Ad Agencies' Work Shifting To Internet

(To see the list of the top ad agencies in Arkansas, click . A spreadsheet version of the list is also .)

It hasn't been the best of years, but it hasn't been the worst of years either.

Arkansas' advertising agencies report downward spending trends in certain sectors while other industries press on with their marketing plans.

And all the firms interviewed by Arkansas Business say Internet marketing is becoming a larger part of their overall business, though it is not supplanting traditional media just yet.

"An Internet site is either the first or second impression a company makes," Martin Thoma, a principal at Thoma Thoma, said. "For a company, that just underscores how important it is to have a good Internet site."

For the first time, Thoma Thoma provided information for Arkansas Business' annual list of the state's largest advertising agencies, landing in the 14th spot as ranked by number of employees.

As Arkansas' agencies work to integrate the Internet and interactive media – like Internet video – into their marketing packages, the agencies have not been without their share of buyouts, start-ups, closures and splits.

Changes

Communications Development of Maumelle, which catered to the trucking industry, was sold earlier this year to its main competitor, ACS Advertising of Nashville, Tenn. It's No. 4 on the agency list with 25 employees in Arkansas, while ACS Advertising has a total of 49 employees spread across the nation, Trish Groves, vice president of marketing, said.

"This has been a whirlwind for us," said Groves, who started Communications Development in 1990. "Who would have ever dreamed a girl from Warren, Arkansas, would start a business that a Fortune 500 company would buy?"

ACS Advertising is owned by Affiliated Computer Services of Dallas.

A fledgling agency included on this year's list for the first time is The Design Group of Little Rock, a full-service agency specializing in the "multicultural marketing arena," Mark Parker, a principal, said.

Parker and CEO Myron Jackson formerly worked at Advantage Communications, which previously was the only agency in Arkansas specializing in multicultural marketing. Parker, Jackson and Telly Noel formed the agency in September 2007.

"We are seeing growth because the marketplace is showing the need for shops like ours," Jackson said.

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