Ackerman McQueen

Ackerman McQueen, also called "Ack-Mac", is an advertising agency based in Oklahoma City. Founded in 1939, it has expanded to include offices in Alexandria, Virginia, Colorado Springs, Colorado, Dallas, Texas and Tulsa, Oklahoma.[2][3] Ackerman McQueen has about 225 employees.[3]

Ackerman McQueen
TypeAdvertising and media
IndustryPrint and video advertisements
Founded1939 (1939) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
FoundersRay Ackerman
Marvin McQueen
Lee Allan Smith
Headquarters
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
,
U.S.
Number of locations
5 (2015)
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Angus McQueen (CEO)
Revan McQueen (Co-CEO)
Bill Winkler (CFO)
Revenue$37.6 million (2012)[1]
Number of employees
230 (2015)
WebsiteAM.com/home

History

Ackerman McQueen was started by Ray Ackerman in 1954. Ackerman bought the shop of George W. Knox's advertising agency, and by the early 1970s, Ackerman "was joined by the father-and-son team of Marvin and Angus McQueen."[4]

In the early 1980s Harlon Carter, a top executive at the NRA, decided to hire an outside agency who "knew its way around a firearm" and Ackerman McQueen was picked.[4]

Clients

Ackerman McQueen worked for the National Rifle Association (NRA) from the 1980s through 2019; the relationship was called one of the strongest in the advertising field.[5] The firm is credited with much of the NRA's modern success.[6][7] Until 2019 most of the firm's efforts were on behalf of the NRA account. Services provided the NRA include "public-relations work, marketing, branding, corporate communications, event planning, Web design, social-media engagement, and digital-content production."[3] Ackerman was involved in developing and marketing NRA Carry Guard, a for-fee program which made available to members a bundle of handgun training with liability insurance coverage for defensive gun use.[3] In 2017, the NRA paid Ackerman $42.6 million, making it the NRA's largest vendor.[8]

In 2016 Ackerman created the online channel NRATV, billed as the "voice of the NRA" but operated by Ackerman. Its primary sponsors were manufacturers of guns and ammunition, such as Mossberg, Smith & Wesson, and Sig Sauer.[9] One of the channel's hosts was Oliver North, the 2018-19 president of the NRA.

In 2019, the NRA sued Ackerman McQueen for overbilling and severed ties with the organization.[10] One issue in the lawsuit was NRATV, with a complaint that the content of NRATV has strayed far beyond the NRA's core mission of gun rights, airing segments on immigration and gender identity, among other things. The channel also warned of possible race wars and called for a protest march on the FBI - positions never taken by the NRA.[11]

Other clients have included Six Flags amusement parks, some Oklahoma casinos, and the Chickasaw Nation.[3]

Controversy

In July 2020, Tammy Payne, a former employee, sued company CEO Revan McQueen in Oklahoma County District Court accusing the latter of hostile and abusive behavior towards her due to her romantic relationship with his widowed father.[12]

References
  1. https://adage.com/article/agency-news/nra-ackerman-mcqueen-strongest-relationships-adland/240218
  2. "Offices". Ackerman McQueen. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  3. Spies, Mike (April 17, 2019). "Secrecy, Self-Dealing, and Greed at the N.R.A." The New Yorker.
  4. "The NRA and Ackerman McQueen: One of the Strongest Relationships in Adland". adage.com. March 11, 2013. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  5. Rupal Parekh. "The NRA and Ackerman McQueen: One of the Strongest Relationships in Adland". Advertising Age, March 11, 2013.
  6. Peter Finn and Sari Horwitz. "Ackerman McQueen PR firm has been behind NRA's provocative ads for decades". The Washington Post, February 13, 2013.
  7. Feldman, Richard. Ricochet: Confessions of a Gun Lobbyist John Wiley & Sons, 2011
  8. Maremont, Mark (April 15, 2019). "NRA Files Suit Against Ad Agency in Rift With Key Partner". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  9. Parker, James (June 2018). "Live-Streaming the Apocalypse With NRATV". The Atlantic. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
  10. "NRA sues its main ad agency for allegedly withholding billing information". Fox News. March 2, 2019. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  11. Hakim, Danny (April 15, 2019). "N.R.A. Sues Contractor Behind NRATV". The New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2019.
  12. "Ackerman McQueen CEO sued by ex-employee". Oklahoman.com. July 19, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2021.


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