Ad agency "Bounces" on the scene with new offices downtown

By Rudolph Bell
STAFF WRITER
dmbell@greenvillenews.com
The Greenville News
Published: Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 7:30 pm

The Bounce Agency opened its new headquarters at Riverplace this afternoon with CEO Carlos Jimenez, left, unveiling a photo of Bounce's new location along with Mayor Knox White.
OWEN RILEY JR. / Staff

Five years ago, Carlos Jimenez, chief executive of what was then The Leslie Agency, realized the advertising business was changing, and clients were demanding more accountability. He realized his company had to change, too.

So he launched a re-branding that included changing the agency?s name to Bounce after nearly half a century using the Leslie moniker. Jimenez also abandoned a traditional agency structure to make measurable performance the constant focus of his company. And he moved the offices from Pleasantburg Drive into trendier digs at the RiverPlace development downtown.

"We wanted to be relevant, and to be relevant means you have to change sometimes," Jimenez said.

The Bounce Agency celebrated the culmination of the remake today with the official opening of its new offices on the fourth floor of the newest building at RiverPlace.

"You found exactly the right spot, and it?s going to set a high standard for the rest of Greenville," Mayor Knox White declared during the ceremony.

At the new location, the agency?s 50 employees enjoy a more aesthetically pleasing environment with artistic and creative activity all around. They?re close to fountains, artists? studios and the landmark Falls Park with its waterfall and pedestrian bridge.

Just across the Reedy River is the Peace Center for the Performing Arts, where the Greenville Symphony Orchestra plays patriotic music in an outdoor amphitheater on the Fourth of July. Directly across a brick plaza is an architecturally unusual Hampton Inn & Suites and the Lazy Goat restaurant with its Mediterranean menu and veranda dining.

"We?re surrounded by the arts, music, festivals, all of those things that are so key to inspiring creative talent," Jimenez said. "It makes a difference, and it makes a difference in recruiting."

The Bounce Agency?s 17,000 square feet of office space is intentionally designed to encourage collaboration. The space is largely open, with no cubicles to separate the "energists," as the employees are called. Even Jimenez? office is without walls.

The agency?s signature bouncing red ball is found everywhere. There?s a big red ball suspended in a hole in the wall. The floor of a circular conference room is covered by a circular red rug.

"There?s an energy here that I think reflects our company and what we?re all about," said John McDermott, the agency?s president and creative director.

Jimenez said he doesn?t think the agency would have landed its latest high-profile client without the remake.

That client is Laura Ashley, the global fashion and home furnishings brand. It hired The Bounce Agency in the fall to handle creative work, media buying and public relations for the North American market.

"They really listened to our needs and demonstrated that in their proposal to us," said Penne Cairoli, general manager of Fort Mill-based Laura Ashley Inc., the North American unit of the London-based brand. "Their creative was extremely well done and very relevant to the brand. We really wanted somebody local that had some experience in understanding brands and how they work."

In other work, The Bounce Agency creates South Carolina?s tourism advertising and has done that for nearly three decades.

The agency?s client roster also includes a string of luxury real estate developers such as The Cliffs Communities of Travelers Rest and Crescent Resources, the real estate arm of Duke Energy Corp.

Jimenez is setting high standards for his remade company.

"When BMW or Michelin or Timken is looking for an agency capable of handling their global brands, I don?t want them to go to New York or Chicago or Atlanta," he said. "There should be no reason for them to look beyond their own back yards."