Majority continues to prove that being an agency of the culture matters

Majority’s partners sold a 30% stake in the agency to WPP last year, a surprise move for a shop launched only two years earlier. Some industry watchers questioned whether Majority’s culture would be affected by the stake, given that the industry is riddled with stories of independent agencies losing their mojo after selling to a large holding company. But a little more than a year after the deal, Majority has grown only stronger. The WPP connection helped the shop to grow its relationship with Coca-Cola Co., which is also based in Majority’s hometown of Atlanta. The agency has also picked up business with other WPP clients, including Mondelēz International’s Swedish Fish, Abbott Pharmaceuticals and Unilever’s Shea Moisture. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here Organic growth in particular has contributed to the agency’s revenue rise from $11.5 million in 2022 to $15 million last year; its staff has grown from 7 employees in 2021 to 46 this year. Omid Farhang, Majority’s founding partner and CEO, said his existing relationships with some of the top executives at the holding company, such as WPP Global Chief Creative Officer Rob Reilly and Ogilvy Global CEO Devika Bulchandani, helped expedite the sale. “There’s a real mutual benefit for them, where they have these long-standing relationships with some of these incredible brands. And some of these brands say, ‘Hey we have a certain brand, or a certain project that requires the attention of a small boutique creative SWAT team agency,’ and WPP can point to us,” said Farhang. The sale is just one example of how Farhang leaned into his industry relationships to build one of the hottest shops around. When Farhang was contemplating the launch of his agency, he got advice from Crispin Porter + Bogusky Co-Founder Alex Bogusky. “[He said] you have to surround yourself with partners who either do what you can’t do, or do what you can do, but you don’t want to do,” Farhang said. Farhang said that thinking inspired the formation of the agency’s leadership team, which includes Jorge Hernandez, founding partner and chief marketing officer, and Asmirh Davis, founding partner and chief strategy officer. Brandon Butler joined later on as a partner and chief culture and innovation officer. The goal was to create the “least redundant leadership team possible,” Farhang said. Before launch, Farhang pitched his new agency idea to executives even if it wasn’t for an investment. The pandemic worked to his advantage because people had more free time and were more receptive to quick video chat meetings. This led to Farhang pitching Shaquille O’Neal, who had known Farhang and his brother Amir Farhang, a director who recently joined the Springhill Co. as a senior VP creative lead, from previous work on commercials and campaigns. O’Neal eventually became a founding partner of Majority. “That’s the ‘Yes’ that I got after 20 ‘No’s.’ That’s why it’s so important to share your ideas broadly and to not get discouraged by doors slamming in your face,” Farhang said. The agency found early success through its premise that diversity is a competitive advantage for creativity that lands in culture. Currently, the agency’s entire C-suite and 80% of its employees represent people of color and LGBTQ+ communities. “We are founded not as a multicultural agency, but an agency for the culture,” Farhang said. “We’ve scoffed at the notion that, since the dawn of time, either your agency is predominantly white and male, and if you look any different than that, you’re relegated to this niche called multicultural.” In its first two years, Farhang said Majority’s ties to Shaq helped garner attention that was converted into projects. Those projects became marketing tools that drew interest from more clients and agency of record relationships with the NBA G League, Sprite, Fanta and General Motors. “Ultimately, the agency of our dreams must be famous for its sustained creative excellence, not its celebrity affiliation,” said Farhang, who noted that the agency hasn’t worked with any of the brands that feature Shaq in advertising. Majority’s deeper relationship with Coke led to some of its most notable work of the year. Challenged with creating something that would drive buzz for Coke’s portfolio brand of products, Majority and WPP’s Open X worked with Christopher Storer, creator and director of Hulu’s breakout hit “The Bear,” to create a film called “New Guy.” It’s the story of a man meeting his girlfriend’s extended family for the first time and broke new ground for Coke, which had never before run an emotional film for a portfolio of brands. “It is easy to put a picture of all the brands together, but it doesn’t connect with a regular human being,” Shakir Moin, chief of marketing at Coca-Cola North America, said in a January interview. “We as a company have tried this in the past a few times, and it hasn’t worked.” It did this time. The campaign resulted in 2 billion media impressions, a 14% increase in brand perception and an 11% increase in purchase intent, according to Majority’s entry. For the 50th anniversary of hip-hop Sprite worked with Majority to create a music video that reimagined the iconic rap song “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugarhill Gang, with artists that span each era of hip-hop: Nas, Rakim, Latto and GloRilla. The agency also created “Sprite Drops” that allowed consumers to scan the QR code on their limited-edition “Sprite Legacy” cans to win exclusive merch and memorabilia. The campaign reached more than 5 billion impressions and 1.5 million views on the “Summer of Drops” page, according to the agency. Sales of “Sprite Lymonade Legacy” hit $25 million over 13 weeks, significantly surpassing targets and prompting a second market run. The campaign also impacted retail, with the product reaching 62% penetration in large stores and 63% in convenience retail. Additionally, the overall Sprite trademark experienced a 9.5% sales increase and an 8.5% increase in sales velocity, the agency said. Majority also recently helped bring back Sprite’s “Obey Your Thirst” tagline in a new ad. General Motors is the official sponsor of the Southwestern Athletic Conference, which is home to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). GM tasked Majority with promoting that partnership in a meaningful way. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here HBCUs are famous for their marching bands, but Majority decided to highlight other aspects of HBCUs that viewers might not be familiar with through a film that utilized two HBCU alums—Grammy-winning director Alan Ferguson and hip-hop legend Scarface. Farhang said he is learning to relinquish more control as Majority grows and new talent joins the agency. “It’s that eternal battle of when to trust the instincts that got you to this moment and when to know that sometimes the instincts that got you to this moment will betray you in the next moment,” he said “We’re adding talent and expertise and as you add talent, you have to relinquish control, and let the company continue to take the shape that it was always meant to be.”

Majority continues to prove that being an agency of the culture matters

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