PAUL FRODGE

Paul has an interest in everyone he meets.

Spend some time with Paul Frodge and chances are he’ll ask more questions about you than he’ll answer about himself. That curiosity has been a constant throughout his career—and today it shapes how he leads Holland Adhaus, works with clients, and thinks about business and the future of marketing.

Paul is an entrepreneur, marketing executive, and President & CEO of Holland Adhaus, a Cincinnati-based full-service marketing and advertising agency with roots dating back to 1937.

In 2017, Paul acquired Holland Advertising and set out to transform a long-established agency for a new era of marketing. He rebuilt and expanded the team, broadened the agency’s capabilities, acquired digital marketing firm Search Engine Experts, and ultimately repositioned the company as Holland Adhaus.

Today, Holland Adhaus is a multimillion-dollar integrated agency bringing together strategy, creative, digital marketing, media, web development, search, video, marketing technology, and automation. The agency works with organizations across industries including healthcare, home services, professional services, and B2B manufacturing.

For Paul, however, building a successful agency has never been only about revenue.

He’s focused equally on building a company where talented people want to work and where clients view the agency as an extension of their own teams. Holland Adhaus has been recognized by the Cincinnati Business Courier as one of Cincinnati’s Best Places to Work for many years and has also been named one of Ohio Business Magazine’s Best Places to Work.

Paul’s leadership extends well beyond Holland Adhaus.

He serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of TAAN Worldwide, an international network of independent advertising and marketing agencies. Through TAAN, Paul collaborates with agency owners and leaders from around the world, exchanging ideas about growth, talent, technology, operations, and the rapidly changing future of the advertising industry.

He’s also co-host of The Rethink Marketing Podcast with Colin Jeffries. Across more than 250 episodes, Paul and Colin explore marketing, advertising, sales, technology, leadership, and business growth—often challenging conventional thinking and asking what’s changing before everyone else starts talking about it.

That curiosity has been part of Paul’s career from the beginning.

Before becoming an agency owner, he spent more than 15 years on the media side of advertising. His career began at WGRR-FM in Cincinnati and included time at an advertising agency before taking him to North Carolina, where he helped manage a nine-station radio group for NextMedia.

After returning to Cincinnati, Paul became one of the top sales representatives at 700 WLW and later moved into sales leadership with WEBN and KISS 107. He eventually transitioned from radio to television, spending three years with Sinclair Broadcast Group and WKRC-TV.

Those experiences gave Paul an unusual perspective on marketing. He’s spent his career as a media seller, sales leader, marketer, entrepreneur, agency owner, and advisor to business leaders. He’s seen advertising from virtually every side of the table.

Today, Paul spends a significant amount of time thinking about what’s next.

He’s particularly interested in artificial intelligence and its impact on marketing, the changing future of search, Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), digital advertising, CRM and marketing automation, and how businesses can more clearly connect marketing investment to measurable growth.

But despite all the changes in technology, Paul’s philosophy about marketing remains surprisingly simple.

Start by understanding the business and what true business impact means.

How does it make money? Where does it want to go? What’s standing in the way? Why do customers choose it? What does the customer actually care about?

The marketing strategy comes after the questions.

Community involvement has also been an important part of Paul’s career. He previously served as a Trustee of Cincinnati Ballet and on the Board of Directors of St. Ursula Villa, has supported numerous organizations and causes throughout Greater Cincinnati, and has shared his experience with future marketers through speaking and guest lecturing.

Outside of Holland Adhaus, Paul and his wife, Michelle, have three children—Caitlyn, Lauren, and Joey. He’s an avid sports fan, enjoys golf and the arts, and has spent countless nights and weekends over the years coaching, watching, and supporting his kids’ sports.

And despite running an agency, serving on boards, hosting a podcast, following where AI is taking the marketing industry, and keeping up with his family, Paul still manages to find time for Fantasy Football.

Get in touch with Paul

Contact Paul at [email protected] or schedule an information session to get on his calendar.