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The Brand Man
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By Pam Droog
Mark Schupp
President, The Schupp Company
Ask Mark Schupp why he went into advertising and the man who “bleeds
blue” and reminds St. Louisans “we got it good” says he can’t say
exactly.
After earning a B.S. in business from Central Missouri State University,
the Kansas City native backpacked around Europe and got home too
late to start law school, or so he says. “I needed a job and looked
up ad agencies in the Yellow Pages,” Schupp says. “I put on the
only suit I owned, knocked on a door and became a media buyer,”
at Barickman Advertising/Doyle Dane Bernbach.
He enjoyed the work, which required a lot of research. “And I fell
in love with advertising and decided to make a career of it,” Schupp
says.
That was 1978. Less than two years later, he was lured to St. Louis
by D’Arcy McManus & Masius (now DMB&B) to work first on its Red
Lobster business, then on the Anheuser-Busch account on behalf of
its Natural Light, Michelob and Budweiser brands. A-B was so impressed,
the company hired Schupp as a brand manager for Bud Light.
“For nearly seven years, I had arguably the best job in the entire
world,” Schupp says. He was involved with numerous Bud Light campaigns
and shot commercials all over the world. And in the course of events,
he helped create the persona of Spuds McKenzie and managed the canine’s
career.
“Spuds became an international phenomenon,” Schupp says. The pooch
appeared on the David Letterman and Joan Rivers shows and was Grand
Marshal at Mardi Gras. “Spuds could play a room like a Stradivarius,”
Schupp recalls. “That was quite a time in my life.” The Spuds spots,
along with “Gimme A Light,” “Make It A Bud Light” and “Yes I Am”
helped make Bud Light the top-selling light beer in the world during
Schupp’s A-B years.
But something kept tugging at him, and that was the desire to own
his own company. “Very few people leave A-B, but once I made the
decision, I was full of anticipation,” Schupp says. Signing up the
number-one brewer in the world as a client certainly helped ease
the transition.
Now entering its ninth year, The Schupp Company is a full-service
agency that provides advertising, marketing and sales promotion.
Besides the St. Louis Blues and the RCGA, clients include Miller
Brewing Company, Sprint PCS, Coca-Cola Company and Laclede Gas,
among others.
“I knew what kind of agency I wanted, and that was a company of
brand-builders,” Schupp says. He explains, whether clients want
a television campaign, print ad, brochure or simply a logo, everything
has to relate back to the product’s brand positioning. “Brand positioning
is the first thing you do, even before you develop marketing or
advertising plans,” he says. “You have to determine what you want
your product to stand for.”
At The Schupp Company, that’s accomplished by the client and a Schupp
account team—consisting of former brand managers or client-side
marketing types— “going into a conference room, closing the door
and spending one to three days picking apart the brand,” he says.
“Until you know how to position the brand, you can’t provide good
advertising.”
The process works, as proven by Schupp’s clients’ successes and
the agency’s honors and accolades. It is, in fact, the only agency
in St. Louis to win multiple national Addy awards last year, and
to be a finalist in this year’s prestigious OBIE awards competition.
Schupp hopes his 30 employees would describe his management style
as “fun, low-key and empowering.” The fun part of the job is assured
by the company’s location: the old 1896 Mississippi Trust building
at 4th and Pine, which Schupp purchased in January. The renovation
includes a gym with half-court basketball, exercise equipment and
men’s and women’s locker rooms. “It’s so cool,” Schupp says. “An
advertising agency needs a space that produces creativity.”
Buying a building in downtown St. Louis has also produced in Schupp
a vested interest in the success of the area. “From Cupples Station
on the south to Washington Avenue on the north, great things are
happening here,” he says.
A member of the RCGA’s Leadership Circle, Schupp devotes a good
portion of his spare time to providing pro bono work—worth more
than $2 million—to area non-profits, including the Missouri Division
of Family Services, Big Brothers, Ronald McDonald House, National
Kidney Foundation, American Red Cross and Forest Park Flora Conservancy.
“I used to sit on boards, but I feel I can be more effective by
producing great creative advertising where it can do so much good,”
he says.
The rest of Schupp’s off-time is dedicated to his family: his wife,
Jill, who recently retired as a vice president at Weintraub Advertising;
and sons Brandon, 12 and Alex, 11.
Right now, Schupp says, there’s nothing he’d rather be doing than
advertising. But somewhere down the road, he thinks about turning
the business over to someone else and trying something new. “There
are so many things I’d like to do,” he says. “I’d like to do more
photography. I’d like to develop my own product to market. Maybe
I’ll join the Senior PGA!”
Pam Droog is a St. Louis-based free-lance writer.
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