Twice The Nice - Interview with the co-founders of The Kaplan Thaler Group

AFTER YEARS OF CREATING SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS (including the “I’m a Toys “R” Us kid” jingle, and the Kodak moments music) for other big advertising agencies, Linda Kaplan Thaler took one big client and struck out on her own. In 1997, she started the now fastest-growing advertising agency in her Manhattan brownstone with six employees. One of those employees was Robin Koval, the current president of The Kaplan Thaler Group.

The agency grew so fast that it attracted buyers less than two years after it opened its doors. In 1999, Kaplan Thaler decided to sell to MacManus Group. Then, in early 2000, MacManus Group and the Leo Group, which owned agencies like Leo Burnett Worldwide, merged to form Bcom3. In 2002, Publicis, the world’s fourth largest advertising agency, acquired Bcom3.

Over the past decade, The Kaplan Thaler Group has achieved impressive success for a small, startup agency. In 2008, The Kaplan Thaler Group generated approximately $58 million in revenue. Kaplan Thaler and Koval have created iconic campaigns for Aflac, Swiffer, Continental Airlines, and more.

The two also co-wrote the best-selling books Bang!: Getting Your Message Heard in a Noisy World, The Power of Nice: How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness, and The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference. NY REPORT editor-in- chief Robert Levin spoke with Kaplan Thaler and Koval to discuss leaving behind the resources of a big agency to start small, and how they achieved success by being nice.

Robert Levin: What made you decide to start your own agency?

Linda Kaplan Thaler: I had reached a point in my career where I couldn’t break the glass ceiling when the Herbal Essences division of Clairol gave me the opportunity to take their business with me to another big agency. However, instead of going to another big agency, I made a very spur of the moment decision to just do it myself. I thought I could write and produce the whole campaign.

Now, I realize what a ridiculous idea it was for one person to handle such a large account. My client thought I might need another person to help me, so he introduced me to Robin, who was from an account-management background. I said to Robin, “It’s just going to be out of our brownstone three days a week. Don’t give up your day job.”

When I started, I asked my husband, who is a freelance composer, “Are you worried that I’m going to fail?” And I’ll never forget what he said: “I’m not worried that you’re going to fail; I’m worried that you’re going to get too big and feel like you can’t handle it.” Four months later, we had $100 million in billings and had already outgrown our 700-square-foot space. I would like to tell you that I had some grand plan, but I didn’t. This was in 1997 when my kids were small, and I thought I would just do something a couple of days a week.

RL: It’s one thing to be talented and have the ability to produce great work, but it’s another thing to become an entrepreneur. What were some of the challenges you faced in actually getting the company going?

LKT: Let me just start with three words—negative cash flow. I didn’t even know what negative cash flow was until we had it.

Robin Koval: We both worked for big companies and ran accounts, so we knew how to be business people in that respect. However, I remember very early on spending an entire day on the phone trying to get AT&T to hook up the phone lines. That was the biggest surprise about starting a business—in one day, you’ll do everything from having a meeting with the CEO of a company, to going back to your office and figuring out how you’re going to get rid of the trash.

The copier is another good example. We couldn’t afford a high-volume copier. So, we would go to the office of our first big account, Clairol, owner of Herbal Essences, a half an hour earlier than our scheduled meeting so we could use their copiers to make copies of what we needed to hand out at the meeting. But I have to say that the small group of people in that little brownstone was the most amazing hotbed of creativity that I’ve ever seen.

I never worked harder in my life, and I never had more fun. I think it’s something that businesses need to remember as they get bigger—the value of small space, everybody working in the same room, and not having enough chairs. We didn’t have anybody to do things for us; we did them ourselves. It’s an amazing reminder as we get larger; to keep the spirit of the brownstone alive.

RL: What are some of the ways you keep that spirit alive among employees who joined you after you outgrew the brownstone?