For Wehrenberg, who runs Minnesota’s largest ad agency (General Mills and Supervalu are two of its big clients), the current challenges include the “uncertainty and doubt in terms of what kinds of marketing communications really work and are really effective, especially with the younger generation consuming more digital media.”
With marketing budgets tighter, the Minneapolis-based agency has “had to learn to work on shorter-term things,” he adds. Clients can no longer always commit to long-term retainers. “We’ve had to learn to work on projects that have beginnings and ends to them. It changes how you manage your business and how you manage your staff.”
That talent doesn’t respond well to the “command-and-control” model of Wehrenberg’s youth. “In a creative organization, people want empowerment,” he says. “They want freedom and flexibility.”
