Proof Advertising LLC

Last Modified: 08-26-2024

http://www.proof-advertising.com
Ownership: Privately Held
Size: 0-50

Overview

Company Summary

Proof is a brand liberation agency based in Austin, TX with a collection of diverse, talented people in Austin, New York, Chicago, Houston, Georgia and Tennessee. Independent in more than just spirit. We have been liberating brands for over a decade and are passionate, smart, efficient, and ever curious about finding ways to create value for the clients and brands we work with. Since our inception, we have managed close to $1 billion in media and taken many clients from 70% traditional media to 80% innovative media. We’ve been featured in Ad Age, Adweek, Creativity, Communication Arts, Campaign, Fast Company, and The New York Times. Subway named us Agency of the Year three times and Expedia awarded us back-to-back Most Innovative Campaign honors. We’ve been recognized by Ad Age as a Small Agency of the Year winner at the national and regional level five times and won their Best Agency Culture award in 2024.

Contact

7401 W. Slaughter Lane
Austin, TX 78739
P: 512-345-6658
F: --

Bryan Christian
Principal/CEO
[email protected]
512-217-4882

Offices

Proof Advertising LLC
7401 W. Slaughter Lane #5094
Austin, TX 78739
(51-2) -345-

Global Service Capabilities

Staff

Total Number of Employees

Office Employees: 0-50
Total US: 0-50
Total Worldwide: 0-50

Bryan Christian
Principal/CEO
Bryan spent most of his career with McCann-Erickson including running new business for McCann New York. He was a co-founder of Momentum, the world’s first global/experiential ad agency, and had a stint at Publicis. He moved back to Texas to run a small Austin boutique, buying it in 2010 and rebranding as Proof Advertising.

Jocelyn Friedman
President
Jocelyn started her career at Kolar Advertising (now Proof Advertising) in 1999. Her deep restaurant and retail experience comes from running accounts like Sun City Texas, Schlotzsky's, 3M and premium Wal-Mart and Kroger brands. For the last 19 years has run and helped grow the Subway Restaurants account overseeing all 24,000+ shops across 206 markets in the U.S. and over two-thirds of all Subway Canada shops.

Claire Jordan
Executive Creative Director
After 20+ years of writing for a wide variety of clients, Claire’s favorite word is still “yes.” Is there a creative way to tell your brand’s story? Yes. Is it possible to get your target’s attention in a positive, impactful way? Yes. It’s not always easy, but saying yes is inspiring to this writer who has worked with clients both big (BMW, Delta Airlines, Whole Foods, Jaguar, YETI, Dell Computers and Zales) and small (Cavender’s Boot City, Ballet Austin and Independence Brewing Co.). Since 2013, she’s been saying yes at Proof, writing about some of her favorite subjects: wine (Apothic), travel (Travelocity) and home (Travel Texas). She also co-founded the multi-media brand “Moms I’d Like to Know” and is a published fiction writer.

John Kottman
Chief Strategy Officer
John has led NY and North American strategy teams at McCann, Ogilvy and DDB over the past two decades. Early in his career at McCann, John helped lead and evolve their strategic planning group at the flagship NY office with EFFIE-winning work for a broad range of clients including Mastercard, Hewlett Packard, GM, Citi, Pfizer and Verizon. He also anchored the team that launched McCann Health, leading strategic work for Paxil, Viagra, Chantix, Claritin and Procit. From there, Ogilvy recruited John as a senior partner to develop strategic projects for American Express, Coca-Cola, YUM Brands, Gap, Black Rock and others. Most recently prior to joining Proof, John was the Chief Strategy Officer for DDB North America where he developed strategy for McDonald's, State Farm, Capital One (including the Retail Bank) and others while winning multiple Cannes Lion awards and eventually landed the U.S. Army marketing account, the largest in the agency's history. John has also led strategy for Morgan Stanley, Citibank, ING, and Barclay’s. He believes that planning has never played a more important role in connecting data and creativity to drive business goals than it does today.

Kim Granberry
Chief Financial Officer
Kim started her career in Austin, working across all areas of accounting for several small private companies, first TRI, then Ambion. She then made the move to publicly traded EZCorp, where she earned her CPA license and gained experience with cash management, budgeting and SEC reporting. She made the leap to advertising when she joined the team at SicolaMartin, which at the time was in the process of being acquired by publicly traded Y&R and WPP plc. Over her 16 years at Y&R Austin, Kim moved up the financial ranks, serving as CFO for her final 6 years at the company. She joined Proof Advertising in 2016 as their CFO. Kim enjoys working for a company that prioritizes the quality of work over the quantity of profit. She finds that when an agency does great work for great clients, the money follows.

