Joe Erwin

@joeerwin

Joe is the co-founder and President of Erwin-Penland, a full-service marketing firm headquartered in Greenville, SC. After spending his early years in New York at DMB&B, Joe returned south to open Erwin-Penland with one account and one employee. His goal: extraordinary work, coupled with extraordinary customer service. And 25 years later, that’s still the hallmark of the agency. Only, instead of one employee there are now 275, and the agency’s clients include some of America’s leading brands: Verizon Wireless, Denny’s, Michelin, Lockheed Martin and General Motors among them.

In 2004, Erwin-Penland became part of Hill Holliday, and like their parent company, is known for moving fast, helping set the pace for retail, franchise and other national clients, and an unyielding focus on results. A champion of seamlessly integrated communication, Joe has spearheaded the agency’s foray into a wide range of marketing disciplines, which now includes in-house digital, public relations, experiential branding, digital asset management and analytics capabilities.

Joe personally oversees the agency’s pro bono work and diversity initiatives, and is an active participant and contributor to a variety of civic and philanthropic causes. He has served on boards for the South Carolina Special Olympics, the Governor’s Commission on Teacher Quality and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America. In 2003 he was named an Alumni Fellow by Clemson University, the highest honor the school bestows upon its graduates, and he is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winner.

The agency has won countless creative awards, as well as multiple EFFIE awards. This year alone, Erwin-Penland has been recognized by Advertising Age as one of Best Places to work in marketing, by PR News as one of the Best Places to work in Public Relations, by the S.C. Chamber of Commerce as one of the Best Places to Work in South Carolina, and received a Diversity Leadership Award from the Richard W. Riley Institute at Furman University.