At WorkInProgress, a 23-person innovation and ad agency in Boulder, Colorado, everyone rolls up their sleeves.

“There’s no A team/B team bait-and-switch,” the agency said in its application. “[Senior leadership is] involved in every aspect of the work—we lead it, shape it, and are intimately involved in its execution.” That approach seems to be working, as revenue more than doubled to $10.5 million in 2019. (The agency did not project revenue for 2020.)

See all of the 2020 Ad Age Small Agency Awards winners.

Notable among its work in 2019:

“Breakfulness” for KitKat, the best-selling candy bar in Canada before Reese’s surged ahead in 2018. The campaign pictured tech-savvy millennials in stressful situations, who were reminded to take a (KitKat) break via smart phone messages.

“Home in the Zone” for Jimmy John’s highlighted the fast-feeder’s decision to deliver food only within a 5-mile radius of a store to preserve freshness. The campaign—which hilariously showed one family trying to game the system by using a house facade to take delivery—ended with Jimmy John’s giving a free house (inside that 5-minute radius) to a contest winner.

A second campaign for the restaurant supported the launch of a smaller version of its original sandwich, “The $3 Little John.” To hard-wire the campaign “with a healthy dose of pop culture,” rapper Lil Jon was brought in for the commercials. In one, which showed a Jimmy John’s ad on the rapper’s diamond-encrusted chain, the voiceover explained, “We bought a little ad, on Lil Jon, to promote our little sandwich.”  

—James Flachsenhaar