VMLY&R and Poarch Creek Indian's PCI Productions Announces 'Mentor Protégé' Partnership

VMLY&R today announced its new partnership with PCI Productions, an Alabama-based federal contracting company owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. This ground-breaking agreement brings together one of the world’s largest and most highly respected advertising agencies with a Tribal-owned, 8(a) small business to develop and deliver innovative multi-media services to US government entities. 

The partnership, which had been approved by the Small Business Administration, will offer clients the breadth and depth of a global advertising leader combined with the expertise of a small, niche business that has a 27 year track record of success in working with federal government clients.

“We are thrilled to be partnering and mentoring with PCI Productions,” said, Chris Edmondson, executive director, VMLY&R. “We anticipate immediate value to each of our respective client portfolios and look forward to pursuing new contracts and capabilities together,” added Chris. 

PCI Productions, based in Huntsville, Alabama, is part of the Poarch Band of Creek Indian’s diverse business portfolio. Over its 27-year history, PCI Productions leadership has employed a collaborative approach to developing highly specialised multi-media solutions for federal government clients that include NASA, the National Park Service and the US Navy. In its protégé role to mentor firm VMLY&R, PCI Productions will have access to more than 2,300 of the global giants US-based marketing and digital specialists as well its media planning and buying services for advertising campaigns that can cost as much as $100 million annually. 

“We are excited to be entering into this unique 'mentor/protégé' relationship with VMLY&R and believe that it reflects the innovative thinking and attention to client service that are defining values shared by both companies,” said Richard Williams, president PCI-Productions. He continued, “Through this partnership with VMLY&R’s, we will be able to give more clients access to proprietary talent and tools that will be valuable to their operations. We will also be able to significantly increase our offerings in terms of scope and scale.”

The Poarch Band of Creek Indian is Alabama’s only federally recognised Tribe. In addition to PCI Productions, its diverse business holdings include several deluxe hotel and casinos operated under the Wind Creek Hospitality Brand, farming and food processing enterprises, and numerous federal contracting firms.   

“We are incredibly proud that VMLY&R, a global leader in advertising, has partnered with one of the businesses we own,” said Tribal chairwoman and CEO Stephanie Bryan. “They recognise our commitment to high standards and share our constant desire to do more and be better. We are excited to have VMLY&R as a mentor and look forward to enjoying a mutually successful relationship that benefits both entities clients, employees, and the communities in which we live and work.”

The PCI Productions/VMLY&R partnership offers government customers timely and streamlined sole source access to best-in-class communications services across a wide breadth of requirements. 

• Proven Integrated Marketing Expertise in Government: With a focus on marketing research and insight development, PCI Productions/VMLY&R invest in gaining a deep understanding of client mission and communications challenges to develop a strategic pathway for audience engagement. Partner experience in leading large-scale multi-channel contracts. 
• Consistently Meets Public Sector Recruiting Targets PCI Productions/VMLY&R leverage prior learnings to attract diverse candidates while ensuring overall recruitment targets are met, even for niche and specialist roles. Candidates are tracked throughout the conversion funnel to gleen learnings for further optimisation and efficiency building. Partner experience includes 6+ years of recruiting 40k+ sailors to serve and exceeding US Census hiring goals despite disruption from the pandemic in 2020. 
• Expedient Access to Highly-Qualified Talent at Scale with Tribally-owned, 8(a), Small Disadvantaged Business status, the partnership can meet a number of procurement requirements or be directly sole sourced for contracts up to $100M (Department of Defense).