From left, Jessie Irwin and Marcus Young are the new owners of Fresno's largest marketing firm, JSA. Photo contributed

Longtime Fresno ad man Bruce Batti joked on Tuesday that the one piece of the marketing business he can truly still grasp is outdoor. Billboard ads are tangible and will say the same thing when you wake up in the morning as when you went to bed the night before.

It’s one holdover from his formative days in advertising — an industry based on fundamentals but fueled by new technology.

“Everything changes and stays the same,” said Batti, former owner of Fresno’s largest marketing firm Jeffrey Scott Agency, which has $25 million in annual capitalized billings.

After 15 years under the leadership of Batti and his wife Wendy, JSA is now under new ownership. The new owners come from within. JSA Vice Presidents Jessie Irwin and Marcus Young began the transition of co-ownership at the start of July.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Batti, 69, first joined JSA (Jeffrey Scott Agency) in 1986 under founder John Ostlund. He started as a young creative director, with previous experience working for local retailer  Gottschalks.

He began at JSA at age 30, bringing creative and new ideas to his position. In his time, he saw Fresno’s business community grow and mature , which also helped build the clientele for the agency.

 

“One of the things that I learned is that clients want consistency over time; they want all the methodology to change, they want you to change with the times, but they also want the interface to be pretty constant. They want us to be dependable, reliable — all those business practices,” said Batti.

As creative director, Batti had a hand in a number of projects that elevated the firm. He then stepped into new shoes as he ran the business under Ostlund for 12 years.

Later in 2008, Batti and his wife, Wendy, acquired the company after working at the agency for over 30 years. Batti managed the agency’s day-to-day operations and Wendy was the chief financial officer.

JSA was established in 1976, and has since made Downtown Fresno its home. The firm grew to be the largest and most tenured in the Central Valley, with a team of 35 members.

It specializes in creative production, social media, media buying, public relations, brand management and crisis communications across digital and traditional landscapes.

In their time, Bruce and Wendy sought to build a strong foundation . They wanted to ensure continuity between “what was and what is to come,” which led to transitioning to new ownership.

By default, the agency leadership will be younger, but the client experience will not change much.

“I would not expect it to be the same. Nor would I hope it to be the same agency in six months as it is today because these guys are going to grow the 3.0 version of JSA. And that’s what’s exciting — to be able to come in and see these guys prosper,” said Batti.

Conversations about the transition began in 2019, before the pandemic. In 2022, Irwin and Young became vice presidents that set them on the track to bring them to this point.

Following in similar footsteps is new owner Irwin, who just celebrated her 10th year at JSA, previously as the VP of creative. She was in charge of the agency’s innovative product, which she will continue to serve.

Irwin has received national, regional, and local recognition for her creative directions and is the current president of the American Advertising Federation.

“I think what motivated me in this whole endeavor was the community and the creativity; both of those two things were so important to Bruce. That’s where we really found something in common,” said Irwin. “So that piece for the creatives is super important, and Bruce always prioritized creativity for our clients.”

Although new leadership is changing the company, Irwin assured that things will remain the same for the clients.

“We have a lot of really great people who have been here for 10-plus years who manage the day-to-day with their specific clients. So we have a really good management team in place as well,” Irwin said.

Young began at JSA in 1994, where he left to work for a crisis communications firm in San Francisco and did that for several years. He then ran JSA’s office in the Bay Area for 10 years before creating his own firm, which later merged with JSA.

Young specializes in senior living, financial services, real estate, crisis communications, and brand management. He is currently the leading crisis communications worker for Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital on the Central Coast and managing the day-to-day for several nonprofits and some of the biggest names in senior living.

“It’s our priority that JSA is the engine that powers our day-to-day. It’s allowed us to keep the lead up here from a staffing perspective and just kind of lean on JSA and our expertise,” Young said.

He believes that JSA can continue to grow into a much more than a regional perspective and serve a larger part of the state.

“From my perspective, the goal is taking JSA to that level so that we can expand out of the Valley and work in different markets across the state. Because we have the talent, and we have the capacity,” said Young.

Batti praises Irwin and Young’s work for JSA and is confident that the agency will continue as he focuses on retirement.