Our Story

Subcat was formed in 2003 by the creative team of James Flores and Jeff Honaker. The two met in 1990, while working at a credit union in Southern California. James was completing a marketing internship, while Jeff was working part-time and attending art school. A mutual admiration of bad ’80s music and Apple computers sealed the friendship and a creative empire was launched—well, almost.

For more than 13 years the two worked together, cutting their teeth in the world of marketing. Auto loan campaigns. Visa promotions. Membership drives. Newsletters. You name it and they did it.

It wasn’t until 1996 when they developed their first youth marketing campaign that things got interesting. Was it the endless strains of LL Cool J in the background? Maybe it was Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” thumping through computer speakers. Who knows. All we know for sure is that from the moment they began researching the youth market in ’96, a seed was planted that sprouted into a lifelong passion for generational marketing, pop culture, education and helping companies reach those “hard-to-reach” consumers.

Soon, their youth programs were in use in credit unions across the country. For Jeff and James, there was only one thing left to do—start their own agency.

Subcat was born out of a simple desire to help clients reach young consumers. Since then, our research and immersion in youth + family culture helped Subcat evolve into something entirely unique—a youth-focused marketing agency with the insight, experience and resources to respond to today’s consumer-empowered marketing environment.

Simply put, Subcat is more than a youth marketing agency. Today we help clients connect to multiple consumer segments through a variety of marketing and media channels.

And that’s our history.

Yes, marketing has changed since 1996, and we’ve seen a lot of fads come and go, but one thing remains the same … James and Jeff still like bad ’80s music.