Of clients and canines

Lauren Genkinger, CEO of TG Madison, a $42 million ad agency, sits at her desk on the 28th floor of Tower Place in Atlanta talking to a client. Also attending the meeting is Trooper, one of her four golden retrievers, resting at her feet.

Genkinger is balancing her two loves —- advertising and golden retrievers.

In 1986, she and Joanne Truffleman started TG Madison without any clients.

In 2003, she founded Adopt a Golden (www.adoptagolden atlanta.com), now the nation’s sixth-largest golden retriever rescue group.

A University of Florida graduate, Genkinger went into advertising but found that women were not accepted into account service.

“You could go into creative, research or media,” she said. “I went into research and got a job at Campbell Mithun in Minneapolis.”

She spent seven years there, but after a record cold spell, she headed back south. In 1978, she went to McDonald & Little, an agency whose creativity and antics are still legendary.

She had dual roles: senior vice president of account service and research director.

Dave Fitzgerald, CEO of Fitzgerald + Co., a $250 million agency, was at McDonald & Little with Genkinger. “Lauren was always the smartest person in the room,” he said. “She always did her homework and got to all the important issues that would add great value to what the strategy was.”

Fitzgerald agreed that advertising in those days was hostile to women. “I don’t think anyone thought about it,” he said. “… It was a very tough time for a woman to be taken seriously, and Lauren always was.”

Another woman at the agency was Truffleman, who eventually left to join the Coca-Cola Co. McDonald & Little fell on hard times, and Genkinger joined another ad agency, Burton Campbell; it wasn’t a match made in heaven. Truffleman, however, was happy at Coca-Cola.

Regardless, Genkinger called her and brought up the idea of going into business together.

“There comes a point in your life,” Truffleman said, “where if you’re going to go out on your own, you either do it or it becomes too late.”

They chose a name that didn’t reveal their gender. The initials stand for their last names, and Madison for Madison Avenue. Although they are a female-owned business, they do not go after “women-oriented accounts.”

The two were hired by Cotton States Insurance Co. to find it an ad agency. Before the search ended, TG Madison had its first client, and it grew from there.

Genkinger also wanted an escape from advertising. She joined Golden Retriever Rescue of Atlanta, which rescues golden retrievers from shelters and takes in strays. She realized there were families that needed to turn in their goldens and that they should not be forced to go to a shelter to do it. She formed Adopt a Golden to take in owner-surrendered dogs and help with shelters when needed.

The first dog was surrendered by a soldier going to Iraq. “He was very distraught,” Genkinger said. “He didn’t want to take his best friend to a shelter. Owner-surrenders at many shelters are put down within 24 hours; if they’re lucky, 72 hours. We were able to take the dog in and promise that soldier that we would find a loving home for his dog. He deserved that peace of mind, and the dog deserved a great home, which he got.”

Genkinger believes rescue groups help three parties: obviously the dog, but also two families. “We help families who have to surrender their dogs know they are doing the right thing. And the family that adopts the dog is changed for life.”

Adopt a Golden has rescued more than 1,800 goldens and Great Pyrenees. Last year, it rescued 365 dogs; this year, between 400 and 450 dogs. Adopt a Golden takes in a dog, gives it a physical, including spaying or neutering, and microchips it. Some require obedience training; others serious medical intervention. Thirty percent have heartworms, which costs $500 to treat. Others, like Trooper, were victims of being on the road.

It costs an average of $700 to rescue a dog; the adoption fee is $300 to $350. This year’s operating budget is $350,000; in 2010, it’ll be $450,000.

“We lose money on each dog, but we do what has to be done. We never turn a dog away, and we will never let a golden die in a shelter,” she says.

David York, owner of Barking Hound Village and the head of Fulton County Animal Control, said that Genkinger is “a certified, passionate dog lover, and AGA is one of the great animal rescues. She does a great job finding homes as well as rehabilitating dogs. She makes it happen for the animals.”

Genkinger sees what advertising and dog rescue have in common. “Working with the rescue is very emotional, and in advertising, we aim to reach the consumer’s emotions. There’s an emotional connection —- just like helping a family get a dog to love.”