DRUM Agency

DRUM Agency was an independently owned marketing agency with operations in Atlanta, New York City and Chicago. It shut down without notice on April 15, 2020. It was the result of the merger of BKV (Bennett Kuhn Varner), unified.agency, Hiccup and Umarketing firms.[1][2] The oldest agency, BKV, originally specialized in direct response marketing, then later expanded into traditional media, followed by digital media. Clients included both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations.[3][4]

DRUM Agency
TypePrivate
IndustryAdvertising, Marketing
Founded1981
Headquarters3390 Peachtree Road 10th Floor,
Atlanta, Georgia 30326
,
U.S.
Number of locations
3 centers of operations and 2 major satellite offices
Area served
World Wide
Key people
George Wiedemann (CEO)
Kenneth Lomasney (COO)
Services
Number of employees
150+
Websitedrumagency.com

History

BKV

BKV was founded as Bennet Kuhn Varner in 1981 with Six Flags Theme Parks as one of the first clients.[5]

In 1996, BKV created and produced a two-minute DRTV commercial for Dirt Devil to introduce the Broom Vac three months before a retail launch. This direct response television campaign sold a total of 100,000 units during the period. The ad was launched after the Christmas season and helped lead into the Mother's Day gift-buying season.[6]

Early and mid-March 2001, BKV launched a series of direct response television commercials for Marietta's Matria Healthcare Inc. for their diabetes self-care division. The DRTV commercials target audience was seniors age 65 and over. They were to call a toll-free number to order diabetes-care supplies through the mail instead of through pharmacies.[7]

June 2001, Direct Results Network was created as a sister company of BKV. In 2002, the name was changed to Response Mine Interactive (RMI).[8]

In 2002, Ad Age named BKV one of the top agencies by U.S. direct marketing revenue at #49.[9]

On Sept 2, 2005, BKV employees collected money on the streets of Buckhead for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Agency owners Brent Kuhn and Maribett Varner matched the donation raised and BKV sent $3,218 to the American Red Cross.[10]

In 2006, BKV began using marketing techniques to better reach clients and consumers by using video and audio Podcasts and mobile platforms.[11]

In 2007, Equifax chose BKV to handle its $11 million account for direct response, search engine optimization and marketing services. To expand communication programs beyond the internet, Equifax chose to utilize print, direct mail and direct response television.[12]

BKV merged with Weyforth-Haas Marketing of Overland Park, Kansas in 2007. The joined company took on the name BKV Inc. in 2008.[13]

BKV and sister company RMI moved to 8th, 9th and 10th floors of Lenox Towers at 3390 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, Georgia, 30326 in June 2009 with the help of CresaPartners. BKV was previously located at 2964 Peachtree Road for ten years.[14]

In 2013, Dave Mundo, Analytics Director at BKV, spoke at Digital Summit Atlanta on media and marketing content alongside entrepreneurs and digital strategists.[15]

In 2014, Jana Ferguson, EVP and Director of Client Services, spoke at Digital Summit Atlanta about the importance of being results driven and analytical within paid search marketing, display advertising, email acquisition and web development.[16]

Greg Lee, Director of SEO at BKV, spoke at SES Atlanta in 2015 on brand visibility and search engine optimization. SES Atlanta is a conference that focuses on various types of search marketing from paid search to organic search.[17]

In 2015, Todd Chambers, Group Creative Director VP at BKV, discussed the strategies and trends of web design and user experience at SEMPO Google+ Hangout. Expert guest speakers discussed these topics in an open question and answer format.[18]

In October 2015, BKV provided nonprofit marketing services to support 48in48 as both a sponsor and source of volunteers including web designers, developers and copywriters. This event, which took place at General Assembly in Ponce City Market, provided 48 custom WordPress websites for 48 Atlanta-based nonprofits in no more than 48 hours.[19]

DRUM Agency

In 2016 BKV began collaborating with three other agencies, Hiccup, Umarketing and unified.agency as a planned two-year consolidation. Then in 2018, these agencies merged into one marketing firm under the name DRUM Agency, led by CEO George Wiedemann and COO Ken Lomasney with operations in Atlanta, Chicago and New York.[2][20] In April 2020, DRUM Agency shut its Atlanta office down suddenly and without explanation.[21]

Services

Offerings under BKV included digital advertising, search engine marketing, advanced data and analytics, direct mail, customer relationship management, email marketing, broadcast creative and media services, search engine optimization, social media marketing and digital PR. The company also provided web and mobile development services, such as design, static site generation, API integration, and database administration.[22][23] With the merger to DRUM Agency, additional creative, technology and analytics services were added to the offering.[1]

Awards
Bronze Echo Award World Relief (3-D Mailer) Direct Marketing Association 2003[24]

References
  1. Liu, Ming (February 12, 2018). "Award-Winning Agencies – unified.agency, BKV, Hiccup, Umarketing, CO&P – Merge to Launch DRUM Agency". Business Wire. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  2. Faw, Larissa (January 29, 2018). "4 Agencies Unite To Form The Drum". Media Post. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  3. "Company Overview of BKV". Bloomberg. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  4. "BKV Case Study". Marin Software. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  5. "BKV". agencycompile. agencycompile. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  6. Anthony, Margaret (15 Jul 1996). "Dirt Devil sweeps past 100,000 sales with BKV spot". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  7. Stephens, Erica (2 Apr 2001). "Chick-fil-A unwraps ad campaign during Oscars". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  8. Holy, Lara (19 April 2008). "Response Mine President Ken Robbins to Speak at Leading Search Conference". PRWeb. Archived from the original on 2 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  9. "Top Direct Marketing agencies 2002". Advertising Age. Advertising Age. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  10. "BKV, ATLANTA". Adweek. Adweek. 22 Sep 2005. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  11. "Local agencies turn to customizable ads and PR - Atlanta Business Chronicle". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  12. "Bennett Kuhn Varner wins 11M Equifax Consumer Services account". Direct Marketing News. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  13. "Weyforth-Haas changes name to BKV". Biz Journals. Kansas City Business Journal. 6 Nov 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  14. "BKV plans relocation to Lenox Towers advised by CresaPartners". Cresa.com. 26 Jan 2009. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  15. "My schedule for Digital Atlanta 2013". digitalatlanta2013.sched.org. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  16. "Digital Summit Atlanta 2014 | May 20–21, Atlanta, GA". digitalsummitatlanta.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-05. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  17. "SES Atlanta 2015". sesconference.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-06. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  18. "SEMPO". www.sempo.org. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  19. "Atlanta Ad Agency BKV Lends Nonprofit Marketing Expertise to 48in48 Event This Fall". StreetInsider.com. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
  20. Lasoff Levs, Melanie (May 15, 2018). "Atlanta marketing maven Maribett Varner prepares for retirement". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  21. https://reel360.com/article/layoffs-and-furloughs-hit-the-advertising-industry/
  22. "Company Overview of BKV, Inc". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  23. "Speaker Linueup". Digital Summit Atlanta. Digital Summit Atlanta. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 27 January 2016.
  24. "BENNETT KUHN VARNER, ATLANTA". Adweek. Adweek. 5 Dec 2003. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
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