Monday, July 13, 2009

10,000 Lakes and a Number of Pretty Good Ad Agencies

The advertising community in Minneapolis has just launched a campaign to lure ad folks to "The Land of 10,000 Lakes."

Stuart Elliott tells the story of MinneADpolis in today's nytimes.com.

I have deep roots in Minnesota. Ancestors on my mother's side homesteaded on the prairie in Stearns County in 1848. Samuel Manon Clayton, my grandfather's grandfather, served with distinction in the 4th Minnesota Infantry Volunteers in the Civil war. My paternal great-grandfather, an immigrant from Bavaria, opened a meat market in St. Paul in 1886.

It seems I've got cousins all over the state.

Is it San Francisco? No, not quite. But it is a solid ad center, second only in the midwest to Chicago. Fallon, one of the great creative agencies, was founded in Minneapolis. Carmichael Lynch and Campbell Mithun made advertising history there, too.

Here's the web site. And here's the MinneADpolis YouTube channel.

When you go looking for a career in advertising, MinneADpolis should be on your prospecting list.