JEFF BUSCH, SPYGLASS BRAND MARKETING
Title: CEO/managing director
Age: 55
Newly named CEO Jeff Busch is aiming to drive growth by putting Minneapolis agency Spyglass Brand Marketing in the spotlight.
With Spyglass poised for greatness, Busch said, his primary role is to spread the word about the cutting-edge work he said the 12-year-old agency long has been producing for its many repeat clients.
"We're different from most other agencies in town, with deep strategic thinking tied to brilliant creative," Busch said. "The more I can help increase the visibility to potential clients out there, a broader range of clients, the growth will take care of itself."
Busch arrived at Spyglass in June as a consultant and was named CEO and managing director in early December. He joins founding partners Molly Rice, president, and Andy Slothower, strategic lead, in leading the agency, which has 12 employees. Spyglass has worked with more than 150 companies in the retail, commercial, technology, health care, medical and financial services markets.
Busch has nearly 30 years of advertising, branding and creative experience. He spent 16 years as president/creative director of his Seattle-based ad agency, Busch & Co. He also has worked as chief marketing officer of a global retail software firm in San Diego and as vice president of marketing for a Minneapolis-based software developer.
The Spyglass approach to tying creative work to strategy aligns with the philosophy by which he ran his agency, Busch said, and with what he learned in his first job, at John Brown & Partners, the Seattle agency that originated the Nike global brand and produced its early award-winning ads.
Q Why should a company bring its business to Spyglass?
A We help our clients equip sales teams, engage employees and connect with customers. And not just in small, incremental ways but in giant, crack-the-code, quantum-leap kinds of ways. One of our clients has this quote: He loves Spyglass because we give him what he needs and not just what he asks for.
Q Sometimes that means pushing clients?
A Clients frequently are uncomfortable about running provocative things about themselves. They think they can change minds with new pictures and different words, and that's not always the right solution. Good creative tends to be provocative. It needs to make you sit up and take notice. If you don't grab your target by the throat and make them pay attention, you've lost everything.
Q How was your agency similar to Spyglass?
A I kept my agency in Seattle intentionally smaller than it could have been because I didn't want to get to the point where I wasn't directly involved in doing the work on a day-to-day basis. That's the philosophy here. We'd love more growth, and that's my responsibility, but we don't want to get so big that the real thinkers and the smart people here aren't directly involved in every single engagement. That's one of the beauties of this place.
TODD NELSON
