Overview

Company Summary

Founded in 2010, Media Bridge is one of the country’s fastest-growing media and creative agencies. We believe that the best strategy is to care. We put it to work every day to out-care our competition so our clients can outperform theirs. We’re unique in the industry for buying media nationally with hyper-local precision, developing creative that’s focused on results before industry awards, and building data analytics tools that empower clients to optimize campaign performance. We’ve earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list eight of the last nine years and are the Twin Cities’ largest ad agency (Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal).

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Staff

Total Number of Employees

Office Employees: 51-100
Total US: 51-100
Total Worldwide: 51-100

Tracy Call
CEO
Tracy Call is the founder and CEO of Media Bridge Advertising. Known as “The Growth Agency,” Media Bridge is a media-buying, social and creative agency that specializes in growing entrepreneurial companies by delivering maximum bang for their media buck. They are one of the most successful media and advertising agencies in Minnesota, billing well over $100 million in media to date and growing over 100% year after year. Media Bridge has made Inc.’s 5000 Fastest-Growing Private companies lists five times since 2014, and it was honored as a “Best Places to Work” business in 2018 by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal. Tracy was named a Business Journal “Women in Business” award-winner in 2016. And several Media Bridge employees have been named to the Ad Fed “32 Under 32” list and the Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” list highlighting future industry leaders.

Toni Dandrea
President/Chief Marketing Officer, Partner
Toni Dandrea was the first full-time hire at a fledgling Minneapolis media-buying agency. Today, Media Bridge is the second-largest advertising agency in Minnesota. It has earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list an unprecedented 7 times in 12 years. And as chief marketing officer and a partner in the business, Toni manages 50 full-time employees and over $60 million in annual revenue.

Toni takes pride in leading growth at Media Bridge by helping the agency’s clients grow. Most impressively, her brand awareness and customer acquisition efforts for Inspire Medical Systems paved the way for an IPO that raised $108 million in 2018 and has led to the company’s current $5 billion+ market capitalization.

With a passion for making positive change for the greater good, Toni applies her unique leadership skills to the Be The Match Board of Ambassadors and the Gala Board for Date For Life/Children’s Cancer Research Fund. As a member of Medical Alley, she also helps to promote Minnesota as an epicenter of healthcare innovations and public health policies that save lives every day.

Kristen Giovanis
Chief Financial Officer
Kristen is an entrepreneur, business leader and corporate board director with 20+ years of executive leadership experience in advertising, professional services, language services and AI-driven technology industries.

As Media Bridge’s chief financial officer, Kristen finds innovative ways to fulfill our mantra that “the best strategy is to care” when it comes to our clients and our employees. As someone who has personally worked through countless complex restructurings and led massive growth at her own companies, she’s a highly effective change agent who understands the culture of entrepreneurial businesses like few others.

Prior to joining Media Bridge, Kristen co-founded language translation company KJ International in 1994 while still in law school. She later became CEO of United Language Group (ULG), one of the world’s largest translation, localization and interpreting providers. While leading ULG, she mastered the art of merging technology and human capital to create a disruptive company with a thought leadership position in a rapidly changing industry.

Kristen serves on the board of Black Business Enterprises along with our own Tracy Call and Jessica Westberg. Her dog Oliver travels with her everywhere, and she can occasionally be spotted WFG (Working From Greece) with her husband Angelo, a fellow entrepreneur who started Twin Cities restaurant The Naughty Greek in 2016.

Jessica Birkholz
Senior Vice President, Media
If Jessica Birkholz’s life has a theme, it’s “growth.” Thanks in part to her leadership, Minneapolis-based Media Bridge Advertising has grown from a small media-buying shop with 10 employees to ranking as the second-largest ad agency in Minnesota and being a yearly fixture on the Inc. 5000. As Media Bridge’s vice president of Media, she has grown her own team from 1 to 17 members in just six years — including through a pandemic. And she takes pride in growing and mentoring seasoned and emerging buyers on the traditional media side, as well as on the agency’s expanding digital arm.

