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Last Modified: 5/24/2022

Carlberg Branding & Advertising

AGENCY CONTACT INFORMATION
Carlberg Branding & Advertising	Phone (713) -96-5-0764
5535 Memorial Drive	Fax (Not) ap-plicable
Suite F, #615	URL www.carlberg.com
Houston, TX 77007	Contact Chuck Carlberg
	E-mail chuck_carlberg@carlberg.com

AGENCY OWNERSHIP

Privately Held

AGENCY DESCRIPTION

We’ve been in this roller coaster ad biz for 50 years and counting. So our co-principals, Gayl and Chuck Carlberg, have seen and done it all.

Carlberg Branding & Advertising is a full-service creative agency based in Houston, Texas. We partner with brands and people we truly believe in and then drive their success with every ounce of our craft and conviction. We do our best work on brand challenges that demand experience, ambition and creativity. We welcome partners of all sizes, industries and walks of life.

Carlberg Branding & Advertising helps clients generate results. Period. Results like sales, calls, visits, clicks and that enigmatic “buzz.”

So if you have goals to reach, reach out to us.

Offices

GLOBAL SERVICE REGIONS

Mexico

U.S. OFFICES

Carlberg Branding & Advertising

5535 Memorial Drive, Suite F, #615

Houston, TX 77007

Phone: (713) 965-0764

Staff

TOTAL NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES
Office Employees	0-50
Total US	0-50
Total Worldwide	0-50
Discretionary Comments:
All of our clients are serviced through the Houston office.

BIOS

Gayl Carlberg, CEO/Executive Creative Director

Gayl is creative. Period. She has been honored by some of advertising’s most prestigious and selective competitions – Clio Awards, New York Art Directors Club, Communication Arts magazine, the American Advertising Federation’s ADDY Awards, and Graphis magazine. She was also named one of Adweek’s “Women on the Rise” and “Best Television Art Director in the Southwest.” However, most people don’t realize that Gayl enjoyed entrepreneurial forays into children’s clothing design and songwriting, too. One of her clothing designs was even worn by Robin Williams’ newborn daughter on The Tonight Show. Gayl’s song “There’s a War in Me” was recorded by Academy of Country Music Best New Artist nominee Chalee Tennison.

As CEO and Executive Creative Director of Carlberg Branding & Advertising, both Gayl’s right brain and her left brain have proven to serve both the clients and the ad agency well. Gayl has an ability to focus on the big picture of a client’s marketing objective, fashioning integrated campaigns across every conceivable medium. In fact, she was developing “guerrilla” or “street buzz” ad campaigns for the Houston Chronicle years before the trend caught the eye of national advertisers. That kind of strategic thinking and creative output helped the Houston Chronicle grow into Texas’ biggest newspaper and helped “the big, new H-E-B” in its successful push into Houston, one of the nation’s most competitive grocery markets. Of all the brands Gayl has worked on across the years, she is especially proud to be leading the charge to build nationwide recognition for UTHealth Houston – a health university with six schools, breakthrough research, and world-renowned physicians. As executive creative director and CEO, Gayl oversees a number of website redesigns, from small to large in scope, for clients such as the UTHealth Houston’s microsite, to full websites for Texas A&M University School of Law, Stephen F. Austin State University, Blue Bell Creameries, The University of Houston-Downtown, and more.

Whether it’s a health institution, a university, a newspaper, a financial institution, a grocery store chain, or a famous Texas ice cream, Gayl has managed to bring that same level of insight and creativity to each and every client she works with.

Perhaps what’s most amazing about Gayl is that between creating award-winning advertising, developing a successful children’s clothing line, and writing critically acclaimed music, she somehow found time to raise two children, along with her business and life partner, Chuck. It’s no surprise, with their double DNA, that both children also happen to be in the ad business.

Chuck Carlberg, President/Executive Creative Director

As President and Executive Creative Director, Chuck is involved with our clients on a daily basis, and never misses an opportunity to sit down with a client and ask, “How’s business, or how is enrollment?”

