Recently commentary published on MediaPost’s Media Insider:
Future Of Agency Business Is With Small And Mid-Sized Regionals
The cycle repeats itself
If you follow an industry long enough, you start to see the same patterns and cycles repeat themselves every so often. The ebbs and flows of staffing as clients come and go through different shops. The shouting from the rooftops PR pushes, followed by periods of radio silence.
This one is no exception.
Every decade or so, there’s another wave of new businesses that make an appearance. Call them agencies, call them creative shops — whatever label you choose to put on them, it happens like clockwork. Some survive, some thrive, and others wilt away.
Often, those new agencies are formed by senior or experienced staff from other agencies that want to be in charge of their own destiny.
A decade ago, it was the likes of Carew Co., Red Sky, Sovrn, The Agency Creative Network, and Mitchell Palmer who made their grand entrances.
And like clockwork, another chapter in this story is being written.
It started a little over year ago with Duft Watterson, whose namesakes split from Stoltz Marketing Group to hang up their own shingle. Our friends at Boise Dev recently published a piece on them.
It continued earlier this year with the launch of Against. Founded by former Drake Cooper staffers Jennie Myers and Brad Weigle, Against bills themselves as a creative company that “focuses on helping companies define their purpose and rebel against the norm.”
Collectively, Myers and Weigle have over 20 years of experience, and have worked with clients in myriad industries, from finance and technology to consumer packaged goods, real estate and much more.
In addition to launching Against, Myers and Weigle have also developed a unique certificate of innovation and design (ID:EA Certificate), offered through the College of Innovation and Design at Boise State University.
Once again, the cycle repeats itself. The question remains — who else will join this latest group?
Meanwhile, at Oliver Russell
Our friends at Oliver Russell have seen their fair share of changes over the past few months, including new titles, new faces, and new job openings:
In February, Mike Stevens was promoted to Design Director, where he’ll be responsible for oversight over design initiatives within the agency, and management over Oliver Russell’s growing design team.
Also in February, Brian Millar was promoted from public relations intern to Studio Writer. Millar’s background is in journalism, and he also works as a freelance reporter for Boise Weekly.
These changes follow the addition of Rob Osler, who joined Oliver Russell in December as Managing Director. Osler previously held roles including director of brand strategy at Microsoft and senior vice president at Salt Branding.
On the job openings front, Oliver Russell has a couple positions they’re looking to fill:
PR Manager / Director
This individual will lead our PR practice, elevating the impact of organizations striving to do good for people and our planet.
Studio Designer
We’re looking to hire a purpose-oriented design all-star to complement and strengthen our team as we grow our roster of clients, which currently stretches from Silicon Valley to the Smithsonian.
Full details about those two positions and how to apply can be found via their respective links.
We’re also hearing word that a new account manager joined the Oliver Russell team in March. Stay tuned — more details on that down the road.
Job openings at Drake Cooper
Drake Cooper has a slew of job openings listed on their website, including:
Production Artist
We’re looking for a killer production artist with proven experience. Someone who has mad attention to detail, and can keep their head when things in the lab don’t go as planned. Strong typographic and layout skills are a must and outstanding organizational skills are a given. Lab coat and goggles not required.
Marketing Analyst
YOU: A campaign is over, results were tracked, high fives were had and yet, you’re still thinking about it. You go over the ways the campaign was executed, the time of day things were done, the channels that were used. You think back to offsite conversations, meetings held, and real-life engagement that, one way or another, all managed to influence the campaign. When most are off and running on the next project, you linger. You get curious. Why? To know. To learn. To get it right and to keep getting better. To be able to really answer the question, how did the campaign really do?
Interactive Designer
We are looking for an Interactive Designer with the talent, taste, and ambition to challenge conventional thinking and bring our clients’ stories to life throughout the digital landscape. The ideal candidate should be able to translate business challenges into work that is on-brand and on-trend, effective, intuitive, and delightful.
Art Director
YOU: Strategically-minded-Art Director/Designer-rock star-type person. Highly developed collaborative muscles and concept chops with mad execution skills. Comfortable living and playing in the digital world. Fluent in geek, gradient, GFX and glass half-full vernacular. Not afraid to throw ROI into a sentence, between FTW and a fist bump. Have the talent to backup a huge ego, but you don’t have one. Passionate, driven, curious, resourceful, inventive, friend, problem solver.
Account Supervisor
You already are a leader, a team builder, and a motivator. You are also articulate and strategic. Ruling the playground is kind of what this job is all about. You have an empathetic understanding of the consumer as well as the ability to be a bulldog for our creative team to meet the objectives of our clients. Account Managers are vital to Drake Cooper. Their CX focus is on day-to-day engagement, ensuring communication is clear and efficient between both agency and client. They also work collaboratively with internal teams to keep projects on schedule and moving forward. While Account Managers will work in a support role on the agency’s largest engagements, they also will gain practical experience by leading defined client engagements.
Full details about each position and how to apply can be found through their respective links above.
Job opening: Creative Director
CLM Marketing & Advertising in Boise is looking for their next Creative Director. From the job description:
As the Creative Director you’ll be the creative team’s most experienced at big idea generation, concept development, mentoring/motivating, and recommending creative team assignments. You’ll lead creative presentations and co-lead new business pitches. You’ll make sure the creative product is on objective, on time and on budget. You’ll play a key role in helping to evolve the CLM brand and culture of CLM 3.0.
Candidates should have at least five years experience leading and directing a growing creative team, and compelling copywriting and storytelling experience.
Full details about the position and how to apply can be found on CLM’s website.