By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bernie Stevens

The 10 newcomers to this year's Cincinnati 100 list of private companies include something for everybody: new-economy companies, old-economy businesses and some familiar names.

The highest ranking newcomer at 37 is Empower MediaMarketing, a Columbia Tusculum-based provider of media planning and buying services.

Empower, which changed its name from Media That Works in 1999, survived the downturn in media and marketing triggered by the slumping economy.

"One of the things we've done the last couple years is make a concerted effort to attract new business by forming a 4-person team of senior executives to focus on new clients,'' Brian McHale, president, said.

It's paid off. In the past 18 months, the company, which has clients as far away as Portland, Ore., has added nine new accounts.

UP AND DOWN

Here are the 10 new companies on the list and their rank: • Empower MediaMarketing, 37th • Cohen Brothers Inc., 42nd • PowerNet Global Communications, 44th • TOPICZ, 51st • BlueStar Inc., 58th • Sheakley Group of Companies, 63rd • Klosterman Baking Co., 70th • Terry Lee Chevrolet, 80th • Galerie, 84th • LothMBI, 100th Here are the 10 companies on last year's list but not on this year's list: • Akers Packaging Co. • Cast-Fab Technologies • Cincinnati Belting and Transmission Co. • Cincinnati United Contractors • Humbert Markets • Kerry Auto Group • Landrum & Brown • Magnode Corp. • Riemeier Lumber Co. • Rough Brothers

"We've seen an upswing'' in business since the second half of last year, he said.

Empower focuses on clients with media spending under $100 million. Focusing on that niche, the company is able to give more attention than some bigger companies with a broader client list, McHale said.

Middletown-based Cohen Brothers Inc., a 79-year-old, family scrap-metal company, made the second highest debut at 42.

Scrap-metal prices have risen about 50 percent over the last year, but that doesn't explain Cohen Brothers' growth.

"The dynamics of this business are that as scrap prices increase, sales are higher, even though the same tonnage moves through the scrap yard,'' said President Ken Cohen, whose grandfather co-founded the company.

Cohen Brothers operates 11 facilities in four states and had revenue last year of almost $107 million.

Another newcomer that has prospered despite the weak economy is Fairfield's PowerNet Global Communications Inc., provider of voice, data and internet communications, which ranked 44th on this year's list.

The company, started in the basement of CEO Bernie Stevens' West Chester home in 1992, has been able to sell itself as a stable provider in the midst of the telecom industry meltdown.

PowerNet, which had sales last year of more than $106 million, employs 325 people, including about 240 in Fairfield.

One of the keys for survival in today's economy is the ability to adapt to market changes.

A prime example is BlueStar Inc., a Florence-based distributor of bar-code and point-of-sale equipment , which ranked 58th on the list.

The company, which sells its products through 6,000 distributors in North America and South America, traces its roots to United Radio Inc., a consumer electronics distributor that started selling radio parts from a downtown Cincinnati store in 1929.

The company got out of the consumer electronics market more than a decade ago as big-box retailers began buying electronics directly from manufacturers.

CEO Steve Cuntz, who bought the business with partner Jeff Jackson in 1992, said the company stumbled onto the market for computer peripheral equipment, which has become an industry of its own.

The slowing economy has only accelerated the market for bar-coding and point-of-sale equipment, Cuntz said.

"These products increase productivity and lower the cost of doing business,'' he said.

BlueStar's sales last year of $78 million are expected to hit $110 million this year, Cuntz said.

After several years absent from the Cincinnati 100, a couple of companies are back.

Klosterman Baking Co., the Bond Hill bun and bread baker which traces its roots back to Germany in the mid-19th century, ranked 70th. And LothMBI, the Sharonville office furniture supplier, just made the cut at 100.

Among the 10 companies on last year's list that didn't make it this year, most failed to make this year's sales cutoff of $38 million.

Kerry Auto Group, 13th last year, didn't respond this year.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com