Orchard’s pivot pays off with creativity that stands out

Four-year-old Orchard made a risky decision to pivot the agency’s creative voice last year, bringing on former Droga5 executive David Kolbusz as chief creative officer and shortening its name from Lightning Orchard. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here But with risk came reward—the agency grew its business by 47% in 2022, picking up Google Fi, Google Small Business and Two Good Yogurt. The agency’s revenue jumped to more than $20 million in 2022 from $14 million the year prior. In less than a year, Kolbusz has put an indelible stamp on Orchard. The agency launched one of the more talked-about campaigns of the year with its Thanksgiving commercial for Ocean Spray, featuring gloomy people at a Thanksgiving table who, when served the brand's cranberry jelly by the host, erupt into convulsive wiggling motions. As a result of the hilarious campaign, sales for cranberry jelly increased by 27% over the prior year and sales increased across the portfolio. Ocean Spray’s juice sales rose 6% and dried fruit sales increased 11%, according to the agency. Total dollar sales for Ocean Spray shot up 24%. The agency also launched a campaign for Silk Nextmilk that put a new twist on the iconic milk mustache campaign produced by MilkPEP in the ’90s. To bring awareness about the plant-based product to the next generation of milk drinkers, Orchard created ads that featured the offspring of the celebs from the original campaign—including Brooklyn Peltz Beckham, Ella Bleu Travolta, Myles O’Neal (joined by siblings Shareef, Me’arah, Shaqir and Amirah) and Sailor Brinkley Cook. Other notable campaigns from Orchard included the “Win Better” campaign for Foot Locker’s Champs Sports and a regional and streaming Super Bowl spot for Oikos in 2023. The agency also grew while continuing to fund its year-long internship program dedicated to training teens of color for careers in the communication arts. Ad Age Small Agency Awards See all of the 2023 winners Click here

Orchard’s pivot pays off with creativity that stands out

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