Brkthru

09/24/2025

Smart growth starts with smart conversations. Upselling or cross-selling just to close a deal? That's bad business.

This Forbes article highlights JeffHastedt, our Co- Founder/Managing Director, and his philosophy around the art of upselling: it should always be a solution to an emerging need. And it's always about understanding what is going to meet your customer's needs in the most efficient way possible.

Read the article here:

Upselling explained with tips and examples for 2025.

08/15/2025

“One thing that’s been pivotal to Brkthru’s success is our commitment to staying true to who we are, belief in our mission and go-to-market strategy and treating our clients with humanity, empathy and a service-first approach.”

In a recent interview with Authority Magazine, our Managing Director and Co-Founder Andrew Sklerov details the lessons he learned while growing our company, and how these experiences helped form the company’s business approach.

Learn how Brkthru became the company it is today and read Andrew’s advice for founders in the full Q&A:

https://medium.com/authority-magazine/fresh-founders-andrew-sklerov-of-brkthru-on-the-unique-challenges-of-building-a-business-from-a1628430fd24

An interview with Dr. Bharat Sangani

08/05/2025

🌍 50 People. 6 Weeks. 12.6 Million Steps. 🌍

by Illanes, HR Generalist

The Brkthru team just wrapped up a six-week "Around the World" Walking Challenge, and the results were nothing short of incredible. With 50 participants stepping up for a virtual trip across the globe, we walked, jogged, paced, and powered through—together.

📊 Challenge Totals:
👣 12,669,231 total steps & activities
🛣️ 6,334.62 total miles walked
(That’s like walking coast-to-coast across the U.S. and back!)

🏆 Top 5 Final Steppers:
🥇 Jaime Grzybowski – 797,616 steps
🥈 Hanna Obaidy – 726,762 steps
🥉 Allison Kordys – 697,434 steps
🏅 Cherylyn Ebertz – 657,054 steps
🎖 Bailey Blair – 641,508 steps

🎁 Top Prize Raffle Winners:
Allison Kordys • Jaime Grzybowski • Gauvreau • Collins • Finn

This wasn’t just about the steps—it was about connection, motivation, and building healthy habits while cheering each other on from across the map. 🚶‍♀️🌐🚶‍♂️

Here’s to momentum, movement, and meaningful wellness experiences. On to the next adventure!

08/04/2025

Brkthru observed National Intern Day with a virtual mini-Brkthru U session introducing our two Summer 2025 interns to our core values, mission, and what sets Brkthru apart from the competition.

Marketing Intern Owen Barr and IT Intern Nathan Avants joined Senior Learning Development Specialist Eric Mossack and Learning and Development Specialist Emily O’Connor for the special BTU session.

“So far, working at Brkthru has been a great experience,” said Nate, currently pursuing a degree in Enterprise Technology Integration at the College of IST at Penn State University. “Although Brkthru is my first leap into professional work, I already feel like I’ve been spoiled for future companies. I’ll carry much of what I’ve learned with me moving forward, both on the software and culture side of things.”

“Working at Brkthru has exceeded my expectations," said Owen, a senior at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. “Despite working remotely, I immediately felt included in the team environment and people from every department wanted to get to know me. As a graphic design intern, I have learned a lot about the design process for clients as well as Brkthru marketing. I’ve gotten the opportunity to apply my design skills while learning how the digital advertising world works.”

Thank you, Nate and Owen, – we’re happy to have you at Brkthru!

07/07/2025

50 states. 1 relentless co-founder. Infinite client dedication.

This week, our co-founder Jeff Hastedt officially set foot in his 50th state - Alaska. 🫎🌲✈️

From big cities to the most remote corners of the U.S., Jeff believes there’s no substitute for showing up in person. Listening. Learning. Shaking hands. That mindset is woven into Brkthru’s DNA - and it’s one of the reasons our partners trust us to show up and go the extra mile (or a few thousand).

At Brkthru, we’re proud to be a team that doesn’t just talk about relationships - we invest in them.

Joining Jeff in Alaska were Brkthru's National Director of Client Success Dustin Moody and National Account Executive/Strategic Partnerships Sean Scanlon.

Congrats, Jeff, on this epic milestone! And thank you for leading by example every single mile of the way.

06/20/2025

The Media Team at Brkthru wrapped their fourth annual department offsite, and their second at our Detroit Training Center. This group of 45 media wizards - leaders, media traders, ad ops and SEM specialists - spent their time together refining their craft, learning about new and emerging tools and participating in presentations with partners from The Trade Desk and The Walt Disney Company.

