Today we’d like to introduce you to Ted Muta III, Ted Muta II, and Cheryl Muta.
Ted, Ted, and Cheryl, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Our founder, Ted Muta Sr., spent several years freelancing as a graphic artist after graduating from the American Academy of Art. In 1968, he decided to open Ted Muta Advertising in downtown Chicago. We were there for nearly 25 years before moving to NWI. Over the past 50 years, we’ve worked with a wide array of businesses from small and mid-size start-ups to major Fortune 500 corporations, including Craftsman, Skil, Grainger, and ITW (Illinois Tool Works).
Many of our creative, strategic campaigns have earned us worldwide recognition and merited top industry honors and awards for design excellence and outstanding program development while delivering remarkable sales performance.
We’re a family-run business, currently owned and operated by Ted Muta Sr.’s son (and fellow American Academy alumnus) Ted Muta II. His son, Ted Muta III, recently graduated from the Kelley School of Business and has been working with our clients in digital advertising. As a family grows and times change, so does our business.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
In 50 years, there are bound to be some bumps.
Several years after opening, the recession of the 1970s made it difficult to maintain a presence in Chicago for a small business. With rent skyrocketing and the business still growing, it made sense to move the bulk of our operations into NWI, where we built a corporate center from the ground up. The entire process, from growing in unstable years to developing the business outside of Chicago, had its fair share of trials.
And then, of course, digital radically changed the world, and it had a particularly pronounced effect on advertising that we’re still feeling. The first banner ad ran in 1994 and Snap Inc. had its IPO last year. Staying up to speed with that breakneck pace is never easy.
The digital age came with more efficiency, faster lines of communication, and much, much more, so it took several years for us to fully make the pivot to embracing the new media and really solve exactly how to service our clients best for the future with respect to the world we live in.
Today, we feel like we’re on the upswing. We’ve relocated to Valparaiso, IN, where we can comfortably service clients from Schaumburg to Porter County, and have developed our strategy and thinking to embrace a fuller media landscape. We’ve always prided ourselves on being a full-service creative agency and haven’t ever let that fall to the wayside, even if it has gotten tough.
Ted Muta Advertising – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Advertising has always occupied a gray area between art and science, and many groups feel as though they have to choose one or the other. For us, our founder was a graphic artist, but at his core, he was an entrepreneur. We don’t see art and science as being mutually exclusive.
We believe our business is a business service, and we treat it that way. All art is meant to communicate something, and we approach every job with that in mind. We champion creativity that works. It’s the old attitude of Chicago School advertising repurposed for a new age.
That’s why whenever we win an award for creative excellence from the client side, that’s when we’re most proud of our work.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
When we see our work doing what we set out to do, we’ve succeeded. Ultimately, we want that work to make companies less faceless and more like they really are–people doing business with people to bring value to their lives. In that way, advertising isn’t merely a middleman. It can make a real difference on its own, and that’s what we set out to do with every job.
Personally, I love to see people’s reactions to the work. When a client sees it and their jaw drops, we know we’ve succeeded. But I also like to see someone flipping through a magazine stop and go back a page to catch that ad. Even seeing a salesperson get excited and show pride in working for a place that produces beautiful communications. All of that comes together in the final performance numbers, but that’s what those numbers are–relationships being developed from good communication.
Contact Info:
- Address: 4207 Murvihill Rd, Suite 202
Valparaiso, IN 46383 - Website: tedmutaadvertising.com
- Phone: (219) 290 – MUTA
- Email: accounts@tmuta.com
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-muta-advertising-inc/
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