Interview with Earl Cox - The Martin Agency

Big thanks to Sue Kim from the VCU Adcenter for conducting this interview! Sue interviewed Earl Cox who is the Chief Strategy Officer at The Martin Agency. Known for their work on Geico, UPS and most recently for winning Wal-Mart.

Hi Earl! So, what do you absolutely love about advertising?

I love that it’s a challenge of different disciplines with a mix of different people. I love the breadth of it. There are so many different kinds of businesses and clients that you get to know. The interaction between so many people within the agency very is stimulating, from planners to account people, to media people, to creative people. There are so many opportunities to not only spark creativity in others, but to be sparked by others. It’s not so much about getting from point A to point B, but it’s the journey that is enjoyable. Many times, the destination is indeed rewarding, but the collaboration, partnership and creative endeavors with my team members, my partners, is always satisfying.

And how did you get your start in the ad industry?

I earned an undergraduate degree in communications from Virginia Tech and I wanted to pursue a career in broadcast production. I wanted to be a director. This was back in the seventies, when “60 Minutes” was really in its heyday in investigative journalism and I wanted to be a producer for them. I had a very idealistic, very “out to change the world” perspective. Then reality set in three years later and I ended up doing production work. I was a stage manager and did set construction, lighting and other various things. I worked on sporting events, syndicated television shows, and lots of commercials. Sitting on the set of a commercial production, I found myself thinking, “This is the stupidest idea I have ever heard of. I can do better than this.” Which is probably, being a part of bad advertising, what sparked the idea of getting into advertising to begin with. I also came to discover that production was really just a craft; I kept on doing the same things over and over again. Once you learn how to do the lighting, build the set, or stage-manage the actors, you were basically just doing those things over and over again. I wasn’t using my brain very much. Still, being the idealist that I was, I decided to go back to graduate school, to the Darden School at UVA. Even then, I was still thinking about going to a big broadcast companies. I had some personal connections through an internship and ended up getting into advertising down in Greenville, South Carolina. It was with Henderson Advertising, which no longer exists, but it was a really good agency at the time.

My first big break was working on St. Paulie Girl Beer, which was a great category to work on. We did the “You never forget your first girl” campaign. Three years later, I came to The Martin Agency and haven’t been any place else. What was funny (haha) was that they had a packaged goods food product at The Martin Agency. They were looking for someone with “packaged goods” experience and beer is definitely not a packaged good. But the boss that hired me was like, “well it comes in a package, so I guess that’s good enough!” In retrospect, I was always fascinated with advertising. Even as a young child, I remember paying more attention to the advertising than the actual programs. I was literally thinking at ten-years-old, that the best stuff on television was the advertising. I really encourage others to get in touch with those kinds of instinctual attractions that happen in their lives. Just tap into it, follow it, and make sense of where that interest might lead you in a professional career.

Every time I wake up, I don’t know how the media might have changed. How do you maintain your creative edge and keep up with the ever-changing industry?

I work really hard at staying culturally current. I try everything I can to read, watch and listen to what the current state of “art” is and I don’t just mean advertising, although I work hard in trying to stay current with the advertising business as well. What I’m talking about is film, music, theatre, television and museums. Some of these things I normally wouldn’t be interested in as an individual, but I kind of take survey of popular culture on a regular basis. I don’t think of it as a chore because it’s interesting. Going back to the first question, the cross-polynation of perspectives here in the agency helps me stay pretty current. I learn new things from my teammates everyday.

You said you are able to keep a creative edge with the help of those around you. Do your students play a part in that as well?

Absolutely. In many ways, my students are probably more on the leading edge of consumer generated content than I am. I’m trying to think about how traditional brands and advertising can engage in an honest, truthful partnership with the consumers to enable and empower them to take part in the story, as opposed to just listening to the message. There is a new age of collaboration and interaction that is upon us from the whole openness of information and the opportunities available to the consumers through accessible technology. Consumers can shoot the video, put it on imovie, make the movie, stick it on youtube.com and it can immediately be seen by millions of people. This can be used for either the good or bad for your brand, but to choose to ignore it completely is stupid. You have to reach out and engage, but in a way that isn’t manipulative.

Describe The Martin Agency in 5 words or less.

Driven, inventive, intelligent, compassionate, and honest.

These five words that I say to you would be the same five words I would say to a client and it might be because clients have told us that they respect and value our honesty with them and honesty in our work. They appreciate our compassion for them as clients. A lot of clients appreciate our compassion we have for our employees as well and how we treat them with dignity and respect. And that’s not some altruistic, magnanimous thing; we just think that’s good business. Some people think it’s just good business to carry out what we expect from ourselves and others in our personal lives in the agency as well. I mean, don’t we all? Don’t we all want to be compassionate and honest? So why would we check it at the door when we come to work? In a way, I was describing the personal traits of the two managing partners who have been here for over thirty years. That’s an incredible amount of time and stability. A company definitely reflects the value of its leadership over time, good or bad. And we have two of the most compassionate and honest men I have ever met in my entire life. Who says you can’t be nice and make money at the same time? A lot of people think it’s one or the other. Maybe it’s a little harder to do both, but it’s worth the effort.

