Kolbrener adding New York, Virginia offices, projects revenue growth
Pittsburgh Business Times - by Patty Tascarella
Kolbrener Inc., Pittsburgh's 20th largest advertising agency, has opened offices in Reston, Va., and New York City to drive business at its Downtown headquarters.
"It made sense because our growth areas are our branding work for technology companies and for pre-merger and acquisition companies," CEO Michael Kolbrener said. "Northern Virginia is a hotbed for tech, and the M&A world is based in New York. It's focused and strategic. "
He projected the agency will have revenue growth of at least 25 percent due to the new sites, which are essentially sales offices manned by a single employee to start. Both have already landed clients, which were not identified. The Reston office targets tech companies in the Washington, D.C., area while the New York site taps investment banking firms that advise private equity firms. Kolbrener honed both niches on home turf, but believes reaching outside the Pittsburgh market is crucial for growth.
Midsized agencies, he said he believes, "sort of have to" physically expand.
"The market is flat here; there's a lot of competition for the amount of business that exists," he said. "It makes sense to focus on niche expertise and going after that on a national basis."
Kolbrener isn't alone. South Side-based GatesmanMarmionDrake, Pittsburgh's 21st largest agency, has a Portland, Maine, office that helps drive business.
Like Kolbrener, GatesmanMarmionDrake employs 12 all told, and embraces a similar Pittsburgh-focused direction. The Business Times ranked the region's 25 largest agencies according to 2005 advertising revenue in a list published Aug. 4, 2006: Kolbrener's was $850,00; GatesmanMarmionDrake's was $725,000.
The agency was created last summer when John Gatesman and Bill Drake, previously with Blattner Brunner, Pittsburgh's third largest agency, joined Frank Marmion's namesake business, along with Drake's brother, Jeff, who has always worked in New England, and started the now three-person Maine office.
"The majority of the service is in Pittsburgh, depending on the client's needs," said Gatesman, executive vice president, "and it's low overhead."
Boston-based Claire Automotive Group was among accounts won last month that almost double GatesmanMarmionDrake's capitalized billings, from 2006's $6 million to the current $11 million. The others were 70-site regional supermarket Shop 'n Save, and Charcot Marie Tooth Association,
a Chester, Pa.-based nonprofit.
Adam Golomb, president of the Pittsburgh Advertising Federation, said he believes other midsized agencies will open offices in other regions.
"It helps to have a local presence; you can mingle on a regular basis, and it makes clients sure there's someone they can call," said Golomb, who is director of marketing at Eat'n Park Hospitality Group. "It's easier than cold-calling from Pittsburgh.
"With travel options and technology, we can stay in touch and work from a distance," he said. "We do the production work, creative and strategy here because there's a pool of talent and, frankly, it's less expensive to do that in Pittsburgh."
ptascarella@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3832
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