In spring 1975 my Dad left his corporate engineering job at Chrysler in the midst of a global, society-changing oil crises. With a toddler at home (me) and a baby on the way, it probably didn’t seem like the ideal time to start a new business. But he was confident he could better help clients out on his own. He called his new firm Balck Engineers and it provided for his family for some thirty years.
With this spirit of informed risk taking, self-determination and seeking better ways to do things, I’m announcing a new Balck Engineers. Along with striking similarities, like launching into a pandemic that’s changing the very fabric of society while my wife and I support four small kids, there are notable differences too. While I couldn't engineer myself out of a paper bag, I have run pioneering marketing and advertising programs for iconic brands and world class agencies for almost 25 years.
Balck Engineers is a long time in the making. I’ve been laying the groundwork for a decade, but in earnest over the past year, by building and advising teams including a newly minted AdAge A-List-winning creative/production company, a distributed UX firm, a nimble media planning/buying agency, a functional beverage brand and a startup creative agency in a market desperate for innovation. The commonality is that each of these restless groups actively questions 'the way it’s done’ and relentlessly experiments with new ideas.
My goal for Balck Engineers is to consult, advise and help build more brands and companies set up to succeed in a future that’s being written right now.
For agencies, I help innovative founders meet their creative and financial ambitions. As a fractional executive, I set up operational, business development and cultural processes and teams to help creatives focus on creative. Often, my objective is to obsolete myself and turn over the reigns to new full-time leadership.
For brands, I build teams from my extensive network of creatives, designers, strategists and producers to solve marketing challenges of all types. With a career built by making advertising that works without resorting to interruption, I bring learnings from countless case studies to which I’ve contributed.
If we can help accelerate change or bring fresh thinking to an old problem, please do reach out.
Jonathan Balck
Principal, Balck Engineers
jonathanrbalck@gmail.com