Business Profiles

Show and Tell: McKim and Sherpa “gobsmacked” new moniker was available

Peter George and Marty Fisher.

When Peter George and Marty Fisher sat down to figure out what they should call their newly merged company a couple of years ago, they quickly discovered that one plus one equaled more than two.

So, rather than hyphenate McKim Communications Group and Sherpa Marketing, which were owned and run by George and Fisher respectively, they opted instead to brainstorm for a new name.

But even though this was the kind of thing both firms did regularly for clients, finding the right moniker wasn’t easy. After a year of kicking around various names with the senior creative team and having them shot down after legal name searches, they decided to tap into their greatest resource — their 55 employees.

All they had to do was supply some beer and pizza to get the collective’s creative juices flowing. Some of the names that didn’t make the cut included Fish Sticks, Satchel and Bungalow, but when “Show and Tell” was presented by one employee, bells went off.

They were prepared for the worst when searching the business name database but incredulously, Show and Tell Agency was up for grabs.

“We were gobsmacked that it was available. It fits perfectly with who we want to be,” Fisher says.

The companies merged in 2021, but the operational side of the business required all hands-on deck, so at the time, the CEOs had to put the naming on the back burner and operated as McKim.Sherpa.

“We quickly learned that we weren’t simply a combination of the two agencies,” George says. “Collectively, we offer something much better by bringing our creative and digital expertise together. We thought, ‘this deserves a fresh, new agency name.’

“Show and tell as an activity is ingrained in us as humans. It’s what we do every day. Most kids can draw pictures before they can write and we’re finding that same excitement in our work. Sharing changes everything.”

Adds Fisher: “At the end of the day, you’re not new unless you’re new.”

McKim carved out its niche in strategic branding and creative advertising while Sherpa was a leader in digital marketing and web and app development. While both firms primarily serviced clients in Manitoba and Ontario, the business plan for the new agency called for a more international flavour.

“We’re not content to just sit in Manitoba and Ontario and fight with a roster of capable agencies over a fairly finite amount of work. Show and Tell’s talent and brand allows us to compete for bigger, more complex work at home, inter-provincially and internationally,” Fisher says.

When it came time to decide where to locate all the Winnipeg staff, it made the most sense for Sherpa’s people to move from their south end business park into the Main Street building adorned with McKim’s name. The combined workforces occupy 8,000 square feet on the fifth floor.

The six-storey building on the northwest corner of Main Street and Bannatyne Avenue—which was the J.H. Ashdown hardware store when it opened in 1904—will continue to be known as the McKim Building for the time being. (Canada’s first advertising agency, McKim, hung its first shingle in 1889 and went through multiple name changes over the years.)

Show and Tell also has a satellite office in Kitchener-Waterloo and has remote staff in other Canadian cities, including Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver as well as internationally in Buenos Aires.

Fisher says Sherpa had cultivated a solid reputation as “the company that would identify what’s next in digital and get there first,” but the opportunity to join up with the creative and branding powerhouse at McKim was too great to pass up.

“Outside of the largest Canadian cities, there’s nothing quite like (Show and Tell). We’re an integrated agency with a Prairie sensibility,” he says.

 

 

The Show and Tell Agency
211 Bannatyne Ave. – 5th floor, Winnipeg
645 Westmount Rd E. – Unit 17, Kitchener
1.888.447.7727  theshowandtellagency.com

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