BUNTIN

1972

Nashville, Tennessee

BUNTIN is a full-service agency specializing in building Brand Conviction in a world that too often stops at Brand Attention. Our services include Strategy, Creative, Channel Engagement & Activation, Digital, Social, Production, Content, Data & Analytics. and Innovation.

100, give or take

Underdog

We're a Nashville-based, 53-year-old independent agency. That's an anomaly in itself! 

Despite advice to the contrary throughout our decades in business, we don't specialize in any one client industry or niche. Instead, we work with Conviction Brands - brands at an inflection point who are ready to invest in building belief and trust with their customers, not just impressions and transactions. Conviction is our specialty. This distinction brings us clients who are looking for true strategic business partners and has led to our long tenure with many brands. It also gives us criteria to select which brands will be good clients for us. If we're on a shared path to Conviction, we're for each other.

In addition, we're not like other agencies because we're not on the coasts; our HQ is in Nashville, Tennessee. While Nashville is a booming city (growing at 2x the average national rate), we've stayed true to our roots. We're metropolitan with Southern charm. We push boundaries and get results and "bless the hearts" of anyone who tries to get in our way. 

Our office is located in a 100-year-old train maintenance shed on the outskirts of downtown Nashville. There are trains literally right there in our backyard. It's the home of hard work.

That spirit lives on in an attitude around which we shaped our culture: Calloused Hands, not Calloused People. In this building, we're ready for hard work. We're excited to get our hands dirty. It takes a team to get the job done well, and we're all in.

We're an agency with a soul. BUNTIN is family owned and 50+ years old, which means we've seen a lot and we invest a lot of personal stake in our relationships. We know what it means to give excellent customer service. We know authenticity trumps flash every time. We've weathered ups and downs on our own dime and know there's nothing we can't overcome with a little elbow grease. Our work isn't business to us; it's personal. It's soulful. 

This is reflected in the way we treat our clients and team members. It also comes through in our benefits. Being the Conviction agency, we offer every team member five paid days of Conviction Time Off (CTO) annually. Yes, we know it sounds like parole. But it means a lot more. 

Team members use CTO days to pursue their personal passions. Whether it's taking a class, working on a book, coaching a little league team, getting inspired at a museum, or volunteering, we believe that allowing each other time with our personal convictions makes us more inspired, more empathetic, and smarter contributors to the agency. 

Our independence allows us to be our authentic selves - as individuals and as an organization. This has led to us being the oldest, largest, and winningest agency in Nashville for decades. We've attracted talent from big names like Wieden + Kennedy, The Martin Agency, McCann, Grey, Fallon, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Publicis, and more. And it's led to us pitching and winning against impressive shops like BarkleyOKRP, Carat, Doner, Starcom Mediavest, Mullen, and more. 

Perhaps more importantly, our Conviction philosophy has led to remarkable business results for our clients: achieving best-ever KPIs across all metrics after a brief 9-week TV flight; growing a client from 900 to 2,200 franchise locations in just over 10 years; and helping a brand realize revenue growth from $400MM to $6.5B across the tenure of our relationship, to name just a few examples.

Our independence gives us the freedom to do things our way, and our clients benefit from it.

In 1972, a bank loaned our founder, Jeffrey Buntin, Sr., $5,000, and a few clients gave us an opportunity to prove ourselves. Thanks to the faith Fidelity Federal, Jersey Farms Milk, Kusan Toys, Washington Manufacturing, and Winner Boats put in us, The Buntin Group was born. By 1973, we led all agencies in ADDY Awards recognitions, and we began relationships with companies that would grow to be the foundation of business in Nashville. For 53 years, we've kept running - always pushing and never letting ourselves get comfortable. That's the indie spirit, right?

It can be challenging and downright exhausting competing as a mid-sized independent agency against huge holding company shops. It's even more frustrating when great clients get bought or merged and inherit the holding co's of their new parent company. Sometimes, it's hard being the underdog. 

But that's also our biggest strength. Our independence makes us flexible, nimble, and scrappy. Our mid-size makes us accessible and authentic. Our Southern location makes us charming and warm. When we're dialed in, we use all these qualities to surprise and dazzle in pitches. We may come in underestimated, but at our best, we leave as the top dog.

Independents are more critical than ever in our industry. In the sea of sameness, there is so much noise, so much... beige. Thank God for independents who bring color, creativity, passion, personality, who have skin in the game. Indies will save the advertising industry.