Announcing Blue Horse/MMT. Now the truth can be told!

They couldn’t stop us. Oh, they tried, but it was inevitable. Agency X has happened.

Blue Horse and Marx McClellan Thrun have joined forces. And what a force we’ll be!

Here’s the story. Last year, I renewed an old friendship with Rick Thrun. He and I worked together on a number of projects here in Milwaukee. A few awards were won and lots of fun was had. But we went our separate ways. Rick, an amazing illustrator, opted to stay in Milwaukee. I headed south to the wilds of Leo Burnett. Eventually Rick teamed up with Jeff McClellan. Rick and Jeff, together with Laura Marx, created and grew a terrific shop that consistently turned out wonderful break-through work for a select group of very smart clients.

Both organizations, Blue Horse and MMT, were casting about for new partners who could add to our respective talents. The more the two groups talked, the more we liked what was developing. We worked on a number of projects together. We talked, we examined, we strategized, and we plotted.

The business model at Blue Horse has been to become an architect or general contractor for our clients. We offered up some key core expertise, such as creative, media, client service and public relations. What we don’t have in-house, we have created partnerships to address. For example, we partner with LayerOne for e-commerce.

Our thinking is to deliver best-in-category talent on a very cost effective basis. The result is that we can match any agency our size and most who are considerably bigger, in terms of ability and experience. But we can customize the team for any assignment. So our clients don’t pay for overhead. They pay for results.

That business model will continue for Blue Horse/MMT. But our core creative product is now considerably stronger. It has more people, more depth and more experience than ever. And of course, we continue to offer depth in media as well as terrific people in public relations and client service.

Our mission is a simple one. We describe it as “Create. Collaborate. Integrate.” It means the best thinking coming from a team of great talent applied across all media. We continue to acknowledge the reality that consumers own brands, that they are the boss. And because of that, we’re here to make our clients look good with the boss.

We’re not the stars of the show. Our clients are. We are dedicated to making them a success.

Create. Collaborate. Integrate.

Sounds like a plan.

What is this "agency X" thing all about?

Obviously, something is going on. Rumors have reached our offices of clandestine meetings, groups of renegade executives, student intern unrest, dogs brought into offices and all sorts of unexplained and sinister goings on.

Faced with these events, I feel I must make some statement about what we know and what we don’t. But let me first say that I will do so only under strict federal guidelines and procedures. That is to say, only some of this will be the truth.

AgencyX is indeed real. And yes, it does represent a movement toward some sort of unified effort to dramatically change the status quo. It’s been created and nurtured by key individuals who had been competitors but who have come to realize the immense power they can wield if they join together.

Some of these individuals can be likened to “sleeper” agents. They have not seen nor communicated with each other for twenty or even thirty years! During that time, they have recruited others into their philosophies and organizations. And now they have re-connected and drawn up their insidious plans.

Why now? Good question. It could’ve been some sort of innocuous signal such as the rise of the Milwaukee Brewers. But their record of late tends to lessen that possibility. It could be the cicadas. Then again, what’s with all those flavored vodkas? Something out there – something so obvious yet so subtle – has triggered these Agency X agents to
come together.

We can only watch and wait.

And keep the champagne on ice.