Chuck’s work has been recognized by every major advertising competition from Houston to New York. He was named to Adweek’s Creative All-Stars and “Best Creative Director of the Southwest.” In 1999, he was awarded Houston Advertising Federation’s (AAF-H) Silver Medal for outstanding work in advertising and in the community. In 2012, he was inducted into the Southwest Advertising Hall of Fame. In February 2017, he was presented the Media Alliance of Houston Silver Star of Excellence Award, and in June, the AAF-Houston Living Legend Award.

He’s proud of the awards given to him by both clients and peers: National CLIOS, Tellys, numerous medals from New York Art Directors Clubs and ONE Shows, several National ADDYs, Gold Medals from the Dallas Society of Visual Communications and more than 100+ Gold Medals from the Houston Advertising Federation and the Art Directors Club of Houston.

Chuck has worked on airlines, restaurants, hotels, newspapers, radio and TV companies, energy businesses, packaged goods, soft drinks, cell phone service, health care, higher ed, automobiles, tractors, parks, and flood control – and he even helped elect one of Houston’s mayors. He understands what it takes to make customers actually do something – open their wallets, open their eyes, open their mouths, or open their minds.

He loves his city, serving as a founding member of the Quality of Life Coalition and chair emeritus of The Buffalo Bayou Partnership. He has worked with City Council members to “Stop Trashing Houston” and to “Stop Graffiti” in Houston neighborhoods.

Chuck married his wife and business partner, Gayl, on April Fool’s Day, 1978, and loves working and living with her every day. They have two children who are also in the ad business. When he’s not working (which he loves), Chuck is a very active outdoors kind of guy, now training for his 15th MS 150 Bike Ride from Houston to Austin.

Josh Powers, Group Creative Director

Josh Powers is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin and a 23-year veteran of the advertising industry. For more than two decades, he has been one of Houston’s most award-winning creatives for his work as a copywriter.

Josh is the only two-time winner of the Brett Elliott Excellence in Copywriting Award presented by the American Advertising Federation-Houston (AAF-H). He has also won a Best in Show Print Award from AAF-H, a special Judge’s Choice Award from the Art Directors Club of Houston, a Lone Star Emmy, and dozens of gold AAF-H Addy Awards.

Josh’s client experience has spanned a wide range of industries, including work for Mahindra Tractors, UTHealth Houston, the University of Houston system, Stephen F. Austin State University, Marble Slab Creamery, Typhoon Texas Water Park, The Houstonian, Kelsey-Seybold Clinic, Houston Chronicle, Dräger, and Luby’s. He also wrote an award-winning collection of the iconic Buc-ee’s billboards that have appeared across the state of Texas.

In his current role, Josh manages the creative department at Carlberg Branding & Advertising, where he oversees a talented team of writers and art directors. He continues to craft big idea campaigns and ensure the agency’s high creative standards are met day in and day out while generating results for clients.

Of course, Josh’s proudest achievement is being a loving husband to his high school sweetheart, Melissa, for 21 years and a devoted father to his twin daughters, Lily and Coral.

Chris Carlberg, Creative Director

Chances are, you’ve already seen Chris Carlberg’s work. Chris brings to the agency many years of experience and countless award-winning campaigns to his name. Some of the most recognizable brands found in his portfolio are Bush’s Baked Beans, Subaru, and Avocados from Mexico (to name just a few). He started his career working at Dimassimo Goldstein in New York, then at GSD&M in Austin, and at Carmichael Lynch in Minneapolis before joining Carlberg Branding and Advertising in the Fall of 2021. Some of his proudest moments throughout his career include being a part of a Super Bowl campaign for Avocados from Mexico and working on four different car launches for Subaru.

What’s that? You want to know more brands he’s worked on? Ok, we’ll name a few more: Walgreens, Pacifico Beer, TXDOT, USBank, Phillips 66, Red Baron Pizza, Chipotle, Jack Links, and Helzberg Diamonds. Since joining Carlberg, Chris is enjoying the new challenge of working across the agency’s client roster. If he lets himself take a break from creative thinking, he’ll take time off with a game of tennis or traveling with his wife, Sarah.

Jennifer Hess, Media Director

Throughout her 33+ year media career, Jennifer has planned and placed media in most U.S. markets. As Media Director, she leverages her network of relationships across all media platforms and partners throughout the country. Her expertise lies in planning and implementing incredibly successful media campaigns for organizations in higher education, senior living, healthcare, home services, hospitality, packaged goods, and non-profit sectors.

