Our Story
Sure, we can tell you the story how we got here. Sherri’s mom summed it up when she said, “Only God could take a blabber mouth and turn it into a career.”
That’s pretty much what happened—although there’s a more colorful version of the story, according to Sherri.
Blame it on my sister.
“Dee’s always been the one who draws the pretty pictures. She’s also one of those rare graphic designers who still believes in grids, has actually set type, starts to sweat when she smells rubber cement and was one of the first designers in the Rocky Mountains to use a Mac.
Meanwhile, what comes easiest to me is singing, but I never quite figured out how to make a living at it. In college I majored in opera, which turned out to be a misguided degree. After being cast in four consecutive operas as the whore (town whore, wharf whore, village whore and just a whore whore) I decided to raise my voice through advertising and development.”
Heintz-Barton Advertising
In 1984 Dee and I were having coffee and had this great big, holy cow idea to start an ad agency. Lord only knows where the idea came from, literally. If the truth be told, we were dumber than a post about what that really meant.
We already had years of experience and were passionate about our craft, but didn’t have any preconceived ideas about running an agency. But what we did have was an over-exaggerated sense of accountability, a German work ethic that had been pounded into us our entire lives and the no-nonsense gift of understatement that says, “If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it at all.”
All of that actually translated into a success we had never anticipated. I think it’s also because we weren’t on our own agenda. We wanted to make our clients look good, help them make a good living and serve great causes in the process.
Our clients at Heintz-Barton ranged from big dogs like U S West, the State of Colorado, USA Today and Pay-Per-View, to closely-held businesses like The Brown Palace Hotel, Cook’s Smart and the Kit Carson County Carousel.
We Sold Out.
By 1993, when we sold the agency to two creative guys, we were a AAAA, top-ten ad agency in Colorado. We were at the top of our game but wanted nothing more than to go home and be full-time moms. And we did just that.
When my twins were in preschool and after I had put contact paper on every conceivable surface in my home, I knew it was time to exercise my gift of gab once again.
Cahoots Communications Inc.
In 1995 we took our big agency know-how to create a new kind of ad agency. And we’ve added a great cast of characters to the story.
All of us are absolutely dedicated to serving in cahoots with the good causes that capture our hearts. It’s the hardest work we’ve ever done, but in our opinion, it doesn’t get any better than this.
