BUNTIN Founder and Chairman Jeffrey Buntin Sr. Passes Away at 83

Though he retired as CEO in 2004, Jeffrey Buntin played an active role in BUNTIN until his final days, including working from the office in downtown Nashville’s Railyard District multiple days each week. He founded Buntin Advertising (now BUNTIN) in 1972 and was instrumental in the agency’s success, as well as the success of thousands of its clients. After receiving an original loan of $5,000, the agency now claims $230 million in capitalized billings and ranks among the top independent agencies nationally. 

 

Since his earliest days in advertising, Buntin personally impacted major client successes including  developing the formative strategies and creative work that defined some of Nashville’s most enduring  businesses including Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Dollar General Corporation, HCA, Tractor Supply  Company, Captain D’s and many more. He founded Buntin Out-of-Home Media in 1990 and was responsible for guiding the development of GeoTrak®, a revolutionary and worldclass out-of-home software platform, in 1999. Buntin dedicated 59  years to the advertising industry.  

“He loved our industry until the end and never found anything that inspired him more than the  opportunity to help a client, the power of a creative idea, or the environment of an agency to meet and  be with interesting, fun people,” remembers Jeffrey Buntin, Jr., CEO of BUNTIN. 

Jeffrey Buntin, Sr. was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for marketing innovation by the Outdoor  Advertising Association of America (OAAA) in 2023 and was inducted into the OAAA Hall of Fame. In 

addition to numerous Clio, Addy and Film Festival creative awards, he was named Outstanding  Southeastern Advertising Executive of the year by ADWEEK Magazine. He was a past president of the  Nashville Advertising Federation and received a Nashville Advertising Silver Medal honor for leadership  in the industry.  

In 2021, Belmont University announced the establishment of the Jeffrey Buntin, Sr. Award for Creative  Ventures, an award given to Belmont students who are starting an enterprise at the intersection of the creative arts and business.  

His professional work extended beyond advertising. Buntin was active in the television production industry. He was an original organizer and owner of Channel 17, WZTV, in Nashville that was later sold to  Fox Media. He also founded Hawkins Street Productions, which produced a series of top-rated shows including Path to Stardom and Home to the Ryman on TNN. He was a founding partner in TravelMasters,  Inc., a luxury travel agency eventually sold to American Express Travel. He also owned several Captain D’s  Seafood Restaurants in Texas and Kentucky.  

Buntin was active in community and arts organizations. He served as both President and Chairman of the  Board of The Tennessee Repertory Theater. There, he founded Standing Room Only (SRO), a support group for theatre in Nashville. He was elected to the Board of Governors of the Nashville Area Chamber  of Commerce in 1982 and served on the Board of Nashville Public Television. He also served on the  boards of Ensworth School and the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and he was a member of the  Downtown Rotary Club and Leadership Nashville.  

Through AdHope, the charitable arm of BUNTIN advertising agency, thousands of children, families, and  seniors in the Nashville area received donations and in-kind charitable giving totaling almost $5,000,000. 

He channelled his creative talents into short story writing. He attended the Sewanee’s Writers Conference  in 2008 and in 2010 published a collection of short stories entitled 'Christmas Miracles'. He wrote, designed, and privately published nine more books that capture the legacies of people and places he  loved. Every year at Christmas, he authored a story of historical fiction that he would read to the BUNTIN  agency and to his family on Christmas Eve.  

Chief among his many passions, works, and accolades was his family farm in Robertson County,  Tennessee, where he would proudly state his grandchildren were the 7th generation to live on the land.  

Buntin’s legacy lives on through his family, his friends, the advertising agency he founded more than 50  years ago, the ground-breaking work he made for his clients, and the industry he loved.