This is not your typical  agency.

Carl Collective is a full-service firm with a secret weapon – Marquette students, for whom we offer an opportunity to work in a professional agency setting on real client work, while being mentored by professionals in the industry. Think of it like an academic medical center, but for communications students. And it’s never been done before.

By providing students exposure to real-world business problems and solutions, and an opportunity to be part of developing and executing the strategies and tactics to solve those business problems for clients, Marquette students receive unmatched real-world experience. And our clients get top-notch work from the best and the brightest at one of the top Jesuit universities in the country – including insights only 20-somethings can provide.

The idea for the agency was hatched through a series of conversations between Marquette Diederich College of Communication Dean Sarah Feldner, Provost Kimo Ah Yun and Angelo Trozzolo, a 1997 graduate of Marquette and CEO of Trozzolo Communications Group. After hearing Dean Feldner and Provost Ah Yun express a desire to launch a student-involved agency but to do it differently than other colleges and universities, the idea of Trozzolo opening a Milwaukee office in partnership with Marquette was born.

Founded in 1989,  based in Kansas City, Missouri, and now in its second generation of family leadership, Trozzolo is recognized as one of the top independent communications firms in the Midwest. It offers a full suite of services, from advertising and public relations to branding, digital, media and video services. In addition to its core business focusing on Midwest-based organizations, Trozzolo also has two subsidiary marketing companies: Prairie Dog works with hospitals and health systems from coast to coast, and Proventus Consulting works with law firms nationwide.

Our namesake is Carl Schrank, a longtime professor and student adviser at Marquette who passed away in 2019. Schrank earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Marquette. He served in the U.S. Navy, and worked for Motorola in Chicago and Wisconsin Bell before joining the Marquette faculty. He was a member of the Public Relations Society of America College of Fellows, served as president of the Milwaukee Advertising Club, was national president of the Marquette Alumni Association, and was active in many other professional and civic organizations.

Schrank was our CEO, Angelo Trozzolo’s, adviser and mentor at Marquette. He was famous for keeping in touch with his former students, offering career advice and guidance, and ensuring they were up to speed on all the latest at their alma mater. Naming the agency after Carl ensures his important legacy lives on at the university and in Milwaukee.