When I was growing up in Reading, Ohio, I couldn’t wait to leave.
Reading is a small town just on the outskirts of Cincinnati. It’s the kind of place where you know all the streets, know all the shops and local places to go, and you never have to explain who you are to people because there’s a good chance they already know your parents.
It was nice growing up there, but I always knew I wanted something different.
So I left Ohio and moved to Chicago, where I started my own PR agency – Motion. In the twenty years since, my fledgling company has grown from a staff of one to become a much larger, fully integrated marketing agency with offices in Chicago, Nashville, and Cincinnati…staffed by a growing 90+ person team I never could have imagined way back when.
I understand growth a lot better today because I’ve been through a lot of it, and that personal experience has made me more intentional about how I approach it.
Coming Home
In 2023, I bought the Cincinnati-based agency Rick Miller Communications. That was the first time I really thought about the word “homecoming.” Through that acquisition, I was immediately reconnected with the city that had shaped me, even though I’d spent most of my adult life searching for something beyond it. Apparently, as it happens, one homecoming wasn’t enough for me.
Today, it pleases me to share that Motion has acquired its second Cincinnati-based agency, Vehr Communications. And this one feels different to me.
Not because the first acquisition wasn’t meaningful. It was. But because now we know Cincinnati. We know the business community. We know the talent pool. We understand what it’s like to have a team on the ground, in the market.
And I can see, for the first time, that Cincinnati isn’t just a place I grew up. It’s a place where I want Motion to grow.
Why Here? Why Now?
I’ve spent enough time in both Chicago and Cincinnati to notice that something’s been changing.
For years, the marketing industry looked almost exclusively to the coasts for its biggest ideas, biggest agencies and biggest opportunities. Meanwhile, something else was happening here in the middle of the country.
Businesses were investing.
Talent was choosing to stay.
Entrepreneurs were building.
Independent agencies were thriving.
And companies were discovering that you don’t have to leave the Midwest to find world-class partners. In fact, Ohio was recently named CNBC’s #1 State for Business, joining a long list of Midwestern states attracting investment, innovation, and entrepreneurial growth.
That’s why we’ve started calling this region the Growth Belt.
Not because it’s a clever phrase. Because we genuinely believe the next generation of great businesses – and the agencies that serve them – is being built right here in the heart of America.
Why Vehr Communications?
Nick Vehr spent nearly two decades helping build one of Cincinnati’s most respected communications firms. I’ve spent twenty years building Motion in Chicago. And we came to the same realization independently: the future of our industry isn’t just happening on the coasts anymore. It’s happening here. The Midwest is becoming one of the country’s best places to build businesses, brands, and enduring client relationships.
I’ve seen what Nick has built at Vehr Communications. What attracted me wasn’t simply the opportunity to bring on another Cincinnati agency. It was that our two organizations share a lot of the things I care about: smart people, strong relationships, great work, and that “midwestern” willingness to roll up our sleeves and get things done.
That was important to me. That felt like the Reading Way.
I’ve always been interested in building something better. That means bringing together people who know their clients, care about their work, and aren’t afraid to challenge each other.
It means affording our clients more access to more expertise without making them feel like they’re partnered with an enormous entity where nobody knows who’s actually in charge.
And it means finding good people and giving them more opportunities to do great work.
Vehr brings to Motion a talented team, deep Cincinnati relationships, and nearly two decades of experience in strategic communications. Motion brings to Vehr a fully integrated set of capabilities including branding, creative, PR, social, digital, media, web and production.
Putting our two teams together, we have something pretty darn interesting.
The Cincinnati Connection Matters
There’s also something else going on here that I can’t separate from the business side of this transaction.
I grew up here.
I went to high school here. I worked at my first jobs here. My family is here. Some of my oldest friends are here. And even after I left, I kept coming back.
For the longest time, I thought leaving was the point. Now I’m realizing that leaving and coming back aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive. I don’t have to choose one or the other. I can do both, and make both work.
Leaving home gave me the opportunity to build a life somewhere else. Chicago gave me the opportunity to build Motion. And now Cincinnati is giving Motion another place to grow.
There’s something extra gratifying in seeing my career come full circle like this. And something I really like about keeping it all in the Midwest. I’ve spent most of my career around independent agencies, and I’ve watched the industry become increasingly consolidated. Agencies get bought, bought again, folded into larger networks, and eventually become part of something so big that it’s hard to remember where they even started.
That’s not what I want for Motion.
I like being independent. I like that when something isn’t working, we can change it without scheduling a six-month committee meeting. And I like that we can grow without losing our identity, leaning into the distinctive qualities that got us here.
So, why Cincinnati?
Not just because I’m from here. But because I believe in the city. I believe in the businesses being built here. Because there is a ridiculous amount of talent here. Because Cincinnati has always been a city of people who know how to build things — and I happen to like building things.
When I bought Rick Miller Communications, I called it a homecoming.
With Vehr, I think it’s fair to say something bigger is happening.
I’m not just coming home anymore. Motion is in Cincinnati to stay.
Motion now has a physical Cincinnati presence, a growing team, and the backing of two organizations that share a belief that you don’t have to be on the coast — or part of a giant holding company — to build an agency with high-powered talent, blue chip clients, and unrivaled ambition.
I’m proud of what Motion has built in Chicago, and I’m proud of what we’re building in Cincinnati. But more than that, I’m proud to be investing in a part of the country that I believe is entering its moment.
The Midwest has always been known for growing things. Today, it’s growing businesses.
It’s growing talent.
It’s growing opportunity.
And increasingly, it’s growing some of the country’s most ambitious brands.
That’s the Growth Belt. And I couldn’t be more excited that Motion gets to help build it – the Reading way.
