The firm’s roster of clients reads like a who’s who of Dayton-area companies and organizations: Wright-Patt Credit Union, Montgomery County government, Hartzell Aviation, CareSource, Lion, HennyPenny and others.
Clients have included Winters Bank, as well as earlier iterations of Sinclair Community College, Wright State University and Kettering Health. (Wright State and Sinclair continue to be clients).
“It’s sort of like the history of Dayton,” said Ohlmann President David Bowman, a 1997 Wright State graduate who started with the firm in 2010. “We worked with all these brands and all these different people who are sort of part of Dayton’s lore.”
Coming out of the pandemic, the firm had gone fully remote, like many other businesses.
That approach worked, Bowman said. When firm leaders surveyed employees on what arrangements they wanted going forward — continue working remotely, try a remote-office-hybrid arrangement or return to the office full time — the response was nearly unequivocal.
“It was about 95% default remote,” Bowman said. “So we built around that.”
The firm found the space at the 130 building. Bowman and his team liked what they saw.
“Good bones,” he said.
The previous building had a bigger footprint but also bigger energy demands. Holding on to the property didn’t make sense.
The company decided to give the building at 1605 N. Main St. to Omega Community Development Corp. in March 2023.
When it was time to make the new space comfortable, the challenge to the design team wasn’t unlike the challenge clients give the firm — “What do you want it to look like?”
The result economizes space. Offices and studios wrap around a central work area.
Credit: Jim Noelker
Credit: Jim Noelker
“The whole notion is, we built it more like a co-working space or a coffee shop,” Bowman said. “You don’t have to come here, but we want to make it a place where you’d want to come sometimes. You can feel creative and experience all of that.”
A break room is just a few doors away on the 10th floor, and a workout room is an elevator ride away.
Today, the company is bringing marketing clients forward in new ways. Ohlmann has launched a podcast and a You Tube channel.
The idea is not to compete with newspapers or televisions stations, Bowman said. “We are not breaking news,” he said.
The podcast is an idea firm principals have eyed for a while.
Evelyn Ritzi, the firm’s content and marketing manager, and Jason Carter, video content specialist, crafted a roadmap.
“From there, we talked about how do we make sure this is scalable and what do we want to do with it,” Bowman said. “And it was off to the races.”
Among the first guests, Amanda DeLotelle, executive director and co-founder of Miami Valley Meals, and Lisa Wagner, executive director of Levitt Pavilion Dayton.
Linda Ohlmann Kahn, the firm’s chief executive who co-owns the business with her sister Lori, has worked for the business for 45 years. (Linda and Lori are daughters of firm founder Walter Ohlmann.)
A lot has changed in 45 years, but the business is still about storytelling. Linda once used a yellow legal pad to buy advertising time.
“If you look at everything we’re doing, it’s so different than it was even 10 years ago,” she said. “We’re doing architectural designs, we’re doing podcasts, we’re buying digital. It’s a totally different world — the kind of art you create.”
One thing hasn’t changed.
“It’s about stories people can relate to,” she said.
About the Author
