Mad Men South: Birmingham’s creative industry is expanding, hiring

Published: Sunday, February 27, 2011, 6:30 AM     Updated: Sunday, February 27, 2011, 9:20 AM

  Birmingham’s advertising community is going through a growth spurt, as a number of local agencies have added jobs and new accounts over the past year.

  Intermark Group, for example, saw rapid growth in 2010, with 53 hires, including 35 new positions, as well as a 36 percent surge in income.

  The firm, which has about 20 open positions, expects the trend to continue this year, pointing to continued growth among its clients and the rise of social media as an avenue to promote them.
 
  Meanwhile, another Birmingham-based ad agency, Luckie & Co., has added 31 employees since January 2010, about half of which are new positions.

  Other shops, including Big Communications, have beefed up their creative rolls as well, leading some to talk about the rise of Birmingham as hub for the profession.

“Birmingham overall is becoming a creative center, an advertising center,” said Jake McKenzie, chief executive of Intermark. “There’s certainly a lot of very talented folks in town, and that’s a great thing for all of us.”

  At Intermark, the new hires have created cramped quarters at its office on First Avenue North in downtown Birmingham, where the majority of its 173 employees work.

  The company renovated the building, the former home of Rogers Trading Co., several years ago, and has started to divvy up former meeting space for additional cubicles.

  McKenzie attributes Intermark’s growth to growth among its clients, which include Chevrolet and Toyota auto dealers, Gulfport, Miss.-based Hancock Bank, flooring company Mohawk Industries and Papa John’s restaurants in northwest Florida and southern Alabama.

  “We’ve spent a lot of time trying to make sure our clients’ businesses are growing, and in doing that, it helped us grow,” he said.

  Employees have been hired across Intermark’s business, but the bulk of them are tied to social media, McKenzie said.

  The firm is focused on adding digital space experts to its staff, he added, citing Facebook as an example of a surefire way to reach target markets.

  “If you want to immediately improve somebody’s business, you start by improving their digital space,” he said.

  Among the new positions at Intermark is an in-house recruiter, Carlton Kemper.

  McKenzie said Kemper’s role of scouting out new talent has helped Intermark’s managers gain back a lot of their own work time; it’s also elevated the quality of the firm’s new hires.

  Kemper, Intermark’s manager of talent acquisition, said he’s recruiting nationally and internationally to find experts in the digital advertising arena, and Intermark’s growth is helping those efforts.

  As the company’s star rises, “that will assist in our recruiting efforts across the board,” he said.

  Ed Mizzell, chief operating officer at Luckie & Co., said the past two years have caused most companies to operate as leanly as possible. But growth at Luckie, which counts AT&T, Regions Bank and Little Debbie among its clients, translated into 15 new positions last year.

  Chief Executive Tom Luckie said the firm is focused on the future.

  “We’re investing in people who bring serious credentials and thought leadership in the digital space,” he said. “Our goal is to make sure we have the resources to provide our clients with the kind of results they deserve.”

  At Big Communications, six new positions were added in 2010, as the firm added
new clients, including two Southeast airport authorities, and stretched into new markets.

  It also launched a workforce development campaign, featuring “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe, for the Alabama Construction Recruitment Institute, along with a campaign for 2nd & Charles, the used bookstore chain operated by Birmingham’s Books-A-Million. (It also represents The Birmingham News in a branding campaign.)

  While Big’s core business is in Birmingham, Mobile is a growth market, and there are additional opportunities in Mississippi, said President John Montgomery.

  There’s no denying that there is a lot of emerging talent in Birmingham, he added. Some creative people have moved to town looking for a fresh start, with some starting their own shops, which makes for a stronger atmosphere.

  “There are people who were maybe disillusioned with the slow-turning wheels of a big agency, thinking, ‘I’m going to hang my shingle,’” Montgomery said. “To have boutique shops competing with some of the bigger agencies, that keeps us all on our toes.” 

