# HLK

> HLK is an independent St. Louis brand and marketing agency that works where buying decisions are technical, regulated, expensive or slow. Founded as Hughes Advertising in 1977, it now combines strategy, creative, media, communications, digital experience, data intelligence and AI services for clients in agriculture, healthcare, energy, finance and industrial manufacturing. Its strongest case studies begin by correcting a mistaken assumption: farmers wanted practical advice rather than more promotion, uninsured consumers wanted help rather than a cheaper slogan, and a fungicide portfolio needed to be sold as a system rather than as isolated products.

- **Founded:** 1977
- **Headquarters:** St. Louis, United States
- **Founders:** Jack Hughes (Founder)
- **Products:** End-to-end brand building, Connected experiences, Account-based marketing, AI services
- **Notable:** Won its first Effie for Channel Seed's 'More Advice. Less Advertising.' campaign., Won two National Best of Show honors at the 2024 Best of NAMA awards., Added three partners in 2024 after their collective 11-year tenure produced 12 new-business wins and more than 40 national industry awards.

## Products & services

- **End-to-end brand building** — Brand strategy, campaign strategy, creative ideas, activation planning, media buying, strategic communications, identity and design.
- **Connected experiences** — Customer-journey orchestration, marketing technology deployment, personalization and experience design across channels.
- **Account-based marketing** — Account intelligence, targeting, content, orchestration, measurement and optimization for complex B2B sales.
- **AI services** — Custom AI agents, predictive sentiment modeling, concept-realization platforms, adaptive experience engines and data pipelines.

## Achievements

- Won its first Effie for Channel Seed's 'More Advice. Less Advertising.' campaign.
- Won two National Best of Show honors at the 2024 Best of NAMA awards.
- Added three partners in 2024 after their collective 11-year tenure produced 12 new-business wins and more than 40 national industry awards.
- Opened a Chicago West Loop office in 2024; it grew from 10 to 28 people and from 4,000 to 5,800 square feet in its first year.
- The Envu global launch moved reported awareness from 0 percent to 54 percent and consideration up 34 percent.
- Ambetter's Mission for Better campaign reported a 58 percent reduction in cost per lead and a 12 percent lift in consideration.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — altafiber selected HLK as media and creative agency of record for altafiber and Hawaiian Telcom.
- **2026-05** — HLK and BOK Financial launched the integrated 'Let's Talk' campaign about avoided money conversations.
- **2026-01** — HLK earned Best in Show at the Best of NAMA Region 2 competition.
- **2026-01** — HLK presented the CINQ by Coinstar launch, a cash-to-crypto brand and digital-money product.
- **2025-11** — HLK revealed its first work for Pivot Bio, called 'Locked N.'
- **2025-08** — BOK Financial named HLK agency of record across four business units.

## Links

- Website: https://hlkagency.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hughesleahykarlovic/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/hlkagency
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hlkagency/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HLKagency

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/hlk
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-23