Organic was a large advertising firm with some big accounts from major corporate players, like Chrysler and Bank of America. Then the economy crashed in 2008 and those big contracts went up in smoke.
Fortunately for the West Bloomfield-based agency, it had already started diversifying its client base to position itself for growth while other local players in the advertising world went out of business. Today, Organic counts the likes of mid-sized corporations like
Kimberly-Clark and
Hilton Worldwide as top clients.
"We had been working hard to diversify before that," says James Heughens, general manager of
Organic. "Those were huge wins for us."
Organic has been able to maintain its stafffing at 350 people worldwide, with a Metro Detroit staff of 150. The 12-year-old firm is aiming to get back into automotive work in order to hire more people, especially those with a technology background.
"The size and nature of that work is good for our people," Heughens says. "We're pushing hard to get back into it, both locally and with the imports."
Source: James Heughens, general manager of Organic
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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