I’m curious, before we had this conversation, have you picked up on some of those traits, particularly on the last two?

Actually, everyone I’ve met thus far from The Martin Agency has been extremely talented and encouraging. I remember meeting Dean Jarrett during my undergraduate studies at VCU while he was giving The Ad Club a tour of the agency. I knew it would be a long shot, but I still asked him if he would help me find someone who would be willing to mentor me. He got back to me within the same day and connected me with Chantal Panozzo, who I still keep in touch with to this day. She was an Adcenter alum and worked at The Martin Agency as well. These are just a few, but I really am encouraged whenever I see people in the industry living out in their lives what they deem important in an agency. (Shout out to Chantal! Woot Woot!)

Oh, and congratulations on winning the Walmart account! What is your take on The Martin Agency landing Wal-Mart as a new client?

I’m very excited about the opportunities. It’s just the kind of big, hairy challenge that my company thrives on. What people think of Walmart isn’t necessarily what is actually inside of Walmart. It’s become so successful that it’s under scrutiny. I’m not trying to defend some of the issues that they have been criticized for, but that’s not all that the company is. First of all, I think that their business proposition of saving consumers money has done society, especially the less affluent, a great service. They are very customer driven. They do whatever they can to give their customers what they want for less. This may very well be extremely competitive behavior, but right now they have a very big ambition to transform their brand and their image into a new place that has yet to be clearly defined. They want their brand to be liked. They want to be more than cheap. They want to be of good value on many, many things that some of which are expensive things. Like HD TVs that normally cost thousands of dollars but is available for five hundred dollars less at Walmart. And they are looking to break some rules and make some new rules in the retail category.

There is nothing my company likes more than taking a big challenge and transforming a brand’s image, making history in the process. I think we did that with UPS, helping transform the brand from a shipping company to a much more vibrant, global brand on the forefront of global commerce. You have to go back 14 years to see the transformation of Geico, it’s absolutely amazing how culturally resonate they’ve become.. This whole business of transformation, how businesses transform themselves in the eyes of the public without abandoning who they truly are, is tough. “What can brown do for you” was completely designed to hold onto the symbol of their core equity while at the same time, expanding into new markets and new dimensions.

How is Walmart going to be different or a challenge for the agency?

A subtle challenge for us is going to be that we will have to do more multi-tasking than we ever have done before because there are so many different parts to Walmart. There are so many different categories that need to be marketed. Usually, the way we work and historically do best is when we have a tight, core team working closely together on an account. And the way that works is that we do things in a sequence. With the size and scope of Walmart, we are going to have multiple teams working consistently and integrated with each other. So I think that’s going to be another key learning process. Also, we want to be an agency that works for Walmart, we don’t want to be the Walmart agency. We don’t want it to consume us in terms of our identity or our personality. All agencies need to watch out for their largest client, especially us, given all the controversy and attention on Walmart. We have several other large accounts that will prevent that from happening. Our agency has completely separated our teams so that people who are working on Walmart are nowhere near the people working on Geico and the people who are working on Geico are nowhere near the team working on UPS. Also, we need to continue doing creative, edgy things. Not long after we won the Walmart account, it was announced that The Martin Agency won the ESPN’s X-Game account. I am quite proud of these extremities. It speaks to the breath of our abilities. Sometimes, agencies have a similar look and feel to their work, and that’s fine, but they end up attracting only clients that want that look and feel. I’d much rather be ambidextrous and be able to do good work in lots of different categories and subject areas.

That sounds really exciting.

Exciting and scary at the same time. Sometimes being scared is a growth opportunity.

You are teaching the Strategic Brand Concepts class this semester to the first-years at the Adcenter. What made you reach out and educate the new generation?

To tell you the truth, I started thinking about teaching the day I walked out of Virginia Tech, where I finished my undergraduate studies. Dr. Fishwick was my favorite professor and he taught Popular Culture. He was an inspiration to me. He was one of the most interesting, nurturing and compassionate people I’ve ever met. Even though I didn’t go into teaching right away, there were certain values of nurturing that he instilled in me that affected everything I did. It’s really rewarding stuff. I’ve been managing a department with 10+ employees for over 10 years. I get such a kick out of coaching, nurturing, guiding and sometimes even protecting and defending my folks. I enjoy watching them grow, flourish and get recognized. It’s more rewarding than if it was myself in their shoes. It is a reflection on my good taste, so I get some kind of secondary credit. And to see them just light up with their success and accomplishments, it’s just really cool. Maybe it’s my stage in life. I’m 50 and I got three kids, two in college. It’s truly rewarding. I must tell you, though, that I am adjusting to the experience(teaching) because I guess I’ve been idealistic about affecting people and nurturing them. I was a little daunted by teaching this class, where half of the class were Creatives. I was being very heartfelt when I said on the first day that this might be the most important class for the Creatives because it will give them a sense of how the real world works. They will learn what it takes to develop a strategy and a campaign, how to sell it and how they can affect the whole process.

Earl Cox is Chief Strategy Officer and Partner at The Martin Agency
If you would like to be interviewed for future interviews, please contact Michael Karnjanaprakorn at [email protected]

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