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Each year, the CACCC honors the person or organization who’s had an extraordinary impact on the abused children of Collin County. This year, the Eagle Award was presented to Launch Agency for calling attention to the good work of the Center, an organization that operated under the radar for approximately 20 years.
Agency principal Diane Seimetz on the Eagle Award, “While we don’t donate our time and talents for recognition, it’s a great feeling to know you are making a difference when you do.”
Mike Newman of the Plano Profile on the CACCC: “Their mission is a simple, to-the-point one: ‘to provide safety, healing and justice to children victimized by abuse or neglect.’ The job of accomplishing it is anything but simple.”
Launch principals Seimetz, Michael Boone and David Wilgus are grateful for the honor. And express thanks to the talented team that worked so hard on behalf of the CACCC, including Alexandra Watson, Jon Fullrich, Laura Carroll, Ryan Ingram, Reuben Miller and Alison Hamilton.
To learn more about the CACCC, visit www.cacplano.org.
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The Aggie 100 honors the fastest growing Aggie owned or managed companies worldwide. Launch Agency was recognized as #51 on the list with a compound annual revenue growth rate of 28% from 2008 to 2010.
The Aggie 100 honors graduates from across disciplines and is a program created by the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship in Texas A&M University’s Mays Business School.
“We know how to get brands started, we know how to get them started again and we know how to keep them successful,” explains Michael Boone, Principal at Launch and 1984 Texas A&M graduate with a degree in marketing. “Thanks to a great roster of client partners and a very talented staff, we have grown each year we’ve been in business, especially the past few years. Inclusion in the Aggie 100 is recognition of that success.”
The official recognition came at a formal luncheon in the Zone Club at Kyle Field on the Texas A&M University campus. More than 600 honorees, employees, faculty, administrators, and well-wishers were in attendance.
“Since the founding of Texas A&M University, Aggies have been leaving a legacy across all businesses and industries,” said Dr. Richard H. Lester, Executive Director of the Mays Business School’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship. “Over the last seven years, the Aggie 100 companies have continuously proven that even in tough economic times, solid business ideas and hard work pay off.”
The Aggie 100 list in its entirety may be viewed at www.aggie100.com.
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Inc. magazine seeks to recognize and to celebrate the creativity, dedication, and hard work that entrepreneurs put into building their companies. The Inc. 5000 annually ranks the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. And for the second consecutive year, Launch was honored to make the list.
We moved up a few hundred spots, landing at #3145 for 2011. There are more than 27 million businesses registered in the U.S. so the ranking puts the agency in some lofty company.
The Inc. 5000 are catalysts for job creation and growth. In fact, the 5000 created 370,592 jobs in the last three years.
Launch Principals Michael Boone, Diane Seimetz and Dave Wilgus would like to thank Jane Berentson, Editor, Inc. magazine and her staff for the list and recognition. And, of course, credit goes to our client partners, and our creative, talented staff.
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In what has become an annual tradition, Launch Agency employees celebrated the Fourth of July and all things Americana with a South-of-the-Border battle in the 2011 Tex-Mex Taste-Off.
The trash talk started at 8:30 that morning, but the competition kicked off at noon with five competing salsas, three quesos, four guacamoles and two desserts. Congrats to all our winners:
Best Original Salsa: Michael Boone, reigning champion of Taste-Off 2010
Best “Fun” Salsa: Joanna Rodriguez with her Fiesta Salsa
Best Queso: Jason Giles and Richard Wezensky, whose secret ingredients were cilantro and soy sausage bits
Best Guacamole: Alexandra Watson, whose guac packed some heat
Best Dessert: Megan Kelly with her killer Sopapilla Cheesecake.
All these competing dishes – combined with fajitas supplied by Launch Principals Michael Boone, Diane Seimetz and David Wilgus – made for an incredibly stuffed and happy Launch staff. Photos follow.
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As with most families, Launch has several traditions that mark each holiday season.
To celebrate Turkey Day, each member of the Launch team shared their favorite holiday food at our annual “Launchgiving” feast. Bellies and hearts were both full, as we also collected cans of food for those less fortunate.
