Out of the corporate advertising landscape in the early 2000s emerged a small but scrappy powerhouse advertising agency known for its fierce standards and competitive work ethic. Founded by two creatives with unrivalled talent, wit, and determination, Pocket Hercules was destined to thrive from the very beginning.
Minnetonka, Minnesota–On October 31st, 2005, The New York Times trumpeted the debut of Pocket Hercules, a small and inventive advertising agency poised to rattle industry giants.
At the time, major advertising companies were consolidating and morphing into larger entities that held considerable influence over the industry.
Taking a 180-degree turn, the creative team Jason Smith and Tom Camp chose a different direction for their “dream agency.” Inspired by the famed weightlifter of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Naim Süleymano?lu–pound for pound, he was the strongest man in the world–“Pocket Hercules” deliberately embraced its small size and boldly defied the industry’s hierarchical norms, heralding a newfound sense of creative freedom.
Unbeknownst to the press, Pocket Hercules had been secretly operating for months before its grand unveiling. In fact, its inception occurred years prior. Concealed under the pseudonym guise of “Camp Smith,” the creatives covertly navigated the landscape of entrepreneurship while laying the groundwork for their eventual emergence into the spotlight.
The pair met while working at one of the largest advertising firms in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market. They had years of experience paving the creative path for large advertising conglomerates, Camp finding success with his quick wit and strategic copywriting skills and Smith with his cutting-edge design prowess. In 2001, before he had turned 30-years-old, Smith won the Kelly’s Grand Prize for a Harley-Davidson print campaign. Camp earned similar accolades for a series of anti-smoking TV commercials for the California Department of Health Services.
Yet, the pair desired more opportunities to unleash their creative visions. Most of all, they wanted to be liberated from the stifling hierarchies of large “corporate” ad agencies.
“What Tom and I started to notice at these big companies was that no matter how big the building was, the clients really only dealt with a creative team of about five people,” said Smith. “We started thinking that you don’t have to be a big company to get something great done — and that was where the light bulb went off.”
The Big Split
Prior to founding Pocket Hercules, Smith and Camp were working closely alongside Producer Lisa Norman. The formidable trio dedicated nearly two consecutive years to spearheading a fresh branding campaign for a financial client, all the while Smith and Camp were quietly nurturing the conception of a new, smaller agency. Forever fans of precise comedic timing, Smith and Camp waited until mere moments before a client meeting to reveal their audacious idea to Norman.
Now, with three people on board, it was time to roll up their sleeves and get the Pocket Hercules engine running. Norman was the original bearer of all hats, with responsibilities ranging from establishing procedures and tracking the process of early projects to finding the perfect location that would allow Smith and Camp’s creative hive to thrive. (Sting like a bee, and all that…)
At the time, Smith was fresh off of his Kelly’s Grand Prize win. Between him and Camp, the two had enough firepower and status to jump headfirst into their plans. Thus, the hustle began. Smith and Camp continued working 40-hour weeks at their day jobs, but they also started fulfilling freelancing orders at night, slowly and carefully becoming an even more powerful force to be reckoned with.
“Freelancing allowed us to have a ramp into the company because we could cash flow our initial investment. We took freelance jobs during the day and sent out FedEx packages at night to anybody we thought could become a client,” said Smith. “We would send them big reprints, we would send them little notes — whatever we could think of to stand out. At one point, we had an entire wall of FedEx receipts as proof of the hustle.”
Their approach to client hunting was akin to the art of casting a fishing line — a waiting game with a touch of finesse that gave rise to big opportunities.
“Our goal was to get one hundred lines in the water. That was it,” said Camp. “Once you get the line in the water, you can make a game out of it. The returns were small percentages, but you only need one client to start an agency.”
Following The New York Times announcement, Pocket Hercules burst onto the scene with an unforgettable entrance. While small in size, its reach extended far and wide. National curiosity surged as people sought to unravel the story of the agency, one of the first to break away from the corporate ad world and forge a new kind of art-making that is scrappy, all-hands-on-deck, and unequivocally sharp.
And that was only the beginning.
This is Pocket Hercules: Be a Part of Our Story
Learn where we are today more at www.PocketHercules.com.
To read stories similar to this one, visit the Pocket Hercules blog.