Our History

This year we adopted a fully hybrid and remote work schedule to meet the needs of our BFTeam and clients. Bridgeway Capital Management and BFT celebrate 15 years of partnership, including a recent refresh of their websites.

Susan Bray celebrates 15 years at BFT!

Tyler Wayner celebrates 10 years at BFT!

April 2nd, BFT Partners with Ken Bogard at Know Honesty to implement EOS, fundamentally changing the way we solve issues and create traction as an organization.

BFT Subleases its downtown Chicago office space to make way for its transition to a hybrid and remote work environment. Many of our Chicago BFTeam members get 3 hours of their weekdays back.

BFT is named to Clutch’s Top 1000 List and a top Michigan B2B Agency

BFT is named on TechReviewer’s Top Web and App Developers in the U.S. list

Blue Flame Thinking celebrates its 55 year anniversary, and that’s not the only big number we’re celebrating this year! We’re also celebrating 10 years of partnership with Gilda’s Club Chicago. 

Chris Beaudoin celebrates 40 years at BFT!

Steve Van Wyk celebrates 20 years at BFT!

Diona Medrano celebrates 5 years at BFT!

This year marks the 20th anniversary of our amazing marketing partnership with Pentair Water. Three brand refreshes, dozens of product launches, hundreds of campaigns, and +3.7k jobs. Here’s to many more pool seasons!

Tim Phiscator celebrates 20 years at BFT!

Laurie Moran starts at Blue Flame Thinking.

Aug 7th, Steve Schmieder retires, selling the agency to Josh Stauffer, the third Grand Rapids native to own the agency in its 50+ year history.

Principal Financial celebrates 10 years as a BFT client partner!

Jan 1st, Alexander Marketing merges with s2 Financial Marketing to become Blue Flame Thinking.

BFT’s Chicago office moved from Randolph Street to Monroe in downtown Chicago.

Josh Stauffer joins Alexander Marketing as the Director of Digital Strategy with an emphasis on providing sustainable digital transformation solutions to our clients in the B2B2C space. Within two years the Digital Team doubles in size.

Rob Christensen starts at Alexander Marketing.

May 22nd, Steve Schmieder purchases Alexander Marketing from Alliance Holdings Inc. to diversify his financial marketing client base. 4 months later the Dow Jones Industrial fell 777.68 points in intra-day trading.

Old Second Bank joins the s2 Financial Marketing client family.

Maria Halper starts at s2 Financial Marketing.

December 12th, Alexander Marketing’s founder Jim Alexander passes away at age 81.

Susan Bray joins s2 Financial Marketing.

Steve Schmieder purchases Meindl & Associates from Bob and Barbara Meindl, rebrands the agency to s2 Marketing + Communications, Inc. and moves the office from the suburbs to downtown Chicago. Later the agency would be renamed to s2 Financial Marketing.

Alexander Marketing (an ESOP) was acquired by Philadelphia-based Alliance Holdings, Inc. to provide in-house specialized marketing services for its portfolio of clients.

Sherry Kas helps start Alexander Marketing’s digital team offering web development, paid media, analytics, and e-blasts to our clients.

Pentair Water starts a 20+ year relationship with Blue Flame Thinking.

CSA International starts a 25+ year relationship with Blue Flame Thinking.

Meindl & Associates moves to Oak Brook.

Jim Alexander retires in 1992, passing ownership of Alexander Marketing into an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).

Alexander Marketing completes a 4,200 square foot addition to its 11-year-old headquarters in Grand Rapids. The addition added critical office space, conferences rooms, and storage to the facility.

Alexander Marketing purchases its first computer.

Steve Schmieder joins Meindl & Associates, eventually becoming a managing partner and ultimately buying the agency 21 years later.

Alexander Marketing moves into its new building designed by architectural firm Reid & Associates. The distinctive x-shaped design was the result of our challenge to the architect that no occupant would be denied a view of the 32-acre grounds.

Chris Beaudoin starts at Alexander Marketing.

Alexander Marketing opens its 2nd office in Rosemont Illinois.

Meindl Graphics is founded by Bob and Barbara Meindl in Chicago Illinois, later renamed to Meindl & Associates.

Alexander Marketing expands to the entire second floor of 415 Cherry Street due to our growing needs.

Dow Chemical Co. starts a 45-year relationship with Alexander Marketing.

Jim Alexander, a mechanical engineer fresh out of Purdue University, founds Alexander Marketing in Grand Rapids Michigan and leases 200 ft. of space at 425 Cherry Street.

Dover Corporation becomes our first client, Lori Merrin King becomes our first employee!