Selecting a full-service marketing partner in Nashville means weighing brand strategy depth, in-house creative bench, media planning and buying capacity, digital and social production, and public relations capability under a single roof. The three agencies below each pass that integrated test, each have more than three decades or close to it in the local market, and each have published client rosters that include national accounts headquartered in or near Middle Tennessee. The rundown that follows draws on agency websites, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce listings, and trade press for verification.
Quick Comparison #
| Firm | Credentials | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| BUNTIN | Founded 1972; 4As member; roughly 130 staff across Nashville, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Atlanta; Adweek Top U.S. Ad Agency recognition. | Brand strategy, creative and design, digital, social, media planning and buying, and data and analytics for national consumer and category-leading accounts. |
| bohan | Founded 1990; BBB accredited; multi-vertical roster across restaurants, healthcare, retail, and travel-and-entertainment; thirty-plus-year founder-brand continuity. | Brand strategy, creative services, communications and engagement, web design and UX, and omnichannel media planning, buying, trafficking, and analytics. |
| GS&F | Founded 1993; employee-owned through an ESOP; AAF Nashville ADDY recognition; 2024 Aster Award; in-house production capacity for video and broadcast. | Brand strategy, creative, digital, social, media, production, and public relations and partnerships for national sports, automotive, packaged goods, and healthcare clients. |
1. BUNTIN #
Founded in 1972 by the late Jeffrey Buntin Sr. with an initial $5,000 loan, BUNTIN is the longest-running independent advertising agency on this list and the largest by reported billings. The shop grew into a roughly $230 million capitalized-billings operation with about 130 staff across Nashville, Indianapolis, Detroit, and Atlanta offices, and Adweek has named it a Top U.S. Ad Agency. Jeffrey Buntin Sr. stepped down as CEO in 2004 and remained active in the company until his death in September 2024.
The agency markets itself around a “Brand Conviction” methodology that ties strategy to creative output across paid channels. Service lines on the public site cover brand strategy, creative and design, digital, social, media planning and buying, and data and analytics, which together cover the integrated mix that full-service buyers typically expect under one contract. Recent internal promotions surfaced on the site include Aaron Branch as Design Director and Heather Melrose and India Hearn as Brand Directors, signaling a senior bench beyond C-suite leadership.
The published client roster pulls from national consumer and category-leading accounts: SERVPRO appears in the agency’s Client Hall of Fame, with Subway and The Joint Chiropractic added more recently, alongside CFP Board, Republic Bank, TREX, Southwest Value Partners, ORIJEN, Sazerac, the Chinet brand, and ACANA. Earlier work included Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Dollar General, HCA, Tractor Supply Company, and Captain D’s, accounts that anchored the agency’s reputation in restaurant, retail, and healthcare categories. The American Association of Advertising Agencies (4As) lists The Buntin Group on its agency-profile directory, which is the standard member-side credential for integrated shops in the United States.
Contact:
- Phone: (615) 244-5720
- Address: 230 Willow St, Nashville, TN 37210
2. bohan #
David Bohan founded bohan in 1990 at age 41, after a stint as the first assistant commissioner of marketing for the State of Tennessee’s Department of Tourism Development. He served as chairman through a 32-year run before announcing his retirement in November 2022, framing the move as a planned succession step. The agency continues to operate from its Music Row-adjacent 12th Avenue South office under the same brand.
The published service stack covers brand strategy, creative services, communications and engagement, and web design and user experience, with stated omnichannel media capabilities spanning strategy, planning, buying, trafficking, reporting, and analytics. Work categories highlighted on the site span restaurants, healthcare, retail, and travel-and-entertainment verticals, which is consistent with the kind of multi-vertical roster a mid-sized integrated shop in Nashville tends to assemble over a thirty-plus-year run. The team describes itself as “a resourceful team of inventive consultants, artists and content creators that help brands discover their right to win,” a positioning that signals strategy-led rather than pure-production work.
A profile in Communication Arts and a Better Business Bureau accreditation listing both surface bohan in industry directories. David Bohan’s own legacy in Nashville advertising is recognized off-site as well: the University of Tennessee, Knoxville named Room 316 in the College of Communication and Information building for him in 2019, and Leadership Nashville has profiled him in its featured-alumni archive. Those external markers are useful sanity checks when a buyer is sorting founder-led shops with multi-decade tenure from newer entrants.
Contact:
- Phone: (615) 327-1189
- Address: 124 12th Ave S, Suite 210, Nashville, TN 37203
3. GS&F #
Dale Gish and Hank Sherwood founded Gish, Sherwood & Friends, now branded GS&F, in 1993. The shop has been employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) structure for a number of years, which is a less common ownership model among Nashville independents and tends to correlate with longer staff tenure on senior accounts. The agency self-describes as fiercely independent and national in scope, with a single Nashville headquarters at 209 10th Ave S in the Gulch.
