Cut to the Chase with Bill Milkereit of Poke The Bear | Ep.1 (pt.1)

Cut to the Chase is an RSW/US interview series that delivers brief, but impactful views from ad agency principals and business development leaders on growth strategies and the challenges that come with it in today’s weird, evolving landscape.

In the Fall of 2020, Bill Milkereit and Todd Tucker were group head/creative director and creative group head, respectively, at the Richards Group in Dallas, the largest independently-owned agency in the country at the time.

They created some of the county’s most well-known ad campaigns-the cows for Chick-fil-A, the resurrection of the Fruit Guys at Fruit of the Loom, “Let’s Do This” for Home Depot, and “It Just Means More” for the SEC (Southeastern Conference).

And then it happened-The Richards Group was thrown into turmoil in front of the ad world, making national news.

While Bill and Todd were not involved in that event, like so many other Richards Group employees at the time, they had a decision to make.

After decades of memorable work and honing their craft, the last thing they were thinking about was starting a new agency.

This is the topic of episode 1 of our new RSW interview series, Cut To The Chase.

As were looking for a new idea after our 100-episode run of ad agency business development series, 3 Takeaways, we wanted to bring you something different.

Every agency owner has experienced the process of starting a new agency (or taking over one) and everything that goes with it.

But many (most?) didn’t go though it in quite the same way Bill and his co-founder Todd did.

In this episode, Bill talks:
-The storied campaigns he worked on
-Working with a nudist client (yikes)
-Poke The Bear-how did they come up with the name? (It took a year)
-Poke the Bear’s ideal client
-Why they excel in fan culture
-The tough question: What is PTB’s point of difference?
-Pushing back on clients for the right reasons