Broadcast Experience Key for New Adamson ECD

Adamson Advertising expects to expand its broadcast capabilities under new top creative Mark Wildenhaus, who built his reel at agencies including Campbell Mithun, Bozell and D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles.

Wildenhaus, 45, was most recently a vice president and creative director at Campbell Mithun, working on television and radio for clients including Burger King and General Mills.

He was chosen for the executive creative director’s role at St.-Louis’ Adamson for “his big-agency experience and his broadcast capabilities,” said shop president Norman Berger.

Broadcast savvy is “something we’ve lacked a little bit at the agency,” Berger acknowledged.

The $60 million agency’s clients include several business-to-business accounts, and the shop also has a strong promotions unit. Consumer clients include regional work for Car-X and Hardee’s.

The goal is to get “definitely more consumer and more broadcast,” Wildenhaus said. “That was the lure.”

Also attractive, he said, was the paucity of major agencies in the city. “St. Louis doesn’t have a big-name shop. That’s a draw,” Wildenhaus said, adding that he thinks Adamson can fill that void.

He takes over the agency’s 11-member creative staff from Jeff Miller, who was chief creative officer at the agency for 11 years. Miller, who is a partner at the shop, is moving over to handle new business, Berger said.

Adamson employed two search firms to find Miller’s replacement, a hunt that began in February and came down to three candidates, Berger said.

Wildenhaus reports to Kim Boyer, who heads up Adamson’s advertising division as svp and director of account management, Berger said.

Wildenhaus spent nearly five years at Campbell Mithun. Before that, he was a creative director for the in-house advertising unit at Best Buy in Minneapolis. Wildenhaus, who began his career in Chicago, has also worked at BBDO.