Big Communications in Birmingham wins big at 53rd ADDY advertising awards

Published: Friday, February 25, 2011, 6:15 AM

Big Communications won two best of show citations and four of the major individual talent recognitions Thursday night at the 53rd ADDY Awards, the annual celebration and creative competition of the Birmingham advertising industry.

Ad agency Big was selected by a national panel of experts as “Best of Show Overall” for its campaign on behalf of 2nd & Charles, the chain of stores specializing in used books, movies and other media formats developed by Birmingham retailer Books-A-Million Inc.

Big was also cited as “Best of Show” for television ads produced on behalf of the Alabama construction industry, which is trying to recruit new workers. The agency’s creative talent also bagged four of the industry’s marquee citations for individual achievement.

John Montgomery, president of Big Communications, said it was his agency’s goal for 2010 to improve the quality of its television advertising. He said the Best of Show award for that category proves that they did.

“The biggest thing for us at Big Communications is that we don’t rubber stamp anything,” Montgomery said. “You can’t work for as many A-list clients as we do with only 22 people and not work as a team.”

Lewis Communications won the top honor for print advertising for its posters on Tiffin Motorhomes, based in north Alabama. The posters depict wide open American landscapes and the lure of the open road.

The Silver Medal citation for lifetime achievement was given to Joe O’Donnell, editor and owner of B-Metro magazine.

Overall, dozens of awards in myriad categories were bestowed during a gala event at the Alabama Theater that was presented by The Birmingham News. The ADDYs are always a high point for Birmingham’s creative industry. About 400 people attended the event and an earlier reception, both produced by Stephanie Holland, chief of this year’s ceremony and president of Holland & Holland Advertising.

This year, 46 agencies entered the competition. The work was judged by a panel of three out-of-state advertising agency creative directors whose combined client roster includes Nike, BMW and Coors beer.

The marquee individual awards went as follows:

• Ford Wiles of Big Communications, Creative Director of the Year.

• Roy Burns of Lewis Communications, Art Director of the Year.

• Mark Ervin of Big Communications, Copywriter of the Year.

• Shannon Harris of Big Communications, Illustrator of the Year.

• Leisa Cole of Omni Studio, Photographer of the Year.

• Shannon Harris of Big Communications, Designer of the Year.

The Best of Show award for the student category was won by Alexandra Crawford, for her entry “Illustration Book.”

Winners are eligible to advance to regional competitions sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. Those winners then face off in a national competition.

This year’s ADDY awards debuted a permanent trophy for the winners. In the past, each year’s award committee settled on a different trophy every year, and many were idiosyncratic mementos.

From now on, said American Advertising Federation Birmingham President Jeff Roe, the trophy will be standardized. It is a hunk of aluminum in the shape of a steel ingot, symbolizing Birmingham’s transformation from an industrial city to one of ideas, Roe said. It was designed by Birmingham creative agency Scout Brand.

“This past year at the federation has been all about getting people out of their comfort zones,” said Roe.

As the year ends, we come across endless lists of the year’s “bests, worsts or most”. Today we came across a list of the year’s most talked about ads in social media and thought we’d share. The list was compiled by Zeta Interactive, which monitors blogs, comments on Twitter, message boards and posts in social media.

Making number one on the list was a campaign by Axe encouraging men to clean themselves all over when they shower. In the number two spot was a Nike’s “Rise” commercial featuring Lebron James.

Third was Google ad, “Parisian Love,” which made its debut during Super Bowl XLIV. Fourth was the “Smell Like a Man, Man,” campaign by Old Spice (one of our personal favorites).

Fifth place went to Domino’s Pizza for their “Making It Right”  campaign that apologized for the products that Domino’s previously sold. Another Nike Ad called “Human Chain” came in sixth and seventh place went to Snickers for their hilarious ad featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda. Coming in eighth place was Red Bull’s commercial titled “Way Back Home.”

Closing out the list were two footwear companies. Adidas’ spot called “Fast Don’t Lie” finished in ninth and a commercial for K-Swiss, called “Tubes,” came in at tenth.