Gary Mueller
In a world where we are bombarded with outcries of ‘fake news’ and see products advertised that disguise or transform our looks or body, Gary Mueller, is a breath of fresh air. He keeps it real—whether he’s sharing his testimony about the origin of Serve Marketing or speaking with college students about their careers. There’s nothing fake about Mueller. He inspires, shares and serves—no pun intended—as founder of Serve Marketing and volunteer creative director.
Some might say that Gary Mueller’s story of how Serve Marketing came to be is somewhat of a modern day version of Noah and the Ark. Just as God called Noah to build an ark and gave him the design and dimensions, He also called Mueller to build Serve Marketing, and gave him the concept of how it would work. Serve Marketing is a one-of-a-kind model and prior to its founding, nothing like it existed. It’s the country’s only, all-volunteer nonprofit advertising agency, founded in 2002. Its mission is to give underserved charitable causes a stronger voice in the community.
Born and raised in Milwaukee’s Enderis Park neighborhood (72ndand Center), Mueller graduated from Marquette High School and attended UW-Madison, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and psychology.
Mueller married in his junior year of college, became a father, managed an apartment building and worked 60 hours a week for $1000 a month, as he struggled to finish college.
“Adversity toughens you up. I was on food stamps, but somehow managed to crawl across the finish line to get my degree,” he said.
By the time he was 24, he was divorced and, after working a short time for a business-to-business firm in Chicago, moved to Milwaukee to be near his daughter. He was employed by the Brady Company and Bader Rutter for short stints before taking a position at what was then Birdsall-Voss (now BVK), where he has worked for the past 27 years and is the agency’s Executive Creative Director and Managing Partner. When Mueller joined BVK there were 30 employees; there are 250 today.
Mueller vividly recalls the day of his epiphany that led to the creation of Serve.
“Some months prior, I met a guy who invited me to his church. One June morning, I said to my wife, let’s go to that church in Jackson. When we drove up to the ‘church’, it turned out to be a funeral home, with a small sign indicating that the church service was inside. I wanted to leave, but we decided that as long as we were there, we would go in. I don’t recall anything about the sermon. At first, I was ticked off because we were sitting in a funeral home, but soon after the sermon began, the idea for SERVE began unfolding. After church, I shared with my wife that I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and she loved it. That evening, I wrote everything down and presented the proposal to my boss the next day,” said Mueller.
The proposal stated that Mueller wanted to do volunteer to work with nonprofits that nobody wants to work with, and that he would do it without receiving anything in return. To pay for the work, Mueller offered to exchange future raises for ten years and trade a future partnership for two BVK employees to work with him for a year to build Serve Marketing.
“I expected push back, questions or something, but he read it and said, ‘Okay’!,” that was the beginning of SERVE.
Serve volunteers have created behavior-changing public service campaigns for over 100 local and national nonprofits on issues ranging from teen homelessness, domestic violence and human trafficking to teen pregnancy, STD prevention and infant mortality. The agency’s provocative brand of work is sometimes controversial, but it gets people noticing and talking about these silent causes, which leads to an increase in awareness, volunteerism and funding. To date, Serve has donated over $18 million of in-kind creative, media, web, PR, print and broadcast production and strategic planning services to non-profits.
Mueller said that prior to his epiphany, he was career-driven, obsessed with winning awards and getting a lot of accolades, becoming a managing partner, and making a lot of money.
“When you become obsessed with success, you become lonely and it’s just not the most satisfying way to live. Everyone has a mission and purpose in life, and when God gives you a gift you’re supposed to share it with others,” Mueller said.
He also admits that, initially, he was hesitant sharing with others that he believed the vision for Serve Marketing came from God.
“I have no doubt that the idea for Serve came from God. At first I was reluctant to tell that story, even though I’m a Christian and I believe that God gives us signs in our lives. He has given me all kinds of signs throughout my life that I ignored. The problem was that I was on the wrong mission all that time. I was reminded that I had been given a creative gift and that I’m supposed to be helping others. I believe God finally wrapped me upside the head to get my attention. Now I tell everyone that God directed me to start Serve Marketing,” said Mueller.
Mueller admits that he knew nothing about starting a nonprofit organization. He also had no office space or equipment. Initially, he took on side jobs to raise money for an office.
“(The late) Marty Stein was always asking me to do pro bono work for various nonprofit organizations. Sometimes I begrudgingly agreed to it, so I turned to him for advice. He became an invaluable resource to me; mentoring me about how to get Serve up and running,” said Mueller.
“We were terrible in the beginning. Sometimes the nonprofits didn’t know what they wanted or needed, and I didn’t know how to convince them of what they needed. I’d create an amazing campaign and hand it over to them. Then, one or two people on their board disagreed with the approach, and they would kill the campaign. This happened more than once during the first two years of SERVE. I almost quit,” said Mueller.
Eventually, Mueller and his team of volunteers found their stride and one of his first successful campaigns was for the City of Milwaukee Health Department. It centered on educating parents about the dangers of co-sleeping.
“The infant mortality rate was horrific. We previously had some great results with our teen pregnancy campaign, so we agreed to work with the Health Department on its infant mortality awareness campaign. Our goal was to educate moms about what safe sleeping for babies looked like. We also created fun and engaging campaigns to educate mothers about how to help ensure they have healthy babies—such as spacing out births, breast-feeding, and the dangers of lead poisoning. The Healthy Babies campaign has evolved into the current Strong Babies campaign, designed to show parents what the ultimate goal looks like,” said Mueller
Serve also relies on social media to engage people and enhance awareness about its campaigns. People can share their stories and post pictures of their healthy babies on Facebook.
Ultimately, Serve Marketing has become a resounding success. Moreover, since there are so many health disparities within the City’s poorest neighborhoods, Mueller and his team of volunteers appear to have found their niche in raising awareness about healthcare and children’s issues. Serve’s campaigns have received incredible earned media because they are so provocative. They’ve also created awareness campaigns centered on sex trafficking and foster care—all issues related to quality of life.
“Serve only exists because of BVK’s commitment to this initiative. Every organization has its cause and Serve is BVK’s way of giving back. On any given day, we may have 20 BVK employees working on a campaign, along with two-thirds of our interns. They are incredible and, more importantly, they love it! After working at Serve, many of our interns continue volunteering with nonprofits throughout their careers, paying it forward,” said Mueller.
During The Milwaukee Community Journal’s Year of the Child, many nonprofit organizations and Milwaukee families should be thanking God for the moment of clarity and purpose He gave Mueller on that life-changing June morning.