After a 36-year presence in the Phoenix market, serving clients primarily throughout Arizona and the southwest, one of the nation’s largest independent ad agencies, Cramer-Krasselt (C-K), will merge its Phoenix operations into the Phoenix-based LaneTerralever marketing services agency beginning on Tuesday, November 1.
With headquarters in Chicago and offices in New York and Milwaukee, C-K is the second largest independent ad agency in the U.S. with more than 500 employees and nearly $900 million in annual billing. The merger affects only its Phoenix location, which was founded in 1981.
“Clients in the Phoenix C-K office will continue to receive service from the same talented staff they’re accustomed to,” said Peter Krivkovich, C-K chairman and CEO. “The merger is a business decision that is really in the best interests of our clients and employees in the southwest, as C-K continues to focus on our national presence and serving national brands out of our Chicago, New York and Milwaukee offices.”
The merger will bring the majority of current Phoenix-based C-K employees to LaneTerralever, including executive, creative, account service and public relations staff. All members of the combined staff will work out of the 23,000 square-foot LaneTerralever headquarters located at 725 West McDowell Rd., Phoenix.
As a result of the merger, LaneTerralever will employ more than 135 people filling a complete array of advertising, digital, public relations and administrative leadership positions.
Capitalized billing for the agency after the merger is estimated at $175 million, ranking LaneTerralever first among Phoenix-based agencies and among the most significant in the southwest and Rocky Mountain regions.
C-K clients include Valley Toyota Dealers, Salt River Project, OneAZ Credit Union (formerly Arizona State Credit Union), Phoenix Children’s Hospital, RA Sushi, Universal Technical Institute and the Monterey County (Calif.) Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to carry on the outstanding tradition of work that C-K established in its Phoenix office,” said Beau Lane, LaneTerralever co-founder and CEO. “The Phoenix C-K office has had an extraordinary tenure with some clients for more than 20 years. When you can keep clients for decades, it’s a testament to a great organization,” Lane added.
Both Krivkovich and Lane explain that the decision to merge is based on a mutual agreement to combine outstanding talent and compatible values under a single operational structure.
“The most important outcomes from this decision are to take care of our people and to continue delivering excellent work for the clients – with no interruptions,” Krivkovich said. “Everyone is committed to those results,” he added.
“We won’t miss a beat during the transition with the clients and staff we’re welcoming to LaneTerralever,” said Chris Johnson, LaneTerralever co-founder and president. “Each C-K staff member moving to our company will be embraced as a valuable member of the team here,” added Johnson.
LaneTerralever accounts include the Arizona Cardinals, Cable ONE, Advanced Recovery Systems, Time Warner Cable, NKK Switches, Visit Phoenix, National Academy of Sports Medicine, Meritage Homes, Isagenix, Barrow Brain and Spine, Goodyear, Inspirato, TruGreen, Phoenix Convention Center and the Maricopa County Community College District.
C-K leadership team members moving to LaneTerralever include Kristin Bloomquist, executive vice president; Ian Barry, senior vice president and executive creative director; Fraser Elliott, senior vice president and media director; and Ben Tsai, vice president and account director.
In 2015, the Phoenix Ad Club named Bloomquist as its Ad Person of the Year, and Barry as the Creative Director of the Year.
LaneTerralever was created in 2013 through a merger between the former E.B. Lane advertising agency that was founded in Phoenix in 1962, and the Tempe-based leading national digital marketing agency Terralever.
