# WH inc.

> WH inc. is a privately held Seattle brand-building agency founded in 1969. It combines consulting, creative work, public relations, paid media, influencer programs, and live experiences, with a particular depth in outdoor, active-lifestyle, marine, health, consumer packaged goods, and food-and-beverage brands. Its distinctive pitch is that brands should earn preference across a nonlinear customer journey instead of depending on interruption-heavy advertising.

- **Founded:** 1969
- **Headquarters:** Seattle, United States
- **Founders:** Jim Williams (Co-founder), Ed Helde (Co-founder)
- **Products:** Consulting, Creation, Promotion, Mobius Cycle®
- **Notable:** Has remained independent since its founding in 1969 and describes itself as Seattle's oldest independent agency., Its 2016 Active Explorer research book received a Silver ADDY award., Acquired active-lifestyle PR firm Hayter Communications in 2017, adding earned-media and experiential depth.

## Products & services

- **Consulting** — Brand positioning, Mobius Cycle consumer-journey mapping, go-to-market planning, and customer-experience program development.
- **Creation** — Integrated campaign development plus naming, identity, design, video, digital work, copy, playbooks, toolkits, and messaging guides.
- **Promotion** — Media relations, paid media, experiential trips and events, and influencer programs.
- **Mobius Cycle®** — A six-part framework spanning brand and product, influences, conception, consideration, purchase, and loyalty; it models buying as nonlinear rather than funnel-shaped.

## Achievements

- Has remained independent since its founding in 1969 and describes itself as Seattle's oldest independent agency.
- Its 2016 Active Explorer research book received a Silver ADDY award.
- Acquired active-lifestyle PR firm Hayter Communications in 2017, adding earned-media and experiential depth.
- Reports 116 million impressions and 16,000 sweepstakes entries for the Shock Top and Auntie Anne's Beer Kneads Pretzels campaign.
- Reports up to 190% year-over-year growth in media placements across outdoor, men's gear, and hunting categories for Benchmade.
- Named and created the visual identity for Elevate Outdoor Collective, an umbrella portfolio of 12 winter-sports brands.
- The 2025 Helly Hansen Shine launch added more than 2,000 followers in one week and drew more than 900 contest entries, according to WH's case study.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — WH launched the Stop Interrupting Me Substack, extending its writing on the Performance Lifestyle Consumer, channel choice, and brand preference.
- **2026-08** — Marc Williams announced the book Stop Interrupting. Start Belonging., developed from roughly 15 years of agency research into active and performance-oriented consumers.
- **2026-06** — The agency continued handling beverage communications, publishing the planned return of Hop Valley Brewing to Eugene with a new pub.
- **2026-03** — WH opened three paid, six-week summer internship tracks in strategy, PR and publicity, and graphic design.
- **2025-07** — WH's Helly Hansen Shine case study reported 900-plus entries, more than 2,000 new followers in a week, and over 22,000 views.

## Links

- Website: https://wh1969.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/williams-helde-marketing-communications
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/hayterpr
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamshelde/
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/haytercommunications

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/wh-inc
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-24