Heather Hager
Director of Media Services
Heather began her career working with Barton Creek Resort & Spa in Austin, Texas. She eventually moved to Houston to join the growing digital team at The Company of Others (formerly FKM). While at FKM, she became immersed in the world of closed loop digital media, managing ad awareness down the funnel to landing page conversions, using online display, rich media, email and SEM campaigns. She honed her expertise in the world of direct response, increasing bookings for clients like Emirates Airline, Barbados Tourism and Harley-Davidson Travel Experience. She expanded her horizons by extending consumer awareness in the digital world for traditional brands like CPG-based Mission Foods and Daisy Brand Sour Cream and service-based brands like ConocoPhillips, Waste Management and The Woman’s Hospital of Texas. 11+ years ago, Heather joined Proof to help with our digital heavy clientele, leading on attribution marketing and optimizing ROAS:ROI conversion campaigns for clients like Supercuts, Hyatt Resorts, Travel Texas, Visit San Antonio, Visit Bastrop, Columbia College, Stubb’s Bar-B-Q, Subway Restaurants and more.

Emily Scruggs
Director of Social Media
Starting out at Arnold Worldwide in Boston, Emily worked on Progressive Insurance, Carnival Cruises and the Jack Daniels Gentleman Jack line, conducting social research, contributing to content creation and aiding the management of paid social campaigns. Emily joined Proof in 2013 and since then she has provided leadership for social clients across community management, content creation, organic social and paid social efforts for a diverse set of brands such as Waterloo Sparkling Water, Apothic Wines, SkinnyPop Popcorn, Paqui Tortilla Chips, Subway Restaurants, Cargill Meats, Stubb’s Legendary BBQ, Travelocity, Travel Texas, Visit San Antonio, American Heart Association, Bestow Life and Health Insurance and Berkshire Hathaway's Mouser Electronics and TTI, Inc In 2019, she was named a finalist for “Best Social Media Manager” among peers in the Austin Advertising Federation, and in 2020, her leadership on Subway's Feeding America social influencer campaign landed a Shorty Social Good Award - Winner in Corporate-Community Partnership, honoring the best content creators and producers on social media.

Chree Taylor
Chief Growth Officer
Chree is a visionary marketing executive of 20+ years, bringing her keen business focus and strong relationship skills to every client and team she touches. Her experience is heavily focused on intense, fast-moving consumer brands spanning retail, CPG and QSR. She’s adept at working collaboratively with executive teams of Fortune 500 and multinational companies, including Target, Wendy’s, Fujitsu, Subway, Hostess Brands and Macy’s. As a channel agnostic thinker, Chree has championed cross-functional marketing programs for most of her career; she’s led deeply integrated teams across international, national and local advertising, social/digital/mobile, PR, activation, promotions and strategic partnerships. She's been the lead brand navigator with media teams, partner agencies and internal creative departments, steering the team’s charge for communications integration across every consumer touchpoint.

Clients and Brands

Client & Brands	Start Date
American Heart Association	01-01-2015
Subway Restaurants	01-01-2005
Champion Energy	01-01-2020
Consumer Technology Association	01-01-2022
TTI	01-01-2017
Waterloo Sparkling Water	01-01-2020
Travel Texas	01-01-2017
University Federal Credit Union	12-31-2022
Kasasa	12-31-2013
Sprinkles	01-01-2022
Texas CASA	12-31-2022
Art From the Streets	12-31-2022
Tampa Bay Realtors	05-15-2024

Billings & Revenue

Billing / Revenue Ranges Number of Clients
Billing < $1M and/or Agency Revenue < $200K 1
Billing > $1M and < $3M 2
Billing > $3M and < $5M 3
Billing < $10M and < $25M 2
Billing < $25M and < $50M 1

Billing / Revenue Ranges	Number of Clients
Billing < $1M and/or Agency Revenue < $200K	1
Billing > $1M and < $3M	2
Billing > $3M and < $5M	3
Billing < $10M and < $25M	2
Billing < $25M and < $50M	1

Total Gross Media Placed by this Office
Under $50 Million

Allocation Percent of Media Placed by this Office
Local Broadcast: 5%
Digital: 61%
Print: 26%
Out of Home: 1%
Other: 7%

Types of Services

Service Offering Revenue
Advertising - General Market/ Traditional 45
Social Media 15
Media Planning 15
Media Buying 15
Sales Promotion 7
Digital/Interactive | Mobile and Wireless 2
Digital/Interactive | Search Engine Marketing 2
Digital/Interactive | E-Commerce Solutions 2
Digital/Interactive | Website Development, Hosting, Monitoring 2

Service Offering	Revenue
Advertising - General Market/ Traditional	45
Social Media	15
Media Planning	15
Media Buying	15
Sales Promotion	7
Digital/Interactive \| Mobile and Wireless	2
Digital/Interactive \| Search Engine Marketing	2
Digital/Interactive \| E-Commerce Solutions	2
Digital/Interactive \| Website Development, Hosting, Monitoring	2

Industry Experience

Agency Profile