2001 Agency Report Card
CooperKatz & Company

At CooperKatz & Company, creativity is the catalyst for communications programs that find clear ways of expressing complex ideas. Founded by Burson-Marsteller veterans Andy Cooper and Ralph Katz (who headed the giant agency’s creative department), CooperKatz has distinguished itself from day one by combining creative, risk-taking ideas and a highly disciplined approach to client service. It works with clients in a wide range of industries—technology, financial services, telecommunications, professional services, consumer products, and e-commerce—with a full spectrum of public relations services as well as in-house creative, including design and production of special events, business meetings, business presentations, videos, and printed materials.

On track for 33 percent growth this year, CooperKatz will hit $2 million in revenues. Much of the growth has come from new economy clients such as U.K-based bolero.net, a service that facilitates international trade via the Internet; thelibraryplace.com, an e-marketplace for the library community; and NewsAlert, a content aggregator for financial web sites. Other new clients include TowerGroup, an industry analyst firm covering the intersection of financial services and information technology. Ongoing assignments include programs for Sun Microsystems and the Association of National Advertisers

CooperKatz also beefed up its senior management team with three key hires: Andrea Martone, previously a VP at Howard Rubenstein, joined as media director; Bernadette Walsh came on board as manager of client service from the New York City Economic Development Corporation; and Jennifer Ahn was named manager of creative services, joining from Visualize, Inc.

Inside PR
1999 Agency Report Card
COOPERKATZ & COMPANY
Hot Creative Agency

CooperKatz is a boutique agency that can provide clients with big ideas, and execution to match. Founded by Burson-Marsteller veterans Andy Cooper and Ralph Katz, who have plenty of experience working on high-profile programs, the firm offers both public relations and creative services in-house, including special event creation and execution. So when fledgling E-company HomePoint.com wanted to draw attention to its new home furnishings Web site, CooperKatz was able to develop the Bunker Bob Y2K Tour Across America, a 40-city tour that is generating massive publicity in major markets.

Similarly, the agency is producing its third elaborate three-day national conference for its other client, the Association of National Advertisers, and working to generate broadcast news coverage for Sun Microsystems, one of several additions to the client list over the past 12 months. Other assignments have included special event production for Prism Communications, which offers the Red high-speed Internet service and a Latin American project for Discovery Communications.

The agency's growth (it expects to hit $1.5 million in its third year) has been measured, enabling the principals to remain involved in every account. Its culture is collegial and team-oriented with none of the title consciousness that distinguished the founders' former employer. Despite offers, Cooper and Katz say they plan to remain independent.

Inside PR
1998 Agency Report Card
COOPERKATZ & COMPANY
Hot Creative Agency

In the larger PR markets around the U.S. there are now dozens of smaller public relations firms founded by people who left the stifling bureaucracy of the national firms to strike out on their own, combining the strategic perspective they learned at a large agency with the responsiveness and entrepreneurial culture of a boutique. CooperKatz, founded two years ago by B-M refugees Andy Cooper and Ralph Katz has already established itself as one of the best of this breed, picking up several nationally recognized clients and earning a handful of national awards for its work.

CooperKatz has chosen not to specialize in a single niche and offers clients expertise in consumer products, telecommunications, healthcare, financial services, and business-to-business marketing. Now in its third year of operation, the agency anticipates 1998 fees of around $1.5 million as it continues to provide strategic marketing programs for clients such as Dole, Telcordia, ACNielsen, and the Association of National Advertisers.

For these clients, CooperKatz provides an array of services that goes beyond traditional PR, often to include promotion, advertising and special events, as well as creative services from collateral materials design to video production.

Creativity is the agency’s hallmark, and it is leveraging that creativity particularly well with the ANA’s membership, companies that market more than 7,500 branded products and services and provide CooperKatz with a large universe of potential clients through its work with the association.