When Minneapolis advertising agency Pocket Hercules marks its 20th anniversary on October 31, 2025, it represents more than a business milestone—it validates an unconventional approach that has consistently delivered results in an industry dominated by large, bureaucratic firms. Founded by Jason Smith and Tom Camp in 2005, the agency launched with a radical premise: keep operations small, staff senior, and eliminate the layers that typically separate creative talent from clients. The agency's founders brought national reputations for emotionally charged storytelling from their previous work at another Minneapolis agency, and they were joined within a year by partner Jack Supple.
Together, they built an organization where copywriting took center stage, prioritizing emotional connection over visual spectacle. Jason Smith emphasized that a major driver of their success, beyond having creatives interact directly with clients, is their writers' ability to distill complex ideas into short, emotive copy, noting this is becoming a lost art across the industry but not at Pocket Hercules. From its inception, Pocket Hercules earned the trust of major clients who appreciated the direct access to experienced creatives.
Rapala VMC, the legendary fishing lure company, followed the creatives from their previous agency to become one of Pocket Hercules' first and longest-running clients. For nearly two decades, the agency has continuously found fresh, authentic ways to express Rapala's core promise of helping anglers catch more and bigger fish. The agency's client portfolio reflects American ingenuity and craft, with the agency bringing its signature mix of heart, intelligence, and unpretentious creativity to each national account partnership.
True to its entrepreneurial DNA, Pocket Hercules has also demonstrated confidence in its own creative vision by launching agency-owned brands, including the now-iconic Lakemaid Beer, proving that creativity can function as both service and product. As the agency celebrates two decades in business, with Camp and Supple now retired and Smith continuing to lead, the Pocket Hercules model remains relevant in an advertising landscape where many boutique agencies experience dramatic rises and falls.
The agency's endurance serves as validation of its founders' original insight: that the focused work of a few talented creatives consistently outperforms the diluted efforts of large teams. The agency's continued success can be explored through their portfolio at https://www.pockethercules.com/work/. In an industry where scale often dictates strategy, Pocket Hercules' 20-year track record demonstrates that alternative models can not only survive but thrive.
The agency's commitment to craftsmanship, direct client relationships, and lean operations offers a compelling case study for an industry frequently criticized for inefficiency and disconnect between creative talent and client needs. This sustained success challenges conventional wisdom about agency size and structure, suggesting that quality creative work and strong client relationships may matter more than organizational scale in achieving long-term viability in the competitive advertising landscape.
