Amani Duncan, CEO of BBH USA—the combined entity of the agency's Los Angeles and New York offices—first joined what was then BBH New York as president in late 2020. 

Two weeks into the job, she reached out to a contact at Google with an idea that eventually became the first iteration of Google’s Black-Owned Friday campaign, focused on highlighting Black-owned businesses on Black Friday. The campaign was quickly followed by the agency’s “Glass Ceiling Breaker” work that depicted Vice President Kamala Harris in a glass portrait in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The rest is history, Duncan said.

“Once those two projects hit the ground for the world to see, that changed everything for us,” Duncan said. “That literally changed our course of direction. Because all roads lead to the work, to quote John Hegarty [founder of BBH], and the work brought more and more work. The phone started ringing, and we ended the year beyond, I think, everyone's expectations.”

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In one year, the agency went from two to 11 client accounts by winning business with brands including LinkedIn, Google Shopping, Beachbody, Netflix and Mattel Barbie, for which it created the "A Doll Can Change the World" campaign. 

As a result of these wins, the Publicis Groupe shop saw double-digit revenue growth.

The agency’s remit with Google continued to grow as the brand brought back its Black-owned Friday campaign. BBH also launched a campaign for Google that included shoppable wall murals painted by local artists that bring people to small business websites when scanned on a phone.

BBH also added 50 new hires, growing its staff by 70% in a single year, going from a majority white male agency to being 40% racially diverse and 65% diverse in gender with a creative department that is 54% female, Duncan said.

Duncan considers herself a “salesperson”—a mentality she immediately brought to her role.

“I’ll cold call anyone,” Duncan said. “When I came to BBH I had north of 10 new business meetings already set up and I remember the shock and amazement I was hearing from people in the industry, like ‘How did you do it?’ I just would see a brand that I liked and find their information on LinkedIn and I just emailed them. I wish it was fancier. I believe in being not just ambitious but believing you have nothing to lose. If someone doesn't respond to you then that just simply means that maybe it's not the right time or maybe they're busy. But don't take it personally, just go to the next person.”

After her first six months, Duncan led a transition phase for the agency in the U.S. as it consolidated its two offices. Assisting her were Chief Creative Officer Rafael Rizuto and Chief Strategy Officer Tom Callard; the latter recently left the agency to join Blackstone. The key to the transition, Duncan said, was to lead with empathy and immediately cross-pollinate teams with existing projects.

Moving forward, Duncan says this year will be about “sustaining greatness” for the agency.

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“It was all about greatness awaits last year, that was our north star," Duncan said. “It's all about continuing on that greatness track. There's a lot of naysayers out there, I'm sure. This year is critically important to us from a financial standpoint and an internal growth perspective. We're still navigating through uncertain times that bring a lot of anxiety for people. We're trying to figure it all out together. This year is about achieving all of our goals, which are lofty.  We're not phoning it in—we're still playing to win, and we want to win big.”