The Martin Agency last year found itself once again at the center of one of the industry’s hottest debates.

This one involved Martin’s buzzy campaign for Solo Stove starring Snoop Dogg in which the rapper claimed he was giving up smoke. The effort significantly boosted brand awareness for a previously little-known brand, but Solo Stove’s President-CEO John Merris subsequently resigned following a company report that the push “did not lead to the sales lift we had planned.”

What ensued was a heated industry debate on the role of advertising that drew opinions from marketing heavyweights including former Burger King Chief Marketing Officer Fernando Machado.

Notably, the campaign caused cannabis stocks to drop more than 4%; trended No. 1 on X (formerly Twitter) twice, for Snoop’s original announcement and then again after the brand’s big reveal; gave Solo Stove’s stock price a 40% boost the month it went live; and generated total value across organic social and earned media of $43.5 million.

The various headlines and debates were “just an indication that the thing worked,” said Martin Agency CEO Danny Robinson. “It worked for the client. It worked.”

Whatever side you landed on in the great Solo Stove debate, the back-and-forth really spoke to just how much the industry feels creativity is under attack in a year mired in layoffs, budget cuts and mergers that saw the dismantling of storied agency brands.

“The brief was to make Solo into a household name, which I think we can agree that it now is. Their unique selling proposition, smokeless, is now on the tip of people’s tongues,” said The Martin Agency Chief Brand Officer Elizabeth Paul. “The industry’s reaction to it is a very different thing.”

Paul said it enveloped “all of our existential angst around—do we feel like people value creativity?”

The answer for Martin is a resounding yes. Former CEO Kristen Cavallo (now MullenLowe global CEO) has leapt to creativity’s defense before—in 2022 she responded to a series of tweets from Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who seemed to take credit for the brand’s QR-based Super Bowl ad that year that the agency was behind.

The Solo Stove campaign might ultimately be the clearest example of what The Martin Agency continued to do best for its clients in 2023: “Fight invisibility,” as goes its agency mantra.

It did so while doubling down on creativity while much of the industry scaled back. That became a competitive advantage for the Interpublic Group of Cos. shop as it ended 2023 with several major new business wins including Papa Johns, Google Chrome, Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey, Miracle-Gro and Solo Stove. It also won Sanofi across all of its 10 brands such as Icy Hot, Gold Bond and Aspercreme, and added more scope from Anheuser-Busch InBev including some of the brewer’s flagship Bud Light work. 

The Martin Agency said it generated 20% revenue growth from new business last year despite losing two big accounts: Santander Bank and Buffalo Wild Wings. That came off of a 30% revenue increase in 2022.

The growth comes despite a tough year that started off slow in terms of new business, and as marketers continued to press for proof of performance. Martin’s Chief Revenue Officer Tasha Dean said procurement departments increasingly got involved in marketing decisions to find cost cuts and Martin had to be very strategic in delivering client deals that clearly outlined the “risk and rewards” of each investment.

Investing in itself and creativity

Before The Martin Agency can grow brands on behalf of its clients, it firmly believes it has to nurture its own, Robinson said.

That’s one reason why the agency appointed Paul, former chief strategy officer, to its first chief brand officer in 2023 with the mission to refine how The Martin Agency is showing up in the market. Her role is to lead business development, brand communications and work with the talent and culture team, among other duties.

Robinson said for The Martin Agency to not invest in creativity and branding would be akin to Nike saying “We’re going to give up shoes. It doesn’t make any sense; it’s the business we’re in.”

Cavallo said in an earlier interview that her decision at the start of this year to appoint Robinson, former chief creative officer, her successor as CEO was a way to double down on creativity. Robinson served as chief client officer for the agency from 2018 to 2020.

In another example of creative investment, the agency opened an entertainment unit to help ensure its clients show up in a world where 84% of ads are not seen, Paul said. “I am not aware of a marketer in the world who has a big enough budget that they can afford 84% of the things they make not being seen,” she said. 

Led by Executive VP of Entertainment Alanna Strauss, former head of creative for brand partnerships at Netflix, the unit within weeks of being formed last year inked a deal for client Geico to launch Adam Sandler’s Netflix movie “Leo,” with the iconic gecko brand mascot co-starring in ads with the animated Leo.

“The more agencies that do away with creativity and merge into blobs of [agency] brands that don’t mean anything, the better for us,” said Jerry Hoak, who replaced Robinson as chief creative officer this year. “The more scarce [creativity] gets, the more in demand I think we’re going to be.”

“In a world increasingly shaped by digital currents, the true art lies not in abandoning the old, but in harmoniously blending it with the new. This philosophy guided our choice to partner with The Martin Agency,” said Claudine Patel, chief marketing officer, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare, North America. “Our collaboration is rooted in the belief that the future of advertising doesn’t discard the past but reimagines it, weaving digital strategies with traditional mediums to create a tapestry of marketing brilliance.”

The agency has been praised for its ability to tap into culture, giving it an edge in the market as well.

For example, when hip-hop duo Flyana Boss posted a viral TikTok video about DoorDash bikes, the agency quickly hopped on it. The result was DoorDash and Flyana Boss launching an official music video for the duo’s song “You Wish.” The campaign generated more than 64 million impressions and 10 million video streams, plus a response from hip-hop legend Missy Elliott.

Its tie to culture is also part of why Papa Johns picked Martin as its creative agency of record last December.

“Martin Agency delivered above and beyond with their commitment to modernize brands with breakthrough strategy and creative and a proven excellence for reasserting brands in culture,” said Papa Johns Chief Marketing Officer Mark Shambura.

Shambura said Martin has already been “an agile business partner” and the companies are gearing up for a new campaign launch in the second quarter of 2024. “Our aspiration with Martin is to turn heads, provoke conversation, push boundaries and find more meaningful ways to connect with our fans,” he said.

Internal progress

The agency continued to forge forward in progressing its internal culture, as well.

Martin appointed Katie White as its first sustainability director, tasked with creating a sustainability strategy and finding new business and revenue opportunities to help brands navigate the changing climate.

It has also remained steadfast in its commitment to diversity—the agency’s executive team is 33.3% non-white and 54% female.

Last year, Martin surpassed its goal for its 50/50 initiative, aimed at getting at least 50% diverse talent on productions, achieving 68% underrepresented talent by the end of the first quarter of 2023 and 93% diversity among editors and directors, spanning gender, race, ethnicity, ability and LGBTQI+ identifying.

The agency also notably achieved an 80.5% retention rate from 2022 to 2023 of employees identifying as Black, Indigenous and people of color.

Martin established several key programs to retain diverse staff including kicking off a new “CAKE Talent Development Initiative,” which will offer allocated time, mentorship, skill development and collaborations with educational institutions to make sure employees, especially people of color, are properly developed to take the next steps in their careers.

“People have been talking about DE&I fatigue,” Robinson said. “I know a lot of people who look like me feared that would happen at some point … I’ve never heard anyone talk about revenue fatigue. I’ve never heard anyone talk about getting tired of something they care about. Nobody is tired of talking about making money. The DE&I fatigue is happening at companies that obviously don’t find diversity and inclusion important enough. We will always put that at the center because our culture is so important to us.”

Looking forward, in a year that is going to continue to be challenging, Robinson said Martin will do what it did in 2023: “Fight for our agency and fight for the industry.”