Ben Solberg, rejoining Tad Ware & Co. as vice president and managing director, is leading the expansion of strategic consulting and other offerings at the independent creative consultancy based in Minneapolis.
Solberg previously was vice president of digital and client services at the agency, where new services will include customer experience, innovation and integration services, service and product design and market planning. "I have a lot of respect for Ted, the original president, and George, his son who is now president," Solberg said. "They have a great mentality when it comes to how they want to run the business and are looking to me to bring some of that future vision to the equation."
An example of the agency's new direction is Tad Ware's recent work in research, planning and brand redesign for Chuck & Don's, the pet-products company, Solberg said. "They're experiencing a lot of the same challenges that many other companies are experiencing when it comes to figuring out how to best reach their customers and how to prepare for the future," he said.
Solberg most recently was senior director of strategy at the Minneapolis office of global digital agency Mirum, working there for two years after 4½ years in his previous time with Tad Ware.
The agency also recently named art directors Dan Hannon and Elder Carson as new co-creative directors.
Q: What brought you back to Tad Ware & Co.?
A: An agency like Tad Ware & Co. has so much more flexibility in its ability to evolve and do it more quickly. The nature of the [client] relationship and what clients need is changing so fast that we need to think about it differently. Tad Ware & Co. was interested in doing that.
Q: Why is strategy playing a larger role at the agency?
A: A lot of things that we do lead into areas of the business that we didn't work with that much in the past, beyond ad campaigns and design and copy.
That's where the consulting and strategic pieces move into play. That's a large part of my background and I see a great opportunity to create solutions and provide more when in taking advantage of opportunities to solve business problems.
Q: How is the agency pitching its expanded services?
A: It's a story of experience and adaptability. We are extremely strong in content and content strategy.
The more we build out the strategy and consulting services, the more we're going to provide a unique partnership for clients — where we have the ability to help them navigate change and take advantage of opportunities and help them set a course for how to evolve and execute on some of those solutions.
