Nashville Marketing Strategy Firm, Kentucky Creative Firm Merge to Form Comprehensive Marketing Agency

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 18, 2010) — Earnhart + Friends Advertising (Bowling Green, Ky.) is pleased to announce that it has merged with Fresh Dirt Marketing (Nashville, Tenn.) to form WERKSHOP MARKETING.

Werkshop Marketing boasts four distinct disciplines — brand development, marketing planning, creative execution and marketing education — under one roof, with a comprehensive offering of services within each.

Each company brings a solid portfolio to the equation. Fresh Dirt Marketing (FDM) has designed and executed robust, detailed marketing plans for clients including Lyric Financial, the Peterson Foundation for Parkinson’s and Tennessee Titans placekicker Rob Bironas (and his Rob Bironas Fund); Earnhart + Friends (E+F) has conceived and executed TV, radio, print and web campaigns for the likes of Minit Mart convenience stores, Auburn University Athletics and Harned Bachert & McGehee PSC.

“Bringing these two firms together just made perfect sense,” says Principal/CEO Tim Earnhart. “We saw that our clients would be better served with strategic direction on the front end, while FDM saw an opportunity to give their clients top-notch creative. As Werkshop, we’re now positioned to provide our clients with foundational marketing strategy, then develop that into pitch-perfect creative, all within the same team and under the same roof.”

A major component of Werkshop Marketing is a commitment to educating start-up, small and midsize businesses on how to plan and execute their marketing in a strategic way. This will be accomplished through a variety of educational efforts, including monthly “Digs” — free, off-the-cuff discussion events on hot topics in marketing. Past Digs have featured speakers from all corners of the marketing world, and have generated a tremendous level of enthusiasm from those in the industry, as well as professionals looking for ways to give a spark to their start-ups and small businesses.

“Good marketers are also effective teachers,” says Holly Grenvicz, Werkshop Principal and Chief Strategist. “We are passionate about sharing our knowledge of the marketing toolbox with our clients so that they will have the ability to make effective marketing decisions. The Digs have become a platform for clients, business owners and professional marketers to come together and talk about what is going on, and the positive response we’re getting is motivation to keep the content coming.”

Werkshop Marketing is headquartered at 2915 Berry Hill Drive, Nashville TN 37204, with a secondary location at 422 East Main Street, Bowling Green, KY 42101.

About the Principals

Principal/CEO Tim Earnhart boasts more than 16 years of experience in marketing and advertising. He spent years with Wendy’s Restaurants before founding E+F in 2005. Tim will have primary management oversight of the agency, focusing his efforts on client development. Tim, his wife, Jennifer, and their two children live in Bowling Green.

Principal/Chief Strategist Holly Rooks Grenvicz began her marketing career with First Tennessee Bank in Chattanooga, TN. During her decade within the bank’s marketing arm, she worked on the First Tennessee Middle Tennessee expansion team, and won the bank’s highest employee award for developing a sales campaign that yielded more than 10,000 new accounts in its first year. She left the bank in 2007 to begin Fresh Dirt Marketing. Holly has become a featured speaker for area organizations about marketing topics and will head the Werkshop’s education arm. Holly, her husband, Joe, and their daughter live in Nashville.