Born to transform: the Burrell Communications Group bursts out of the ad agency box to become bigger, better, and bolder. (B.E. Advertising Agency Of The Year).

Do you remember the Transformers craze of 1984? Transformers were a toy lover's dream: action figures that could magically convert from robots into multifaceted operating vehicles. Hence the popular tag line "more than meets the eye." The same phrase could describe the Burrell Communications Group, the Chicago-based agency that has, in the three decades since its launch, transformed into a full-service firm with a menu of offerings almost as impressive as its roster of class-A clients. Burrell offers advertising consulting, account planning, peer-to-peer marketing, media placement, promotion direction, public relations and event marketing, and research. It's a long list of services not typically offered at your average advertising agency, but Burrell Communications is neither typical nor average.

Founded in 1971, the Burrell Communications Group, also known as The Group, is an old sage among black ad agencies, but it has the heart of an upstart. Although it's third on the list this year in revenues, the firm takes first-place honors for ingenuity, as well as its ability to remain solidly in play despite a game with rules constantly in flux. The Group has received several accolades over the last year, including the Association of American Advertising Agencies' award for Multicultural Agency of the Year and the Association of National Advertisers' Multicultural Excellence award for the Verizon Campaign. Add to that the BE Advertising Agency of the Year.

Burrell Communications Group
Founded: 1971

        Staff   Billings *

1997     162      168.0

1998     162      173.9

1999     125      175.2

2000     156      179.4

2001     135      181.6

* BILLINGS IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. AS OF DEC. 31, 2001.
PREPARED BY B.E. RESEARCH.

Note: Table made from bar graph.

While he welcomes the title, Thomas Burrell, The Group's founder, chairman, and CEO, admits, "We don't use the term advertising agency much because we think it's outdated. It suggests that we limit ourselves to a little box of advertising agency tools to solve client problems--even if the tools aren't ideal. We are marketing communications specialists. You tell us the problem, and we use the tools to help solve that problem whether they're in the box or not."

The Group has remained among the top three on the BE ADVERTISING AGENCIES list from the outset. Despite the challenges posed by a struggling economy, the firm remains strong, as evidenced by its increased billings (a modest 1.2%) and its ability to snag three major clients in 2001--General Mills, Hewlett-Packard, and Toyota (see Advertising Overview for details). The firm has 24 major clients and its gross revenue of $25 million is more than double what it was a decade ago.

In one form or another, the firm's success is largely built on its ability to shift approaches to meet the ever-changing needs of clients. Like a Transformer, this strategy appears simple initially. But as we uncovered the many components that make up The Group, we realized that the firm's constant transformation is anything but simple. And that the people propelling the changes have so much fun in the process makes the story that much more compelling.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Burrell credits his success to smart business tactics from day one. "I worked in three advertising agencies before I started a business, and I worked in them understanding that I would one day do this," he says. In 1961 Burrell started out as a cub copywriter with Wade Advertising in Chicago. He next joined Leo Burnett, and Foote, Cone & Belding in London. In 1968 he returned to the U.S. as a copywriter, then copy supervisor, for Needham, Harper & Steers. During his travels, Burrell kept honing his own business plan and learned far more than just the ABCs of advertising. "I paid attention to aspects of running the business that would be of some help to me later on," he says.

Finally, 10 years after entering the industry, Burrell opened Burrell Advertising. "We had no secretary, one telephone, and three old desks, which we painted red, green, and orange," he remembers. "I didn't go to the bank to borrow a whole lot of money to open a fancy space. The business wasn't based on cosmetics; it was based on substance." Burrell's prudence helped the firm stay afloat through a rocky beginning. Six months passed before the company's first steady piece of business--McDonald's--came on board with a $3,000 month retainer.

Over the years Burrell Advertising staked a claim on the African American market, specializing in developing creative advertising for companies eager to penetrate this target group. "In the early days, we simply showed [black] people as they were in realistic portrayals," Burrell recalls. "We depicted them as families that had lives, loves, passions, and emotions. We showed people doing things such as going to church. The response was enormous, simply because we had not seen ourselves in a positive setting. It gave people a wonderful feeling about the products being advertised as well as an affection for the companies delivering those messages."

But by the late '80s, as more firms--black and white--started wing for African American consumer dollars, it wasn't enough to show black people doing positive things. Greater competition led to greater creative pressures. There was also a phenomenon emerging largely as a result of the frenzy surrounding hip-hop culture, which caused a shift in trendsetting patterns. Suddenly, blacks became the new "in" crowd, and their white counterparts, as well as other groups, started looking to them for clues about the latest happenings in language, fashion, sports, and entertainment. Being black became en vogue, and The Group, which changed its name in 1992 from Burrell Advertising to Burrell Communications Group to reflect its wide range of new marketing services, was poised to benefit.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

"Urban" was the new buzzword that came on the scene in the mid-'90s. It was a term that began to mean anything African American related, but "that's not how we saw it," says McGhee Williams, The Group's managing director of marketing innovation. "We wanted to take it a step further because we felt urban, by definition, refers to a geography and we're marketing to people."

