Best Advertising Agencies in Nashville (2026)

Introduction

Nashville has a compact but busy advertising market, and the nine agencies below all run active offices in the city or in Brentwood in 2026. They were chosen for recent campaigns, 2026 recognition and the clients they hold, with a deliberate mix of full-service agencies and specialists in media buying, out-of-home and broadcast.

The city’s ad work follows its economy. Healthcare (HCA Healthcare and a long list of health-tech firms), automotive (Nissan North America and Bridgestone Americas), state agencies, universities and the music business all buy a lot of media here. Independents lead the market: MP+F ranked second on the Nashville Business Journal’s 2026 list of the city’s largest advertising agencies, and regional independents with roots in Alabama and Louisiana run Nashville offices alongside the home-grown shops. Bohan, one of the city’s best-known names, now trades as Artists & Outlaws.

Every agency here showed a working Nashville office on a page we checked in October 2026. The list is unranked, since the right agency depends on the channel mix, budget and sector you need.

The best advertising agencies in Nashville

1. MP+F

Independent · Nashville · mpf.com

MP+F is a privately held, independent agency headquartered in Nashville, with more than 80 staff across three offices. It ranked second among Nashville’s largest advertising agencies and third among its largest PR firms on the Nashville Business Journal’s 2026 lists, and in September 2026 it was named one of the city’s largest women-owned businesses.

The client list leans on public bodies, education and healthcare: Nissan, Vanderbilt University, the University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority, Amedisys and BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee. At the 2026 American Advertising Awards it took a Gold for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development rebrand and Silvers for work including TDOT’s “Trashley” campaign and Hundred Horses’ Clearwing Vodka.

2. Lewis Communications

Independent · Brentwood · lewiscommunications.com

Lewis is an independent agency founded in 1951, with offices in Birmingham, Mobile and Nashville. The Nashville office sits on Seven Springs Way in Brentwood, and the agency is led by CEO Ellen Faulkner.

Its most visible recent work is “Unicorn Quest”, the launch campaign for C Spire’s iPhone 18 Pro, which Ads of the World and Adland featured in September 2026. Lewis suits brands that want a regional independent with broadcast and campaign experience across the Southeast.

3. GS&F

Employee-owned · Nashville · gsandf.com

GS&F is a national advertising agency based at 5 City Boulevard, with a 46-year history and an employee stock ownership plan. It runs creative, media (integrated buying and planning, search and analytics), PR, social and its own production arm, OWNR Studios, under one roof. GS&F’s Scott Brooks is president of the AAF Nashville board.

Clients include Bridgestone and Firestone, Bridgestone Arena, the Tennessee Titans, the Nashville Predators, A.O. Smith, Delta Dental and Lochinvar. Recent case studies include an NFL fan campaign for Bridgestone and a Super Bowl effort for 3Spine.

4. Artists & Outlaws (formerly bohan)

Independent · Nashville · artistsandoutlaws.com

Bohan, a long-standing Nashville agency, now operates as Artists & Outlaws, still listing its studio at 2310 Kline Avenue. The agency covers strategy, branding and design, creative, digital and social, content and production, and media and data.

Media is a practical reason to look at it for an advertising brief: omnichannel media strategy, planning, buying, reporting and analytics are all handled in-house. Its work spans restaurants, healthcare, retail, and travel and entertainment. The agency has announced a new headquarters, so confirm the current address before a visit.

5. Whitehardt

Independent, founder-led · Midtown · whitehardt.com

Whitehardt is a Nashville agency that advertises for plaintiff law firms across the US. Kevin White and Felix Eckhardt founded it in Nashville in 2002, and since 2023 it has worked from the Moore Building in Midtown, with an in-house production studio.

The service mix is unusually complete for a specialist: broadcast, cable, CTV and out-of-home buying, YouTube and paid social, search, a 24/7 intake service and analytics dashboards. Firms it has worked with include Beasley Allen, Arnold & Itkin and Ken Nunn Law Office. It also publishes a monthly Hot Tort Report on mass tort advertising.

6. DASH TWO

Private · Downtown · dashtwo.com

DASH TWO is an out-of-home and media buying agency with a Nashville office on Commerce Street, alongside its Los Angeles operation. It is known for wild posting, and it also buys billboards, murals, transit, cinema, airport and programmatic digital out-of-home, plus TV, CTV, radio and print.

Much of its work is for music and culture. Testimonials come from RBC Records, 300 Entertainment and Frank Productions, and its brand roster includes Puma, ILIA Beauty, Afterpay and K18. It is a sensible first call for a tour, album or product launch that needs street-level presence.

