Cramer-Krasselt celebrates 125th anniversary.

This year, Cramer-Krasselt, the oldest agency in America under the same name, celebrates its quasquicentennial anniversary of making friends, not ads. The independent agency has a long history as a pioneer in the industry, a history that fuels its drive to see not just months into the future, but years.

Originally founded in 1898 as a newsletter for bicycle aficionados, Frederick “Cody” Cramer and William Krasselt started attracting advertisers and C-K began shortly after. By 1901, the agency launched what may be the earliest example of integrated marketing by both designing and printing its clients’ billboards, catalogs and more.

C-K then went on to introduce the maverick idea of “co-ordinated advertising.” Then-agency president A. Walter Seiler pledged to investigate every possible marketing solution to build a client’s brand, from trade shows to packaging to advertising.

“C-K handled every facet of a campaign, even establishing a test kitchen for food marketers,” said president and COO Karen Seamen. “It may seem like a modern agency model, but we’ve been doing it for literally over a century.”

C-K has continually pushed boundaries throughout its 125 years. From launching breakthrough brand acts like Tropicana toothpaste to creating the world’s first interactive hologram print ad for Porsche, C-K has always been ahead of the curve.

“While the language has evolved from ‘co-ordinated advertising’ to ‘interconnected agency,’ C-K has always focused on powerful insights into consumers’ behavior and the market,” explained chairman and CEO Peter Krivkovich. “By investing in proprietary real-time, data-driven tools, our integrated departments are empowered to collaboratively plan clients’ campaigns far into the future.”

From the rise in AI to staying on top of new and evolving social platforms, C-K is already embracing the next chapters of the marketing industry. In a moment when storied agency brands are being merged or abandoned, C-K continues to believe in the value of brands while always innovating and contemporizing.