"While the content is valuable, it is second to the team and relationship building that comes out of these in-person meetings," said Tom Leone Vice President of Media Services at Brkthru. "My favorite part of being a remote company is getting together in person to share meals, stories, laughs and a Detroit Tigers game."

This is how we do it at Brkthru!

06/13/2025

8 More BTU Caps in the Air!

The most-recent graduates of Brkthru U completed our week-long onboarding and training becoming the thirteenth class since launching the program in December 2022.

This group of new Brkthru employees chose the name 13TU (a clever mash up of the numbers 1 and 3 to resemble a B). Dave Asch, Kelsey Martinolich Jackie Lixie, Kyle Jackson, Daniel Whiteside, Connie Cox, Shannon Finn and Victoria Navarro - graduated with honors from our innovative, weeklong immersive training program we call Brkthru U.

Facilitated this semester by Eric Mossack, Emily O’Connor and Jennifer Brinn, the class covers our commitment to service, Core Values and brand pillars, how we work and processes, strategic approach to digital media, department overviews, our clients and key verticals, and The Brkthru Way.

Brkthru U classes are held at our Detroit Training Center in Southfield, MI, a 7,000 square-foot facility that includes two training rooms, modular open space and offices, and state-of-the art audio-visual technology.

If you’re a digital media pro who might be curious about a company that invests time and resources to onboarding and training all employees, swing on over to our careers page to check out the open positions.

06/12/2025

Members of the Brkthru regional hub in Detroit hosted the June 2025 class of Brkthru U to a welcome dinner of Detroit pizza and brews at famous Como's in Ferndale, MI.

Brkthru U is the weeklong training class where new employees are immersed in the Brkthru Way.

From all of us in the Motor City and across Brkthru, we're glad you're here and part of this fantastic team that continues to break new ground in digital media and keep our clients happy!

06/10/2025

As we wrap up celebrating the anniversary of Brkthru, we thank the many Brkthru employees who volunteered throughout the month as part of our 31 Days of Service program.

This year, 91 Brkthru employees, working with their regional hubs, as teams or individually, dedicated nearly 800 hours of community service for 24 non-profit organizations.

This is our fourth year of 31 Days of Service, where Brkthru encourages and supports employees across the country with time off as a way we recognize our anniversary month and our commitment to service.

“Co-founder Andrew Sklerov and I are extremely proud of how Brkthru employees came out in force this year for this important initiative,” said Co-Founder and Managing Director Jeff Hastedt. “It’s another way we define service at Brkthru – to our clients, each other and the communities in which we live.”

In 2025, Brkthru team members:
- Planted trees and cleaned community parks
- Picked and packed meals for food pantries
- Cared for animals at humane and animal shelters (even at a fox sanctuary)
- Tended gardens and harvested produce for those in need
- Organized and stocked essentials for children’s charities
- Raised funds by running in a 5k

Caring and Contribution are just two of the Core Values at Brkthru, and along with Positive Attitude, Communication and Trust.

06/09/2025

Members of the Brkthru team in Philadelphia volunteered with the Friends of Wissahickon in support of Brkthru’s 31 Days of Service project.

Chief Technology Officer Tim Breslin and Account Director-Media Brendan Hoffman helped with trail maintenance, cleared weeds and leaves from around newly planted trees (so they don’t have to compete for water and nutrients), and picked up trash along the way.The Friends of Wissahickon, cares for the 2,000-acre park in Northwest Philadelphia.

“It was a hot day, but that didn’t stop us from proudly representing our Philly hub and making a difference in our local community!” according to Hoffman.

Thank you Tim and Brendan for your service!

06/09/2025

The Brkthru Orlando Hub of Sofia Callejas, Yineth Balanos Rodriguez and Xiomara Montalvo participated in a rainy 5k where the registration fees and donations went to a local food bank. Their efforts were in support of Brkthru’s 31 Days of Service program, where we support all employee community service contributions as a way we celebrate our anniversary month.

In total, these three helped the 5k raise 110,308 meals for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida!

06/06/2025

In support of Brkthru's 31 Days of Service community service program, Director of Client Success Julie Cameron completed her volunteer project at Feed My Starving Children in Eagan, MN.

This incredible organization packs and ships meals to underdeveloped countries where communities are heavily impacted by diseases such as pneumonia, malaria, and undernutrition.

Julie spent an evening working alongside other dedicated volunteers to prepare meals, while learning more about the mission and global impact of the organization. She shared that it was a rewarding experience — and she’s already looking forward to participating again next year!