Publicis Boise is part of a new Team

Publicis recently announced that the Boise office is now a part of Team One, Publicis Groupe’s “fully integrated media, digital and communications agency for premium brands.”

The transition is the latest organizational shift resulting from Publicis Groupe’s realignment of resources, and will now more deeply connect Team One’s media, technology and strategy offerings with the Boise team’s daily operations, according to a spokesman.

The Boise office opened its doors over 30 years ago as Floathe Johnson, which was then acquired by EvansGroup, and later became a part of Publicis. The office will still be led by Managing Director Christal Gammill, who first joined Evans Group in 1997, and has overseen options since 2013.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Team One also has offices in Dallas, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and now Boise.

Northwest Media is in new hands

Lewiston’s Northwest Media has been acquired by Inland Cellular.

As reported by the Lewiston Tribune, “Inland Cellular acquired Northwest Media in Lewiston from Thomas, Dean & Hoskins Inc., which is based in Great Falls, Mont.”

Also from the Tribune, “Two Northwest Media employees who did graphic design and created and maintained websites for businesses and institutions are transferring to a department at Inland Cellular that does similar work.”

The call came from inside

Several months ago we shared that Drake Cooper was looking for a Creative Director.

It appears they found the right candidate inside their own four walls, so to speak.

Continue reading “The call came from inside”

Moving on

People in the agency business come and go on a regular basis. For any number of reasons. While the trends may not be as pronounced locally as they are at a national level, it certainly happens.

But every once in a while there’s a departure that makes us stand up and take notice. In recent months, there have been two.

In late November, Marc Cowlin exited his role as VP of Content and Digital Marketing at Duft Watterson, and in doing so effectively shuttered the shop’s San Francisco presence. A little digging around LinkedIn in the weeks that followed revealed that he is now with BlueOwl, a San Francisco-based technology company.

Separately, in late December Jeremy Chase left Drake Cooper (again), this time to take on the role of VP of Business Development at Salt Lake City-based Love Communications. The update came a couple weeks after Drake Cooper’s announcement that agency ownership had been converted to an ESOP structure.

I do not presume to know the reasons behind either of these departures, as there’s always more to the story than what may be shared publicly.

I’ve known both Jeremy and Marc for many years, and wish them nothing but the best in their respective new roles.

Drake Cooper has new owners. Lots of them.

Earlier today, Boise Dev broke the news that Drake Cooper has been sold.

To its employees.

As noted in the Boise Dev story, the company converted to an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) structure, according to former majority owner and CEO Jamie Cooper. That means about 50 of the company’s current employees now make up the ownership of the company.

There are 42 privately-held ESOP companies in Idaho, and only a handful that are 100% employee owned. Perhaps the most well known locally and regionally is the nation’s third-largest — WinCo Foods — with 20,000 employee-owners. Drake Cooper now joins approximately 3% of marketing and advertising firms nationwide that are employee owned.

In becoming an ESOP, Drake Cooper preserves local ownership and its independent advertising agency status. The agency’s management team and Cooper’s role as CEO will remain the same through 2022. During that time, they will focus on building a stronger board of directors with advertising industry expertise, and creating a new role for a GM/President to help guide Drake Cooper and its employee-owners into the future.

Read more about the announcement at Boise Dev, or see the full release, swag box contents, and more at Drake Cooper’s reverb on Medium.