Jennifer handles traditional and digital media for The College of Health Care Professions headquartered in Houston with nine campuses and online programs throughout Texas. She previously handled the digital marketing for Crummer Graduate School of Business | Rollins College when she was Media Director at Mox, an integrated marketing agency based in Orlando. Jennifer has also planned and placed the media for KIPP Texas–Houston, consisting of 34 tuition-free schools educating nearly 20,000 students. Additinally, she has worked with Good Reason Houston, Houston Community College, and Stephen F. Austin State University.

Jennifer has been on all sides of the media business having worked with several full-service advertising agencies, media buying services, News/Weather/Traffic service providers, Coca-Cola, TV stations, and as a successful entrepreneur. Not only does she know most markets in the U.S. because she’s planned and bought them, but she has firsthand knowledge having lived in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis, New York and now Winter Park, FL.

Jennifer is the matriarch in a dynamic media family. Her husband is General Sales Manager of WKMG, the CBS affiliate in Orlando and her son Jordan is an Account Executive with KHOU Channel 11 in Houston. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and sons, bowling, yoga, power walking, attending concerts, and playing with her Central Asian Shepherd, English Bulldog and Aussiedoodle.

John del Tatto, Group Brand Director

John Del Tatto is an industry veteran with over 30 years of experience in building brands and making them successful. A graduate of Texas A&M University, John has excelled on both the client side as well as the agency side of the advertising business.

As a client, John led the franchise marketing for Whataburger Restaurants as they expanded the brand into new parts of the southeastern United States. And as director of advertising at Mattress Firm, he helped the brand to reach their goal of becoming the first “border-to-border, coast-to-coast” mattress retailer.

On the agency side, John has worked on clients such as YUM Brands, Texaco/Havoline, Jiffy Lube, Typhoon Texas and Cowabunga Vegas, and The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business.

John also manages a dynamic and hard-working Brand Management team at Carlberg Branding & Advertising to deliver results. Together they are focused on managing all aspects of their clients’ marketing efforts, from creative development, media planning and execution, and internal/external communications. And always on-time and on-budget.

John has been married to his wife Jennifer for 29 years, and they have raised two sons, Nicolas and Christian. John enjoys outdoor activities including running and has successfully completed three marathons.

Clients & Brands

Agency Clients And Brands

Client Name:	Mahindra Tractors
Start Date:	9/1/2000

Client Name:	The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Start Date:	10/17/2012

Client Name:

The University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business

Client Name:

Central Texas College

Client Name:

PYEK Group

Billings & Revenue

BILLING/ REVENUE RANGES
	Number of Clients
Billing less than $1 Million and/or Agency Revenue less than $200 Thousand	15
Billing between $1.1 - $3 Million and/or Agency Revenue between $201 - $600 Thousand	2

MEDIA

Total gross media placed by this office

Under $50 Million

Allocation percent of media placed by this office
National Broadcast	20%
Local Broadcast	30%
Print	5%
Out of Home	30%
Digital (Internet, Mobile, SEM, Viral)	15%

Specialized Services

SERVICE OFFERINGS

Industry Experience

INDUSTRIES

Agriculture

Apparel & Fashion | apparel

Apparel & Fashion | jewelry & accessories

Automotive | vehicles

Consumer Services

Education

Entertainment & Culture | amusement parks

Financial services | banking

Food & Beverage | alcoholic beverages

Food & Beverage | food

Food & Beverage | soft drinks

Gasoline/Petroleum

Government | economic development

Government | political

Healthcare | direct to consumer (DTC)

Healthcare | hospitals, healthcare facilities, medical services

Healthcare | pharmaceutical

Industrial, Manufacturing & chemicals

Media | broadcasting

Media | other

Media | publishing

Non-profit, associations & public services

Professional services (Accountants, consultants, lawyers)

Public Relations

Real Estate | buildings & construction

Recreation & Sports | hobbies

Restaurants

Retail

Social Media

Technology | .com business

Technology | computer hardware & software

Technology | consumer electronics

Travel | airlines

Travel | hotels & resorts

Travel | tourism