Brands’ urgent bid to understand ‘real Americans’ has boosted the profiles and confidence of heartland ad shops
Nearly 3,000 American advertising jobs were eliminated in December. None was at the Bark Firm in Casper, Wyo.
The 17-year-old agency has grown its head count steadily from two people to 10. Clients come and go but business is predictable, largely because of a strategy to service mostly midsize, Midwestern accounts—never pitching for work that would require staffing up dramatically and potentially making layoffs later.
“In middle America, some brands and businesses are more afraid to trust their budgets with these larger [ad] firms where the use of technology is rampant, and they don’t have that human connection,” said Dustin Neal, partner and principal creative at the firm, whose clients include coffee brand Sofa King and logistics company Takkion, both based nearby. “They want to really know the people who are running with their budget.”
Not every midsize agency in the Midwest is thriving, and not every large holding company is struggling, said Mollie Rosen, president of member experience for advertising agency trade group the 4As. Large multinational companies still require the manpower of big, connected agencies with offices in multiple markets, and the vast majority of Super Bowl ads this month were created by large agencies based in New York, Chicago or Los Angeles.
