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A-List & Creativity Awards 2025

McKinney is a Standout on Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List

By Brandon Doerrer. Published on March 10, 2025.

L-R: Gretchen Walsh, president; Lyle Yetman, co-chief creative officer; Omid Amidi, co-chief creative officer; Joe Maglio, CEO; Michael McNamara, managing director and Jasmine Dadlani, chief strategy officer. Credit: McKinney

Last year wasn’t the gangbuster year that 2023 was for McKinney, but the midsize agency settled nicely into its new weight class.

North Carolina-based McKinney reported roughly 6% revenue growth to nearly $87 million last year as it won more than 10 new pieces of business. These included AOR relationships with Texas Pete and Citizen Watch, as well as projects for Autodesk and Avocados from Mexico—the last of which involved social media work for the brand’s AI Super Bowl activation with Rob Gronkowski.

McKinney worked on Avocados from Mexico’s Super Bowl AI activation. Credit: Avocados From Mexico

Social and influencer have been areas of growth for McKinney. Its more than 20-person social team runs the accounts of Little Caesars and Popeyes and in March 2024 helped launch a new Little Caesars menu item called Crazy Puffs with an in-person influencer-led festival. It also broadcast the first 24-hour TikTok Live with fashion designer Christian Siriano for laundry detergent brand Persil, which increased its follower count by 560% and drove a 10% lift in brand consideration.

McKinney also took its business international for the first time by opening a Toronto office, its sixth, to support its expanded remit with Popeyes. The restaurant chain named McKinney its creative AOR in Canada after initially hiring it in the U.S. in April 2023.

With a total headcount of 310, McKinney maintains a relatively diverse agency. Almost 30% of its executives are people of color, though that figure drops to roughly 23% agency-wide. Last year, 35% of the agency identified as people of color.

McKinney hasn’t slacked on innovation, either. Last year, it launched BrandAI, a tool that measures a brand’s market attention compared to its competitors.

See all of Ad Age's 2025 Agency A-List winners here.