When Don Just, former CEO/president of The Martin Agency, Richmond, Va., opened Just Partners in ’96, the shop had five employees and one account. Today, the agency boasts a staff of 23 and clients including Colonial Williamsburg and Homestead Village Guest Studios. The agency’s work for the latter earned national prominence when director Rocky Morton of Morton Jankel Zander, Los Angeles, was nominated for the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award as best commercial director of ’99, partly on the strength of the spots "Stick" and "Comb."
Just Partners, Richmond, is what president/COO Matt Potts calls "a crucial stage agency. Clients come to us at very critical times, when they’re going to have to do something profound or die. Today’s business economy is such that status quo basically means you’re going backwards. People come to us for immediate, dramatic impact." Potts points to Colonial Williamsburg, which was the shop’s first client, as an example of an account that needed a drastic fix. "They had fallen completely off vacationers’ radars, and basically had been relegated to a rest stop for people on their way to Florida," he explains. "Over the course of the four years that we’ve been working with them, we’ve doubled the amount of inquiries that they’ve had, and their ticket sales are up over a million for the first time since ’89." Recent spots include "Stocks," in which a bemused tourist explains to his colonial-era counterpart why he’s locked up in the stocks ("I’m just getting my picture taken"); and "Video Game," in which a colonial teen imitates the sounds of a video game on a flute. Both ads were directed by Steve Horn of Steve & Linda Horn, Inc., New York.
Carolyn Tie McGeorge is senior partner/creative director at the agency. She had worked with Potts at O’Keefe Marketing, Richmond, as well as at The Martin Agency. McGeorge details their approach for Colonial Williamsburg: "They talked to history buffs," she says. "We said, ‘You’ve got to advertise to the consumer. Women make the choice for vacations. They’re the information gatherers in most cases.’ So we started hitting women’s magazines and [cable station] HGTV and awareness just went through the roof."
Another one of Just Partners’ turnaround stories is Crestar Bank, an account no longer with the agency. "Virginia and the mid-Atlantic were being invaded by out of state banks," recalls Potts. "Crestar was the largest independently owned bank, but they were losing significant market share and their brand awareness was nil. In a very short period of time, we were able to make them so successful that they got bought by SunTrust in Atlanta."
Potts classifies the agency’s clients as "for the most part regional," based in such cities as Charlottesville, Va. (TravelingAmerica. com) and Tampa, Fla. (Romac International/kforce.com, an international recruiting company). "It’s a mix of business-to-business and consumer, and although we have core competencies in financial services and travel and tourism, we don’t consider ourselves specialists," Potts says. Last year’s billings reached $30 million, and may double this year. Potts says the shop is actively seeking a replacement for the Crestar account.
The agency places a premium on its close relationships with clients. "People ask, ‘How do you get clients to approve that [campaign]?’ The response," relates Potts, "is ‘because we can show them that this creative is dead-on strategy, and is the result of really digging in, rolling up our sleeves and attacking the business problem.’ "
Potts says that bringing creatives and clients together early in the process makes for a more coherent campaign. "Carolyn and Danny [Boone, senior partner/associate creative director] are wonderful because they welcome the client to the process, so you’re not six weeks down the road and [when] you show them the campaign they say, ‘That’s not at all what we wanted!,’" explains Potts. "It’s just smarter business to include them early."
Just Partners prides itself on its cost-efficient approach. "Our business model is built for speed and flexibility," says Potts, "and we are not opposed to bringing in specialists. We believe that no one agency, no matter how big, provides you with the best, discipline by discipline. So we try to match different tactical approaches to the specific client."
This translates into a small staff that can vary from job to job. "We don’t have a TV producer on staff, because for each client there’s a different sort of producer out there," explains McGeorge. "There’s such a network of great freelance producers, [and while] it doesn’t behoove me to bring them in on staff year round, at the same time I can use their expertise on a particular campaign or project."
The agency also relies on freelance creatives from time to time. "We crank out a lot in house, but every now and then I pull in some freelancers for fresh thinking," says McGeorge. "I might get a team both internally and outside, especially in that brainstorming stage."
"Clients appreciate the customized approach, they know that we are going to manage the process, [and that] Carolyn is in charge," says Potts. "It gives us the ability to expand and contract as the need arises."
He also observes, "We make sure our recommendations to our clients are pureawe get no commission, we mark nothing up, we get paid for our time. That way, if the right solution is to do ads, then we do ads. But if the right solution is going to be a Web site, then that’s what we’re going to recommend. Our business model all the way down to compensation is designed for speed and flexibility."
The big name in Richmond advertising is, of course, The Martin Agency. With Just Partners comprised of so many former Martin staffers, the comparisons seem inevitable. However, Potts says, "I’m not sure we could flatter ourselves and say The Martin Agency is our main rival. They’re so huge. Out of the twenty-three of us here, seventeen or eighteen [employees] were at The Martin Agency. They are the flagship of the Richmond community and they helped put Richmond on the national radar."
But Just Partners doesn’t want to be a clone of its more famous neighbor. Rivalry isn’t an issue, either, according to McGeorge. "What’s so great about Richmond," she says, "is that the agencies really want each other to do well. I could call Martin now and ask: ‘Who’s good at this?’ or ‘Who shot that campaign?’ " The city’s common good is the agencies’ top consideration. "If we can keep the work in town, it’s only good for the community," continues McGeorge. "If I get a kid in here that I can’t hire, but I love his book, I’m going to give him names of four people at The Martin Agency and a list of agencies in town that he’s got to hit. Because you want Richmond to keep that kind of talent."
