Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards: Eric Mower and Associates, The

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Mar 19, 1999

Ranked 8th out of an estimated 10,000-plus ad agencies in the nation by Adweek magazine, Eric Mower and Associates (EMA) is the largest advertising agency in New York State outside Manhattan. The agency provides advertising, public relations, sales promotion, media planning and execution, direct marketing, marketing research, and multimedia development from its offices in Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and Albany.

Now in its fortieth year, EMA began life as the Silverman Advertising Agency with a single office in Syracuse. The company had four employees at the time. Eric Mower joined the company in 1968 as a copywriter, bringing with him a vision to create a marketing-communications agency that based its work on the concept of integrated communications, or providing clients with the complete services EMA currently offers.

Recognizing the rigorous demands the marketing-communications industry places on its employees, the agency has implemented several policies designed to help its staff achieve a solid work/life balance, in which both professional and personal needs are met. By offering employees part-time schedules and job-sharing opportunities, the agency can retain talented employees who also need to spend weekdays with children or other family members.

Throughout his career, Mower has promoted the idea that "to be successful, everyone must benefit." Over the years, this ideal has allowed EMA to retain loyal and talented employees, and keep clients, many of whom have stayed with the agency for five, 10, 15, 20, and even 25 years.

Recognizing that the agency could not sustain unlimited growth if it confined its activities to Central New York, EMA decided it was important to become a part of each major upstate community. Thus, in 1990, EMA took over an ailing Buffalo agency--Levy, King and White--and a year later purchased Blair Advertising in Rochester. Most recently, in 1996, EMA opened a new office in Albany. This expansion allowed EMA to offer its clients local service throughout upstate New York, as well as the resources to provide exceptional regional, national, and international service to all of its clients.

EMA's clients now include such industry leaders as Kodak Polychrome Graphics, Kohler, Sprint PCS, Mobil Films (a manufacturer of flexible packaging and labeling), and Dresser-Rand.

The company has received many honors throughout its history, including Ernst & Young's coveted Master Entrepreneur of the Year award, won by Eric Mower. Only 25 entrepreneurs from around the United States are selected each year for the award. 1999 is the third year in a row that EMA has been nominated for the Chamber's Business of the Year award for businesses with more than 50 employees.

EMA currently has 175 employees in its four upstate offices. Its annualized billings, which amounted to less than a million dollars in 1970, today stand at $118 million.