In Pictures: Interior designer and marketer Judith Mackin at work
New Brunswick entrepreneur reinvented her business strategy by putting herself upfront
As she prepared to launch her third company in 2011, Judith Mackin started to ask herself: Was she hiding behind her own firms? She was known for her marketing, event planning and interior design work through her companies Punch Productions and Punch Inside, based in Saint John, N.B. But she felt reluctant to be the face of her own hard work. At the urging of Jeff Roach, a friend and social media consultant, she decided to make the leap.David Smith/The Globe and Mail
Becoming her own brand paid off. In the year after she put the focus on herself in a new marketing plan, the combined revenue from her three businesses – including her new design studio, Tuck, pictured here – doubled. Tuck injects contemporary urban design into the industrial city and functions as a showcase for local art and curated furnishings of Canadian and Scandinavian design. Visitors can find storage chairs from Amsterdam’s Flux Furniture or salvaged-hardware light fixtures designed by Brothers Dressler of Toronto.David Smith/The Globe and Mail
Judith Mackin, right, and studio co-ordinator Sarah Tapley at the Punch Productions office in Saint John. Ms. Mackin’s turning point was born out of a frustration with social media. By making herself the focus, she was able to build relationships more easily, and she broke down the walls between her companies. Mr. Roach helped rebrand Ms. Mackin as “a curator of people, rooms and ideas,” she says.David Smith/The Globe and Mail
An example of Judith Mackin’s interior design work at a residence in Quispamsis, N.B.Sean McGrath
Another view of the interiors Ms. Mackin designed for a New Brunswick couple.Sean McGrath
Holly and Ken Singh hired Ms. Mackin to redesign the bar at their restaurant, Thandi, in Saint John.Sean McGrath
An interior created for a psychologist’s office in Saint John.Mark Hemmings
Ms. Mackin in the kitchen of her Saint John home. The building’s construction was chronicled on social media through a project called “Into the Wild.”David Smith/The Globe and Mail
Today people recognize Ms. Mackin through her dizzying array of projects and then commission her for their own. She reflects on her change in branding strategy: “I’m telling you, the difference was unbelievable.”David Smith/The Globe and Mail