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Former CP+B partners launch new agency in Miami

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Jeff Steinhour and Markham Cronin have announced the official launch of their new full-service advertising agency, Markham & Stein. Based in Coconut Grove in Miami, Florida, the agency will focus on big brand thinking, strategy, design and creative in a concentrated form for both local and national clients. Both the agency’s founders, Steinhour and Cronin have a deep breadth of experience working with global clients.

Markham & Stein don't want to reinvent the wheel, we simply want to bring a bit of that unspecified 'something' back to advertising”

Between them, the duo have 50 years of global brand strategy and creative experience for clients such as ESPN, Domino’s, Volkswagen, Porsche, AT&T, Delta Air Lines, Harley Davidson, Jack Daniels, Home Depot, Virgin Atlantic, Coca Cola, truth, IKEA, Molson and Diageo, among countless others. The mid-sized agency will serve as an idea factory for large and small clients while partnering with household name agencies and smaller operations alike to bring those ideas to market. The origins of the new agency stretch back to last autumn after Steinhour left CP+B. He received a call from Cronin asking for some help with a couple of pitches and it grew from there into something more formal and more ambitious.

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Jeff Steinhour (left) & Markham Cronin (right)

I was spending 20% of my time doing my job for clients and the other 80% actually running the agency, so when the opportunity came to do this, there was no question about it”

Steinhour, who was one of the four original Crispin Porter + Bogusky partners alongside Chuck Porter, Jeff Hicks and Alex Bogusky, spent the past 23 years at the agency, most recently serving as Vice Chairman. He was instrumental in CP+B’s global growth and success both before and after the agency was sold to holding company MDC Partners. Cronin spent a decade alongside Steinhour at CP+B before moving to leadership roles at Carmichael Lynch and Brighthouse, ultimately founding his own shop, Markham Unlimited in 2005.

Known for his strategic expertise and his distinct design sensibilities and talent, Cronin built Markham Unlimited into a boutique creative shop. Current clients, which include Coconut Grove Business Development District, Oriental Bank, Hell’s Bay Boatworks, H & H Jewels, IT’SUGAR Candy Stores, Herman Lucerne Memorial, Informed Families and Trout Unlimited have all transitioned to Markham&Stein, as well as Markham Unlimited’s existing staff of 22.

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Amid the splintering of the industry, something has been lost. Agency names and websites are different, but their output feels very similar”

Jeff Steinhour, Managing Partner at Markham & Stein, said: “Clients are looking for groundbreaking branding solutions that once upon a time required a large agency. The changing media landscape, more precise budgeting and increase in project-based initiatives, calls for a new kind of shop. One that brings the strategic and creative power of a big agency in a more nimble and tenacious package, which is exactly what we are building here.”

We're seeing more project-based work and work split into separate disciplines, which benefits a shop of our size”

Markham Cronin, Chief Creative Officer, added: “Increasingly national and global clients are looking for smarter and more streamlined ways to get world-class thinking. We believe that our contribution of creatively driven, talented people doing innovative work allows us to constantly put fresh thinking into the world and craft ongoing, compelling, and engaging conversations around our client’s brands.”

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The agency is is launching on solid ground, with the distinction of just being named agency of record for global marine manufacturing company, Mercury Marine after a three-month competitive national review that included a diverse set of national agencies. Cronin said of the Mercury win: “We are passionate boaters and anglers, so the opportunity to work with an iconic American brand like Mercury is something we are really excited about, and feel like we have been practicing our whole lives for.”

The old model of dumping every piece of marketing activity into a big agency is at its end: We're seeing more project-based work and work split into separate disciplines”

Over the last 90 days the agency has also been named the agency of record for Vossen Wheels and Sage Dental, and is currently participating in several other national opportunities. Steinhour and Cronin have also already been working together on clients such as Markham Unlimited’s H & H Jewels, Coconut Grove Business Development District and Oriental Bank for several months, as the new agency inherited Cronin’s clients and his 21 employees.) The first work for Mercury Marine will launch later this year. The agency also has a couple of clients based in Puerto Rico, with a small number of employees based in the US territory focusing on those accounts.

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Both of us have lived in Miami for the past 25 years, and selfishly, I believe that the city deserves a handful of good agencies”

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