Lots of agencies claim they are providing clients nimble alternatives to the often cumbersome traditional agency approach. But few small shops are delivering on that promise as well as Quality Meats. The Chicago-based shop’s project-based model uses what it calls a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get mentality,” with an emphasis on telling clients hard truths about what they need while simultaneously putting production needs first, so that what is pitched can actually be made.

The agency, founded by longtime creative partners Brian Siedband and Gordy Sang along with production vet Kacey Hart, launched in 2020 and quickly landed work for Marquee Sports Network, the then-new cable TV network dedicated to the Chicago Cubs. The agency’s “We Get All Of It” campaign embraced the highs and lows of being a Cubs fan and boosted Marquee’s favorability 361% with core Cubs fans, according to data shared by the agency.

Quality Meats also knocked it out of the park for Vancouver-based men’s underwear brand SAXX with a campaign that helped the brand enter the U.S. by positioning it, in the agency’s words, as “a form of self-care. But for your balls.” Ads promoted the underwear’s patented “Ballpark Pouch” with an irreverent but sophisticated ad pitching the pouch as keeping balls from “flubbing around all willy-nilly.” It also seized on March Madness, known as a popular time for vasectomies, by launching a “VaSAXXtomy” registry that allowed men getting the procedure to sign up for products and gifts. Website traffic soared and demand for the underwear grew at retailers such as Nordstrom, Dillards and REI, the agency reported, suggesting that American men are nuts about the underwear.