We are designers and builders of digital bridges to customers and prospects. Creators of brand platforms and experiences that ignite conversations and build profitable relationships.

Above all, we are thinkers and problem solvers. Our clients turn to ARENDS for help in tackling their toughest marketing challenges.

Today, those challenges call for an agency team that blends veteran experience with digital know-how.  So alongside our web strategists and search experts, you'll find veteran account supervisors and creatives, ethnographers and MBAs, user experience designers and data analysts, subject matter experts and storytellers.

All of them in service of your brand, your customers, your business.

  • EXPERIENCE

    B2B Breadth + Depth

  • CLIENTS

    Global + Local

  • CORE TEAM

    Experience + Creativity

Founded in 1958, ARENDS is one of the Chicago area's most time-tested, full-service ad agencies. We've seen change. We know challenges...and how to turn them into opportunities.

That experience spans the following industries:

  • Acoustics
  • Automation
  • Building Products
  • Building Materials
  • Controls
  • Electrical
  • Electronics
  • Energy
  • Films + Foils
  • Financial Services
  • Green / Energy Efficiency
  • Health & Wellness
  • Lighting
  • Logistics
  • Manufacturing
  • Motion Control
  • Plastics
  • Software
  • Sporting Goods
  • Superabrasives
  • Technology
  • Transportation

 

So let's talk about how we can help you thrive in this brave, new digital world of opportunity.

WIth 50+ years of experience, ARENDS has had the privilege of creating success for both category leaders and innovative challenger brands.

Among the clients we have served and continue to help thrive are:

  • AAI – American Athletic, Inc.
  • Adura Technologies
  • Advance
  • Caddis Group
  • CFC International
  • Communications Supply Corp.
  • Cummins
  • DVDNow
  • EESCO
  • Engis Corporation
  • Franklin Electric
  • GSB – Glenview State Bank
  • Greenlee School of Journalism and Communications
  • HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION
  • Hub Group
  • International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
  • Kaiser Aluminum
  • Knowles Acoustics
  • LightSource Unlimited
  • Lucent Technologies
  • Miner Enterprises, Inc.
  • New Millennium Building Systems
  • Powers
  • Philips Lighting
  • PCI - Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute
  • Redshift Capital, LLC
  • Saint-Gobain
  • Scheck
  • Siemens Energy & Automation – Machine Tool Business
  • SleepQuest
  • SSG, Inc.
  • Suncast
  • Systech, Inc.
  • TEC – Temperature Equipment Corporation
  • Tyco Electrical Metal Products
  • Unyson Logistics
  • Villa St. Benedict

 

Don ArendsDonald Arends
As our founder and chairman, Don brings an unmatched depth of experience to the ARENDS team. As an agency entrepreneur with 52+ years in business, his judgment, fiscal acumen, wealth of ideas and savvy perspective continually inform the agency team’s thinking. In his consultative and advisory role, Don draws upon an extensive background of working with almost every type of association, marketing co-operative and dealer/distributor network.

John ArendsJohn Arends, CEO
As chief engagement officer, John serves as the agency’s primary architect when it comes to helping clients build new bridges to customers and prospects in the digital age. Active in MAGNET, he keeps our client/agency teams plugged into the latest trends, tools and innovations percolating up from 30+ creative shops in the network. An award-winning writer, with a degree in journalism from the prestigious Greenlee School at Iowa State University, John brings a deep understanding of the vital role brand stories play in creating relationships that transform prospects into customers.

Jim McMillenJim McMillen, Brand Manager
A seasoned brand manager and client advocate, Jim brings a strong penchant for analytics and strategy development.  His extensive experience at Arthur Anderson included developing, organizing, marketing and implementing annual events and major conferences. Jim also rides herd on the ARENDS database and e-mail marketing practices, and is well-versed in emerging new digital marketing technologies.

Iwon PonzeIwona Ponze, Web Designer
Iwona continues to design and build some of the most visually and technically engaging websites in all of B-2-B marketing. She brings to the team that rare combination of a strong design aesthetic and a deft technical acumen. The ARENDS team relies on Iwona for insights and solutions on how to best present online content — from serialized video webisodes to intuitively engaging Flash and HTML animated demos and sales tools.

Robert Kapustka Bob Kapustka, Art Director
Design is a differentiator – especially in B2B marketing. For more than a decade, Bob has been a key asset in transforming struggling brands into category leaders, through the power of graphic design. His logo work and corporate identity packages grace the marketing materials of Fortune 500 companies and Silicon Valley start-ups. Bob brings a sage versatility and tasteful artistic sensibility to the table.