Creative leaders question decision to send ad work to Denver

By: Louis Llovio
Richmond Times-Dispatch

Richmond's decision to hire Atlas Advertising, a Denver agency, to create a branding campaign for the office that sells the city as a place to do business is not sitting well with some who question the commitment to promoting creativity.

"The word I would use is unfortunate," said Andy Thornton, who owns LaDifférence, a contemporary furniture store in downtown Richmond. "They might have a totally valid reason for doing it, but it certainly sends the wrong signal that (the department of) economic development goes somewhere else" to hire an ad agency to craft the city's message.

Some local ad executive and creative types with a stake in a movement to market the region as the "capital of creativity" are wondering how much faith the city has in the local ad community.

"Atlas has overwhelming experience and quite the roster of clients," said Ed Trask, an internationally known artist living in Richmond. "But in putting faith in our city's own creative abilities, we empower our creative class to work toward a stronger, brighter picture for economic development that doesn't come from an outside firm casting judgments piled on top of endless reports and stats."

In March, the city asked ad agencies to bid on a contract for brand development, website design and creative services for the Department of Economic and Community Development.

The city posted a notice on its website Thursday that it intended to award the contract to Atlas in Denver, where Richmond's chief economic-development officer, Peter Chapman, previously resided.

Andy Stefanovich doesn't fault the city for choosing Atlas, which specializes in providing creative services for economic-development departments, but worries about the message the decision sends in light of the efforts to promote the creative community.

"When you are trying to create a (movement), you have to be careful of any symbol or action that gets in the way of the momentum," said Stefanovich, an executive with the global branding firm Prophet and founder of local branding firm Play.

He is also a force behind i.e.*, a movement to bring businesses and creative leaders together with the goal to "transform this city from a Civil War attraction into a nationally renowned hotbed of creative talent."

A spokeswoman for the mayor said Friday that the city was prohibited from discussing a bid that has not been finalized, adding that the city had reached out to local agencies to participate in the bid. Several did, although she could not say who or how many.

She did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.

"The fact of the matter is we don't know all the details," said Jeff Kelley, a spokesman for the Richmond Ad Club. "But we think there was a lost opportunity to engage the local ad community."

While Stefanovich understands that local agencies might be upset, he cautioned people not to get too upset by the city's decision. The creative community "can't be myopic," he said. "There has to be tolerance to looking outside the area."

Stefanovich said if he was advising the mayor, he would recommend that Atlas be brought in to help local agencies who might not have the depth of experience in the economic development field.

"We can use their expertise, but let the creative come from us," he said.

And Trask said there are plenty of agencies in the region that can do the technical side of the job along with the added benefit of knowing what the Richmond region is all about. "I commend the city for trying to find creative change, but they need not look past the borders of our fine city," he said.