Preston Spire

What Preston Spire does

Preston Spire is a Minneapolis-based, fiercely independent, employee-owned full-service creative advertising agency founded in 1950. It delivers integrated marketing services across five core practice areas: Strategy, Creative, Digital & Social, Production, and Media & Analytics, with specialization in regulated and purpose-driven categories such as healthcare, nonprofit, retail, and destination marketing. The agency's operating backbone is its proprietary Good Wins Measurement Model, a three-step framework (Spot The Bad, Supercharge The Good, Score The Wins) that ties creative output to measurable brand and business outcomes; supporting this is an Extended Bench network of curated external partners that allows the 11-50 person team to scale project capacity without holding-company overhead.

The agency generates revenue through professional services fees for strategy, creative development, media planning and buying, digital/social execution, and content production. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, and the GTM motion is direct, senior-led enterprise and mid-market sales with the CMO (Victor Kimble) as the primary point of contact. The client portfolio is diversified across healthcare (UCare, Mayo Clinic, Medtronic, HealthPartners), retail and grocery (Mariano's, Roundy's, OfficeMax), food and beverage (Taco John's, NoDoz, Herbruck's), nonprofit (YMCA, Second Harvest Heartland, Be The Match), and entertainment and tourism (Minnesota Zoo, Paisley Park, Meet Minneapolis), with a track record of award-winning effectiveness work including multiple Effie Awards, Ad Age Creativity Awards, and Minnesota AdFed Best of Show honors.

Preston Spire's near-term operating posture is defined by a planned leadership transition. In June 2026, founding partner Chris Preston retired after 27 years as Chief Creative Officer, and Dustin Black was elevated to CCO and Partner, co-leading with CEO Jennifer Spire. The same month, the agency was appointed Agency of Record for Meet Minneapolis to lead a destination rebrand. The agency maintains a single Minneapolis headquarters, has no disclosed external funding, operates without a parent company, and has not announced M&A activity.

Name

Preston Spire

Legal name

Preston Spire

Website

https://prestonspire.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1950

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Preston Spire is a Minneapolis-based, employee-owned, independent full-service creative agency serving enterprise and mid-market clients across healthcare, retail, nonprofit, and tourism with integrated strategy, creative, digital, production, and media services delivered through its proprietary Good Wins framework.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative Advertising Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Media Buying Agencies (54183)

SIC

Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

B2B Demand Generation & Lead Nurture Agencies (BPAFAKAA)

Keywords

• Creative advertising services
• Brand strategy consulting
• Media planning analytics
• Digital marketing agency
• Content production services

Headquarters

HQ city

Minneapolis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Full-Service Creative Agency Fees: Revenue generated through professional services fees for integrated marketing services including strategy, creative development, digital and social campaigns, production, and media planning and analytics. Services are delivered to enterprise and mid-market clients across multiple industry verticals.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Preston Spire is a fiercely independent, employee-owned, full-service creative advertising agency that delivers integrated marketing services across Strategy, Creative, Digital & Social, Production, and Media & Analytics. Services are guided by a proprietary three-step Good Wins Measurement Model (Spot The Bad, Supercharge The Good, Score The Wins) that positions brands against category and business problems. An Extended Bench network of external specialists supplements in-house capabilities, and the agency also operates Meerkat Studios as a specialized creative production sub-brand.

Product overview

Preston Spire is a fiercely independent, employee-owned, full-service creative advertising agency offering an integrated suite of marketing services organized around its proprietary 'Good Wins' philosophy. The core service portfolio consists of five main offerings: Strategy (brand positioning and cultural insight discovery), Creative (campaign concepting and brand storytelling), Digital & Social (social media and immersive digital experiences), Production (multi-format content creation), and Media & Analytics (data-driven media planning and optimization). These services are delivered holistically to help brands uncover their 'hidden good' and transform it into measurable growth. The agency also operates Meerkat Studios as a creative production sub-brand for specialized content initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Meerkat Studios: A creative production studio operated by Preston Spire.

Products and services

• Strategy Strategic consulting service that uncovers brand positioning, identifies cultural tensions, and finds the 'hidden good' that differentiates brands from competitors. Used by enterprise and mid-market clients across healthcare, retail, nonprofit, and other verticals.
• Creative Full-service creative development including campaign concepts, visual design, copywriting, and brand storytelling that creates bold, unexpected ideas to spark attention and engagement for purpose-driven brands.
• Digital & Social Digital marketing services including social media strategy, content creation, and immersive digital experiences that build brand relationships and convert viewers into advocates.
• Production Multi-format content production services including video, photography, print, and experiential marketing with trusted execution partners for high-impact results.
• Media & Analytics Data-driven media planning, buying, and optimization across digital and traditional channels with real-time analytics dashboards to measure ROI and business impact.
• Meerkat Studios Creative production studio sub-brand operated under Preston Spire, focused on specialized content creation and experimental marketing initiatives.

Quantifiable outcome

• UCare moved from No. 4 to No. 1 Medicare Advantage plan in Minnesota in year one
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers34 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles6 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Meet MinneapolisflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 June 2026Appointed as Agency of Record for Meet Minneapolis, the city's official destination marketing organization. The partnership will launch a bold new tourism strategy and destination rebrand designed to elevate Minneapolis as a premier destination. This represents a flagship partnership for positioning the agency as a major destination marketing force.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Leo Burnett (Publicis): Publicis-owned global creative network offering the same brand strategy, advertising, and content services Preston Spire provides, but at much larger scale and with multinational reach. Represents the holding-company competitor benchmark.
• Ogilvy (WPP): WPP-owned global advertising agency covering brand strategy, creative, PR, and media at holding-company scale. Sets the enterprise-scale competitive backdrop against which Preston Spire competes for regulated-category mandates.

Direct peers

• Mother: Independent creative agency with offices in NY, LA, and London offering strategy, creative, and brand-led campaigns for enterprise clients. Directly comparable as an independently owned, full-service creative agency targeting similar brand-building mandates.
• Fallon: Historic Minneapolis independent creative agency (formerly Publicis-owned, returned to independence in 2020) delivering full-service strategy, creative, and media work to enterprise clients. Directly comparable model and Midwest market overlap with Preston Spire.
• Carmichael Lynch: Minneapolis-based independent creative agency with a similar full-service model spanning strategy, creative, digital, and media. Closest geographic and structural peer to Preston Spire — both serve Midwest enterprise clients with integrated campaigns and proprietary creative frameworks.
• Colle McVoy: Minneapolis-based independent, employee-owned creative agency offering strategy, creative, digital, and media services to CPG and retail clients. Highly comparable structure (independent, ESOP) and service mix to Preston Spire.
• The Richards Group: Dallas-based fiercely independent creative agency known for brand storytelling across CPG, retail, and nonprofit verticals. Comparable independent ownership structure, full-service offering, and emphasis on measurable creative outcomes.
• 72andSunny: Independent creative agency with a culture-first positioning and full-service capabilities spanning brand, digital, and media. Comparable in independent ownership, emphasis on purpose-driven creative, and track record of award-winning effectiveness work.
• Wieden+Kennedy: Largest independent creative agency globally, operating the same fiercely-independent, full-service creative model with integrated strategy, digital, production, and media. Represents the upper-bound blueprint for what an independent creative shop at Preston Spire's archetype can scale into.

Emerging players

• Droga5 (Accenture Song): Acquired by Accenture Song in 2019, but operates with the same fiercely-independent creative DNA Preston Spire promotes. Comparable full-service creative capabilities with brand strategy, advertising, and design across enterprise clients.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/prestonspire

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Preston Spire