PHOTO PROVIDED Mitch Marcello, founder and owner of Imago Innovations, speaks to a group in this photo shared by the company on social media.

Imago Innovations is a Williamsport-based organization aiming to help businesses use creative means to solve many of the problems they encounter.

“I did my graduate work for my master’s degree in creativity and innovation through Drexel University,” said Mitchell Marcello, owner and founder, “and during the pandemic, all of these organizations were trying to figure out how to navigate these new challenges.”

“So I had an opportunity to take what I was learning and start teaching and creating my own content and walking them through an innovation process.”

It was through this experience that Marcello realized how impactful using these concepts could be to help businesses solve a host of problems.

And, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became apparent that changes to the landscape of business would be profound and long lasting.

“Things are changing faster today than they ever have before, and COVID was something that just turned up the dial to 100,” Conrad said.

Before he knew it, Marcello, along with business partner, Imago Innovations instructor, Ben Conrad, had a full fledged business established a year ago this month, a process Conrad referred to as “totally organic.”

“We teach people a process called design thinking,” Marcello explains, “its a human-centered process of innovation that begins with a challenge or a problem, helps us understand that problem in a robust way, and creates a space for many people to come up with many different ideas to find a solution.”

“We then bring that down into one or two really good ideas, and then we test and implement them.”

This design concept can be adapted to suit the needs of a wide range of industries.

“Whatever their problem is, we would walk them through the design thinking process to take their perspectives, and the prospect of their clients,” Conrad said. “What do your clients need? What are your clients’ desires? And basically, how do you design a solution to your problem that really helps out your clients or customers?”

“At the heart of it, design thinking is a mindset,” Marcello said. “One of our biggest wins is once businesses acquire this mindset, they are already equipped to respond with flexibility and fluency to any future challenges.”

Marcello and Conrad say that Imago can provide solutions to both established businesses who are facing new challenges, or even “stuckness” that hinders their growth, as well as entrepreneurs to help find ways to appeal to new customers.

“Either one will be benefited by these processes,” Conrad said.

Imago’s approach to problem-solving is broad-based, as evidenced by the wide range of clientele they serve.

“We’ve worked with an architecture firm to develop a different drywall product, we’ve worked with retail to change employee-customer interactions to increase community engagement, and we’ve also worked with libraries and colleges,” Conrad said.

“It makes problems feel like opportunities, which is a blessing,” Conrad said, “if you have creative confidence, this can be an opportunity for something new that works and makes your customers have a better experience or makes your employees have a better experience, that’s a really satisfying conclusion.”

Improving working conditions is an area that is of particular importance to the business partners.

“One thing we’ve observed with millennials and younger Gen Z is that they increasingly don’t want to work in toxic environments,” Marcello explains, “they want their voices to be heard and to be valued, and when there is a creative workplace, those ideas will be heard and there’s going to be an environment that is not toxic.”

“So it’s almost like we’re deconstructing, in that we’re trying to build places that people want to show up to work, and that’s going to result in higher retention, better hiring practices, and happier and more productive employees.”

One of the biggest advances accelerated by the pandemic has been the expansion of working remotely, which has allowed for several businesses, including Imago, to expand their audience.

“Remote working gives us a lot of possibilities in terms of where we would go, and I think we would go wherever the need is,” Conrad said.

“We’ve worked with companies from New Hampshire, to Colorado, and all the way to the LEAF Foundation in Portland,” Marcello added.

And, while the ability to work with companies all across the country and potentially the world, has been a boon to their operation, Marcello and Conrad’s focus is always here at home.

“We’re really grateful for a lot of the work that we’ve been getting, especially locally,” Conrad said, “because we really want to invest in Williamsport and Lycoming County, in the businesses here, and help the culture grow.”

“We currently have a class at Lycoming College, teaching students this design thinking process to acquire this mindset for innovation,” Marcello said.

Though design thinking is an attractive tool with an impressive track record, the cost of firms such as Imago is often an obstacle for smaller businesses, something that Marcello and Conrad hope to change.

“Design thinking is very popular with Fortune 500 companies, and often comes with a pretty high paywall,” Conrad explained. So, our hope is that we can offer something that is unique to the Williamsport area, for a reasonable price, to help it become more of a center of innovative enterprise.”

In the coming months, Imago Innovations will be holding a free roundtable presentation to educate local businesses on what it has to offer.

“It’s going to be a community event,” Conrad says, “and for any businesses in the area that want to come and just learn about creative problem solving, this is a great, great way to do that.”

One of the most useful tools at their disposal since becoming an IRS registered business has been the Williamsport Chamber of Commerce.

“The chamber is one of those things that has a lot to offer, and you get what you put in,” Conrad said.

“Networking and being able to learn about what people do and how we can work together is awesome, and the chamber is just a great epicenter for all that,” Marcello said.

“The more you take advantage of their offerings, the more connections you make,” Conrad added.

It’s a great way to be connected with our local community, and that’s one of our missions right now.”

To learn more about all that Imago Innovations has to offer, please visit their website at www.innovateimago.com, or check their social media.