Our 40 Story: A Look Back at the Archives

We’re so excited and extremely grateful to be celebrating 40 YEARS in business, thanks to our amazing team and clients!

Let’s take a look at a few of the “archived” partnerships that led Asen to where it is today. While we may not work with all of these brands today, each played an integral role in Asen’s growth over the past four decades and we’re grateful for their trust in us along the way…

Mixed Media in the ‘80s

Basement-born in 1983, Asen was known to clients and community members as Paul Scoonover & Associates (PS&A) for the first decade of Our 40 Story. At the time, services primarily included illustration and airbrush work. But with the purchase of our first computer (complete with black and white monitor) and the introduction of Adobe Photoshop, our founder and first employees were able to offer additional design services to clients in fast-growing industries like B2B, automotive, and healthcare.

When we look back on the first decade, we’re grateful for the chances taken on us by clients including: The Copper Cellar Corporation, Peninsula Behavioral Health (now part of Covenant Health), StoneMill Log & Timber Homes (a regional builder), Richardson Turner Construction (RTC General Contractors), Magnavox (an electronics company), and Conagra Brands, among others.

Dial-Up to Digital in the ‘90s

Anyone who knew us in the 1990s knew it was a legen-dairy time! In addition to well-known clients like Parkwest Medical Center and Tennessee Log Homes who were highly respected in their communities, Asen began formative partnerships with Mayfield Dairy and Purity Dairy, leading to significant award recognition for our food packaging design work at the time. 

Fun fact: Are you familiar with the Mayfield yellow? Asen founder, Paul Scoonover, and the rest of the team helped this client choose the now-infamous branded color palette in order to create market differentiation at the point of purchase.

Along with more recognition for the agency and multiple branding wins for clients in the dairy industry, Asen celebrated the digital transformation with the rest of the world during this internet-crazed era. Just a couple years after moving into our first office space and celebrating 10 years in business, Asen developed its first-ever client website and ventured into high-end video production services. The rest is digital marketing history!

New Millennium & Milestones in the 2000s

If the 1990s were the dial-up to digital marketing, the 2000s were a complete digital revolution, filled with dot-com dreams coming true and disruption at every turn in the marketing world. The “half-way” point in Our 40 Story, this is arguably the decade that Asen saw the most growth—both in terms of our team and our service capabilities.

With this new millennium, came new clients in the food industry, including Barber Dairies, Wampler’s Farm Sausage, Cades Cove Brand Foods, Buddy’s Bar-B-Q, and Vietti Foods. Beyond food marketing, which quickly became one of our top three specialties, Asen partnered with the University of Tennessee Medical Center and UT Athletics on design and marketing projects over the years, as well as local businesses in new industries (Friedmans Appliance, Greene County Bank, and many others).

Our client roster wasn’t the only thing growing during this decade. By the time the agency turned twenty, it had undergone a total brand transformation (two or three, actually). In 2003, the company officially changed its name to Asen Marketing & Advertising. At the same time, the team scaled up by offering comprehensive marketing programs, a foundation to success we value highly to this day.

Did you know: In 2009, Paul was inducted into Knoxville’s American Advertising Federation (AAF) Advertising Hall of Fame. What a way to end the decade!

Reaching New Heights in the 2010s

Heading into the 2010s, Asen was fresh out of its third recession, recovering and still serving clients who also felt the effects of the economy’s decline. From a marketing standpoint, there was a somewhat new focus on social media towards the start of this decade, leading us to launch our first branded profile (a Facebook page, of course).

We’re especially appreciative of our partnerships during this time of hardships and new growth, including Midlab, ChoiceSpine, the G3 Help Me legal team, The Old Mill Restaurant in Pigeon Forge, Focus Treatment Centers, BariLife, CareCuts of Knoxville, and many others.

Forty, Thankful, & Thriving!

As we reflect on the past four decades, we’re filled with pride and gratitude for the incredible journey we’ve shared with our clients and community over the years. In our fourth decade, we’re excited to continue helping businesses thrive with dynamic, comprehensive marketing. 

Be on the lookout! We’ll share more about Our 40 Story as the year unfolds. In the meantime, don’t forget to follow us on social media to keep up with our work and all things Asen.