Giant Spoon’s Marc Simons on keeping ‘strategy and ideas’ as the agency’s North Star

Marc Simons, 38, co-founded Giant Spoon in 2013 as an agency built on “strategy and ideas”—still the agency’s North Star, according to Simons. Known for its think-outside-the-box activations, Giant Spoon hit a speed bump during the pandemic when it had to pause its experiential offerings, which made up 15% of its business. In response, Simons said, the agency doubled down on the other parts of its business and invested in building out a social media practice. See all 40 Under 40 honorees here Last year Giant Spoon launched campaigns for companies including Cameo, Yelp, Activision and GT’s Kombucha. The agency also kicked off Kate Spade’s TikTok presence and expanded its strategy agency-of-record relationship with NBCU to include its cable business. And Giant Spoon's experiential practice is now back in full swing, with notable projects including a “Stranger Things” animation playing on the Empire State Building, a drone light show at SXSW to promote Paramount+’s “Halo” series and Reddit’s “Explorer’s Club” activation at Cannes. “There’s a ‘the only constant is change’ mentality” at Giant Spoon, Simons said. “That’s always going to be the thing we need to make sure we’re prepared.” If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would it be and why? My great grandfather. He came over on a boat and went through Ellis Island. I was old enough when he passed away that I remember him—and I remember him teaching me how to play cards and things like that, but I wasn’t really old enough to really talk about his life and his experience. So I feel like if now I could have that conversation with him, that’d be pretty special. What are the top two social media sites you use on a regular basis? Reddit is No. 1. I learn so much—there’s so much there. And then TikTok. It’s probably a product of being a new dad. My TikTok feed is mostly dad hacks and new baby things. What’s currently on your bedside reading list? A bunch of new-dad books. And there’s a book that’s been on my bedside probably for years. Every couple of months I’ll crack it open and try to get through another chapter of it. But I enjoy reading it. It’s called “American Colossus,” by H.W. Brands. What was the last show you binge-watched? “Indian Matchmaking.” At what age do you hope to retire? I don’t know that I’ll ever actually fully retire by definition. Like, not work, that’s it, it’s over, I’m on a beach somewhere. I don’t think I can do that. I don’t think I’d want to do that, either. There are a lot of side projects that I’ve got going on besides Giant Spoon. I like figuring out how other businesses tick and operate. While Giant Spoon is definitely 24/7—it’s most of my time for sure—I think things might evolve for me where at some point I reach that point in my life where I want to focus more on these other things. I don’t know what age that will be. Right now I’m enjoying what we’re doing with Giant Spoon. See all 40 Under 40 honorees here

Giant Spoon’s Marc Simons on keeping ‘strategy and ideas’ as the agency’s North Star

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