{"id":1626,"date":"2015-06-30T11:52:17","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T15:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/?p=1626"},"modified":"2025-01-28T09:18:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T14:18:54","slug":"commercial-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/2015\/06\/commercial-success\/","title":{"rendered":"Commercial Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shannon Morris \u201992\/M.A. \u201994 runs Sigma Group, New Jersey\u2019s top ad agency, with an emphasis on fostering creativity and finding balance.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"commercialsuccess300x141\"<\/a>Shannon Morris displays an enviable ability to orchestrate a whirlwind of activity into formidable success. A day\u2019s work includes running New Jersey\u2019s top-ranked ad agency, raising four children and finding time for reflection.<\/p>\n

Proof of Morris\u2019 mastery has come in the form of a number of accolades. In 2014, AdWeek magazine proclaimed her agency \u2014 Sigma Group \u2014 No. 1 in New Jersey. AdAge named it the top small agency in the Northeast. Inc. magazine placed it among its Fastest Growing 5,000 companies.<\/p>\n

BtoB magazine nominated Sigma for the Top Creative Campaign of the Decade. And in 2013, the Stillman School of Business picked Morris as the first woman to be inducted into its Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

Obviously, Morris doesn\u2019t handle everything alone. More than 60 Sigma employees produce the company\u2019s award-winning, results-driven marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n

And her husband, Jeff \u201993, whom she met at Seton Hall, gave up a career as a high-school math teacher to take on the role of stay-at-home parent. What also helps is that Morris recently relocated Sigma \u2014 where she has worked since 1999 before purchasing the firm in 2012 \u2014 within a mile of her home in Upper Saddle River, N.J.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a very good multitasker,\u201d she says. \u201cI have to be, because I juggle a lot. Thank God for technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time management was no doubt just as critical to creating her outstanding record at Seton Hall. After arriving from a small town in Oregon somewhat intimidated by the thought of living in the Greater New York area, Morris proceeded to complete a bachelor\u2019s degree in communications, as well as a master\u2019s degree in communications with a focus on marketing and public relations.<\/p>\n

All the while, as an undergraduate, she competed on the swim team as a Division I athlete and was named a BIG EAST Academic All-Star for three years. \u201cI was very influenced by the athletic side of my experience at Seton Hall,\u201d she says. Competitive swimming, she points out, combines personal and team goals to win. This is particularly true in relay races, where Morris swam both a key leg and was the team\u2019s captain. That helped build \u201ca great sense of confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such experience, where \u201cyou have to hit those goals to carry a team,\u201d directly translated to managing creative types in advertising and public relations, she says. The same principles apply: \u201cvision, goal-setting, hard work and a great deal of commitment.\u201d The net effect is to \u201ccreate a sense of your own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the black lane lines on the bottom of a pool, these guidelines keep Morris on course in a business that is not only traditionally frenzied, but is also widely varied and constantly evolving. Indeed, she manages campaigns for \u201ceverything from Pert Plus Shampoo to Panasonic Toughbooks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond hard work and juggling tasks effectively, Morris\u2019 business success depends \u201cvery much on relationships,\u201d she says. These only thrive in an atmosphere of \u201chonesty, integrity, transparency and partnership.\u201d New ways may emerge to get messages out to the public, but the heart of a marketing firm remains the same: \u201cPeople are people; that never changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a female business owner, she offers the insight that \u201cthe biggest challenge for women is finding peace for themselves.\u201d To recharge, Morris uses meditation. Her time for reflection, she says, \u201cis not as perfect as when I was in the pool, taking all those laps,\u201d but it makes her more productive.<\/p>\n

The same is true for her firm, where she schedules one-hour \u201cboot camps\u201d in the middle of the workday for her employees. A personal trainer helps them increase fitness and decrease tension. She also hires a masseuse and conducts yoga lessons for team-building.<\/p>\n

Beyond altruism, she says there are sound financial reasons for relaxing, de-stressing and de-cluttering the minds of her people. \u201cEverything in marketing is ideas: How can you be more creative? How can you out-think someone in a big pitch? How can you be creative in retaining talent?\u201d<\/p>\n

Morris\u2019 advice to people starting careers is to \u201cbe a student of the business and be willing to work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

She calls that \u201creal authenticity,\u201d as opposed to \u201ctrying to impress people.\u201d<\/p>\n

As to Sigma\u2019s future \u2014 and her own \u2014 she quotes a line used by both poet Robert Browning and singer Frank Sinatra, saying, \u201cThe best is yet to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Gilbert is a writer based in Connecticut.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shannon Morris \u201992\/M.A. \u201994 runs Sigma Group, New Jersey\u2019s top ad agency, with an emphasis on fostering creativity and finding balance.<\/p>\n

Continue ReadingCommercial Success<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":1664,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,258,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-articles-2015-2019","category-features","entry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1626"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3697,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1626\/revisions\/3697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}