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We’re an honest, passionate team of strategic + creative storytellers.

Hearth Agency is a full-service marketing + advertising agency specializing in real estate.

We believe in the importance of belonging. It’s more than just finding your place. It’s research. It’s placemaking. Friend-making. Teambuilding. Everyone deserves the opportunity to find their people, and our ideal blend of experience and expertise will help make that happen. At Hearth, our clients work directly with the co-founders on every project to bring brands to life.

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Our story begins when we met in 2006, working together at a 40-year old advertising institution that specialized in marketing real estate. We spent the decade working our way to directors, leading our account and creative teams to deliver unrivaled, proven strategy and highly engaging campaigns to clients—including five of the 50 master-planned communities on the top-selling list from RCLCO Real Estate Advisors. Flash forward to 2019—after 13+ years of working side by side, it was time for us to start our own entrepreneurial adventure.

We started Hearth Agency together, to continue working with—and on—all the things we ♥

Our mutual love of the 80s and placemaking lead us to an inevitable and unbeatable partnership.

Ellen Wong
Co-Founder, President
Chief Executive Officer

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Ari Wells
Co-Founder, Vice President
Chief Creative Officer

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Trusted collaborators

Every professional we collaborate with is not only an expert, but they specialize in the business of building community. Get to know our brilliant friends.

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Teri has built and activated some of the most valued brands in community and resort development. For 11 years she was the CMO and architect of the Newland Communities brand in 14 states and 30+ communities; prior to that she handled Intrawest’s resort club brand development for a decade. Her company, tst ink, collaborates with respected and innovative community developers, homebuilders and entrepreneurs to identify customer insights and ask “how might we” with a passion and energy to squeeze the best ideas out of everyone and turn those ideas into places and experiences that matter to the people who will live there. Teri is a sought-after and engaging public speaker and facilitator.

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Vanessa Chow,

Media Director

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Vanessa is an experienced Media Director who has been working in the advertising industry for nearly 20 years. At her company Hello Media LLC, she collaborates with clients and brings her skilled expertise in strategic planning, media buying, paid search management, and digital analytics. Previous agencies include Roni Hicks & Associates, OMD, Universal McCann, Team One, and Saatchi & Saatchi across real estate, non-profit, automotive, entertainment, travel, and tech industries.

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Sessionwise,
Web Development

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Steve and his team at Sessionwise are passionate about everything web development. Specializing in custom WordPress development, Steve has been fortunate to build sites for some amazing brands including TED, National Geographic, Adobe, Coppola, Front Porch, and many others. With over 25 years of experience in the web design and development industry, he has launched over 200 websites and takes pride in creating pixel-perfect web adaptations for designers. He and his team love nerding-out on the latest and greatest technology and digging into interesting and challenging projects.

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George Stephanos,

Illustrator

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Traditional and digital illustration, motion graphics, photo retouching, mechanical files and comprehensive sample builds—these have all been George’s specialty for the past 23 years. A graphic artist’s key asset is the ability to adapt to the challenge of every job, and George has excelled at this—from service bureaus to ad agencies, from dry transfer type to setting text in InDesign—always delivering at the highest standard.

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After graduating from SDSU with a degree in English and a handful of Daily Aztec bylines, she attended Interior Designers Institute in Newport Beach, where she cultivated her love for aesthetics. She spent the next eight years focusing in the residential real estate world, where she found her niche in combining the analytical with the creative, helping clients implement influential, and engaging marketing strategies with cohesive designs. Inspired by the power of marketing and branding, she created her own consulting business, working with clients through logo creation, brand concepts, marketing, social strategy, and implementation.

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Scott Montgomery, Still + Motion Director/Photographer

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Scott is a visual author who thrives while capturing people on location. His work is based in realism. Does this scene feel believable? Recognizable? Our gift and suffering is relationships. The messy, scratched up, dream filled mile markers that drive us crazy and feed our soul. You will find relationship all through his portfolio. His working relationship with Ari and Ellen goes back 16 years and an abundance of plane flights. Scott is recognized for his work nationally in the Ad community for Brands such as Sprint, Andersen Windows, Wyndham, Pfizer and Nationwide Insurance.

FAQ

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