Marketing firm taps into remote workforce

The concept of working remotely is growing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of Americans working remotely has grown 159% since 2005.

A longtime advertising executive is capitalizing on the trend to grow his own business.

After more than two decades working in Northwest Arkansas satellite offices for some of the nation’s largest ad agencies, Brian Rudisill launched Zipline Studio in February 2018. Zipline uses a business model that solely relies on a remote workforce of freelancers and employees. By eliminating “big agency” overhead, Rudisill says the result is a benefit to both clients and freelancers.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to work with some of the brightest agency professionals in the market over the years, and many of those connections are now out on their own,” Rudisill said. “My goal is to give clients access to this level of talent while allowing these freelancers to work from their homes, a coffee shop, a park or wherever they do their best work.

“This also lets me significantly reduce the costs to my client base and allows them to stretch their marketing dollars that much further.”

In its first two years, Zipline has acquired a client roster that includes a number of regional businesses including Legacy National Bank, Cameron Smith & Associates, Professional Business Systems, Nelson Berna Funeral Homes and Hunt Ventures.

“Zipline Studio has done an incredible job helping Legacy National Bank tell our story to Northwest Arkansas,” Legacy National Bank CEO Patrick Swope said. “I consider Zipline a valuable member of our team.”

Zipline’s revenue has doubled in size from 2018 to 2019, Rudisill said, and is on track for double-digit growth in 2020.