Gale builds loyalty and takes classic brands to new dimensions

Gale is leading brands to a new era in marketing, introducing clients to Gen Z through emerging platforms, including social media, gaming worlds and bespoke digital properties. The Stagwell-owned agency is known for blending its expertise in customer relationship management with highly creative campaigns for brands in search of transformation, such as Hard Rock, H&R Block and dairy organization MilkPEP. The agency projected $166.5 million in revenue in 2024, up from $145 million in 2023. Last year, the agency worked with Hard Rock to tell a different story about the classic brand, which is best known for its nostalgic eateries but also owns an array of venues, casinos and hotels. Gale’s “Come Together” campaign for Hard Rock helped the company develop its first loyalty program called Unity. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here “We had to maintain all the things people genuinely love about Hard Rock while creating new, loyal fans,” said Andrew Noel, Gale’s former managing partner who was recently promoted to global CEO after the retirement of Gale’s founding CEO Brad Simms. “It was also a pretty complex challenge to tackle because there were so many disparate technology setups across the hundreds of locations and 75 countries that needed to be unified under one consistent program.” Gale worked with singer and TikTok star Noah Kahan, Shakira, John Legend and soccer legend Lionel Messi to promote Unity. The ads appeared on social media and TV, including during the NBA and NHL playoffs. After the marketing effort, Unity sign-ups jumped 30%, according to Gale. For MilkPEP, Gale brought the dairy group into Fortnite with The Milk Cup tournament to support women in esports, and sports in general. The work “centered around bringing dairy milk back to a place of cultural relevance, and connecting with women is key,” said Sophia Zhang, Gale’s former managing partner who was recently promoted to North America CEO. The MilkPEP-branded event was promoted through a partnership with popular Twitch star ThePeachCobbler. The effort included a humorous video campaign starring MilkPEP CEO Yin Woon Rani, an executive who was self-admittedly not the typical gamer. The Milk Cup was the most viewed women’s esports tourney ever in North America, according to Gale. It recorded 5 million-plus viewers across the tournament, and the campaign generated 7.4 million impressions, according to Gale. The Milk Cup was an example of “putting the audience before the brand itself to create moments that audiences will actually want to be a part of,” Zhang said. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here Gale’s clients are varied, but many of its brands share common goals—some are decades-old classic marketers tapping into new technology to appeal to new consumers. Hard Rock was founded in 1971 and MilkPEP was formed in 1990. Gale attributed most of its growth last year to the parts of its business that cater to media, data, customer relationship platforms and loyalty programs. “Loyalty, to Gale, has never been about building something transactional,” Noel said. “It’s about reimagining customer experiences and service with loyalty at the core.” Buchanan’s, the Diageo-owned whisky brand founded in 1879, tapped Gale to market to a new generation in Latin America. The digital, social and out-of-home campaign was called “Domingo Familiar,” or Family Sunday, and it helped increase net sales in Mexico by 16.7%, while U.S. market share increased 2%, according to Gale. For H&R Block, Gale had a similar remit as the one with Buchanan’s, appealing to a new generation. In this case, the brand needed to capture Gen Z’s interest in taxes. Gale created a tax-themed game in Minecraft with developers at Moonrock that included a playable character named Sir Block. It included a livestreamed tournament with a prize pool of $100,000, with the game including the power to “tax” rivals. The tournament reached more than 730,000 viewers and drove a 101% increase in traffic to H&R Block during the broader campaign, according to Gale. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here

Gale builds loyalty and takes classic brands to new dimensions

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