Pocket Hercules Marks 20 Years Challenging Advertising Industry Norms

When Pocket Hercules opened its doors on October 31, 2005, founders Jason Smith and Tom Camp introduced a radical concept to the advertising industry: an agency built around small, smart, and senior talent working directly with clients. This approach emerged during an era when advertising agencies were expanding through mergers, growing payrolls, and accumulating bureaucratic layers. The Minneapolis-based agency's unconventional business model challenged industry norms from its inception.

Within the first year, Jack Supple joined as a partner, bringing additional veteran experience from the same Minneapolis advertising agency where Smith and Camp had previously built national reputations for emotionally charged storytelling. Together, the three established an agency that prioritized copywriting as its foundation, emphasizing emotional connection over visual clutter and flash. "A major driver of our success, beyond having our creatives interact directly with clients, is our writers' ability to distill complex ideas into short, emotive copy," said Smith. "It's becoming a lost art across the industry, but not at The Pocket."

The agency's approach immediately attracted believers, including Rapala VMC, the legendary fishing lure company that followed the creatives from Carmichael Lynch to Pocket Hercules. This began what would become one of the longest-running partnerships in independent advertising history. For nearly two decades, the agency has consistently found fresh, authentic ways to express Rapala's simple promise of helping anglers "catch more and bigger fish."

Pocket Hercules' client portfolio has represented a cross-section of American ingenuity and craft, with the agency bringing its signature mix of heart, intelligence, and unpretentious creativity to numerous national accounts. True to its entrepreneurial spirit, the agency has also demonstrated confidence in its own creative vision by launching agency-owned brands, including the now-iconic Lakemaid Beer, proving that creativity can function as both a service and a product.

As the agency celebrates its 20th anniversary, with Tom Camp and Jack Supple enjoying well-earned retirements and Jason Smith remaining at the helm, Pocket Hercules continues to uphold the independent, craftsmanship-driven ethos that defined its founding principles. The agency's enduring success in an industry where many boutique agencies experience rapid rises and falls serves as validation of its founders' original insight: that the focused work of a few talented creatives consistently outperforms the diluted efforts of larger, more bureaucratic organizations.

The agency's two-decade journey demonstrates that alternative business models can thrive in the competitive advertising landscape. By maintaining its commitment to senior-level creative work and direct client relationships, Pocket Hercules has established a template for sustainable agency operations that prioritizes quality over scale. This approach offers important lessons for an industry increasingly grappling with questions about creative quality, operational efficiency, and client satisfaction in an era of rapid technological change and market consolidation.

More information about the agency's approach and work can be found at https://www.pockethercules.com/work/.