Louisville-based marketing firm receives national recognition

A Downtown Louisville-based strategic marketing and communications firm has received recognition from a national publication.

Black-owned Nimbus Inc. has been named Multicultural Agency of the Year as part of Ad Age’s A-List and Creative Agency awards.

The New York City-based media company cited Nimbus’ response to the Breonna Taylor killing at the hands of Louisville police — it used the incident to educate itself as well as reaching out to clients — in bringing awareness to racial disparities and emphasizing diversity. ,

Nimbus’ new headquarters at 438 S. Third St. was vandalized during a spurt of protests in reaction to Taylor’s killing in March 2020, as well as the killing of Minneapolis resident George Floyd — both of which sparked nationwide calls for change around social justice and equality.

“We took it as a time to not only educate and inform ourselves and our team members, but to also educate our clients about why the work that we do is so important,” Chief Strategy Officer and Managing Partner Dawn Wade said in the Ad Age article, which you can read here. “It’s not just about putting people of color in campaigns — it’s that representation matters.”

The article also mentions Nimbus’ work with big-name clients like Papa John’s Inc., highlighting Nimbus’ role in helping the pizza company giant deal with the fallout of the John Schnatter racial slur incident, as well as helping clients like Jack Daniel’s navigate the coronavirus pandemic.

Through the pandemic, Stacey Wade, CEO and chief creative officer at Nimbus, took part in American City Business Journals’ Small Business Big Mission project, in which its publications, including Louisville Business First, followed small business owners as they worked through the pandemic. You can read Wade’s entries here and here.

Nimbus, which reported revenue of about $4.5 million in 2020, ranks No. 21 on Louisville Business First’s list of Louisville’s largest minority-owned businesses, with 12 local employees.

Read the full article here