In August of 1981 W.R. Drake & Co. hired a Media Buyer who would become a pillar of the agency for 40 years. Sara Chase has been our mentor, navigator, north star, and sunny side through every up and down of agency life during her dedicated and fulfilling career.
Sara has held several positions at Drake Cooper; she was our Media Director for ten years and our Account Director for over 25 years. She’s also been a Vice President of the agency. She’s been through four agency name changes, three downtown buildings, three ownership changes, and too many timesheets to count. In fact, she’s worked at Drake Cooper longer than our founder, Bill Drake. Sara has led some of our largest accounts throughout her career and those accounts have produced some of our most award-winning campaigns including the Idaho Lottery Commission, The Department of Health and Welfare, and The Idaho Travel Council. Her dedication and commitment to Drake Cooper has always helped us flourish and helped our clients shine.
So we say thank you, Sara, for being the person you are, and for being the person we needed to help us through all those years at Drake Cooper. We say it with a heavy but full heart and with the utmost respect and admiration. We can never thank you enough for all you’ve done for the agency — you built it, you brought it to life and you made it a better and brighter place every damn day. We raise a glass to you and wish you nothing but blue skies ahead.
So much has already been said about Sara by those who’ve worked with her and know her well. Her influence on the industry, and on those she has worked with over the years, is unmistakable.
I’m certain it’s been said hundreds of times already, but I’ll say it once more:
Thank you, Sara, for all you’ve done.
Enjoy everything that’s next — whatever it may be.
John Drake will add the title of Co-President to his current role as Chief Strategy Officer, which he assumed in 2019. Since his teenage years, John has been around the agency, with his first role being the somewhat less-prestigious “Runner.” His official career began in Los Angeles at Deutsch, then moving to senior positions with WongDoody and leading his own agency, FourStories, in Portland before joining Drake Cooper fifteen years ago. That journey involved working on brands that included Disney, Carl’s Jr., Tillamook, DIRECTV, Nestlé, Baskin-Robbins, UCLA, and more. John’s role will be to oversee the agency’s work product. His teams will include planning & strategy, creative, media, and analytics.
The other Co-President is a new addition to Drake Cooper. After an extensive search process inside the industry, the agency is excited to welcome Mindy Stomp as Co-President, General Manager. Mindy will oversee the agency’s business operations, client success, and business development teams. She most recently held leadership positions with VMLY&R and brings to Drake Cooper a deep background built at agencies large and small. Her significant digital experience ranges from complex website build projects to leading digital AOR relationships. Her teams have led efforts for clients such as Facebook/Meta, SKYY Vodka, Carnival Cruise Lines, Crystal Cruises, Driscoll’s, Haas Automation, and Mazda.
Colvita Creative is a new addition to the Idaho agency scene, by way of relocating their office from Eagle, Colorado to Boise, Idaho. Founded in 2019, Colvita works “to shape new ways of thinking and collaborating with our clients, committed to keeping room for life to do what it does best – create the unexpected.” They currently work with clients in industries such as hospitality, outdoor recreation, tourism, and craft breweries.
Based in the Richland, Washington, with an additional office in Spokane, BrandCraft is a “growth marketing firm” that offers a full suite marketing, advertising, and production services.
Said BrandCraft CEO Torey Azure, “Adding Boise to our expansion is a big move in the right direction and I couldn’t be happier with the team that we are bringing on board. People matter, the right people matter, and we believe we struck gold with the new team. We couldn’t make this move, and be this confident in it, without adding the Carew Co. team.”
With this acquisition, Paul Carew now serves as Director of Creative & Content at BrandCraft. Also joining from Carew Co. are Senior Designers Thomas Walsh and Shailey Katsilometes, and Copywriter Julie Hahn as a contract partner.
Congratulations to everyone involved. We look forward to seeing what’s next.