🔒CT ad man takes flight after agency closure

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When Farmington advertising agency Keiler & Co. closed its doors in Aug. 2015, Wayne Waaramaa, the firm's creative director, faced a first-time challenge after 40 years in the industry: navigating life after a layoff.

“I considered joining another ad agency,” he said of his transition period, but chose a different path. “I decided to hire myself.”

While many former Keiler colleagues, according to Waaramaa, joined corporate marketing departments or moved to other agencies, he founded The Barnstorm Group, a boutique agency specializing in the aerospace and aviation industries. One year — and 70 projects — later, the decision seems to be paying off.

“I was fortunate to have some loyal clients [from Keiler] who stayed with me and gave me a chance,” Waaramaa said. And that bond with clients has grown stronger, he said, since he branched out on his own. “Larger agencies can have multiple layers — account managers, supervisors — between a client and the creative team,” Waaramaa said. “Now, I spend much more time with my clients directly so I better understand their intentions and needs.”

While more direct exposure to clients has its upside, Waaramaa explained, he also understands the challenges of being a one-man show. “I wear a lot of hats now,” he said. “I'm the creative director, account manager, writer and I have to handle the business side as well — from banking to taxes.”

All that juggling has taught Waaramaa the importance of partnering with the right people. He said he's hired former colleagues from Keiler & Co. as freelancers for writing, production and public relations for certain projects. Waaramaa said sole proprietorship has also reinforced the value of focus. “To be successful, you can't be all things to all people,” he said. “Clients need to understand who and what you are.”

While prior experience has shown him the pitfalls of being too dependent on a particular client, he said his choice to target a particular industry is both personal and professional. “Aerospace and aviation are huge industries in Connecticut and areas where I've spent much of my advertising career,” Waaramaa said. “But I have always loved aviation personally; growing up, I wanted to be a pilot.”

And just as Waaramaa's career aspirations changed, so has the landscape of the advertising industry. “There's more client churning today in the ad industry,” Waaramaa said. “Relationships [with an ad agency] that used to last decades may now last three years.”

In part, that trend's been driven by smaller advertising budgets, but also by technological advancements, said Bernadette Grecki, president of the Ad Club of Connecticut, the state's 425-member advertising association. “Technology has certainly changed the way printing and photography is done,” she said. “Digital media, website and social media are, of course, playing a larger role.”

Waaramaa agrees and notes that more cost-effective social platforms — which provide real-time data analytics to track usage and impressions — have impacted advertising spends in today's more cost-conscious business environment. “A budget for a $20,000 photo shoot years ago is today a $50 stock photo,” Waaramaa said.

With increasing demand for social content — Waaramaa posts daily for some clients — he said organization is a key to his success. “I can relate to the challenges that many businesses face being overloaded and understaffed,” he said. “But I've always been good at prioritizing tasks and staying organized, so I'm not slowed down.”

With his company celebrating its one-year anniversary, Waaramaa has taken stock of the lessons learned and his successes. He would like to hire a writer in the near future to help with the volume of content clients need in a digital age.

Forty-five years in, it's client satisfaction that continues to drive Waaramaa's interest in advertising and his creativity. “I was visiting the CEO of my largest client and he had posters of the ads I'd done for them on the walls heading to his office,” Waaramaa recounted. “He really loved the work and wanted everyone to see it; that kind of appreciation is what motivates me.”

That's the kind of interaction that in his past roles, Waaramaa may not have experienced — and one of the aspects of running his own company that he appreciates most. “Working for myself has been great,” he said. “I have more flexibility now to do the best job for my clients.”

He's hoping that formula continues to help his business — and his aviation clients — continue to take off.