Two Good Agencies.
Different in the Right Ways.
EP+Co — formerly Erwin Penland — is a full-service advertising agency based in Greenville, founded in 1986. They are part of Hill Holliday and the Interpublic Group (IPG), with clients including John Deere, Michelin, and Bojangles. The agency rebranded from Erwin Penland to EP+Co in 2015.
This comparison exists to help you decide. We'll tell you what they do well, where we differ, and which option is likely the better fit for your situation. We'd rather you make the right choice — even if that's not us.
What They Offer
Large agency, national clients, IPG network
EP+Co is a 200+ person agency with national clients and a connection to IPG's global network through Hill Holliday. They offer traditional advertising, national media buying, digital, social, experiential, and PR. Their infrastructure is sized for the clients they serve — national brands with large budgets.
Greenville headquarters since 1986
EP+Co has operated out of Greenville since it was founded as Erwin Penland. For businesses specifically seeking Greenville-based agency credentials, that history is factually there.
Where Sidestreet Is Different
Built for small and mid-size businesses — not national accounts
EP+Co serves brands at the scale of Michelin and John Deere. Their pricing, process, and infrastructure are calibrated to clients with substantial marketing budgets and national communications needs. Sidestreet is built specifically for small and mid-size businesses — regional professional services firms, healthcare practices, faith communities, growing brands in the $1M–$50M revenue range — that deserve senior-level marketing and communications attention at a budget that makes sense for their scale. If EP+Co is the right strategic fit but the wrong price point, Sidestreet is the conversation to have.
Broadcast-trained production — in-house at every budget level
Both Sidestreet and EP+Co produce video. The difference is accessibility: EP+Co's production capability is part of a large-agency engagement structure. Sidestreet's broadcast-trained production — coming from an NBC News and ESPN background — is available to regional businesses at production budgets that make sense for their size. Local Spartanburg businesses don't need a 200-person agency to produce a brand film. They need a broadcast-quality crew that understands their market and their budget.
Direct senior access on every account
At an agency of EP+Co's scale, account management means layers — account executives, account supervisors, creative directors, strategy teams. The people pitching your account are typically not the people running it day-to-day. At Sidestreet, Joshua Kuhn has senior involvement on every client engagement from kickoff through delivery. If you want to talk to the person making your creative decisions, you call one number.
Church media and faith community specialization
EP+Co serves mainstream commercial and enterprise brands. Sidestreet operates a dedicated church media practice — live streaming infrastructure, worship technology, production for faith communities, and communications support for churches navigating sensitive situations. For Upstate SC churches and faith organizations that need a genuine ministry-sector partner, Sidestreet is built for that work.
How to Decide
EP+Co (formerly Erwin Penland) is probably the right choice if: you're a large brand with a national advertising budget that requires national media buying and a full IPG network agency.
Sidestreet is probably the right choice if: you're a small or mid-size Upstate SC or Southeast business that wants senior-level creative and communications work without enterprise overhead, needs production alongside marketing, or is a faith community looking for a purpose-built agency partner.
If you're genuinely unsure, talk to both of us before committing. Any agency worth working with will give you a straight answer about whether they're the right fit — and so will we.