At The Top - January 2002

Merging onto the Road to Success

MassMedia Joins with Vanguard

When public relations firm MassMedia merged with Salt Lake City-based Vanguard Media in March of this year, the agency known primarily as a public relations firm was thrust into a new level that included niche marketing and public and government work. Within months of the merger, MassMedia|Vanguard announced it had landed the $400,000 advertising and public relations account for the Nevada Department of Employee Training and Rehabilitation (DETR). Then, a month later, it announced it had been chosen over two leading agencies in Reno for the $150,000 Oil-Dri corporate account. Oil-Dri retained MassMedia|Vanguard’s Reno office to develop an advertising, public and community relations plan focused on educating the public about its proposed clay mining operation and processing plant in Hungry Valley. The firm was also recently awarded the tri-state Krispy Kreme Doughnut account.

For DETR, the agency is charged with creating a systemic marketing and advertising campaign including logo, brand and identity awareness for the Governor’s Workforce Investment System, which helps people who are out of work find employment and also trains and rehabilitates those outside the workforce. The project began with months of preliminary research and will culminate with the statewide unveiling of a new logo and advertising campaign on January 24.

"Today, we stand as a new agency, stronger, wiser and ready to handle larger accounts," said Nevada Managing Partner Paula Yakubik. "It was as though Vanguard had moved in and built the walls after we had laid the foundation." In essence, the merger gave MassMedia the infrastructure, ability and knowledge to handle large accounts and pooled the talent of employees at both firms. MassMedia|Vanguard is now poised to generate more than $2 million in annual billings in 2001 - more than 100 percent of what it was projected to bill before the merger.

At the helm of MassMedia|Vanguard is Yakubik, who built MassMedia from a one-person shop in 1997 to 11 employees today, with offices in Las Vegas and Reno. She serves as managing partner for Nevada. John Kindred, who heads the Salt Lake City office, has day-to-day interaction with the Nevada agency and is the visionary behind an agency-group situated across the western United States. "I really believe, rather than a merger, this was actually the combining of two great companies," Kindred said. "Together, we will build the West and become a leading force in advertising and public relations. Step by step, day by day, we are reaching and exceeding the goals of this company."

In Salt Lake, the agency handles Zion’s First National Bank, a regional banking conglomerate and the number one investor-rated bank in America, as rated by the Wall Street Journal from 1995-2000. It also represents the Utah Department of Health and the national Baby Your Baby campaign, the Idaho Department of Health and the Jordan Valley Water Conservation District.

MassMedia|Vanguard has moved into niche marketing with a Marketing to Women campaign and a public affairs department dedicated to helping Southern Nevada developers achieve desired zoning via grassroots advocacy. This division also specializes in planning, development and implementation for political campaigns and issues.