Two Decades of Digital Marketing in Chicago

Two brands were born in the early 2000s. The first was The Ocean Agency, which was founded in Chicago in 2003.

Ocean's business started with building websites.

The second brand born was Logical Media Group, which was founded in Chicago in 2006 by Chris O'Neill.

We started our business offering SEO and PPC.

In 2007, both the Logical and Ocean staff grew to over five employees.

Logical focused on search and the next year, Ocean started to rank on the first page of Google for the term "Chicago Web Design."

Ocean started to utilize WordPress as a CMS in 2010,

and in 2014 the company launched its free website analysis tool.

Logical moved into our first office space in Chicago's River North neighborhood!!

In November of 2014, the Ocean Agency was acquired by Logical Media Group.

We moved into our new office!

Logical hit a new milestone in 2016, and came in at No. 891 on the Inc. 5000 list,

an annual list of America's fastest-growing privately held companies.

Logical came in at No. 1,413 on the 2017 Inc. 5000 list.

Logical came in at No. 1,999 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list.

We consolidated The Ocean Agency and Logical Media Group together as one brand under Logical. We rebranded Logical's website and finalized our Vision, Mission and Values.

Also incredibly pleased to report that Logical came in at No. 3,760 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 list!

2020 was a challenging year for everyone. When the pandemic hit, Logical transitioned to a fully remote team while retaining every employee. Unfortunately, 18% of our clients were forced to close their doors, but we helped many adapt their strategies, strengthen their online presence, and prepare for recovery.

At the same time, we delivered strong results for the other 82% of our clients, helping them navigate uncertainty and continue growing through an unprecedented year.

This was a year of growth for Logical. While maintaining our Chicago office, we embraced a permanent remote model and expanded our team across Florida, Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Colombia.

We also acquired SoMe Connect, adding talented teammates, new clients, and expanded Branding and Creative capabilities. As our clients' needs have grown, this acquisition allowed us to quickly strengthen our service offering with an experienced, high-performing team.

This was a pivotal year for Logical. Four years into our Account Management and Client Delivery structure, we've continued evolving from a channel vendor into a true strategic partner for our clients.

By focusing on relationships and solving business challenges, we expanded our Fractional CMO and omnichannel offerings—some of our most successful engagements to date. We also earned recognition as a Great Place to Work for the second consecutive year and were named one of Crain's Best Places to Work for the first time.

This year marked the completion of our transformation from a performance marketing agency into a strategic marketing partner focused on growing the brands we serve.

We strengthened our team through new hiring practices, expanded services like CRM and Brand Messaging, and invested heavily in training.

Through monthly cross-functional strategy exercises, teammates learned to think beyond their individual channels and approach challenges from a broader business perspective. The result is a team that understands brands more deeply, thinks more strategically, and delivers greater value to our clients. We're incredibly proud of what we've accomplished together.

As we continued evolving as Growth Marketing Partners, our CRM business saw tremendous growth in 2024, culminating in achieving HubSpot Platinum Partner status. We also expanded our email marketing capabilities through advanced CRM automation and outreach solutions.

This year, we launched our new event space at Logical HQ and hosted our first Partner Day, welcoming more than 100 partners, clients, prospects, and community members. Beyond showcasing our expertise, the event was designed to bring value to the Chicago marketing community through education, networking, and meaningful connections. We're excited to continue building on that momentum.

I am excited to see what this year holds for us. I am writing this in January, so as much as I am bullish on what digital can do for businesses in an uncertain economy, there is still a question mark for me on how this year will unfold.

I am confident we will be successful and more importantly, report on tremendous success for all the clients we serve. I am excited to continue our community activation with our newly renovated office/event space. I wish you the best of luck this year and I will be looking forward to re-writing this paragraph in January of 2026 with good news for all of us!