Kansas City Factor

The question was raised as to how
hard it is to attract any young creative
types to the Kansas City region, let alone
minorities.

As John Harrington explained, this
picture has been getting brighter: In this,
his second tour in the Kansas City market,
he finds “a much higher overall level of
work” than he did in his last time through,
and he attributes the improvement to the region’s ability to retain creatives. “I don’t
see the mass exodus of every high-end
talent that used to be the case,” said
Harrington.

John January attributed the improved
environment to the presence of agencies
like Bernstein-Rein, Barkley and VML that are large enough to attract good people from outside, “creating a thick atmosphere for creative people and a thicket of opportunities.”

“When I came here and saw what the city was about,” said Phil Gayter, who
hails from England and had been working
in Chicago. “I saw how surprising it was, saw the Plaza and the Nelson-Atkins and thought, ‘This is a really cool environment.’ I feel proud living here.’”

“It’s so much easier to get people here today,” confirmed Angelo Trozzolo. He elaborated that now almost 20,000 people live downtown. “People actually come down here to hang out. People actually want to come workdowntown now. It’s changed a lot.”

Harrington spoke of the city’s “burgeoning art community.” He wondered if there were a way in which the ad
agencies of this city could embrace the art community even to the point of having every agency adopt an artist and become his or her patron.

“The work is the best recruiter,” suggested Ethan Whitehill. If all the agencies are going after interesting clients and interesting work, that strategy, he believes, gets Kansas City known and respected better than anything else.

Changing technology has also helped Kansas City compete. “A great idea can get a ton of exposure and all of a sudden someone’s on the map that doesn’t have a big brand or a big budget,” said Craig Braasch.

“The brand may not even be known. It takes away that burden.” As Braasch added, “There are clients looking for something out of the ordinary.”

From the perspective of Ingram’s publisher Joe Sweeney, Kansas City has surpassed St. Louis as a creative city and is becoming competitive with Minneapolis, Dallas, and Atlanta.

"There is not a community in St. Louis anymore in terms of advertising,” noted Arlo Oviatt. “When we talk about
advertising and Kansas City as a creative community, it’s heavy emphasis on the community.”

“There is a thriving advertising industry here doing fantastic work and the lifestyle and cost of living is amazing,”
offered Phil Gayter in the way of a positioning strategy for the region.

“The overheads are less here,” added Gayter. “Talent costs less. Everything costs less here.” He had heard his former employer, Leo Burnett of Chicago, once referred to as, “Oh, Leo Burnett, cha-ching.” He described the price differential between Kansas City and larger cities, as “a big selling point.”

“We find it plays more on the PR side,” said Angelo Trozzolo. “Someone in New York is $300 [per hour], and
here we are not $300.”

“I think the world has shrunk to the point where location isn’t as big of a deal as it was,” said Tom Tholen, whose
Lawrence agency backs down to no one.

Tholen recounted a competition in which Callahan Creek faced competition from several large cities.

“Your zip code doesn’t indicate whether or not you’re able to handle a project. It doesn’t indicate your ability to handle a project,” said Tholen to the decisionmakers in that competition. “But it may indicate what you charge for it. It may indicate what kind of work ethic you apply to it.”

Callahan Creek got the account, and the Kansas City region continues to establish its competitiveness.