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Ad Agency Puts Focus on Telling Client's Story

Once upon a time there was a video producer named Melinda Partin who wanted to tell stories. She toiled in the trenches of the nonprofit world and worked for a local software powerhouse before trying her hand in advertising. In 2001, she and a friend started a production company called Worktank. They had little more than $30,000 cash, a deep-pocketed client that accounted for 90 percent of their business and a wealth of determination. It was all they needed for this story. A few years later, Worktank turned into a full-service advertising agency that specialized in brand storytelling, a form of advertising that is intended to make a deep and lasting impression on consumers. "Storytelling" focuses on conveying the same message across all of a client's different types of advertising from billboards and print advertising to the company website and on-line banner ads. "We are not brand developers," Partin said. "That is a very different process. We take the brand and we tell the story behind it."

The company grew so quickly last year that the company started looking for an additional 5,000 square feet of office space only two months after moving into a larger space at the base of Seattle's Queen Anne hill. Now the company has 84 employees and, with the help of an in-house recruiter and human resources manager, is still hiring. "It's been hard to manage through the explosive growth," said Partin, the company's CEO. Her co-founder, Leslie Rugaber, is president and Worktank's chief storyteller. The duo puts emphasis on fostering a friendly, competent and respectful environment by working to eliminate ego-charged political infighting.

When the company changed its focus from a production company to an advertising agency model, hiring became easier and clients were plentiful. Last year the company came close to doubling its revenue over 2005's intake of $3.8 million. Partin is expecting about $10 million in revenue by the end of 2007, possibly more.

"We had a lot of capital expenditures this year," she said, referring, in part, to the costs of the additional buildout to accommodate the billowing company. She added that Worktank is going to manage growth in 2008, giving systems and processes a chance to catch up. That time will also allow them to get into position for acquisitions and possibly to expand. The past few years have brought greater choices for consumers; for the most part, they have become very discerning about purchasing decisions. And there's increased competition and aggressiveness in the marketplace. Companies would be smart to respond with a focus on authenticity, Partin said. While other advertising agencies offer storytelling as a part of a package, it's the integration of such services that allows Worktank to grow and stay ahead of its competitors. "The key difference between Worktank and traditional agencies is that (other agencies) offer the technology as sort of an add-on," said Partin.

She said that a few years ago traditional agencies might have outsourced some of the more technologically demanding work that is needed for brand storytelling. Now, sensing the growth in interactive marketing, some of the larger agencies have acquired the firms that have such expertise, pulling the talent under the agency's umbrella. But having easy access to the skills doesn't mean that such agencies are fully committed to the specialization required for brand storytelling. At Worktank, the technologically fueled interactive components are included in the initial meetings with clients. This is when creative teams starting to map out an advertising strategy for a client.