To distinguish itself from competitors and to better leverage its expertise in the target market group of the moment, The Group coined the phrase "Yurban" to describe an influential group of consumers comprised of people ages 12 to 29 who shared the same attitude without regard to ethnicity, background, gender, or location.

"Yurban includes white, Japanese, and French youth," explains Alma Hopkins, The Group's managing director of creative operations. "When I'm in Paris, I hear bass music typically played by the brothers here, but there it's actually the French youth and they're rapping in French." The core of this group, however, consists of African American youth between the ages of 18 to 24 "because they really are trendsetters and influencers worldwide," Williams insists.

Maurice Levy, chairman and CEO of the French agency Publicis, agrees. He says one of the major reasons his firm purchased a 49% stake in The Group in 2000 was because of The Group's expertise in the African American market as well as the yurban arena. "The potential for growth is not limited to the African American community," says Levy. "I think the young urban [market is] very close to this segment and we wanted our firm to grow through youth marketing as well."

The Group has carved out two distinct areas of expertise: the African American market, valued at $572.1 billion, and the Yurban market, valued at $300 billion. According to Steven Sturm, vice president of Marketing for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, The Group's extensive offerings beat out 14 other contenders.

A PLAY FOR PROFITS

Walking through the halls of The Group offers a refreshing change from the typical corporate environment. The office, located on Chicago's North Michigan Avenue, seems more like a playground than the headquarters for one of today's largest black-owned advertising agencies. There are toys everywhere that actually looked played with. A basketball hoop graces one end of a hallway, and many of the employees use giant blue, red, and yellow relaxation balls in place of chairs (including Burrell). Various types of music--from the mellowest jazz to hardcore rap--emerge from the cubicles. And just when you think there's a lull, a shriek erupts from someone with a new idea. "Screams are good," says Account Coordinator LaJeune Brown. "That means the creative juices are flowing."

Not surprisingly, there is no dress code at The Group. The only thing the head honcho enforces is that employees wear something on their feet--sneakers or sandals will do. And headgear of any kind is welcome. "Whatever works," laughs Burrell. "A good rule of thumb is that you allow people to do things that don't get in the way of others. People spend three-quarters of their lives at work or thinking about work so it ought to be a joyous thing. We also like to allow a certain noise factor, and it's nice to have a cross current of different music going on."

Sounds more like a middle-aged parent's nightmare than a workplace, and Burrell is 63. Is he serious? Absolutely. And the freedom of expression that employees enjoy offers an environment that is hard to find anywhere else. So people generally stay on board, or return if they do leave. In fact, The Group's voluntary turnover rate is less than 2% annually. This cuts down on training time as well as expenses that go toward new hires. And The Group's breadth of experienced talent, in an industry where high turnover is the norm, helps keep the clients coming.

BLACK, WHITE, AND RED ALL OVER

Burrell believes another great asset of his talent pool is its diversity. The firm offers a multicultural experience at every level of the organization. Of the 131 employees, about three out of 10 are non-African American. The company's six-member managerial team consists of three men (Burrell and two who are white) and three black women.

"I think people would be very surprised and pleased if they came to visit the agency and just walked the halls. We have almost every ethnic group represented," insists Managing Director of Marketing Operations Fay H. Ferguson, who has worked at the firm for 18 years. "The company is very youthful, and we have a very broad base of employees. We believe we couldn't represent our various clients in their campaigns unless we actually got to know the people they're trying to reach."

WHAT NEXT?

If the uncertain economy has zapped any of the joy out of the Burrell camp, it isn't apparent. From the top down, the organization continues to foster a creative environment with an energy and openness that overflows into every nook and cranny of the business, from client relations to strategic planning. Currently the firm is relocating "farther down the street to a building that is more contemporary and reflective of the spirit of the agency," Ferguson points out.

The firm's departments will be on one floor and under one roof (except for the firm's Atlanta office, which services Coca-cola, Verizon, Hewlett-Packard, and addidas) covering 40,000 square feet of state-of-the art space. Adds Mike de Maio, director of corporate operations, "It's very high-tech looking and it's open so it will encourage a lot more interaction. I'm sure some of the energy from creative will spill over into accounting services."

That's precisely the point, according to Burrell, who is just as interested in looking at new approaches today as he was 31 years ago. And although he has a strong management team to take the reins, he doesn't plan to retire any time soon. Apparently, transforming the world around him is still more joy than work, too.