How’s this for ROI? Fifty-million media impressions in a week for just $500. That is what Austin, Texas-based Bandolier got for Cuvée Coffee when it made a construction worker named Omar an “influencer” for the premium brand. The unconventional pick proved to be a work of genius, with the @justaconstructionguy Instagram account drawing 450,000 followers in five days. Omar was so popular he started partnering with other brands like Busch Light and Dollar Shave Club. 

Such outside-the-box thinking is commonplace at Bandolier, which is more likely to woo clients by DM’ing them on Instagram than slogging through a formal pitch. Its roster is filled with big-name clients, including Shell, Scotts Lawn Care and Honeywell Home—a home security provider for which Bandolier created a campaign aimed at convincing buyers to prove that, in the agency’s words, “real security is more than a doorbell camera.”

—E.J. Schultz