The Making of VI
4:30am
Wake up time for some, bedtime for others. But sharp minds are at work at VI. It’s always been this way. The pursuit of innovative marketing and branding ideas for clients is both satisfying and consuming. From our first day, we were early-adopters of the belief that every company, product and service has a story to tell. That every brand worth its salt should have a voice and unique position in the marketplace. We succeed by finding new marketing and branding strategies that help transform companies from good to great.
Tim Berney has an idea. Not his first, certainly not his last. But a good one. The media-buying firm he works for, Metropolitan Media, is about to go belly-up.
Tim acquires the clients, starts his own gig and the story of VI begins.
VI doubles in size when Drew Dozier joins the media buying shop.
Dumb luck. VI teams with local freelancers to handle the Heartland Homes account. A partnership is born. The team lands the Trane Regional business.
This is getting serious. VI Partner and CD Steve Sturges joins the firm full time. Legitimacy follows. Several accounts are soon acquired.
Dumped! A longtime OKC agency backs out of acquiring VI at the last minute. There go those Honda Accords we were promised. 2 years later we’ve surpassed them in size- nah nah nah nah nah nah.
Pizza! Pizza! We land the largest Little Caesars® franchisee.
Rawrrr! We land the OKC Zoo account. Very high profile and the opportunity to do great work.
Our first Addy Best of Show.
Our second Addy Best of Show.
10 years of consecutive growth. Over 20 employees.
Steve Sturges wins AAF Advertising Person of the Year.
A classic line from our radio ad that won Best of Show: “It's like a tiny piece of popcorn stuck between your teeth. You keep on sucking, but it gets you nowhere.”
Head for the hills- VI opens up shop in Colorado Springs. Rocky Mountain High, brah.
Best of Show, Oklahoma AdClub.
VI develops Collision Marketing to address the fragmented media landscape. Media outlets across the country take our model and begin selling it to other advertisers.
Short and sweet - VI develops the :04 television adlet. Television stations across the country take our product and begin selling it to their advertisers.
Our ideal office for creative interaction opens on Park Avenue in OKC.
Best of Show, Colorado Springs.
Advertising is dead. Visual Image Advertising becomes VI Marketing and Branding. The marketing landscape begins its evolution.
We enter the Kansas City market with the acquisition of Pearcy Dunning Advertising.
Proving it. We beat some of the largest brands in the world and win our first Jay Chiat award for strategy.
Content Rules! We add full video capabilities in-house.
We win our bazillionth award for creative excellence.
(Somehow we did it.) We hit our goal to double in size in 18 months.
“We’ve still got it.” We take home the Jef Fontana Humor Award, the award for Best of Video for the Electronic Consumers Association video for SelectQuote, and the award for Best of Radio.
TENure! Our Colorado Springs office turns 10 years old.
Nifty Fifty, VI passes the 50 employee mark. Next stop...100?
We celebrated our 25th Birthday by throwing an epic party on the front lawn of the Civic Center. We’re 25. So much left to do. And we’re just getting started!
Global recognition.
The largest creative magazine in the world, Communication Arts, honors VI’s “White Space” video with an Award of Excellence in the 5th Typography Annual Competition.
VI knows Best.
We win Best of Show at the OKC American Advertising Awards for our Shape Your Future Healthy Habits campaign.
We top some of the world’s largest agencies and take home our first National Addy, thanks to our animation and special effects expertise.
3-PEAT!
We take home Best of Show at the American Marketing Association OKC Marketini Awards for the third year in a row.
Talk about consistency. For the 4th time in 5 years, VI is voted okcBIZ’s Best Ad Agency in OKC… aaand 4 months later, we’re voted one of OKC’s Best Places to Work.
We developed, branded and marketed an app… then took home the Best of Interactive award for it at the OKC Addy Awards. Are we strategic, smart and creative? App-solutely.
After just 28 years,
VI’s Tim Berney and Steve Sturges have already been recognized with a lifetime achievement award. Alive and kickin,’ they took home the distinguished Silver Medal Award at the OKC Addys.
Remember "Groundhog Day?" VI wins Best of Show at the ADDYs for the Oklahoma Tourism "Land of No Boundaries" campaign. Hog-gone-it, we’re good!
We aren’t finished yet. VI wins its second Best in Show of 2018, dominating the Tactics category at the PRSA-OKC Upper Case Awards.
