He is cool and confident, thoughtful and soft-spoken, sure of what he says. He’s a sharp dresser, in the latest monochromatic look of matching shirt, tie and suit. He talks earnestly about doing your best for the client, respecting the competition, being a part of the community.
And doing all that is how Robert V. Wingo got where he is today, the large corner office belonging to the president and CEO of El Paso’s largest advertising agency, Sanders, Wingo, Galvin & Morton. And everyday, as he walks to his office, he passes a painting of David Sanders, the man who founded the agency in 1958 and made Wingo executive vice president in 1983.
Back then, SWG&M’s capitalized billing was about $4 million. Wingo’s charge was to bring in new business and expand the agency’s reach. Now, 16 years later, Wingo says billings are about halfway to his goal of $50 million. And even though his client base is 75 percent local, at least 25 percent is regional, national and even international accounts.
Wingo, 52, was born in Ohio and came to El Paso with his family in the ’60s. He’s a Bel Air grad and Vietnam vet who earned a marketing degree from the University of Texas at El Paso in the ’70s. Then he spent 12 years as marketing VP for Billy the Kid industries before Sanders hand-picked him to take the agency to the next level.
Now as Wingo tours SWG&M’s 10,000-Square-foot facility, he proudly points to a staff of more than 30 top-level professionals, 20 or so high-tech computers, and state-of-the-art production facilities. He won’t name specific clients, not wanting to leave any out. He prefers to group them in areas like automotive, apparel, utilities, commercial, political, manufacturing, credit unions, energy, retail. But chances are you’ve seen plenty of SWG&M work, like ads for wrinkle-free slacks, brand-name personal-care products or local burger places.
Wingo keeps a low profile but is busy behind the scenes. He’s just been named to Woody Hunt’s Leadership and Research Council, is on the board of the State Finance Commission, and serves as a chair for UTEP’s Legacy Campaign.
In the corner office with community plaques and awards on the walls, low-key Bob Wingo talks about El Paso’s changing marketplace, and his place in it.
Q: What makes a good ad agency good?
The key thing to being a good agency person or a good business person is to be a great listener. If you listen, you have an opportunity, a) to learn and agency can, and b) to inject and to build on and hopefully enhance what the client is telling us. Our goal is to make sure that we listen to both sides of the story.
Q: How’s the competition in this market?
I think competition is good. I think you should always respect who you’re competing against, and I think we should compete very hard. But I think we should be very fair about how we compete.
My position is to never take anyone for granted, because good creative ideas and execution can come from large or small agencies. I think the key thing that I look at in competing against anyone is to give the best possible effort that this agency can, and whether we win or lose the pitch, to look back and say, “I did the best possible job that I possibly could have done in going after that piece of business.”
And if I’ve done that, then I’m satisfied that we did everything we could. We’re not always going to win, but hopefully we’ll win our fair share.
Q: Have computers and the Internet changed the competitive landscape?
I don’t think it’s really changed that much. The Internet is certainly the technology of the future.
But there have always been small agencies, one-and two-or three-or four-person shops that can also put out great advertising.
There always will be, because there’s always another entrepreneur who wants to start their own business, that wants to test the waters to see if they can become the agency of their dreams, and these are things that will never stop happening, and we should just accept it and say, “Hey, we’re going to have to compete.”
Q: The DeBruyn, Maldonado, Trejo agency closed recently. What does that mean for the market
Let me answer that in this way. I have a lot of respect for Dick DeBruyn, and what he and Eric DeBruyn built over the years. I think it was a sad day for the El Paso marketplace and the advertising business in general when that agency ceased to function. They were great competitors and I think they’re going to be missed. l think whenever you have a business that has given as much to the marketplace and has been involved for so many years, it’s unfortunate. I feel personally very badly about the fact that they’re no longer around.
Q: Will there be more fallout? Is the market oversaturated?
I don’t think the market is oversaturated necessarily. I think that if you went back and did research over the last 20 years, many agencies have come and gone. It’s just that it’s kind of a rare occasion when one of the foundation agencies is no longer around. I could name six right now that aren’t here anymore.
Q: How does an agency survive in today’s changing marketplace?
I think education is the key. It sounds like a cliche. But in our business, continuing education means bringing in young, bright, talented people, making sure we have a workplace that will attract those kinds of people, making sure that our agency personnel go to seminars so they can be rejuvenated and enriched and understand the changing roles that agencies play today.
I think those are all really critical and important steps in the growth and stability of our business. Things that are truly important to me as president of the agency is making sure that we reach our potential as an agency. That I can motivate others in the agency, and also people not in the agency, to reach their full potential. I hope that I can be a mentor to young people in my business and outside the business to reach back and help them achieve and attain the goals that they’re looking for in life.
