Overview

Company Summary

We are McGarrah Jessee, a full-service, Austin-born brand development agency. We partner deeply with great clients, pushing boundaries to shape all parts of the consumer experience. Our aim is not to simply produce great work, but to fundamentally impact our client’s business. We believe that brands are not built on great advertising alone. It’s the whole brand experience that matters. How your product is packaged, the environment you sell in, your voice on social media. Even how you recruit, hire and train. This is how we build brands.

---

Staff

Total Number of Employees

Office Employees: 101-200
Total US: 101-200
Total Worldwide: 101-200

Mark McGarrah
Partner
As one of the agency’s founders, Mark is dedicated to building and protecting the culture he co-created at McGarrah Jessee. Mark started his career in advertising back in 1985 at the Richards Group. Over the next seven years, he learned to master the art of account service. He also forged a partnership with an equally demanding young creative named Bryan Jessee. From there, Mark joined GSD&M as vice president/account director. In 1996, he and Bryan decided to test a hunch they had about creating an agency culture that truly collaborated deep and wide with brands. As it turns out, this was not such a bad idea.

Bryan Jessee
Partner
A co-founder of McGarrah Jessee, Bryan sets the creative standard for the agency. His dedication to the craft of advertising has led to numerous industry awards and, most importantly, to growth for clients. Early in his career, Bryan joined the Richards Group where he worked his way up to group creative director and often partnered with a demanding account supervisor named Mark McGarrah. He then joined GSD&M as vice president/creative director. Bryan’s relentless drive to push creative boundaries eventually led him to start an agency with his old buddy Mark. To this day, Bryan continues to approve every piece of work that passes through the agency.

Britton Upham
GM, Integration Director
As the agency’s General Manager and Integration Director, Britton is charged with maintaining operational excellence across groups. He began his career at the advertising giant The Richards Group before moving client-side to serve in Director of Advertising roles for Garden.com, Prodigy Internet and SBC Communications (AT&T). In 2002, Britton came to McGarrah Jessee to lead the Integration team and help chart the path forward for the growing agency.

James Mikus
Executive Creative Director
In his 20-plus years in the business, James Mikus has developed a love for craft and a knack for cutting to a brand’s most simple truth. James forged his career at GSD&M, DDB and The Richards Group before coming to McGarrah Jessee in 1999. Over the years he’s led the McJ creative team to win awards and accolades, including features in Communication Arts, The ATHENA Awards, Graphis, The OBIE Awards, The One Show, and Print.

Jeremy Cox
Digital Creative Director
In 2007 Jeremy Cox accepted the challenge to build McGarrah Jessee’s digital department from the ground up. Today, he leads a growing team of digital designers, developers, video editors and UX specialists. A 12-year veteran of digital marketing, Jeremy guides the team to find interactive solutions that build and evolve the brand story.

David Kampa
Design Director
A 30-year veteran of graphic design, David Kampa sees details most people don’t. And it is this combination of vision and attention to detail that leads to the awards won year after year on behalf of McGarrah Jessee clients. David spent seven years at Texas Monthly before starting his own design firm, which he ran for 15 years, building a name for himself among the best in the industry. In 2005, he came on board to expand McGarrah Jessee’s design capabilities. Under his direction, the McJ design group has produced identity, packaging, apparel and environmental work that has won awards and accolades, including a Silver Pencil from the One Show and features in Communication Arts’ Design and Typography annuals, How and Print magazines.

Clay Langdon
Strategy Director
Clay Langdon is a true left/right brain thinker, bringing equal parts gut intuition and logic to brand planning. Clay cut his teeth at the big New York agencies Euro RSCG, Merkley + Partners and then Bartle Bogle Hegarty, where he laid strategy for iconic brands such as Volvo, Johnnie Walker, JetBlue and Intel. He finally tired of the New York winters and returned home to his native Texas, joining McGarrah Jessee in 2007 to lead the Strategy team.

Melissa Fodo
Engagement Director
In her role as the agency's Engagement Director, Melissa Fodo guides the curation of when and where the customer experience takes place. She leads the media and content teams to devise and deploy integrated plans that drive healthy brands. Fodo, as she’s known around the agency, came to McGarrah Jessee in 2005 from Publicis, where she earned her stripes on the Nestlé business.

---

Clients and Brands

Client & Brands	Start Date
Lemi Shine Lemi Shine	01-01-2014
Costa Sunglasses Costa Sunglasses Costa Del Mar	01-01-2008
Whataburger Whataburger Whataburger	01-01-2003
YETI Coolers YETI Coolers	01-01-2012
Frost Bank Frost Frost Bank	01-01-1997
Shiner Beers Shiner Beers Shiner Beers	01-01-2003

---

Billings & Revenue

Billing / Revenue Ranges	Number of Clients
Billing > $1M and < $3M	3
Billing > $3M and < $5M	1
Billing > $5M and < $10M	1
Billing < $10M and < $25M	3

Total Gross Media Placed by this Office

Allocation Percent of Media Placed by this Office
Local Broadcast: 14%
National Broadcast: 5%
Digital: 65%
Print: 6%
Out of Home: 8%
Other: 2%

---

Types of Services

Service Offering	Revenue
Advertising - General Market/ Traditional	24
Design	23
Digital/Interactive | Blogging Discussion Forums, Community Building	12
Digital/Interactive | Website Development, Hosting, Monitoring	12
Brand Consulting	11
Media Planning	10
Media Buying	3
Event Marketing	2
Marketing Data Analytics	2
Public Relations	1
Digital/Interactive | Search Engine Marketing	0
Digital/Interactive | Mobile and Wireless	0
Digital/Interactive | E-Commerce Solutions	0

---

Industry Experience

Household Supplies
Home Products | Home Improvements (hardware, paint, plumbing, gardening)
Apparel & Fashion | footwear
Restaurants
Technology | .com business
Apparel & Fashion | apparel
Financial services | investments
Retail
Apparel & Fashion | jewelry & accessories
Recreation & Sports | sporting goods
Travel | hotels & resorts
Food & Beverage | soft drinks
Financial services | insurance
Food & Beverage | alcoholic beverages
Food & Beverage | food
Food & Beverage | pet food
Financial services | Banking - Consumer

---