Rob Reilly, the global chief creative officer at WPP, had planned a surprise guest during his keynote today during Ad Age's Small Agency Conference: Gut founder Anselmo Ramos.

Reilly's talk was about the importance of thinking small—no matter how big your agency—and he offered a rousing and often hilarious take on the state of creativity, the importance of the industry working together, and personal stories from his time at agencies including McCann and Crispin Porter & Bogusky. For his finale, he had videotaped a message from Ramos, who himself keynoted the Small Agency Conference five years ago, the same year Ramos founded his agency.

The founder of Gut, which went from zero clients at that time to win a trifecta in June at Cannes—Independent Agency of the Year, Indie Agency of the Year and Independent Network of the Year—had recorded some tips for the audience. But time ran short, so we're offering readers here a look at the Ramos video:

Among the tips he offers: Believe in yourself (“If you don't believe, who will?”); know your positioning, define your culture (“If you don't design the culture, the culture will design itself”); and be wholehearted in your embrace of commitment, trust, passion and obsession.

It's an interesting contrast from Ramos' opening remarks from 2018, when he offered an often amusing take on why he was taking a scary leap into opening his own agency.

You can view that keynote below. And be on the lookout for our Small Agency Awards, which will be revealed tomorrow morning.