Winning new business is a great key for me. I think that’s probably, for me, the most exciting part of the business. Helping our clients realize their goals.
Making sure that I, as a person, learn something new every day.
Going the extra mile for our clients – I think that goes without saying.
Good friends are important things, too. People who believe in me, and I in turn believe in them.
People you can turn to when you need to ask the hard questions. And know that you’re going to get a real answer, not something that’s sugar-coated, or something that they feel you want to hear. They’re going to tell you the truth.
And I think the most important thing of all is to not forget where you came from. You’ve got to work hard every day, you’ve got to earn your spot in your market, in society every day, and when you tire of doing that, there’ll be someone there to take your place.
Q: Do you bring in interns, college students? Do you recruit?
We’ve had students from out of town universities, we’ve had students from El Paso Community College. We’ve had many students from UTEP who have gone on to careers here as well as other places. We just hired two people from New Mexico State University. I think we’re very fortunate that there are two fine universities close to us here in El Paso as well as a great community college.
Q: What’s entry level salary?
Well, I hate to talk entry level because you never know what that means, because there are so many different disciplines. I think in terms of what someone could potentially earn. I think anybody, depending on their discipline, can earn a fantastic living in this business. If the agency does well, they will do well, because we believe in vesting our employees, giving them an opportunity to benefit by the success of the business.
Q: How did it feel being the new guy when you came in as executive VP?
Q: Did you feel like the outsider brought in to change things?
I don’t think I considered myself a known quantity at all. I think David Sanders believed in me and felt that I had some of the ingredients it would take to help the agency move on to another level and to help us do some of the things that he envisioned us doing.
The first thing that I told David Sanders was we need to be more involved in the community. David is a great advertising man, but he wasn’t a guy who was on the rubber chicken circuit. He was a guy who worked his tail off to make great things happen for the agency, and did it for a lot of years.
My first community project was the Sun Bowl as a volunteer. And I worked very hard. That’s how you get to know people. You’ve got to put yourself in a place to meet the people who can help you get the exposure to get the opportunity to do business. So we were involved in many, many, many community functions, but the Sun Bowl was the first one that I was ever involved in.
I was on the Team Host Committee and the funny thing was you had to interview to be on it. It wasn’t like you just got the job. We had to go down and be interviewed and a lot of people wanted to be involved. Luckily I was selected.
The first thing they told us was “You have to sell tickets.” And I was mortified that I wouldn’t sell enough tickets to make a good showing. So I worked real hard and sold more tickets than anyone that year, and I got the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year.
Q: Sounds like community is very important to you.
I look at the community like the Olympic rings. There are groups of business leaders, and they’re all overlapping. And let’s just say there are five rings and once you make your way inside a couple of those rings, you get to meet many of the people who really are the decision makers and the visionaries of this community. We try hard to do our part in helping this community become a better place to live. Over the years, we’ve done many things and we will continue to do them, as long as I’m the head of the agency.
Q: Are employees expected to volunteer?
I would like to see employees do that. Many of them do; many are very involved. It’s certainly not a demand, but it’s something that we like to see happen.
Q: Let’s talk about being an African-American in El Paso.
About 3 percent of the population.
I love El Paso. Although this isn’t my place of birth, it’s certainly where I’ve been all the key years of my life. It’s the only home my children have ever known. I think they have received a great education, I think they have been treated fairly.
I’m not going to sit here and tell you that there aren’t ever any issues, because sure there are, but I certainly have zero complaints. Worked hard and tried to do the right thing. I’m certainly not perfect, but I’ve tried to do many of the right things to make a difference.
I think the African-American community in El Paso is a very strong and educated community. I think the role we see many African-Americans play here is very key. We’ve had a city council member, we’ve had people involved on bank boards. There’s a lots of good things, there’s lots of community things; church and lots of things that really make a difference.
Years ago when my children were quite young, we went on a vacation to Washington, D.C. My wife and I made a point of taking them to the ghetto so that they could see another side of our culture and also some of the pain that people have to deal with in other parts of the country. I think it was a great experience for them as well as for me, and I think we’re the richer for it.
Q: Do you think El Paso is selling itself the right way to attract tourism?
I think El Pasoans have a lot of pride in our marketplace. We’re a very diverse marketplace that brings a lot of different feelings and cultures together in one place. If you really dissected it, I think everybody wants this to be a great place to live, and a great experience for people who come here to visit, and I think if those things can be accomplished, then we should all be happy.
This story was published Aug. 1-7, 1999, in Vol. 4, No. 47. Bob Wingo’s daughter, Leslie Wingo, is CEO of the ad agency, now known as Sanders/Wingo.