Urban ad executive aims to grow client roster

by Bryan Keogh
April 27, 2006

Shante Bacon, founder and partner of 135th Street Agency, is aiming to sign on three new corporate clients to the urban marketing firm this year.

JOB: Shante Bacon, founder and partner of 135th Street Agency, a New York-based advertising and marketing firm that specializes in connecting urban professionals with young urban consumers. She was recently selected to take part in the Clinton Foundation’s “Emerging Entrepreneurs Program,” which pairs growing urban companies with larger corporations for a yearlong mentorship.

STRONG SUIT: Understands the lifestyle of urban youths and how companies can reach them.

TRACK RECORD: Snagged a $120,000 contract with the U.S. Postal Service in 2005 after developing three other successful projects for the agency, including a campaign to sell its Black Heritage Stamps, featuring musical legends such as Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. Ms. Bacon spread the word through African-American publications, and she hosted a jazz reception to link the stamps to Black Music Month.

RÉSUMÉ GAP: Her lack of a corporate background means that some big firms are reluctant to work with her. "People will judge you before you have a chance to show them what you can do," she says.

JOB ONE: Building her company’s brand and snaring at least three new corporate clients in 2006. Current clients include BET and the Harlem Chamber of Commerce.

OBSTACLES: Loaded with creative ideas and energy but short on the cash and staff that larger firms take for granted, Ms. Bacon’s agency has to work extra-hard to win clients in a competitive field, she says. Many of her competitors have deep pockets, hefty expense accounts and hundreds of employees, making it harder to convince clients that 135th Street Agency is the best choice to pull off high-end marketing campaigns.

THE PLAN: Ms. Bacon and partner Saptosa Foster say their intimate knowledge of urban youths ages 18 to 35 is the key to convincing corporations that the duo can deliver the best results with that lucrative demographic. "We know how to speak the language that this urban demo speaks,” Ms. Foster says.

VITALS: Ms. Bacon, 29, earned a bachelor's degree from Hampton University in 1998. She started out promoting record labels on black college campuses for Island Def Jam Music Group's marketing department. Ms. Bacon founded 135th Street Agency in 2002 as a pet project and left Def Jam in 2004 to work at the agency full-time.

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