Service coverage on the public site is the broadest of the three reviewed here in terms of published disciplines: brand strategy (including brand transformation, competitive analysis, and audience research), creative (copywriting, art direction, concept development, design), digital (full-stack web development, search optimization, eCommerce, mobile apps, and augmented or virtual reality work), social (management, strategy, content planning, community management), media (search-engine marketing, integrated media buying, analytics), production (video, animation, photography, broadcast), and public relations and partnerships (media relations, sponsorships, influencer partnerships). The presence of an in-house production capability matters for buyers who want video and broadcast deliverables produced under the same roof rather than subcontracted out.
The client roster on the GS&F site includes the Tennessee Titans, Bridgestone, Nashville Predators, A.O. Smith, Delta Dental, and 3Spine, spanning sports, automotive, packaged goods, food service, and healthcare. Recognition listed on the site includes a 2024 Aster Award (healthcare creative), Top Places to Work designations from 2019 through 2022, ADDY recognition through the American Advertising Federation Nashville chapter, and feature placements on Ads of the World. The ADDY pipeline runs local (AAF Nashville) to district to national, so chapter-level ADDY wins carry through the AAF judging structure and feed into the broader American Advertising Awards.
Contact:
- Phone: (615) 385-1100
- Address: 209 10th Ave S, Suite 222, Nashville, TN 37203
How to read this shortlist #
All three shops are full-service integrated agencies rather than channel specialists, which is the distinction this guide draws against pure search-optimization shops (see the sector-124 SEO guide) and pure web-design studios (see the sector-125 web-design guide). Buntin is the largest by reported billings and the broadest in geographic office footprint. bohan is the most concentrated on a single Nashville office under continuous founder-brand identity. GS&F publishes the deepest in-house discipline list and is employee-owned through an ESOP. Buyer fit usually comes down to account size, vertical match against the existing roster, and whether broadcast and video production need to sit under the agency contract or can be sourced separately.
A few framework notes for anyone evaluating Nashville agencies more broadly. The American Advertising Federation Nashville chapter runs the local ADDY Awards, which feed the AAF district and national rounds; an agency with sustained ADDY recognition has been judged by working peers on craft. The 4As (American Association of Advertising Agencies) maintains a separate agency-profile directory that signals membership in the national trade body and adherence to its standards. National awards bodies like the Effie (effectiveness), Cannes Lions (creative), D&AD (craft), and One Show (craft and effectiveness) are tiered above local recognition and are useful when buyers want creative benchmarking beyond the regional market. Media planning credibility is separately measurable through Audit Bureau of Circulations data on print and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards for digital placement, which any integrated shop running paid media should be able to speak to in a capabilities meeting. Independent verification on this list was pulled from each agency’s own site, Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce listings, the Nashville Post, the 4As agency directory, and Communication Arts.
Selection Methodology #
A full-service marketing agency shortlist sorts on three signals: 4As American Association of Advertising Agencies directory listing, AAF Nashville American Advertising Federation chapter participation with ADDY recognition on file, and a published service-line structure across creative, media, digital, and account management with named senior leads. The three firms above each list 4As directory placement or AAF Nashville ADDY recognition, hold continuous Davidson County operation under a named founding agency, publish a case-study portfolio with client brands disclosed, name account leadership and creative directors on the bio page, and operate from a brand-anchored street address. White-label reseller operations without a Nashville studio were excluded.
Frequently Asked Questions #
Q: How does the firm handle confidentiality and data security?
A: Ask the firm to share its written data-security policy, the platforms used for client document exchange (encrypted portal, secure email), the retention policy for sensitive client data, and the notification protocol in the event of a data breach. Financial and tax firms in particular are bound by IRS and state confidentiality rules.
Q: What credentials does the firm hold for the work being requested?
A: Confirm specific credentials by service: CPA license through the Tennessee State Board of Accountancy; Series 65 or CFP registration for financial advisors; bar admission for legal advisors; agency-of-record disclosures for marketing partners. Request the license number or registration ID and verify it through the issuing authority’s public lookup.
Q: Are any of the three firms paid placements?
A: No. The three profiles above are editorial selections drawn from publicly verifiable sources. No firm sponsored placement.
Q: How are project deliverables documented and approved?
A: Ask for the deliverable review-and-approval process in writing: who reviews drafts, the standard turnaround for feedback, the number of revision rounds included, and how out-of-scope requests are handled. A documented review process avoids dispute when expectations differ from the original scope.
Editorial Note #
This guide was published on 2026-05-11 and reflects research current as of that date. Verify licenses, phone numbers, and current business status before engaging any firm.