Writing the book on thought leadership

A veteran of the advertising business is launching a new venture along with a well known local writer/consultant.

Stephen Martin, co-founder of the Martin Agency, and Jim Bacon, a business journalist/editor who helped start Virginia Business magazine, have launched Thought Leader Marketing. The firm is part marketing, part public relations and part literary agent and writing coach. Read more

Martin Agency goes West

The Martin Agency is headed West.

The Richmond-based ad agency is planning to set up a Seattle office to provide support to one of their highest-profile clients.

Martin is behind the look of a new chain of retail stores being rolled out by Microsoft, which aim to rival Apple’s retail stores. The first Microsoft store opened last week in Scottsdale, Ariz., with a second slated to open today in Mission Viejo, Calif.

According to an article on AdAge.com, Martin is responsible for the store’s logo, packaging, bags, displays, uniforms and advertising. AdAge describes the new stores as “remarkably Apple-esque.”

Dean Jarrett, communications  director for the agency, said they are currently looking for space in Seattle, which is also being set up to serve another Washington state client, Bellevue-based Expedia.com.

“We got two substantive clients on the West Coast and have had people living and working out there for months for this Microsoft store launch,” said Jarrett. “We basically said to ourselves ‘We need a Seattle office.’”

Jarrett said they haven’t finalized the number of employees that will be sent to Seattle. He said there is roughly a dozen working there now in temporary spaces. The agency’s New York office has about 20 to 25 employees.

The new office may also help Martin reach new clients.

“There has been times over the years when something would come up for review that has a West Coast headquarters and that might be a negative against us that we didn’t have a West Coast presence, so we are hoping that will help us,” Jarrett said.

The AdAge article provides a few more details about the agency’s big move:

The office space isn’t finalized yet, and Martin “absolutely will use IPG space if it’s available and suitable,” said Martin CEO John Adams, but that “space is full, we’ll lease our own space.”

Leading the West Coast office will be Brad Higdon, a senior account leader and an officer at Martin. “For us, it’s essential that this office carry the same cultural DNA as our headquarters and the New York office,” Mr. Adams said. “Brad agreed to go to Seattle to build a great office and provide that cultural anchor.”

IPG is an abbreviation for Interpublic Group, the advertising holding company that owns Martin.

Martin Agency lands financial services account

Richmond’s Martin Agency has been selected to launch the branding and marketing campaign for the U.S. division of Sun Life Financial.

The campaign, expected to launch in the fourth quarter, will be the first online and broadcast ad campaign for the U.S. unit of the Canadian financial services firm.  The campaign will also include corporate sponsorships and print media.

The budget for the campaign was not disclosed.

“Getting consumers to take a fresh look at a venerable brand is among our favorite assignments, and we’ve had the good fortune to tackle similar projects for ‘household’ names like Walmart, GEICO, Hanes and UPS,” said Bruce Kelley, partner and vice chairman of the Martin Agency.

The U.S. division of Sun Life is based in Wellesley, Mass.

Ad Report Card: The Martin Agency’s new spots for Rosetta Stone

Virginia-based language instructional company Rosetta Stone is no stranger to effective ads. For years the company ran a print spot in the New Yorker with ad copy that ran, “He was a hard-working farm boy. She was an Italian supermodel. He knew he would have just one chance to impress her.”

Not bad.

But the Martin Agency has come aboard and expanded that approach for the language company, which has its headquarters in Northern Virginia and another office near Harrisonburg. Read more

FedEx sues UPS over whiteboard ads

One of Richmond’s most recognizable residents, Martin Agency celeb Andy Azula, is in the middle of a lawsuit between shipping giants.

The Memphis-based FedEx is suing Atlanta’s UPS over a recent commercial that features Azula and his now-famous whiteboard, according to the Memphis Daily News. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Memphis.

The rift is over a claim made in the ad where Azula says that UPS has been “ranked the most reliable” of shipping companies.

From the article:

One of FedEx’s main lines of attack continues to be the timeliness of the phrase “just ranked the most reliable” in the UPS ad.

“If you’re looking for a shipping company who really understands today’s economy, you’d want one that’s helped customers through 20 recessions, had over 400,000 employees worldwide, over a hundred years’ experience and was just ranked the most reliable,” the TV ad in question told viewers. “Well, that would be UPS.”

The basis of the UPS ad was a survey of shippers by the Morgan Stanley investment firm. FedEx believes the November survey methodology was flawed.

It also takes issue with UPS mentioning the claim it was “just ranked” on the basis of a November survey.

Lawyers from the two companies will meet later on this month to discuss the lawsuit.

Azula, who is the creative director at the Martin Agency, was never supposed to be in the commercial in the first place. He pitched the idea and then couldn’t find anyone who could write and talk at the same time. Last week the Wall Street Journal ran an article about him.

From the article:

Since 2007, Mr. Azula has appeared in 48 different 15- and 30-second TV spots (although he’s not sure how many of those spots have actually aired). These days, he gets recognized pretty much everywhere he goes. Strangers often ask him to draw them a picture. The most common question he gets is whether he actually does the whiteboard drawings in the ads. (The answer is yes.)

The whiteboard campaign was among the firm’s advertising successes in recent years  that also include the Geico caveman commercials.

FedEx launched a site, www.brownbailout.com, that features a parody of the original whiteboard ads.

Martin Agency finalist for Expedia account

Expedia.com is shopping for a new ad agency and The Martin Agency is among a group of three finalists, Adweek reports.

The three (the other firms are from New York and Boston) were selected from a group of six agencies competing for the creative duties on the travel site’s ad account. Final presentations are expected to take place in July or August.

Expedia’s major media spending totaled $59 million last year, down 28 percent from 2007, according to the article.

Richmond Show recognizes best of local advertising

Martin Agency wins big, Madison + Main’s Dave Saunders named Ad Person of the Year. Read more

Is it me, or are there a ton of marketing firms in this town?

We’ve been reporting a lot lately on marketing firms that seem to be sprouting up left and right. (Click here and here.) We’ve received several more news releases about others and haven’t had time to learn about their stories.

But the timing seems indirectly correlated with demand, and that could pose trouble for the new firms and the ones they’re competing with.

The Martin Agency said yesterday that it was cutting 24 jobs. In October, RightMinds made cuts. At the time, chief executive Chris Thurston told me, “I’ve been through downturns and recessions, and this is by far the worst.” And that was in October. The pain is likely going to be worse in the next quarter. Almost half of companies cut their advertising budgets in the fourth quarter of 2008, a quarterly survey found, with spending set to fall even more in 2009.

So how will this play out? Will prices for creative services be driven so low by an oversupply that workers leave the industry? Or, on the positive side, might this be an opportunity for local businesses to get a better price on marketing services?

Most of these firms will be chasing local clients, after all.