VaynerMedia still subscribes to its founding principle that modern brands are built on social platforms. But the reality is that the agency’s business increasingly comes from much more than social—including from a growing body of Super Bowl ads, a rapidly developing connected TV buying business and a general agency of record assignment for PepsiCo.
Special Report: Agency A-List & Creativity Awards
VaynerMedia, founded on social, grows fast with CTV and broader creative
The agency is a Standout on Ad Age’s 2023 Agency A-List
VaynerMedia was founded on buiding brands through social media, but the team has done a growing number of Super Bowl ads and buys a growing amount of CTV for clients.
Credit:
Vaynermedia
All that continues to fuel strong growth, with agency revenue up 24% to $235 million last year. Outpacing that growth was the media department, with revenue up 35%, almost all from work with biddable inventory including CTV.
VaynerMedia now sees streaming as its second-fastest-growing channel after TikTok—and frequently the two overlap. After a TikTok went viral for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital last year, the media team quickly deployed it across CTV, adding a QR code to collect mobile donations.
Today, VaynerMedia is very much like a full-service shop of old, with business roughly equal between creative and media, plus a burgeoning consulting business, said CEO Gary Vaynerchuk.
The breadth of the business can be seen in new account wins, including social agency-of-record duties for Procter & Gamble Co.’s Gillette and Venus; creative and media planning for Casper; social AOR plus creative and media assignments for Ford; and social creative and media for Wingstop. More than half the agency’s 19 new business wins last year combined a creative and media assignment.
Buy your ticket for the Ad Age A-List & Creativity Awards Gala here.
“As people become more educated, they realize that what we call modern communications planning and the creative required to win in this next chapter of television has a lot of its DNA grounded in social media,” Vaynerchuk said. And he believes VaynerMedia is seen as a leader in both places.
“I think we’ve gotten out of the phase of ‘Is this a disruptive agency,’ or even ‘Is this agency even for real?’” Vaynerchuk said. “Social media is for real, too. I think we’re heading into a golden age where people are realizing we’re very real creatively.”
That includes creating 11 Super Bowl ads over the past five years. While that might seem rooted in the most old-school format of all, Vaynerchuk sees it as one of the best buys in TV largely because of its associated social media impact.
