The Century Group Inc. is about as far from a Madison Avenue advertising agency as you can get. Located in Michigan`s North Woods, the agency-which specializes in advertising and marketing for hunting, fishing and marine accounts-is a sort of sporting club of the ad business.
If Ernest Hemingway were alive, he`d probably feel right at home among the 14-member staff, which includes:
– Jim Enger, the creative director, who lovingly stashes his canoe in his living room, has bird whistles on his answering machine and a bumper sticker on his truck that says, ”Work is for people who don`t fish.”
– Brittney LaCoste, the art director, who applied for her job at the agency a year ago by sending a resume on camouflage paper and a picture of herself holding a smallmouth bass. Her office is adorned with a Davy Crockett cap and a stuffed possum.
– Henry M. Campbell, the marketing services director, who recently was spotted padding around the agency, ”test-walking” a pair of Rocky Boot Co.`s new fishing shoes. The agency is working on an ad campaign for the shoe, which resembles a leather boat shoe but is machine-washable.
At a time when many agencies are scaling back, the Century Group is expanding. The agency recently opened a branch office in Whitewater, Wis., to be near potential marine accounts. Plans are in the works to add four or five new staffers by May to accommodate a rapidly growing business. This spring, the agency won four Telly awards-cable TV`s equivalent of the Clio advertising awards-for its 30-second commercials for Johnson and Evinrude outdoor engines and Daiwa Corp., the world`s largest manufacturer of fishing tackle and equipment.
There are blueprints for moving the agency out of its renovated redwood house and garage into a dream headquarters: a log cabin overlooking west Grand Traverse Bay.
Presiding over it all is 42-year-old Charles Janis, a muscular, insomnia- prone ex-Marine. He`s the man in the gray flannel shirt, a Tom Sawyer of the ad business who not only hikes and camps, but knows how to get other people to whitewash the fence for him.
He`s the guy who ran an ad last year in trade publications, asking job applicants to send a resume and ”a photo of yourself with the last thing you caught or killed . . . Roadkills don`t count. No fakers, please. We can tell the difference.”
The American Association of Advertising Agencies in New York said the Century Group is one of only a handful of agencies in the U.S. specializing in the outdoor market-and Janis insists that it`s the only one that deals exclusively with outdoor clients. The agency`s client list includes William Brooks Shoe Co., maker of Rocky boots; S2 Yachts, which builds Pursuit fishing boats; and Flambeau Products Corp., manufacturer of tool and tackle boxes. Janis will not divulge the amount of billings the agency does each year, but says it is in the multimillion-dollar range.
”What you have here is a group of people who`ve found great jobs in a place where they are five minutes from the things they love to do,” said Enger, noting that the agency is surrounded by trout-filled rivers, such as the Boardman, the Betsie and the Manistee, and is near prime hunting ground that most aficionados can only get to after a six- or seven-hour drive.
”We want to be the J.D. Power of the outdoor industry,” he said, referring to the auto-industry marketing firm. ”You can`t get a job here if you don`t love the outdoors. I don`t care if you`ve won 100 Addy awards. You must be the consumer. To our clients, I say there are 50 million outdoorsmen in the country-we`ll deliver you the audience.
But some clients were worried that Janis wasn`t located in a major urban center.
”They live up there in the boondocks, and I was concerned about it at first,” said John Weatherell, marketing director for Garden Grove, Calif.-based Daiwa, one of the agency`s biggest clients. ”I wondered about the delay in getting materials and communicating, but it`s turned out all right. They want to live where they can stay in touch with what they do, and you`ve got to respect them for that.”
The tone at the agency is good-natured and laid-back. The dress code is more campground than corporate board. Enger said the first time he met his boss he wore ”my beard, my hiking boots and my flannel shirt.” Janis encourages the staff to approach ads with a sense of humor. His philosophy is reflected in campaigns such as the one for an articulated turkey decoy called The Motion Hen, whose slogan is, ”She always gets her man.”
But Janis is also a savvy executive who has a knack for hiring the right people. Enger is a former Au Sable River guide who used to own an Orvis fishing shop and free-lances for Esquire magazine. Campbell was in charge of marketing for the Scientific Anglers Division of Minnesota Mining
& Manufacturing Co. and has been courted by Century`s clients to join their management teams on at least four occasions.
The agency is a logical extension of its creator`s boyhood. Janis spent his childhood on Grosse Ile, an island in the Detroit River that he describes as a ”hunting, fishing and poaching paradise.”
The advertising agency was an outgrowth of a high school awards and trophy business Janis started while teaching and coaching wrestling at Galesburg High School in Galesburg, Mich., after he graduated with a science degree from Western Michigan University. When his parents, George and Mary, moved their machine-tool business to Traverse City from Detroit, their son followed with his agency.
At first, Century took on any type of client. But that changed in 1981, when the fledgling agency backed out of a $250,000 agreement with a Cadillac, Mich., auto-parts manufacturer. After a meeting and a long lunch at the new client`s headquarters, Janis said he felt heartsick. ”I thought, I`d rather drink battery acid than hear any more of this car stuff,” he said.
The account would have doubled the agency`s billings. On the drive back to Traverse City, Janis agonized about how he was going to explain his move to his wife, Sharon. ”I thought, if I`m going to stay in the ad business, I`m going to do it in something I have a knowledge of and interest in, and that was the outdoors,” he said.
He recalled meeting Edward ”Mr. Daredevle” Eppinger, the Detroiter who created the world-famous lures, on a 1975 fishing trip to God`s Lake in northern Manitoba. Janis decided Eppinger would be his first call. Janis was shot down initially, but a short time later, Eppinger agreed to a $125,000 deal with the Century Group. Janis vowed then that his agency`s motto would be, ”If it doesn`t swim, fly or float, we`re not interested.”
But in the future, the Century Group may evolve into the big two-hearted agency. It now seems to be taking a few tentative steps outside the outdoor market, despite its creator`s claims.
”I`ve told Charlie that if you want to help your company, you should diversify,” said Jason Sauey, marketing vice president at Flambeau Products in Middlefield, Ohio, which also makes Duncan Yo-Yos. ”He`s practicing on us on projects outside of the outdoor industry. We are a good little testing ground for Century.” The agency recently filmed an MTV-type ad for Duncan, which Sauey said pleased him because ”it implied that Duncan Yo-Yo is not a nerd toy.”
”This is not business we sought,” Janis insisted. ”We would not go looking for a toy account. It`s an extension of our client service. Our mission is still solely to serve a niche in outdoor marketing by positioning ourselves as the recognized authority in this area.”
In the meantime, the Century staff will continue to have what Enger calls ”informal staff outings in the woods,” and plans are being made for the annual company picnic-probably a canoe trip on the Platte River.
The Pompano Beach Rodeo-a Florida fishing tournament with a $25,000 prize-is coming up in May, and Campbell is organizing a ”client meeting”
there for representatives from Daiwa and Southern Salt Water magazine.
”I`m not going to woo the client,” Campbell insists, in a rare giddy mood. ”It`s purely for fishing-the object of life.”
