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2024 Small Agency Awards

Flower Shop is Small Agency Newcomer of the Year, Silver

By Brian Bonilla. Published on July 24, 2024.

Tom Brady's Montreal Expos baseball trading card from Flower Shop's campaign for Fanatics. Credit: Fanatics Collectibles

When Flower Shop Co-Founders Al Merry and Mary Lou Bunn opened their agency in a former plant shop on New York’s Lower East Side last year, it wasn’t all roses at first.

For one thing, the agency had to get a new security system after being broken into twice. For another, they had to use a crowbar to access a walled-off bathroom.

Since then, business has blossomed. In its first year, Flower Shop garnered more than $1.3 million in revenue and it projects $2.8 million this year. Its client list includes brands such as Beam Suntory, Chase’s master brand and Sapphire card, Martingale Cognac, Fanatics, Peacock and the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

Even before the agency officially launched, Merry, who is chief creative officer, and Bunn, the CEO, teamed up to help name and create Almave, a nonalcoholic tequila company from Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton. The agency later launched a campaign for the brand that led to the first batch of drinks selling out in two weeks, and a second batch two weeks after that.

After it acquired trading card company Topps, Fanatics tasked Flower Shop with launching a campaign to promote the release of Fanatics’ Bowman Draft baseball card set. The set was special because it included the first official baseball card for Tom Brady, who briefly played baseball for the Montreal Expos before becoming one of the greatest football players in history.

Flower Shop leaned into this truth and created an ad that explored an alternate universe in which the retired NFL star pursued baseball instead of football. In the end, it is revealed to all be a dream.

The campaign resulted in 1.9 billion press impressions and 11 million views of the hero film. In response to the campaign, Eli Manning joined in with a humorous response and Cooperstown temporarily awarded Brady a plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Elsewhere in the sports world, Flower Shop was tapped by the city of Boston to help create the brand identity and positioning for its new National Women’s Soccer League franchise that will launch in 2026.

“Flower Shop is amongst a new generation of agencies, all vying for attention and claiming differentiation,” the agency wrote in its submission. “But over here at the shop, we are focused on the work, and everything else will take care of itself.”

See all of Ad Age's 2024 Small Agency award Winners here.