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The largest advertising agency in Syracuse is not Eric Mower & Associates. That distinction goes to Arnold & Company, if that Boston-based agency qualifies as a Syracuse advertising agency. The second largest in town is Eric Mower & Associates.
Arnold & Company claims overall billings -- capitalized media purchases, production, and other income amounting to some $66 million, compared with the $50 million in volume claimed by the Mower organization.
But only a small share of the Arnold & Company business is centered around Central New York. While the agency declined listing its accounts, a local official did state that the company employs nine people in Syracuse. But throughout the rest of the organization, Arnold & Company employs about 125 or 130. Most of all, Arnold & Company is in Syracuse to service the regional advertising needs of area McDonald franchisees.
Really, the distinction of being the biggest agency in the area would seem to fall on Eric Mower & Associates. This agency merged with the Chester Gore operation based in New York City, but still, the major share of the company's 125 person payroll does work out of Syracuse, although the company maintains a significant operation in New York City as well. And the Mower organization continues to be headquartered down on South Salina Street.
But Eric Mower & Associates, which for years considered itself a regional agency if not a local one, has essentially 'gone national', and little of its business is local any more.
In fact, when it was suggested to Gary Lispi, vice president-media services at Eric Mower & Associates that his company no longer was a regional operation, Lispi replied, "That's very true, that's very true."
Even companies which are working regionally are generating a large share, if not most of their business away from Onondaga County.
When you go past Arnold & Company and Eric Mower & Associates, the next largest advertising agency operating here, which responded to survey by Syracuse Business this year, was Nowak Barlow Johnson. But here again, NBJ's Albany office seems to be outperforming its Syracuse headquarters, based on the client list as submitted.
Two other agencies which would be expected to show high volume are Conklin Labs & Beebe and Roberts Advertising. But...