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When ASU alumni Ken Bonham and Scott Kaufman first met, it was through mutual friends. They were not in the same major, the same graduating class, or the same field.
But after a few years, they finally found themselves roommates, friends, and business partners.
In their shared apartment, Kaufman pitched his idea for a new marketing company. I said to Bonham, “If you sell it, I can run it.”
Their first marketing company, Lucid Agency, was born, focusing on digital media, social media, and email marketing using Google.
But we needed to expand. In 2019, they partnered with another ASU graduate, Joe Pizzimenti, who was already in the marketing industry. They formed a new agency called High Noon. At the time, Pizzimenti’s company focused on traditional public relations branding.
They were hired to join a national marketing agency called Agital. The company currently has more than 500 employees in 11 offices across the United States and plans to double in size over the next 18 to 24 months. Bonham, a senior partner at Agital, said Agital stands for “Agile, Agitate, Digital.”three people together The men represent the entire Phoenix office.
Kaufman, the department chair, is a graduate of Barrett’s Honors College, where she studied both marketing and finance for her bachelor’s degree. He recalled an early inspirational marketing class.
“It was kind of cool to see what they were doing in the industry and get exposed,” Kaufman said. “This is the first time I remember seeing how marketing and advertising works in the real world and hearing first-hand testimonies.”
He returned to ASU from 2019 to 2021 to teach entrepreneurship.
“It was kind of cool to come full circle and come back and work with the students,” he said.
Bonham graduated from ASU in 2005 and studied secondary education and social studies while paying her own tuition. This, he said, helped him develop into a “well-rounded person and salesman.”
“I learned a lot about time and money management and studying,” Bonham said. “I am grateful to have earned a degree in sociology because it meant that I had history, geography, political science, and ‘economics’ combined into her one degree.”
The company is a full-service marketing and advertising agency created to create “the largest privately held advertising and marketing agency in the United States,” Bonham said.
High Noon’s founders have been approached many times over the years and asked if they would like to partner with a private equity firm, but each time they declined because it didn’t seem like a good fit.
While the three were running High Noon, another private equity firm approached them and expressed interest in starting a broader brand, now Agital, with six other companies. .
“This group came to us and said they wanted to start a new agency called Agital, that they had a mission, and that they wanted to do things differently and bring together really sophisticated partners.” Bonham said. “We were really excited because no one from Phoenix or Arizona has ever been able to really grow an agency outside of this market.”
All three founders said the key to success was customer relationships.
“First and foremost, it’s about doing the job you were hired to do. Second, it’s about doing it well,” Bonham said. “And his third thing is to keep the lines of communication open and be there for them.”
Pizzimenti said he enjoys working directly with clients on creative campaigns and seeing their reactions once work begins. He said he feels this level of involvement and partnership is key to exceeding client expectations and maintaining loyalty with other agencies.
“I’m a relationship-oriented person and I’m very involved with my clients,” he said. “I am committed to exceeding their needs by drawing public attention to the success of their business and our advertising services.”
As Agital continues to grow, so do the company’s goals and aspirations.
Bonham said he wants Agital to have national recognition and influence in the marketing industry and a presence in other markets.
“We want Agital to be the first agency in Arizona that can have some kind of national presence,” Bonham said.
Edited by Katrina Michalak, Shane Brennan, Kaela Learmonth.
Contact and follow the reporter at efoxmill@asu.edu. @emilyfoxmillion With X.
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