Ben Cochran

In 2014, Benjamin T. Cochran, a multifaceted entrepreneur, embarked on a new venture and established OEPMA. This initiative was born out of a need to create a dedicated in-house marketing and media buying agency for his civil litigation and injury law firm, which has been instrumental in championing the rights of clients across North Carolina.

Apart from his legal practice, Cochran also oversees a commercial real estate company and manages a horse-breeding farm located in Wake Forest, NC. Juggling these diverse enterprises, he has gleaned a deep understanding of the pivotal role marketing and advertising play in propelling a business forward.

Over the years, as Cochran engaged with various agencies to support his diverse business interests, he identified a gap in the market. He observed that many agencies employed a “one-size-fits-all” approach, which often failed to address the unique needs and challenges of his businesses. Inspired by these experiences, Cochran decided to step into the advertising arena himself, with a vision to establish an agency that could effectively tackle the specific problems he had encountered in his day-to-day operations.

Cochran explains, “When agencies sought my business, they often came armed with a standardized, cookie-cutter system. Their pitch usually ran along the lines of, ‘Well, this worked in this city, so it should work for you too.’ While I am not inherently against systems, it frequently felt as if they were forcing their predefined system upon us. That was the key motivator behind the inception of OEPMA.”

Drawing upon his extensive experience as an attorney serving diverse clients across North Carolina, Cochran emphasizes the importance of recognizing regional nuances. “I’ve dealt with legal situations for people from all corners of North Carolina, and I can attest that there are significant differences between individuals living just 50 miles apart. Different cultures. Different mindsets. When it comes to marketing and advertising, we appreciate the necessity of systems for distribution. However, where many agencies fell short was in their cookie-cutter approach to creativity. It didn’t make sense and rarely yielded results when we occasionally tried it,” Cochran added.

In 2018, when OEPMA transitioned from an in-house agency to a public-facing entity, its mission was clear-cut: to bolster their clients’ bottom line. “Understanding our clients’ needs is crucial,” Cochran asserted. “We’re committed to diligently researching and delivering what our clients need, rather than continuously piling on additional services that only serve to boost our own bottom line. Of course, we’re a business, and our objective is to make a profit, but it will never come at the expense of a client’s financial success.”

Cochran’s academic journey saw him earn his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, followed by his Juris Doctor from the esteemed Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law at Campbell University. These institutions provided him with the solid academic grounding that has been instrumental in his multifaceted professional journey.