Woodruff (company)

Woodruff, previously known as Woodruff Sweitzer, is an advertising agency founded in Columbia, Missouri by Terry Woodruff.[3][4] Woodruff has worked with various national and regional clients including Bayer HealthCare's Animal Health Division, Arysta LifeScience Corp, Diamond Pet Foods, Missouri Farm Bureau Insurance, and the University of Missouri's Athletics Department.[5][6][7][8] In 2007, Woodruff was selected to produce Boone County National Bank's 150th anniversary campaign, which led to Woodruff working with its parent company, Central Bancompany.[9]

Woodruff
FormerlyWoodruff Communications, Woodruff & Associates, Woodruff Sweitzer
IndustryAdvertising
Founded1992 in Columbia, Missouri
FounderTerry Woodruff
Revenue$13.9 million (2015)[1]
Number of employees
110[2]
Websitewww.wearewoodruff.com

In 2016, Woodruff Sweitzer was included on the Inc. 5000 list of America's fastest growing private companies.[10][11] The company has offices in Columbia, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri[3] and Minneapolis, Minnesota.[6][12]

History

Terry Woodruff founded Woodruff Communications (originally Woodruff & Associates) in 1992. Originally staffed by the founder and his wife, the company expanded into an office in Kansas City, Missouri and another in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[2][3][13] In 2004, Steve Sweitzer was hired as chief creative officer and the agency was rebranded as Woodruff Sweitzer.[3][14]

Woodruff worked with Boone County National Bank to celebrate the bank's 150th anniversary in 2007. As a result, they produced the Roots N Blues N BBQ Festival, which has become a Columbia tradition and brought in 52,000 people from 35 states in 2012. When the bank later changed its name to Central Bank of Boone County, Woodruff examined customer behavior to develop a brand strategy surrounding the new name.[3][9]

One of Woodruff's early clients, Arysta LifeScience, worked with Woodruff for over 15 years and became the world's largest privately held agricultural company.[3][6] Woodruff began working with Bayer HealthCare's Animal Health Division in 2005, and in July 2008 was named Bayer's agency of record.[7] In 2011, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc. (BIVI) selected Woodruff as its public relations agency of record for its swine products division. Woodruff had been working on BIVI's swine vaccines since 2009.[15]

In July 2012, the company acquired Paradowski Creative and expanded into St. Louis. Paradowski Creative was founded by Alex Paradowski and has worked with clients including The Wine Group, Monsanto, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Solae.[16][17] Steve Sweitzer retired from the company in April 2015.[18] In May 2015, Woodruff expanded into the Minneapolis-St. Paul market through the acquisition of Confluence Marketing.[12][19]

The National Agri-Marketing Association honored Woodruff at its National Best of NAMA Awards in April 2016 with two first place awards in "Company or Association Magazine, External" for cwt, a magazine for potato growers, as well as "Billboards or Other Outdoor Ads" for its SmartBlock billboards.[20]

In 2017, at the company's 25th annual meeting, it was announced that the company was rebranding as simply "Woodruff" and it would be employee-owned moving forward.[21]

References
  1. "Woodruff Sweitzer". Inc. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  2. Jacob Luecke (November 25, 2014). "Attracting Top Talent Has Made Woodruff Sweitzer a Breakthrough Agency". Missouri Business.
  3. Stephanie Detillier (May 13, 2013). "Risks = Rewards". Columbia Business Times.
  4. "https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2012/07/03/woodruff-sweitzer-acquires-paradowski.html". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11. External link in |title= (help)
  5. Janese Silvey (July 21, 2012). "A company 'nurtured in fresh air'". Columbia Daily Tribune.
  6. "Woodruff Sweitzer helps marketing clients with a simple mantra: Figure it out". Kansas City Business Journal. September 2, 2011.
  7. Norma Ramage (July 16, 2008). "Bayer Hires Woodruff Sweitzer". Marketing Mag.
  8. "Woodruff Sweitzer Creates "We're For Missouri" Campaign". AAF Kansas City. November 18, 2014.
  9. Beth Bramstedt (December 28, 2015). "What's in a Name?". Columbia Business Times.
  10. "Woodruff Sweitzer Named to Inc. Magazine's Inc. 5000 List of America's Fastest-Growing Private Companies". American Advertising Federation. August 23, 2016.
  11. "Top Companies in Missouri on the 2016 Inc. 5000". Inc.
  12. Samantha Bengs (May 1, 2015). "Woodruff Sweitzer acquires Confluence". Republican Eagle.
  13. Steve Friedman (November 2, 2002). "Small-town ad firm lands big-time clients". Columbia Daily Tribune.
  14. Victoria Guida (November 12, 2010). "Woodruff Sweitzer: What's the big idea?". Columbia Business Times.
  15. "Woodruff Sweitzer Named Public Relations Agency of Record for Boehringer Ingelheim Swine Division". National Hog Farmer. April 1, 2011.
  16. "Woodruff Sweitzer acquires Paradowski Creative". St. Louis Business Journal. July 3, 2012.
  17. "https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2012/07/03/woodruff-sweitzer-acquires-paradowski.html". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11. External link in |title= (help)
  18. Leslie Collins (April 27, 2015). "Woodruff Sweitzer partner retires, talks advertising's future". Kansas City Business Journal.
  19. Clare Kennedy (April 27, 2015). "Confluence Marketing bought by Missouri firm". Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.
  20. "Woodruff Sweitzer Wins National Best of NAMA Awards". Bulldog Reporter. April 20, 2016.
  21. Diane Stafford (April 20, 2017). "CEO's company turned 25, and he gave his employees a gift". The Kansas City Star. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
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