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Jim Oglesby and Scott Clem melded vastly different backgrounds to form AKC Marketing

Page 12

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PHOTO BY DUANE TINKEY

BY SARAH BZDEGA

J im Oglesby, 43, is a clean-cut cre-ative guy, who spent the majority of his career in American

Republic Insurance Co.’s cre-ative services department and working as a freelance de-signer in off-work hours. Scott Clem, 35, is a hip-dressed ac-count executive, who branched out on his own after a plane crash killed four of his colleagues, including his mentor, at Two Rivers Marketing. These two “yin and yang” people have melded their talents and back-grounds to create AKC Marketing. In two years, AKC has gone from no clients to about 10. It has fi ve employees, including the own-ers, another person on the creative side, a public relations specialist and an intern. It has transitioned from handling quick projects, such as postcards and direct-mail pieces, to putting together full marketing plans, with clients mainly interested in business-to-business marketing and agriculture. And the fi rm has moved out of Clem’s basement into a business condominium off 86th Street in Johnston. “It really started from scratch,” Clem said, “which was the dumbest thing we could have done, in hind-sight.” Especially in the midst of an eco-nomic downturn and with strong competition among advertising fi rms in Greater Des Moines, Clem and Oglesby feel they have been blessed with several opportunities that have allowed them to establish a company and keep it going. “In this market,” Oglesby said, “there are probably too many print-ers. There are probably too many agencies. There are too many cre-atives in this town. But on the other hand, there are a lot of little pockets

of business and clients that are dy-ing to get what we provide.”Finding humility Yet Clem and Oglesby faced a reality check in how quickly they could build an advertising fi rm. They formed AKC with the hope that their diverse skill sets and years

of experience would quickly lead to steady work. “Talking about it still makes me laugh,” said Clem from the chic boardroom in front of their two-room offi ce

within the Johnston strip center. “It’s been very humbling.” Clem’s fi rst job out of college was as an account coordinator at Kragie/Newell Advertising Inc., now The Integer Group. There he met Tom Dunphy, who convinced Clem to go with him when he started Two Rivers Marketing in 2000. By fall 2005, Clem was made a partner in the fi rm. Then Dunphy, along with three other employees at Two Rivers, died in a plane crash while returning home from a business meet-ing in Novem-ber 2006. Clem faced a major crossroads. “Next to my family and my wife, he (Dunphy) had the most infl uence on me personally,” Clem said. “So when that person is no longer around, obviously you re-search your entire being.” Three months later, he decided to cut ties with Two Rivers and start his own fi rm. “I had been under his wing, if you will, for 13 years, and I was ready to see what I could ac-complish,” Clem said, who also not-ed he purposely did not try to take any Two Rivers clients with him. Clem had met Oglesby a few years prior when Oglesby had done

some freelance design work for his wife’s company and approached him with the idea of becoming busi-ness partners. Oglesby was manag-er of American Republic’s creative services department at the time but also running a freelance design company on the side, slowly transi-tioning into working on his own. Still, Clem was so shocked ,when Oglesby accepted his offer to form AKC in September 2007 that he walked out of the meeting after Oglesby said yes. “It scared the bejesus out of me. We didn’t really have the clientele,” Clem said. A year later, they had enough business to move out of their home offi ces to a permanent location, which Clem and Ogelsby purchased for $222,000 with a Small Business Administration loan. During this transition period,

they started with one client, whom Clem met at a networking event. The client needed creative support after a freelancer left on maternity leave. Slowly, Clem and Oglesby have built up to hav-ing long-term re-lationships with a few clients and

developing full marketing plans.

Patience and perseverance The two owners believe their different skill sets and backgrounds – which they say pick one person up when the other is down and help them relate to clients’ various needs – has made the fi rm work. They also have made it a priority to map out their expectations for the fi rm from the beginning, including a vision of growing the fi rm to 10 to 15 employees and becoming an integrated part of their clients’ mar-keting team. “I don’t think we were unique in it, but we really want to grow organically with our clients,” Clem said. “You can sell more in fi ve min-utes to a current client than you can in a lifetime.” The advertising world is chang-ing, they say, with technology speeding up the time it takes to put marketing materials together and in turn, increasing clients’ expecta-tions for getting work done. Mean-while, the economic downturn has slowed the time it takes clients to make marketing decisions. AKC has tried to stay fl exible and work closely with clients to de-velop marketing strategies that best meet their budgets and learn their message so that they can quickly turn over projects as needed. Oglesby and Clem also have sought to hire experienced and well-rounded employees, which has forced them to offer benefi ts and a 401(k) plan competitive with bigger companies. Just getting to this point, the own-ers say, has been a huge success. “In my opinion, no matter where we go from here, what we’ve been able to accomplish in such a short time frame to me, you can’t take that away from us,” Clem said. “And whether we succeed or fail from here, we gave it one hell of a shot.” “Check back in a year,” said Oglesby, laughing.

Owners have built up small ad agency from no clients in two years

Yin and yang form AKC

PHOTO BY DUANE TINKEYJim Oglesby, left, is a designer who came from American Republic Insurance Co. Scott Clem is an account executive who came from Two Rivers Marketing. They have used these diverse backgrounds to build their advertising fi rm.

CoverStory

February 2007Scott Clem leaves Two Rivers Marketing to start his own fi rm

September 2007Jim Oglesby comes on board and they form AKC Marketing

August 2008AKC moves out of Clem’s basement and into a strip center at 8711 Windsor Parkway in Johnston

AKC MarketingCompany timeline

It really started from scratch, which was the dumbest thing we could have done, in hindsight.

– Scott Clem co-founder, AKC Marketing