Alexei Orlov, like the rest of the world, anticipated 2020 would be a year to remember. The media coined it ‘the year of perfect vision.’
As a people, we peered confidently into the kaleidoscope of 2020 and saw a future of perfection paved as golden as the brick road that led to Oz. We were ready for a remarkable year.
On January 1st, 2020, we marched, clear-eyed, into the dream of the new year only to find by March a year playing out much more like a nightmare. Suddenly, we were facing a very blurry new reality. No one was immune to this global astigmatism called coronavirus, and no one could escape it.
Alexei Orlov and MTM Prepare
COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, thrashed New York City and swept across the eastern seaboard before moving to the rest of the US. The airborne thief took victims quickly and left the rest of us trapped inside, afraid to breathe the infected air beyond our front doors. For many, COVID stripped employment from their daily routine. For all, the inside of whichever shoebox you call home in NYC became the monotonous backdrop to a once-promising year turned 365-day disruption that we prayed would disappear.
While many stayed out of sight during the lockdown, waiting for tomorrow to rescue them, Alexei Orlov, founder, and CEO of MTM, seasoned global marketer and brand strategy pioneer, looked directly into the face of 2020. He witnessed the collective isolation experienced by so many. Orlov knew that the way MTM immediately responded to this crisis would have an enormous impact on the future of the business. So, with a sense of intuitive reflection, as if returning from the future, Alexei Orlov asked his family, his MTM colleagues, and the brands he represented to make a different choice.
Alexei Orlov Builds His Own Brand
Alexei Orlov founded MTM in 2017. MTM, or Moments that Matter, is a network of four unique agencies with offices in five major cities worldwide, each offering its expertise to a collective of more than 160 clients all over the world. Each agency on the MTM roster Orlov specifically acquired to fill a marketing specialization niche. He pursued these businesses not only for the exceptional work each displayed, but for the value add Orlov and MTM could bring to the partnership through strategic, operational, and financial guidance.
Four agencies work independently but benefit from living under the MTM umbrella as a single unit. Each assists the others in their efforts to progress.
The Specialized Acquisitions of Alexei Orlov
Syndicate Sub Rosa, the brand strategy agency
Local Project, the experience and media design studio
Camron PR, the global communications firm
Nom, the video advertising solution
These four non-competing creative agencies that makeup MTM’s portfolio are complementary in their support for one another. The agencies work in concert to ensure success for one another, giving their brands the tools needed to maintain relevance in the moments that matter (MTM). For Alexei Orlov and his leadership team, there had never been a moment so unique, unprecedented, terrifying, and adventurous as the beginning of 2020. Orlov saw a unique opportunity to focus and grow MTM by adequately preparing his teams to battle the rugged emotional and professional terrain he believed lay ahead of them for the unforeseeable future.
Choosing to Connect
Alexei Orlov called on those around him to ask themselves the question, ‘Where were you when the world was lonely?’ With one foot planted firmly in the center of the challenges of today, Alexei summoned those lucky enough to remain employed to examine the possibility of giving a little more and taking a little less. To model behavior he hoped to see from those he worked with and for, Alexei Orlov took one massive symbolic step forward with the other foot. He was urging everyone to continue to find ways to progress in this motionless moment for so many others less fortunate scattered across the world.
Alexei Orlov did what leaders do best from his quiet home in Connecticut: he led. Orlov knew that everyone had an authentic choice in the thick of this battered year to fade into loneliness or to use it to welcome introspection and retrospection. He petitioned MTM colleagues to take inventory of their daily actions, to recognize all they do throughout the day that might be unnecessary. With so much time for self-reflection and focused awareness, many extraneous habits that before went unnoticed might register with a person and, if not needed, be eliminated from their repertoire of activity to save time for that which is truly important. He wanted to show everyone at MTM that this was a time to do less and, in turn, so much more.
Alexei Orlov knew that while most were crawling into their shells, MTM and its clients had the opportunity to face the pandemic and engage. Orlov urged MTM leaders and those in league with the barely 2.5-year-old business to begun to connect and reconnect. Person to person, brands to their people, MTM with its clients, and so on; all choosing authentic connections in this unprecedented time where we have nothing but time.
Alexei Orlov Teaches Authenticity
With society’s pace slowed to a crawl, Alexei Orlov urged his colleagues and clients to act more deliberately. Orlov challenged them to allow space for thoughtful connections to generate new layers of human and brand authenticity. Whether it be his company, the brands they represent, or every person who works in association with both, what was an unprecedented time of loss and loneliness, instead became a year to connect and grow, learning more while doing less.
2020 was now a year to reshape and refocus in order to redesign and redefine brand authentically and reflect the new world we all now live in. MTM and its brands continued to stay relevant and move in step with the even more formidable and shifting pandemic landscape.
Orlov believes that his company and the brands represented are more authentic and thoughtful today than ever before, focused more on foundational data to ensure that MTM is appropriate in what they say and do and the recommendations they offer clients. The numbers support Orlov’s beliefs. MTM had its best year in 2020. Brand authenticity and consistent connection are beautiful ways to strengthen partner and client relationships while supporting the business’ bottom line in the same step.
Alexei Orlov and MTM Lead by Example
When the day comes that this world is past the worst of this pandemic and people resume more normal daily routines, Alexei Orlov knows that everyone who hid and waited out the pandemic alone will emerge and want to know ‘where everyone else was while the world was lonely.’
Words won’t need to answer that question for Alexei Orlov and the extended MTM community of brands. The authentic and progressive engagement created due to consistent connecting and reconnecting will do the talking for them. MTM will shine like a beacon announcing to the world that it’s the right time to begin living again, connecting and reconnecting, and growing into their new authentic selves.
About MTM
MTM is a global marketing and communications holding group underpinned by its own proprietary technologies. MTM’s creative companies specialize in relevant cultural, social, and audience intelligence, innovative strategies, experience design, content creation, production, and media deployment. Our clients across the globe recognize us as best-in-class for the work we do; in just the past few years, we have won collectively over 150+ accolades and awards.
MTM currently has four agencies, including Local Projects, Camron PR, Sub Rosa, and NOM, servicing over 120 clients across the globe. Currently, we have offices in New York City, London, Los Angeles, Milan, and Shanghai. We have developed and launched two proprietaries, AI-driven technologies – NOMads and Empath.io – to further augment our agencies’ service capabilities.
About Alexei Orlov
With experience spanning 30 years, 40 countries, and 50 brands, Alexei Orlov has made life his business and business his life as a seasoned leader in Global Marketing. Alexei’s passionate and dynamic leadership has been a driving force throughout his career, a proven specialist in global brand strategy, marketing deployment, and operational change management.
Alexei Orlov is the Founder and Global CEO of MTM choice, a boutique network of skilled practitioners specializing in high-precision brand activation and media optimization. Bolstered by market-enabling technologies, mtm agencies seek to help brands excel at the “moments that matter” for their customers and consumers.