For Christmas, the Launch partners – Michael Boone, Diane Seimetz and Dave Wilgus – supplied a delicious catered meal, tested our wit in a rousing game of Launch trivia and surprised us with Apple iPads. Again we counted our blessings and shared with those less fortunate by contributing to a toy drive benefiting our client the Children’s Advocacy Center of Collin County.
From the Launch family to yours, we wish you a Happy Holiday season and a healthy, prosperous 2011! Click here to view our holiday card. Season’s Greetings!
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There are more than 27 million businesses registered in the U.S. For the past 30 years, Inc. magazine annually ranks the 5000 fastest-growing private companies. Launch is excited to have made the 2010 list. Officially we are #3523, but what’s in a number?
In the words of Jane Berentson, Editor, Inc. magazine, “More than ever, this year’s list is a testament to the creativity, resilience and tenacity of America’s top entrepreneurs.”
For Launch, on behalf of my partners Diane Seimetz and David Wilgus, I’d like to thank our creative, dedicated staff for all their great work and recognize our special roster of clients and the mutually successful relationships we have with those talented professionals.
Thank you also to Jane and Inc. It’s an honor just to be nominated. But it’s even better to actually make “the list.”
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Dallas Business Journal – Monday January 15, 2007 – Jeff Bounds
Building business: Creativity and experience helped them sell ideas.
David Wilgus, Diane Seimetz and Michael Boone each had lots of experience with big advertising agencies when they spun out their new firm, dubbed Launch, from Temerlin-McClain in 2003. But they had only one client — Park Place Dealerships in Dallas.
Starting a small business is never easy. It’s even tougher when your shop is vying with big, established names for business. But that’s exactly what the three principals of Launch intended to do. They pulled it off through a combination of experience and creativity.
For one thing, each of the principals had more than 20 years of working with big agencies under their belts, handling accounts such as American Airlines, Subaru and Frito-Lay.
“I don’t think there are a lot of boutique-type shops (locally) grounded in big-agency experience like we are,” Wilgus says. “It allows to compete against larger agencies and win accounts like (Plano-based) Rent-A-Center.”
And having been around the business side of advertising, “We knew what we were walking into,” Wilgus says. “The three of us wear many different hats.”
But Launch’s ability to think outside the box has proven just as important, if not more so. Both Wilgus and Seimetz are creative directors at the firm, while Boone is director of account services.
To help launch the Paris Las Vegas hotel, Launch dreamed up a television campaign that showed men clad in white “stealing” Paris — including the Eiffel Tower — and bringing it over to these shores.
But it’s not just Launch’s ads that are clever. The company also is skilled at thinking up ways to brand clients that go beyond traditional advertising media like TV and newspapers.
For instance, Launch is working with Rent-a-Center to transform its fleet of 9,000 to 10,000 trucks into “moving billboards,” Wilgus says.
Seeking referrals
The experience of the three principals helped in another way in the early days, landing them a bunch of business through referrals, without having to go prospecting for it. Still, Wilgus concedes that growth is a challenge to this day.
“We spend a lot of time on our clients’ businesses, which keeps us from chasing new business as much as we probably should,” he says.
Still, Launch is growing. After starting out with six employees, it now has 18. And last year, it moved from its original 3,000-square-foot digs into a space in Carrollton that’s about twice as large. The business does about $2 million in annual revenue.
“Anytime you’re in a service business like (advertising), it’s a networking and referral business,” says Dr. Joseph C. Picken, executive director of the Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship in the School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas.
He says the track records of people running small shops can overcome the problems of the companies being new. And they can promise to focus more intently on a given client than a larger rival might.
“Sometimes,” he says, “that will win the day.”
Business: Advertising agency
Address: 4100 Midway Road, Ste. 2110, Carrollton 75007
Top executives: David Wilgus, principal/creative director; Diane Seimetz, principal/creative director; Michael Boone, principal/director of account services
Ownership: Private
Employees: 18
Revenue: $2 million
Other locations: None
Phone: 972-818-4100
Web: www.launchagency.com
