Forty Under 40: Kim Cooper

On take-your-daughter-to-work day, 7-year-old Kim Cooper went along with her dad to the Houston ad firm Ogilvy & Mather.

A mock campaign was held, and the kids strategized how to sell a product. It was fun, Cooper recalled. She liked to tell stories, and a career was born.

When she graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2010 with a journalism degree (emphasizing public relations and advertising), Cooper joined public relations firm Mitchell, where she’d interned. She is doing the work of her dreams, helping the world’s largest brands and retailers tell their stories.

Cooper has risen to senior director at Mitchell and is the youngest member of the leadership team. Her team serves several accounts, such as Massage Envy and Walmart Inc. for grand openings and store remodels.

During her eight years at Mitchell, Cooper has seen drastic changes. Originally, the small, local firm of 20 allowed everyone to “wear a lot of hats,” she said. Mitchell was acquired by Dentsu in 2013 and now has sister agencies throughout the world. The local staff has grown to more than 70.

Advertising efforts once focused on global and national messages, Cooper said. Today, that has flipped, and her team’s focus is hyperlocal activation — building loyalty by learning about customers and finding valued community voices to share messages with them, she said.

“I feel I’ve had 10 jobs with all the changes [in the industry]. Every day is a new adventure. No two days have been the same,” Cooper said.

Cooper and her husband recently welcomed twin daughters and now have three girls under the age of 3.

She’s a graduate of Leadership Arkansas and active with the local chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.