Top 3 takeaways from the Small Agency Conference and Awards

Earlier this month, the Ad Age Small Agency Conference delved into some critically important subjects for the advertising community, in addition to virtually handing out a number of awards to the industry's most deserving small agencies (see below to learn which Amp members were honored this year—congrats to all the winners!). From walking away from creative work that doesn’t quite feel right to safeguarding company culture to making active anti-racism part of an organization's core values, these issues are critical for every business and agency—big or small—to ponder. 

The conference was well represented by Amp members, including panelists Roger Camp, partner and chief creative officer of Camp + King; Christy Hiler, president of Cornett, and Cornett intern Maya McGregory; Christofer Peterson, senior VP of people and culture at Dagger; Kate Higgins, chief growth officer of Erich & Kallman; Megan Lally, managing partner of Highdive; Paulo Carvajal, chief strategy officer of Noble People; Alex Aikens, production coordinator at O'Keefe, Reinhard & Paul; Elisa Silva, partner and managing director of 3Headed Monster; Lizzy Sonenfeld, partner and creative director of Two Things; We Believers' Marco Vega, co-founder and president, and Gustavo Lauria, co-founder and chief creative officer; and Tracy Wong, co-founder and chief creative officer, WongDoody. 

For this month's Spotlight, we decided to take a few of the important topics raised at the conference and extend the discussion to the entire Amp community.

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Walking away from work

Sometimes, no really is the best answer—even when it comes at a cost. “We are looking for true collaborators who are willing to invest in us as much as we are in them,” says Josh Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO at Day One Agency. “The moment a new project lands in our inbox, one of the questions we ask the team is, ‘If we had to work late one night or on the weekend, would we still be excited about the opportunity?' If the answer is no, it’s not the right fit.” 

Every agency—but especially those on the smaller end of the spectrum—has a finite bandwidth and spreading around those resources wisely can be a challenge. But most industry leaders agree that it all starts with shared values. “When we’re approached by a potential client whose business doesn’t match our values, we can easily see that our agency won’t be the right fit,” says Danielle Wiley, CEO of Sway Group. “We never prioritize profits over staying true to who we are.”

Having a set of “go” or “no-go” criteria in place can help agencies stay focused on what’s most important when it comes to starting new relationships. “There are three main criteria by which we evaluate new clients: the ability to do remarkable and disruptive work; perceived ability to have a great partnership; and financial responsibility,” says Mike Popowski, CEO of Dagger. “Ultimately, the essence of any agency is diversity—not only its people but also the brand partnerships. We’re always looking to create industry diversity in our client base so that our talent is solving the utmost creative problems for a variety of industries.” 

Setting those clear boundaries from the outset helps avoid wasted time and energy on partnerships that ultimately won’t prove fruitful. “We want to work with companies that are focused on growth, have an uncommon vision for the future and align with the values of our team,” says Adrian Owen Jones, chief growth officer at ThreeSixtyEight. “We actively seek out challenger brands and underdogs in their market and view our role as that of an advisor, not a service provider: We will push if we think the direction needs to change or be bolder. If a client is not comfortable with our approach, then it probably isn't the right fit for either of us.”

As important a role as that criteria plays in weeding out business that wasn’t meant to be, it’s equally important in attracting relationships that were. Sometimes, the signs are all in the details. “We pay close attention to how the clients communicate,” explains Amy Hellickson, managing director at Laundry Service. “Being able to have complicated conversations in a respectful way that helps us partner closely is key to success with any brand.” 

Client chemistry has to work both ways, of course. But sometimes, passing a not-so-great match on to another, perhaps better-suited agency may be the smarter move for everyone involved. “If we turn down clients, we often offer them recommendations for other groups that we think might be a better fit,” says Daniel Stone, owner of Bandolier Media. “It’s very much a meet-and-greet with both parties.” 

By staying on top of those value- and culture-centric priorities, agencies can help safeguard their futures and avoid veering off track of core goals. “When you first start out you feel compelled to do it all, take on everything, and grow, grow, grow,” says Keith Stoeckeler, managing partner and head of strategy and operations at HEARTLENT Group. “But sustainable growth comes from working with the right clients and partners and knowing you’re doing exactly what you set out to do. That takes patience.” 

In some rare cases, it couldn’t be easier to turn away business. “We have strict ‘no jerks’ criteria,” says Cheryl Eaton, managing director at Guru. “One way we try to make the world better ourselves is to assure our agency professionals don't have to work with jerks.”

Making culture the glue

If values are the jumping-off point for good professional relationships, culture is the thread that keeps those connections strong and thriving over time, which is why it’s a critically important part of growing any client base. “Culture is how people behave when no one’s watching, whether that’s being collaborative internally or pitching to clients,” says Samuel Huber, CEO and co-founder of the gaming and advertising platform Admix. “Making sure we get the right culture fit has a direct impact not only on team morale but also on core business KPIs.” 

Ensuring that common ground is present at the outset of a client relationship could mean the difference between collaboration that flows naturally and partnerships that feel like uphill battles. “We need to remember that what we do is primarily driven by relationships—helping companies engage with their customers, collaborating with brands as true business partners and providing growth opportunities for our talent,” says Parks Blackwell, VP of client development and marketing at PMG. “And while good relationships take time to build, great ones endure because of trust built from overcoming challenges to achieve mutually shared goals.” 

That shared vision could mean the difference between one-off projects and decades-long collaborations. “Genuine connections across various subjects far outlast partnerships built on one specific mutual interest,” says Grant Regillo, team lead of business development at EightPM. “So often, companies share overlapping values but miss the opportunity to acknowledge their inherent connections.”

