In 1988 there were no independent media services in South Carolina. Before that time, media was placed by media departments within ad agencies, which was the case for Impressions’ founder, Suzanne Thaler. Suzanne began as a broadcast buyer for Henderson Advertising in Greenville, South Carolina, and quickly grew into planning as well. A few years later Suzanne joined Leslie Advertising, also in Greenville, as Media Supervisor, introducing them to the latest media management technology - computers - establishing true accountability in media buying for the first time.

Not being one to resist a challenge, Suzanne’s entrepreneurial spirit took over. In 1988 she founded Impressions Media Services, Inc. with one account, Piggly Wiggly’s 100 grocery store chain across Georgia with a budget of $1,000,000. The largest incremental growth for IMS came in 1991 when it was selected by Apple South as Media Agency of Record (see case study, Apple South). The following years brought accounts to categories including health care, financial, human resources, professional modeling, political, automotive, retail, B to B, and the list goes on.