It’s been nearly a decade since Matt McCallum was asked to head up talent development at Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc., an Akron-based advertising agency more commonly known as hfa.
“We were taking a person who was a billable-type person, which as you can imagine is very important in our business, and putting that person into more of an administrative role that doesn’t necessarily bill dollars to clients,” says Chuck Abraham, hfa’s managing partner/CFO.
It was a risky move, but one Abraham felt was in the best interest of the firm.
“He’s our vice president of talent development and he really took the initiative to create a position that has become extremely important to us in terms of identifying what type of talent we need and then going out and looking for people to fill those needs,” Abraham says.
In addition, McCallum has been instrumental in leading ongoing training, development and orientation for new employees that come to hfa.
The ability to work together and develop solutions collaboratively is a big reason why hfa is able to celebrate its 75th anniversary, says Keith Busch, partner/connections at the 90-employee firm.
“We’ve really worked hard at fostering an environment of openness that welcomes the exchange of ideas,” Busch says. “Everybody has the sense that their opinion matters and that the exchange of ideas is very helpful to getting us to the best final results for our clients. That works both internally and with the clients.”
The firm has been a fundamental partner in helping to grow major local, national and global companies over the years, including Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. In September, hfa received a proclamation from Akron Mayor Jeff Fusco commemorating its anniversary. Abraham is proud of what the firm has accomplished, but admits he’s not big on dwelling on what’s already been done.
“We always kind of laugh because we never seem to be really satisfied with where we are,” Abraham says. “We’re always looking at how we can grow, improve and provide better quality thinking and service to our clients. You might say we’re a bit restless in that regard trying to continually educate ourselves to become better.”
New directions, new connections
When Abraham arrived at hfa 26 years ago, he brought with him a background in public accounting.
“The firm had grown to a size where it was looking for a controller-type role to be filled,” Abraham says. “Over the course of that time, I had opportunities to get involved in more than just the financial function of the business including HR and operations and eventually CFO and executive vice president.”
Almost two years ago, Jack DeLeo, the firm’s long-time president and CEO, decided to retire. The move prompted a change in organizational structuring that led to Abraham becoming managing partner and seven other partners being named to lead the firm.
Busch has experience managing political campaigns and came to hfa to work on the accounts and client service side before moving to his present role managing the firm’s connections.
“I have a little bit of client service responsibility, but I also oversee the paid media and PR side of the business,” he says.
Busch’s new direction came about in response to a world that is changing by the day in terms of technology and the ways people have to connect with each other through the various forms of media that are available.
“We look at it from a paid, owned and earned media,” Busch says. “If you think of paid, that’s your traditional buying space on a television station or in a magazine or newspaper. The owned is, you have your own website or blog and you can communicate from that. And then on the earned side, if you think traditional media relations or PR, there are a lot of ways to earn media that can be viral. It could be readings and reviews; it could be a lot of different things out in the digital space.”
Busch says studying the connections from a paid, owned and earned perspective has allowed hfa to do a much more effective job understanding the massive amounts of content that exist and putting it into context for the firm’s clients.
Abraham says another key to hfa’s success is taking the time to understand the journey a customer takes to buy a particular client’s product.
“That helps us understand where they are from a rational perspective when working for a purchase so we can deliver the right message at the right time,” Abraham says. “Having that research is invaluable. Otherwise, you’re just throwing darts at a dartboard.” ●
How to reach: Hitchcock Fleming & Associates Inc., (888) 376-7601 or www.teamhfa.com
