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David Martin, Randy Wilbourn Announce New Agency

2 min read

The mystery of last month’s mass departure of CEO David Martin and four others at Cranford Johnson Robinson Wood advertising agency is starting to become clearer: Martin and former Alltel executive Randy Wilbourn announced Tuesday the formation of Martin-Wilbourn Partners LLC.

Joining the named partners at the "full-service marketing and communications firm" are three of the four who departed CJRW with Martin – Mitch Chandler, Andrew Moreau and Mac Stroud – as well as Leslie Heizman, who left CJRW several days later, and creative director Steve Burnett, who is the founder of Burnett Group of New York.

"Martin-Wilbourn Partners will be one of the premier agencies in the Southwest, offering a complete suite of services to our clients," Martin said in a news release. "Our firm has the strongest leadership team of any marketing and communications agency in this region, enhancing our ability to provide strategic direction and implementation for our clients. We’re off to a fast start, beginning operations with more than a dozen clients and 10 associates supporting them."

None of those clients were named in the announcement.

"We’ll be announcing clients shortly, but we want to make sure we have their permission to do so," Moreau told ArkansasBusiness.com. "But we’re pleased – we’ve got a dozen, and that’s a lot before we even make a public announcement."

Where Martin-Wilbourn will have it offices is also not specified, but Moreau said a lease for space in the Riverdale section of Little Rock is being finalized.

The ownership structure of the new company is "mainly" Martin and Wilbourn, Moreau said, "and the other senior people in the firm will have various levels of ownership. All of the ownership will be by people who are involved in the company."

Burnett’s name is less familiar in Arkansas than the others, but Moreau said he had done a considerable amount of work for Alltel and Stephens Inc. of Little Rock through his New York design shop.

"He doesn’t intend to not have that company, but he’ll be spending a lot of time down here making sure we have the support we need on the creative side," Moreau said.

In addition to the seven people named in the release, Martin-Wilbourn has hired one administrative staffer, Moreau said. Jill Dunlap, a part-timer at CJRW who left with Martin, Moreau, Stroud and Chandler, "is not involved at this point," he said.

The weeks since their departure from CJRW have been filled with preparation for opening the new business, he said.

"We’ve got a good client base and a great group of people who enjoy working together and who share a business philosophy and culture, and that’s a great way to start a business."

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