TOP EXECUTIVES: Richard Butwinick, president; Kurt Klenzman, creative director; Keri Fuqua, account director
2006 U.S. NET REVENUE: $1.8 million
KEY CLIENTS: P&G, Qwest, 3M, Regis, Malt-O-Meal
HEADQUARTERS: Minneapolis
Although he didn’t know it, Richard Butwinick had an entrepreneur within him fighting to get out.
Butwinick was toiling at the Chancellor agency when it was acquired in 2000 by media giant Clear Channel. It was clear that the new owner had no long-term plans for his unit.
So he left and founded MarketingLab Inc., goaded into it by some “pretty good mentors,” he says. “They said, ‘Look how many mom-and-pop agencies there are.’”
It paid off, judging by this year’s Promo 100. MarketingLab made the listing for the fourth time, jumping from 88 to 55 overall. And it scored even better in terms of creativity, leaping from 48 to 13.
The original plan? To focus on retail promotion at the local level.
Based on that, Procter & Gamble placed MarketingLab on retainer immediately, and other clients followed. “We achieved profitability from day one,” Butwinick says.
P&G is still a client. And MarketingLab recently helped it conduct a monthlong promotion to push multiple products at SuperValu stores.
The result: Forty-nine percent of the participants who normally bought P&G products at other stores purchased them at SuperValu.
Butwinick describes his agency’s work as “brand meets sales at the point of decision.” Except for creative director Kurt Klenzman, who worked for Momentum and the Ryan Partnership, most of MarketingLab’s staff lacked promotions experience. That was fine with Butwinick.
“What they had in common was that they’re fast learners,” he says. “They were interested in working for a small company and wanted to be part of building something.”
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