Sells Agency

His employees may needle Mike Sells for his nervous energy — clicking his pen, jingling his change, knocking back Diet Cokes all day. But the CEO of the Sells Agency prides himself on taking the time to help clients define exactly what they need from a marketing campaign and then executing that plan.
“What sets us apart from other agencies is what we define as ‘marketing clarity,'” Sells said. “We understand the need for good creative, but we are at our core all about helping people achieve business objectives.”
Founded in 1991 as a one-man shop, Sells & Associates, by Bob Sells, Mike Sells’ father, the 16-employee advertising, marketing and public relations firm in downtown Little Rock has so far weathered the recession admirably. “For us, it’s been a wash,” Mike Sells said. “We’ve been blessed that way.” The firm added three major accounts in the past 10 months to offset existing clients’ cuts to marketing budgets on the way to more than $10 million in capitalized billing last year.
The keys have been a diversification of its clientele — broadly, the Sells Agency serves mostly mid-sized and large companies, including business-to-business — and a determination to track the returns on marketing efforts.
“When the economy gets rough, and people pull back, you better to be able to show how your marketing programs provide return on investment,” Sells said, “or you’re not going to be around for very long.”
As the Sells Agency jostles with the other big ad shops in Arkansas, one of its recent branding projects has been itself. It has been known as the Sells Agency only since a former partner of Bob Sells, Brian Clark, left the firm in 2008. Sells compares the situation a firm faces to that of the cobbler’s children — always the last to get new shoes.
“We are doing a much better job over the past 12 months of defining our brand, defining our processes and selling ourselves,” he said. In short, letting the world know he can put all that energy to good use.

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