Packaging is Giant Help for Communications Provider Adelphia Communications Corporation wanted an eye-catching way to promote its Power Link broadband, high-speed internet service. The Greenwood Village, Colo., company is best known for its TV prowess— it's the country's fifth-largest cable TV firm. It also offers analog and digital video services, high-speed internet access and other advanced services over its broadband networks. Seeking new Power Link customers, Adelphia hoped to entice patrons at Best Buy and Circuit City retail outlets. With a limited budget, the firm turned to Giant Ideas, a Pittsburgh-area marketing and advertising firm, to turn the goal into a reality. Giant Ideas is one of three Pittsburgh-area companies working in concert to provide advertising, direct mail, printing, database management and human resources services to clients nationwide. The other two firms are Giant Solutions and Giant Insights. Here's how the companies operate: Launched by Bryan K. Ward in November 2001, Giant Ideas devises creative marketing and advertising projects. Its clients include heavy-hitters in the communications and entertainment industries such as Comcast, Cox Communications and HBO. It has 33 employees in two offices (its Denver location opened in December 2003) and ranks as Pittsburgh's fifth largest advertising agency. Giant Solutions, which launched in 2003, is a direct mail, database management, printing and multimedia solutions company that often executes Giant Ideas' ideas. Giant Insights, added in August 2004, is a human resources firm that provides an online evaluation, training and retention strategy for corporations and small businesses. Ward is CEO of Giant Ideas; Lee Greenblatt is president and CEO of Giant Solutions and Giant Insights. (When Ward launched Giant Ideas, Greenblatt was its sales arm, introducing clients to the firm and coordinating printing.) "Partnering is the way to do business today, and forming strategic alliances is the way we've grown our business," Greenblatt says. "This way, we can analyze what clients truly want and give them smart, customized solutions. Clients can choose which Giant partner or combination of partners is best suited for their projects." Combined, the three companies' 2003 revenue was $7.6 million. By the end of 2005, Ward predicts, Giant Ideas will account for 75 percent of total revenue, Giant Insights will account for 15 percent and Giant Solutions will account for 10 percent. To help Adelphia promote Power Link, Giant Ideas married the theme of "test driving" to a packaging system that included a CD and CD display case, bag stuffers, shelf talkers and 32 x 14-inch posters. Automobile-related promotional text told potential Adelphia high-speed internet buyers that the company offered "more horsepower" (connections faster than dial-up), "more leg room" (extra bandwidth) and "sleeker styling" (no busy signals or additional phone lines). The concept was well received by Adelphia, and the project earned Giant Ideas a Gold MARK award at the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing convention in 2003.