New hires at Stoltz Marketing Group

Stoltz Marketing Group kicked off the new year with two new additions to their team — Adie Bartron and Mitch Kuhn:

Adie Bartron

Adie Bartron joins Stoltz as a Senior Account Manager. She previously spent the past eight years with Oliver Russell, and has worked on projects for a wide range of clients such as the Smithsonian, Nature Valley, HP, and The National Recreation and Parks Association. Adie is a graduate of the University of Idaho with a degree in advertising.

Mitch Kuhn

Mitch Kuhn joins Stoltz as a Senior Art Director. He was most recently a visual designer at Healthwise, and also spent several years as a designer and art director at agencies in Eugene, Oregon and Boise, respectively.

From the “Things we missed in 2018” file

While reading CLM’s 2018 reflections, something caught our eye we hadn’t noticed: Early in 2018, Brad Surkamer bought CLM back from Ivie & Associates, which had previously acquired CLM in 2015.

2018 kicked off with Brad buying back the company from the Ivie family. Our time with Ivie was good in providing new experiences and perspectives, but we are thankful for Brad’s desire to focus on CLM and our team and clients. The move breathed a new life back into CLM. We spent time contemplating and developing CLM 3.0, CLM’s strategy for the future, and with that came a new mission, vision and set of values for the company.

The return to local control and decision-making marked the next chapter for the agency, whose roots date back to 1980.

While it appears that CLM still maintains a working relationship with Ivie & Associates, this move also seems to coincide with Quad Graphics’ acquisition of Ivie in 2018.

An abrupt reversal

In October we wrote about the news of Chad Rea joining Oliver Russell as its new creative director. Well, it appears there’s been an about-face on that front recently.

Chad posted an update on LinkedIn that he would not be moving to Boise, but rather will remain in Austin, Texas.

You can read his full post here: Tomorrow, I’m starting with a clean slate.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like the fit may not have been there, on either side. And as is the case with any shop, the fit and the culture is just as, if not more important, than the job function itself.

Rob Osler joins Oliver Russell as Managing Director

Oliver Russell recently announced the addition of Rob Osler as Managing Director.

Osler, a Boise native, has held director-level roles in brand strategy and management at both public companies and at top agencies, including Fitch and Landor Associates.

At Oliver Russell, he’ll help manage business development opportunities, as well as provide operational support. Russ Stoddard will remain involved with the strategic direction of the agency and as a senior adviser on client work as needed. The hire comes on the heels of Chad Rea joining in September as Creative Director, and as Stoddard forms a new social impact consulting venture, Humanista.

Mitchell+Palmer picks up ISU

As first reported by the Idaho State Journal, Idaho State University has selected Mitchell+Palmer for its first comprehensive, statewide marketing and advertising campaign.

According to the article, the school entered into an eight-month, $975,000 contract with Mitchell+Palmer last month, with the majority of that budget allocated to media placement.

The article also mentions that Mitchell+Palmer previously worked on projects for Boise State University for more than a decade, but given the size and scope of this new relationship with ISU, it seems safe to presume that Boise State has been relegated to the “former clients” category.