provided us the freedom to make unselfish business decisions. That’s meant an ownership transition to people who balance business vitality with our founder’s purpose-driven DNA. And, that's meant designing a pay structure that prioritizes value AND experience/tenure, resulting in a narrower salary scale that reduces inequities and rewards fairness.
In short-ish: independence is about more than a ~vibe~. It’s been the foundation on which we’ve built a company that looks, leads, and works differently than it could anywhere else.
Our founder, Bob Morehouse, (we call him the Prom King of Boulder) started Vermilion as a form of community karma. Not the self-serving kind; the complete opposite, actually. He wanted to build a business that could support and positively impact the community in which he worked and lived.
“Bigger, trendier client x agency” work and happenings are more often covered, talked about, and awarded. Truly and honestly no shade to them; a lot of the work inspires us.
But when agency coverage mentions and shiny trophies are one of the most direct pathways to new client opportunities, what’s a small indepedent to do?
We double down on relationships—with clients, stakeholders, other agency partners, CPAs, everyone. Because that’s how to really deeply “get” who we both are, how we work, and the work we deliver together. The pitch room, chemistry checks, and Round 1 presos are important, but at the end of the day they’re snapshots of you.
In an eat-what-you-kill industry where the pipeline is a lifeline, building meaningful relationships over 46 years has kept clients coming back and bringing others in that often check the "chemistry check" box before we even meet. It’s core to how we have created a healthy business cycle with people we honestly love working with. So yeah, relationship-building can be a winning business strategy.
