Ackerman McQueen, also called "Ack-Mac", is an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generall ...

based in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...

. Founded in 1939, it has expanded to include offices in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C. In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...

; Colorado Springs, Colorado;

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County wi ...

; and

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

. Ackerman McQueen has about 225 employees.

History

Ackerman McQueen was started by Ray Ackerman in 1954. Ackerman bought the shop of George W. Knox's advertising agency, and by the early 1970s, Ackerman "was joined by the father-and-son team of Marvin and Angus McQueen." In the early 1980s Harlon Carter, a top executive at the

National Rifle Association The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) is a gun rights advocacy group based in the United States. Founded in 1871 to advance rifle marksmanship, the modern NRA has become a prominent gun rights lobbying organization while cont ...

(NRA), decided to hire an outside agency who "knew its way around a firearm" and Ackerman McQueen was picked.

Clients

Ackerman McQueen worked for the NRA from the 1980s through 2019; the relationship was called one of the strongest in the advertising field. The firm is credited with much of the NRA's modern success. Until 2019 most of the firm's efforts were on behalf of the NRA account. Services provided the NRA include "public-relations work, marketing, branding, corporate communications, event planning, Web design, social-media engagement, and digital-content production." Ackerman was involved in developing and marketing NRA Carry Guard, a for-fee program which made available to members a bundle of handgun training with

liability insurance Liability insurance (also called third-party insurance) is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser (the "insured") from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the in ...

coverage for

defensive gun use Defensive gun use (DGU) is the use or presentation of a firearm for self-defense, defense of others or, in some cases, protecting property. The frequency of incidents involving DGU, and their effectiveness in providing safety and reducing crime ...

. In 2017, the NRA paid Ackerman $42.6 million, making it the NRA's largest vendor. In 2016 Ackerman created the online channel NRATV, billed as the "voice of the NRA" but operated by Ackerman. Its primary sponsors were manufacturers of guns and ammunition, such as Mossberg, Smith & Wesson, and Sig Sauer. One of the channel's hosts was

Oliver North Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Sec ...

, the 2018-19 president of the NRA. In 2019, the NRA sued Ackerman McQueen for overbilling and severed ties with the organization. One issue in the lawsuit was NRATV, with a complaint that the content of NRATV has strayed far beyond the NRA's core mission of gun rights, airing segments on immigration and gender identity, among other things. The channel also warned of possible race wars and called for a protest march on the FBI - positions never taken by the NRA. Other clients have included

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any amu ...

amusement parks, some Oklahoma casinos, and the

Chickasaw Nation The Chickasaw Nation ( Chickasaw: Chikashsha I̠yaakni) is a federally recognized Native American tribe, with its headquarters located in Ada, Oklahoma in the United States. They are an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, origi ...

Controversy

In July 2020, Tammy Payne, a former employee, sued company CEO Revan McQueen in Oklahoma County District Court accusing the latter of hostile and abusive behavior towards her due to her romantic relationship with his widowed father.

References

External links

NRA TV: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Advertising agencies of the United States Marketing companies established in 1939 Companies based in Oklahoma City {{OklahomaCity-stub