Tag: stoltz marketing group

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Destination CLM

It seems that CLM is the place to take that next step in your agency career as of late, if the trio of new hires they recently announced is to be used as an indicator.

Senior account manager Josh Mercaldo moved to CLM from Drake Cooper, where he spent the past decade as an account director.

Greg Montemurro joined CLM’s creative team as a digital art director, after spending time with shops such as Foerstel, Stoltz Marketing Group, and Wire Stone.

Digital media manager Ben Adams moved to CLM from DaviesMoore, where he was most recently a senior digital marketing and media strategist.

Congratulations to all.

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In memoriam: Ken Stoltz

Ken Stoltz passed away on Wednesday, June 13th, following a two-year battle with brain cancer.

Born in 1951 in Pasadena, California, Ken was the second of seven children. He spent his childhood in California, and later found his way to Flagstaff, Arizona, where he graduated from Northern Arizona University with a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature.

In 1978, Ken and his wife Terry moved to Pocatello, Idaho. There, he and Jim Steele founded Steele, Stoltz & Associates. Over the years that agency grew, a Boise office was opened, and by the 1990s it had become the largest in the state.

In 1997, Ken launched his own agency, Stoltz Marketing Group, and for more than 20 years grew that business, developing a large roster of clients in a diverse range of industries.

He is survived by his wife Terry, his children Brian, Jaime, and Ashley, their respective spouses, and five grandchildren.

Ken’s full obituary can be read here.

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Musical chairs

We got word recently of a couple moves affecting shops in the Boise area:

Jason SIieversIn February, Jason Sievers moved from DaviesMoore — where he most recently served as Creative Director — to One Stone, where he’s Creative Director for Two Birds, the student-led creative studio. The move also reunites Sievers with Michael Reagan, who spent 17 years with DaviesMoore prior to joining One Stone.

Dan StoneDan Stone also recently moved from Oliver Russell — where he was Senior Copywriter — to Duft Watterson, in the same capacity. It also reunites Stone with a few of his former Stoltz Marketing Group colleagues, including Ward Duft, Jill Watterson, and Tony Hart.

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Big boulder in a little pond

You’ve seen it. And probably done it more than once. You’ve picked up that big, heavy rock and heaved it into a pond.

First there’s the big splash.

Then the ripples spread. And spread.

Ripples in water

As we rolled into 2018, the boulder dropped with the seemingly abrupt departure of Ward Duft and Jill Watterson from Stoltz Marketing Group.

Shortly thereafter, a new player emerged in the Boise agency game, and at least two other shops have been pulled into the fray.

The first ripple: Stoltz Marketing Group

The departure of Duft and Watterson left an obvious hole at the top of the agency, as they represented two-thirds of the new leadership announced in the summer of 2017.

The vacancy was short-lived, however, as SMG recently announced that Jaime Ekman has taken the helm of the company as president and COO. This marks Ekman’s second go-around with the company originally founded by her father, Ken Stoltz. She most recently spent the past eight years with Castor & Pollux, now a Nestle Purina brand.

Shortly after taking the reins, Ekman appointed Kate Holgate creative director, and announced that Crissie McDowell will be rejoining the agency as associate creative director. Holgate has been with SMG for 16 years, progressing from art director to associate creative director and now to her current role. McDowell rejoins the agency, having been an art director from 2006 to 2015.

The second ripple: Duft Watterson

Shortly after their departure from Stoltz Marketing Group, Duft Watterson emerged as a new addition to the agency lineup in the Treasure Valley.

According to their website, Duft Watterson is led by Ward Duft as co-founder, CEO and creative director, and Jill Watterson as co-founder, COO and head of client service. Joining them are two other former SMG colleagues, Marc Cowlin as director of content and digital, and Tony Hart as associate creative director.

Rounding out the Duft Watterson team is designer Madeleine Godwin, Kesey Badgett handling branding and digital, accounting specialist Talia Spencer, and Lisa Cloyd as account manager.

Duft Watterson is based in Boise, and also has a presence in the San Francisco bay area.

The Oliver Russell connection

How does Oliver Russell factor into all of this, you ask? The answer, of course, lies in the moves outlined above. At the end of her first stint with Stoltz Marketing Group in 2015, Crissie McDowell departed to join Oliver Russell, where she’s spent the past three years as a senior art director.

The DaviesMoore association

Similarly, DaviesMoore factors into the drama, as Lisa Cloyd spent a short stint with them as director of client services, before joining Duft Watterson in January.

The rest

Time will tell what — if any — other fallout there will be as a result this shakeup in the Boise-area agency scene. Is there more to the story? Most definitely. But those are details that are best left to the parties involved to share (or not share) as they see fit.

On a personal note:
As some may know, I spent several years at Stoltz Marketing Group, and have worked with many of the people mentioned here. That being said, I’ve done my best to be as impartial an unbiased as it relates to these changes. Hopefully it came across that way.

 

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Quick spin around the new hire news

A number of new faces have been showing up in various shops, so it seemed fitting to do a quick run-through of new hire news we’ve come across over the past few months or so. In no particular order:

Jenni Kimball has joined Rizen Creative as an account manager. Before joining Rizen, Kimball was director of marketing for 43rd State Holdings in Boise.

Over at Oliver Russell, Caitlin Copple Masingill recently joined their team as public relations director. Masingill is a former Missoula, Montana city councilwoman, a longtime communications consultant and a former journalist. Most recently, she worked in the Boise office of a public affairs firm. Masingill holds a master’s degree in journalism from the University of Montana and a bachelor’s degree from the College of Idaho.

Also at Oliver Russell, Holly Conti joined the team in March of this year as an account coordinator (and we were remiss in noting it).
Update: Shortly after publishing, we discovered that Holly has since been promoted from account coordinator to producer. Congratulations Holly. 

At Stoltz Marketing Group they’ve added two new folks to their staff recently. Katherine Johnson has joined the agency as a senior account manager, while Stephanie Clements is an account coordinator.

DaviesMoore is in on the trend, too, adding Becca Owens as their newest senior web developer, and Lisa Cloyd as director of client services.

Meanwhile, over at Mitchell+Palmer, they’ve added Jenni McConnell as an account / project manager, and Kymm Cornelison as social media strategist

There you have it. Have we missed anyone? Most likely. If so, drop us a line and let us know, so we can do it again.