23 Jul Ad agency Brothers & Co. entering Wichita market with WaterWalk office

Ad agency Brothers & Co. entering Wichita market with WaterWalk office

Wichita Business Journal by Josh Heck, Reporter

Tulsa-based Brothers & Co. has already made a splash in Wichita with its “Bravely Onward” campaign for Fidelity Bank, and now the advertising agency is establishing a physical presence here.

The company has signed a one-year lease on a 1,300-square-foot space in WaterWalk Place. Craig Simon of Landmark Commercial Real Estate brokered the deal.

Amy Vogel is Brothers’ only local employee for now. The Wichita office, in the space being vacated by V Wealth Management as it moves to its permanent WaterWalk office, is slated to open Aug. 1. Financial terms of the lease were not disclosed.

Brothers is opening its Wichita office using the agency’s two-year-old Oklahoma City location as a model. There, Brothers started with one employee and has since grown to 13. The agency has 67 employees overall.

In Wichita, Vogel will serve as an account manager and will handle the agency’s local clients, including Fidelity Bank and the Kansas Oil & Gas Resources Fund. Nationally, Brothers & Co. clients include Toyota Trucks and Under Armour.

Brothers & Co. gives Wichita another nationally recognized advertising agency and provides advertisers another option in what’s already a competitive market.

Agency President Paul Brothers says if his firm’s experience in Wichita is anything like its experience in Oklahoma City, the local market will respond to a new advertising player favorably and the office will grow.

Brothers describes Wichita’s existing advertising community as “outstanding.”

Bryan White, managing partner at Howerton & White, says another advertising agency in Wichita will push the city’s other ad groups to be better.

“We’re always going to be competing against other agencies for work,” White says. “That’s the nature of the beast.”

Sam Williams, managing partner at Wichita’s largest advertising firm, Sullivan Higdon & Sink Inc., says new businesses coming to Wichita, regardless of their industry, bring new talent to the city and help to create a stronger work force.

Williams says having a local presence helps agencies better serve the needs of their clients.

Feeling the energy

Jay Brothers, Paul Brothers’ father, started Brothers & Co. in 1974, and the agency has grown steadily since.

Paul Brothers says he first started considering a Wichita location about a year ago to provide more of a local presence for clients.

Vogel, the Wichita office’s first employee, previously worked in marketing and product development with The Coleman Co. She decided to leave Coleman and stay in Wichita when her position was moved to Denver.

She says Brothers is a natural fit because of her previous advertising agency experience in Overland Park and because of her experience with Coleman’s outdoor focus. Many of Brothers & Co.’s clients are outdoor-related, including national brands like Bushnell binoculars and Remington rifles.

Brothers says he’s excited about the opportunity to have a presence in Wichita because of all that is going on in the city’s core.

“There’s an energy there,” Brothers says