The Martin Agency Announces Cranin@Martin, New Strategic Partnership With Jonathan Cranin

Richmond, Virginia – February 10, 2010 – The Martin Agency announced today that it has established a new partnership with longtime agency friend and colleague Jonathan Cranin. The partnership, which will be known as Cranin@Martin, formalizes a working relationship that has been evolving for nearly a year. Jonathan Cranin will serve as creative director of Cranin@Martin, which will be located in The Martin Agency’s New York office at 71 5th Avenue. Part of the team that brought Sun Life Financial into the agency, Cranin is a member of Martin’s Sun Life ownership team. He’s also served as consultant on several recent Martin Agency projects.

“Too often these days advertising and marketing teams suffer from a loss of focus on big brand ideas. They get caught up too quickly in tactical executions,” says Mike Hughes, the president and creative director of The Martin Agency. “We’ve got a number of big idea people – but there is always room for one more. Jonathan is one of those guys. He digs deep into a brand to discover and articulate the truth that was there all along. So when you do get to the executions, everything’s smarter and sharper.

“As the former top creative executive for the industry’s largest agency network, Jonathan also adds significant heft to our international credentials,” Hughes continued. “And his experience on technology business is especially attractive to us as we add accounts in that area.”

Jonathan Cranin, who earlier served as worldwide creative director for McCann Worldgroup and helped lead the creation of the MasterCard “Priceless” and the “Army Strong” campaigns, is now offering his services as a creative director and strategist through this unusual collaboration with The Martin Agency. “Jonathan has been involved with some of the most iconic advertising campaigns in the history of the industry,” said The Martin Agency CEO John Adams. “Cranin@Martin will bring added depth to The Martin Agency and a new level of flexibility to our offerings.”

Cranin also led the development of branding campaigns for Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Intel and General Motors. More recently he served as executive creative director for the E*Trade Talking Baby work from Grey Advertising.

“This is an incredibly exciting time to be joining my friends at The Martin Agency,” said Cranin. “They’re probably the hottest agency in the country right now — and undoubtedly one of the smartest. Cranin@Martin gives me the chance to scratch my entrepreneurial itch while still having the opportunity to work on ambitious Martin Agency projects with an outstanding team of professionals.”

C@M clients can contract for Jonathan’s services either separately or as part of a larger package with Martin Agency services. The Martin Agency account leaders can add Cranin to their regular agency teams whenever appropriate.

About The Martin Agency
Headquartered in Richmond, VA, The Martin Agency is a full-service agency offering unified advertising, strategic planning, media, direct response, interactive, data analytics and branded content. Clients include BFGoodrich, Discover Financial, Expedia.com, GEICO, Hanes, Microsoft Store, PING, Pizza Hut, Sun Life Financial, the American Cancer Society, Walmart and ESPN’s X Games.