Twenty-five years ago, Phil Jones, a cinematographer, and Denny Thomas, a graphic designer, had a mutual dream. They wanted to own their own advertising agency.
With little cash, but a fistful of faith and hope, they started their business. Aptly enough, they named it Jones and Thomas. Then they sat by the phone waiting on that first client to call.
Then the first call came.
It was a wrong number.
"Oh my, that was not a good omen," said Jones, laughing
More calls did come, however, confirming Jones' decision to leave the Quad-Cities and return to his hometown and start a business.
"Twenty-five years has seen Jones and Thomas grow to become the 12th largest agriculture marketing firm in the United States, according to Agri Marketing Magazine," said Jeff Hendricks, the current president of the agency.
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"We are the largest marketing communications firm in downstate Illinois."
This solid agriculture background proved invaluable in efforts to attract the Farm Progress Show to Decatur, official said.
In response to a newspaper column proposing Decatur as a permanent location for the annual farm show, Hendricks called its author, Stu Ellis, asking if the company could help.
"(The call) really sent a shiver of excitement through me," said Ellis, who was familiar with the company's quality work.
Ellis wasn't disappointed.
Jones and Thomas came through with a hard-bound proposal, complete with pictures and graphics, setting out the benefits of locating the show here. Ellis said the proposal was so well done that he is convinced Farm Progress Companies knew they were going to locate the show in Decatur even before they arrived to inspect the proposed site and meet with local officials.
"We understand the value of good things happening in Decatur," Hendricks said, underscoring the reason for the company's involvement in the project.
From its first rented space in French Quarter West to Park 101, and then to offices in the Linn House, purchased about 15 years ago, the business would grow and expand. Five years ago, the firm purchased and moved to its current site on North Sunnyside Road.
The firm has 35 full-time and four part-time employees, including Jones, 58, who continues to be active in the day-to-day operation of the business with no plans of stopping.
"I love what I do, and as long as I can be productive I don't see myself retiring," he said.
Jones credits the company's success to quality employees who understand a vision that has withstood the test of time: "Think of the clients first."
The client list includes Archer Daniels Midland Co., Brintlinger & Earl Funeral Homes, Consolidated Communications, Main Street Bank & Trust, Christie Clinic, Illinois Soybean Association and DICKEY-john, a manufacturer of farm monitoring devices.
"Your clients define you," Jones said. Good work is rewarded with faithful clients who pass your name on to prospective clients.
Technology has changed the business.
"(In the beginning in 1980) we had no computers. Copywriting was pencil and paper design," Hendricks says.
"There was no Internet and e-mail, no fax machine, no cell phones and no compact disk technology. We used slide shows."
Jones and Thomas is a full-service agency with departments that offer services in research, planning, public relations, production, light and design, media services, information services, graphic design, account management, Internet services, copywriting and brand management.
Brand management includes naming the product, developing an identity and coordinating the product through all the departments.
Hendricks has been with Jones and Thomas for 20 years. He is proud of all the accomplishments they have achieved.
He is equally proud of the level of staff involvement within the community. Staff members hold board positions on the Decatur Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce for Decatur and Macon County, Boys and Girls Club, Decatur Memorial Hospital, Macon Resources and Race for the Cure, to name a few.
The firm donates marketing skills for Decatur Area Arts Council projects.
In the American Heart Association Heart Walk, the firm has won the small business award for four years running for raising the most money in its category.
The firm enjoys sharing information with the community. Several staff members have taught at Millikin University and Richland Community College.
Hendricks and other staff members conduct workshops and seminars around Central Illinois for organizations like the University of Illinois Extension, Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Chamber of Commerce.
Over the past 25 years, the firm has won literally thousands of national and local awards for its work. It won a national Service Industry Award for a Brintlinger & Earl Funeral Homes campaign. And an advertising campaign for Christie Clinic was featured in Health Care Review, a publication of outstanding advertising materials.
The past 25 years have been good for Jones and Thomas and for the community. The firm looks forward to the next 25 years.
"We want to continue to grow, to broaden our services for our clients, and continue to be an active member of the community," Hendricks says.