A common view of how the work should proceed also plays an important part in keeping people happy and keeping the vibe positive. “Cultural norms define team member behaviors and attitudes––what is encouraged, discouraged, accepted or rejected,” explains Linda Chau, CEO of PAAPR. “A strong company culture humanizes your brand and shows your clients the personalities behind your brand.” 

That sense of humanity can have the same effect within an organization as it does outwardly to clients and customers: It helps employees feel anchored to something beyond just their individual work. “When businesses invest in their culture, a group of people transitions into a team with a shared brand identity,” says Lizzie Burton, director of client success at EightPM. “One person’s win is everyone’s win, and who doesn’t want to be at that happy hour?” 

Company culture is ultimately much more than a buzzword or an item to check off the internal marketing checklist. It's a critical element of good team-building and long-term strategy. “Once a culture is created and nurtured, employees begin feeling a sense of community,” says Kenny Nguyen, CEO at ThreeSixtyEight. “The people who believe in the culture will defend it from internal and outside forces, allowing the company to attract the right people while repelling the wrong people—critical for success in an industry heavily dependent on talent.”

Beyond the internal benefits—and the positive implications they tend to have on business—good company culture can also work like a magnet for new opportunities. Agencies that encourage their staff to keep open minds, think creatively and, simply put, have fun, tend to reap certain rewards on the client side. “No one made a new friend in a boardroom, and our clients aren’t just people we service; they are our partners in the game," says Elliott Phear, CEO of Night After Night, where employees are encouraged to take clients out as often as they can. “As a company founded on the idea that the night is when people are most open to new thinking and experiences, we want our team and our clients to be unafraid to propose new thinking, ideally while seeing live music, trying a new bar or restaurant, or anything else that provides inspiration. The open dialogue that naturally flows in these moments prevents things from going stale and, with the right clients, ends up resulting in longer-term relationships as well.” 

Having a strong company culture can create longer-lasting client relationships, leading to better work outcomes. “The types of clients we attract and choose to work with are directly correlated to the culture we foster, and the types of relationships and work that are most valuable to clients stem from that same culture,” says Todd Iorio, CEO and agency head at Platform. “If the company culture is alive and kicking, agency principals should be shouting the message from the rooftops.”

Doing the work of anti-racism 

Diversity, equity and inclusion are key elements of any good company culture, and they must be nurtured at every level of an organization—starting at the top. “Having to discuss the matter is proof that we have a challenge in our society,” says Eddy Prado, co-founder of mobile gaming ad platform Admazing. “The best way to lead is by example. When the team sees how its leaders act and live the values daily, it is the best way to attack the problem.” 

While critically important, leadership directives are only one piece of a much more complex puzzle—and one that requires many more hands on deck to solve. “There’s a misconception that the work of shifting culture within the workplace lies solely with the DE&I lead, or with company leadership, or with HR,” says Jeff Marshall, head of diversity, equity and belonging at UM. “The truth of the matter is, if you are breathing, you have a role to play in shaping the culture of your workplace.” 

Certain directives can (and should) come from the top of an organization, but there’s a shared responsibility in carrying out and expanding on those directives across entire organizations. “An anti-racist culture extends beyond just ‘allowing’ safe space for open conversations around the meaningful work of anti-racism, but encouraging those safe-space conversations, having the courage to leave no contrary behaviors unchecked—even with clients—and prioritizing community impact as part of the employee experience,” says Christofer Peterson, senior VP of people and culture at Dagger.

For many agencies—especially those with long histories and established ways of doing things—it’s as much about unlearning as it is about learning. Behaviors that have long been accepted (or worse, encouraged) take time to be recognized and replaced with new standards that keep workplaces safe and open to all. “Today we are more aware than ever before of unconscious bias and embrace the opportunity to open new channels of communications and resources for our people,” says David Stevenson, CEO of Two by Four. 

At Response, agency leaders recently took steps to engage in that critical learning and unlearning, going through the 4A’s Workplace Enlightenment Certification Program. “It was both eye-opening and agency-changing,” says CEO Carolyn Walker. “To us, active anti-racism looks like empathy. It looks like acknowledging and understanding privilege. It looks like understanding, identifying and avoiding microaggressions and race barriers.  It looks like posting open positions on diverse job boards and hiring differently. It looks like being vocal about our commitment to combating discrimination.” 

As much as the work of anti-racism is about doing better by others, it’s equally about looking inward and acknowledging what needs fixing in ourselves. “In an anti-racist workplace, there’s a proactive and honest acknowledgment of how unspoken norms, procedures and policies may allow for disproportionate rewards and penalties—due to race,” says Camden Elizabeth, executive producer at L&C NYC. “On a day-to-day basis, companies should strive to acknowledge and fix microaggressions, solicit candid feedback, educate themselves and their workers, ensure inclusive hiring practices and actively amplify BIPOC voices.” 

While that work may be uncomfortable, an anti-racism initiative only functions if the entire team gets on board and makes it a daily priority. “We should be calling people out and holding them accountable, and no longer assuming or hoping HR or the C-suite will take care of it,” says Stoeckelerof HEARTLENT Group. “This cannot be one person’s job, or an assembled volunteer group, or a press release for optics. This is critical work, and the responsibility of everyone in the company on a daily basis.”

Amp is a platform that’s integrated with Ad Age and Ad Age Creativity, allowing you to leverage our editorial credibility while showcasing your expertise, accolades and campaigns. For more information visit our FAQ page. Not an Ad Age Amp member? Find your page and claim it today.

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