Vital Marketing Goes Back to School

After years of promoting brands like Remy Martin and Nintendo, Vital Marketing is on the other side of the press release: trying to promote its own product line of new back-to-school supplies.

The multicultural experiential firm is putting its Street Science line of binders and notebooks in K-Mart and on Amazon.com in time for the start of the academic year.

"Ad agencies have been staking a deeper position in their client's business in terms of helping with product development," said Joseph Anthony, CEO and founder of Vital Marketing, New York. "Now they are taking it a step further and creating their own products and distributing them through connections they have forged over the years."

A number of other small agencies have developed their own product lines in recent years. Josh Taekman, president of Buzztone, Los Angeles, joined with New York City restaurateur John McDonald to create eBoost, an immunity and energy booster. Malbon Brothers Farms, New York, has Frank 151, a culture magazine distributed in 16 countries. And Cornerstone, New York, has the music and lifestyle magazine Fader.

Anthony said the school supply allows him to better relate to clients who are trying to sell products. It also gives the agency president, who is himself a product of public schools, a chance to give back to the education system. Five percent of all profits from the Street Science school line will go to literacy and other educational programs.

So what happens if Staples comes knocking and a conflict of interest occurs? "I would have to decide which had the bigger upside," Anthony said. "At the same time, creating a product line could have a halo effect on my overall business." Vital Marketing pulled in $20 million in revenue last year, per the company.