I came across an item about an agency called Punch of Fives, which was named the “first agency of record for the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association.” I felt compelled to dig deeper because I was intrigued by the name.
According to this press release:
Punch of Fives is a full-service marketing and creative services company that blends the imagination and creative spark of a boutique shop and houses it within SGW — a well respected integrated marketing communications holding company.
SGW is based in Montville, New Jersey. And the name? Explains Mark Rowe, the agency’s Managing DIrector:
“Punch of Fives was adapted from an old Irish expression, ‘bunch of fives’ which refers to the clenching of a fist — presumably for the purposes of attacking an enemy or cajoling a drinking buddy,” Mark explains. As in, “Knock over my Guinness one more time, Paddy, and I’m going to give you a bunch of fives. We’ve changed the ‘bunch’ to ‘Punch’ to make it a little less obscure and more appropriate when talking about the street-fighting nature of how brands need to compete in today’s uncertain — but opportunistic — marketplace.”
Lots of agencies — and agencies-within-an-agency — are starting up in response to these economic times. Recessions always breed new shops and stir up new thinking. Let the AdPulp team know of any new ones we should be aware of. We’re all about the underdogs.
Thanks for the review and kind words. It’s a tough new biz environment out there and anything that can help a shop move a slot higher in the consideration set among perspective candidates is a plus. In fact, we were just asked to compete in a review for a significant assignment from the largest healthcare provider in Northern New Jersey. When we asked the marketing director, “Why us?”, she replied, “Because you obviously don’t take yourselves too seriously, and your work speaks for itself.” Fingers crossed…