Earlier in my career, I was part of a national organization of creative firms that met in different parts of the country. I recall sitting at bar in the French quarter of New Orleans, a few cocktails in, when a colleague from New Orleans said, "You know the difference between branding firms in Boston and those down here?" He paused, "Y'all live above the neck... we live...below the neck!"

As well as being highly amused, I recognized the depth of his colorful statement and it caused me to reflect upon the top ten attributes to look for in a Boston based branding agency:

Good storytelling is the new frontier for the website.

As Responsive Design homogenizes the look and feel of websites (I love the usability but dislike the cookie cutter designs that Responsive Design so often engenders); now, more than ever, we need compelling content to break through the visual monotony and fuse the "brand experience" with the "user experience." This is especially true in B2B, where it is easy to "live above the neck" in a world of features, functions, dense and often technical content.

Here are five websites that successfully use compelling storytelling to build their brands.