Veteran ad man Bob Wills launches marketing venture

San Antonio Business Journal by W. Scott Bailey, Reporter/Project Coordinator
Date: Friday, October 7, 2011, 5:00am CDT

Bob Wills, founder of San Antonio advertising agency The PM Group, has launched a new company — Nnovative Marketing Solutions.

The for-profit firm was created to help generate new funding sources for nonprofit organizations that are finding it increasingly difficult to raise the money needed to provide their services.

"I wanted to do something different, something bigger," says Wills, who launched The PM Group nearly a quarter-century ago.

Nnovative will develop a variety of marketing programs and products.

The company will share a portion of the revenues generated from those programs and products with a designated group of area nonprofits, including Haven for Hope, the San Antonio Food Bank and the Elf Louise project, among others.

Wills, who will serve as CEO of the new company, says San Antonio has a growing number of people who are in need of some sort of assist. But he says it's become more difficult for the charitable organizations that provide services to those people to raise adequate funding — especially in a tight economy.

The first program Nnovative is rolling out is branded The Book of Free. The book will contain about 100 coupons redeemable at local merchants that are offering a variety of complimentary goods and services.

Nnovative is producing the book. The company has struck a deal with San Antonio-based retailer Valero Corner Stores, which will sell the book for $50 at about 140 of its locations. Half of the proceeds from the sales of the book at Valero stores will be split between Nnovative's designated charities.

Transplants for Children, a San Antonio nonprofit, is among the organizations that will benefit from Nnovative's efforts. Staci Almager, executive director of the nonprofit, says Nnovative's plan "will allow us to potentially create new programs to serve our transplant families and to add to our endowment."

Everyone wins

"Valero, since the beginning, has done a lot to help with children's charities. So this was an easy decision for us," says the company's spokesman, Bill Day, about the decision to team up with Nnovative.

"This is a really difficult time for a lot of charities we work with because of the economy," Day adds. "Their needs have gone up while their fund-raising has gone down. So we've tried to help."

Nnovative officials say 30 percent of the revenue generated from sales of the coupon book via the Internet will be distributed to the company's designated organizations.

Nnovative will retain the balance of the proceeds from sales of the book to cover its operational costs.

Wills says the new company plans to market the books to larger companies and corporations who can give them to their employees as holiday gifts.

"Free is the most powerful marketing message," he says.

"We have a wealth of nonprofits and needs in this city," says Mike De La Garza, chief operating officer for Nnovative, which will initially have a staff of about eight people. "We don't necessarily have all the businesses with the amounts of money that are needed to help fund all of those causes — especially in a recessive economy.

"The genius in Nnovative, he adds, "is that it is ... creating an opportunity to raise money for those very organizations that need the funds. Everyone wins."

Almager says her organization was initially tapped by Nnovative to beta test the program. That test, she explained, "proved to be very successful."

Turnkey opportunities

Wills says his modest upbringing served as an inspiration for creating Nnovative.

"We didn't have a lot growing up," he says. "There were times when we ate popcorn for dinner because that's all we had.

"With $3,000 and a lot of hard work, in November of 1988, I started an advertising agency," he adds.

Wills has since built The PM Group into one of the city's largest general-market agencies. Last month, the Business Journal reported that The PM Group had entered into a joint operating agreement with another local firm, The Wood Agency. Wills says the two agencies had a total of between $25 million and $30 million in billings last year.

"With that success has come a personal commitment to give back," Wills explains.

"Our most consistent struggle is that we are a small nonprofit agency which serves a niche population," Almager says. "Developing new funding opportunities is just as critical." Nnovative officials say a number of organizations face similar challenges. The company is already working on a second program that would help schools that are dealing with the effects of budget cuts secure more funding.

"The goal of Nnovative is to put together turnkey fund-raising opportunities for nonprofits," Wills says.