7. iostudio

Service-disabled veteran-owned · Nashville · iostudio.com

iostudio is a marketing communications agency on 21st Avenue South that combines strategy, design, video production, digital builds and an engagement centre for recruiting and customer care. It holds service-disabled veteran-owned and women-owned small business certifications, and its Patty Dondeville sits on the AAF Nashville board.

Its core work is federal recruiting and public-sector advertising, with an integrated recruiting campaign for the U.S. Army National Guard as its lead case study. Other clients include the Navy, the Department of Defense, UPS, McKesson and HarperCollins. It has partnered with Yes& Federal under the SBA mentor-protégé programme.

8. Zehnder

Employee-owned · Nashville · wearez.com

Zehnder is an employee-owned agency with offices in Nashville, New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Rosemary Beach. It works across PR, media, video production and AI, and describes its staff as co-owners of the agency.

Its sectors are healthcare, travel and hospitality, food and beverage, financial services and energy. Case studies include brand work for a community bank that grew to 50 locations, shoulder-season tourism growth for Walton County, and a Super Bowl campaign built around a Louisiana fish fry.

9. Total Assault

Private · Nashville · totalassault.com

Total Assault is a music and entertainment marketing agency with offices in Nashville and Los Angeles. Its founders came out of the music business about 20 years ago, and the agency now runs paid social, video and search advertising alongside publicity, influencer programmes and content production.

Entertainment clients include Dolly Parton, George Strait and Brenda Lee, and brand clients include Delicato Family Wines and Positive Grid. It suits artists, labels and consumer brands that want advertising run by people who know how fans behave online.

What to look for in a Nashville advertising agency

Start with where your money goes. If most of the budget is media, ask who plans and buys it, whether that team is in-house, and how often you see spend and results. GS&F, Artists & Outlaws and Whitehardt all buy media themselves; others partner with outside buyers. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are getting.

Sector experience matters more in Nashville than in many cities. Healthcare advertising has its own compliance reviews and approval layers, state and university clients follow procurement rules, and music campaigns move on release dates that do not slip. An agency that already works in your sector will have a feel for those timelines.

Ask about production. Several agencies on this list run their own studios, which can keep broadcast and social spots quicker and cheaper to turn round. Check who owns the raw footage and project files once the campaign ends.

Finally, look at how review and delivery work day to day. A campaign can involve dozens of cut-downs, sizes and placements, each with its own approval. Agencies that keep the latest versions in one shared place, and track client feedback against each asset, spend less time chasing sign-off by email.

How Fabric helps advertising agency teams

Fabric gives an advertising team one workspace for campaign files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The agency setup suits shops running several accounts at once: one space per client, holding briefs, media plans, creative and call notes.

Broadcast spots and OOH artwork are heavy files. Fabric’s cloud drive streams them on demand, so they take no local disk space and editors can open large video files without a full download. Search works by meaning across documents, images and recordings, and audio and video transcription makes radio and TV spots searchable by what is said in them, with timestamps that jump to the right moment.

For client delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page and protected with a password. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and how long they spent with it, which helps with media proposals and pitch decks. Clients can leave threaded comments on any file through a shared link without creating an account. Reviewers can leave timestamped comments on video and draw on any video frame, and the review and approval set-up keeps feedback attached to each asset.

On Team plans, self-writing docs maintain a page for each client from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best advertising agency in Nashville?

It depends on the brief. On 2026 recognition, MP+F ranked second on the Nashville Business Journal’s list of the largest advertising agencies and won a Gold and five Silvers at the American Advertising Awards. GS&F is the obvious choice for an employee-owned agency with in-house media and production, and Lewis Communications launched a high-profile campaign for C Spire in September 2026.

Which Nashville agencies buy media in-house?

GS&F runs integrated media buying and planning, Artists & Outlaws handles omnichannel planning and buying in-house, and Whitehardt buys broadcast, CTV and out-of-home for its law firm clients. DASH TWO specialises in out-of-home and programmatic buying.

What happened to bohan?

Bohan now operates as Artists & Outlaws. Its site lists the studio at 2310 Kline Avenue, Nashville, and the agency has announced a new headquarters.

Which agencies handle music and entertainment advertising?

DASH TWO and Total Assault both work heavily with labels, promoters and artists, from wild posting and billboards to paid social. For broader brand and campaign work, see the best creative agencies in Nashville.

Who won Best of Show at the 2026 Nashville ADDYs?

Fire Kite won Overall Best of Show at AAF Nashville’s 2026 awards, and Evolve Studios received the Mosaic Award for diversity and inclusion.

Related lists

Advertising agencies in other cities: New York · London · Los Angeles · Chicago · Toronto

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