Prior to Media Bridge, Jessica worked as the lead buyer for Menards Corporate in Eau Claire, WI, buyer for Novus Media in Minneapolis, MN, and in the Buying Department at Rubin Postaer and Associates in Los Angeles, CA. A Wisconsin native, she holds a Communications degree from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Christine Evans
Senior Vice President, Operations
Hailing from mighty Mora, Minnesota (pop. 3,600), Christine is the rare operations and accounting pro who’s spent most of her career in advertising. Starting as an accounting associate at Haworth & Company, she earned multiple promotions before Periscope recruited her away. She moved up in the ranks over the next nine years, managing the Media Finance team and coordinating operations between Media and Accounting.

Christine next moved from Periscope to Martin Williams, where she managed finance and oversaw operations between the Media and Accounting teams as the agency’s media comptroller. She loved the variety of working in advertising, but she preferred the cultures of independent agencies. And that’s when Media Bridge came calling.

Here, Christine makes sure that our processes keep pace with our rapid growth. That means managing and improving our expanding list of systems and tools — including eMBi, our business partner data dashboard technology.

Mark Andersen
Executive Creative Director
Mark has worked with top brands across a variety of industries throughout his career, including 3M, Altoids, Anytime Fitness, Best Buy, Caribou Coffee, Ecolab, eTrade, Fifth Third Bank, Geek Squad, Jamba Juice, Land O’Lakes, Medtronic, Minnesota Lottery, Motorola, Optum, Schwan’s, Syngenta, UnitedHealth Group, US Bank and WinField United. His work has produced measurable results for his client partners and garnered recognition from AD&D, ADDY Awards, Communication Arts, Creative Media Awards, EFFIEs, NAMA Awards, One Show, SABRE Awards, The Show, and the Webby Awards.

“I’ve worked with successful companies where you can feel the momentum in the air, and I’ve never felt it more than I do at Media Bridge,” said Andersen. “They know that the best marketing strategy is to care. They’re focused on personal and professional growth for their clients and themselves. And I’m excited to build the creative side of our business.”

Andersen’s hiring continues a pattern of Media Bridge attracting top talent from major media and advertising companies, including Audacy, Colle McVoy, Clear Channel, Hubbard Broadcasting and Outfront Media.

Jessica Westberg
Vice President of People
Jessica’s current chapter began when she heard that a fast-growing Minneapolis ad agency was looking for a DEI and culture manager. The call came from an old friend and one of the few allies she had back in high school: Tracy Call.

At Media Bridge, Jessica works to ensure that we continue the equity work we started with a college-level employee course taught by former University of Minnesota professor Dr. John Wright. These efforts include helping team members understand, identify and combat today’s many versions of racism. Her goal is to create a happy, engaged and diverse workforce at Media Bridge, and to make sure that we’re always a place where people feel welcome and inspired.

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Clients and Brands

Client & Brands	Start Date
All Around Property Preservation	N/A
All American Pest Control	N/A
Axonics	N/A
BLAZE Credit Union	N/A
CARE Counseling	N/A
Deans Professional Plumbing	N/A
Hey Workers	N/A
Impulse Dynamics	N/A
Inspire Medical Device Systems	N/A
It's Just Lunch	N/A
Lakes Jam	N/A
Meshbesher & Spence	N/A
Minnesota Sports and Events (Big Ten)	N/A
Minnesota State	N/A
Nothing but Hemp	N/A
Omcare	N/A
Renters Warehouse	N/A
Your Home Improvement Company	N/A

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Billings & Revenue

Billing / Revenue Ranges	Number of Clients

Total Gross Media Placed by this Office

Allocation Percent of Media Placed by this Office

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Types of Services

Service Offering	Revenue
Advertising - General Market/ Traditional	0
Media Buying	0
Media Planning	0
Data & Analytics	0
Brand Consulting	0
Business-to-Business	0
Direct Marketing	0
Creative Strategy & Development	0
Design	0
Sports Marketing	0
Social Media	0
Other	0
Influencer Marketing	0
Experiential	0
Event Marketing	0

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Industry Experience

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