What really sets Dunn&Co. apart is the breadth of its creative ideas. The Tampa, Florida, shop—which raked in revenue of $10.3 million last year—churned out some stunning work for clients including the Florida Department of Transportation, restaurant chain Smokey Bones and the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team—and did so on a shoestring budget.

To illustrate that distracted driving is like no one driving at all, the shop used makeup and camera tricks to “fade out” drivers in cars so they seemed to melt into the seat upholstery. 

To celebrate the Lightning’s 2020 Stanley Cup victory, the agency put up a seemingly blank billboard—which magically displayed the words “Here comes the reign” when it rained. Dunn turned the team’s home stadium, Amalie Arena, into an Airbnb, allowing lucky fans to book it overnight, giving them access to the ice, locker room, dinner and a bed set up in the arena. The “room” was booked in less than a minute. Not stopping there, the team at Dunn turned hockey sticks into “social media” by printing words of encouragement garnered from fans’ social posts onto hockey tape affixed to players’ sticks. Cost: $1,500 for the tape and $7,800 for the Airbnb stunt.

The shop also did a full rebranding for Smokey Bones, designing its logo, menus, social strategy, signage and more, unabashedly establishing the chain as the “Meat Masters.” The effort was begun during COVID when restaurant traffic was at its lowest, so Dunn allowed the client to defer payment until it got back on track. And that it did: Dunn said Smokey Bones’ same-store sales jumped 10.6% year-to-date; its e-commerce conversion rose 16.7% and overall sales were up 17% from 2019 to 2021.

Dunn also prides itself on its office, a rebuilt cigar factory, which it positions as “a club rather than a place to work.” There is on-site day care and a guest house for use by remote agency workers visiting Tampa—which they undoubtedly did to watch the Lightning score another Stanley Cup victory last year.