Let’s talk about indie agency culture

Welcome back to Ad Age Briefly! This week’s edition features thriving agency cultures, an influencer gifting debacle, a big agency review and much more. —Ad Age Web Editor Mark Fischer

Building and maintaining indie cultures

What does a thriving culture look like? Proof Advertising earned the title of Best Agency Culture in Ad Age’s A-List Awards earlier this year for several reasons, such as its unique office locations—a bar and a lakehouse—and a two-week holiday featuring daily celebrations and gift exchanges. Most importantly, the Austin, Texas-based agency boasts a turnover rate below 1% and an average tenure of 10 years among its approximately 50 employees. While quirky cultures foster creativity, maintaining that culture as the agency grows can be challenging.

Maintaining a good culture: Despite growing to over 100 employees in four years, Mischief @ No Fixed Address has kept its culture intact, with many employees coming into the office every day, despite not being required, and hanging out after work hours. That’s largely due to turning down hundreds of business opportunities and being extremely deliberate in who it hires, Co-Founder Greg Hahn told our Lindsay Rittenhouse . Meanwhile, larger independent shops such as 韦柯广告 have had to evolve their culture across multiple offices globally. Yet, as CEO Neal Arthur noted to Lindsay, "Every office feels familiar."?

Advice for agency partners: Clients that “invest time in understanding the agency's culture” will find that “their agency partners are more motivated, engaged, and committed to their success,” AKA US Founding Partner Elizabeth Furze wrote in a recent opinion piece for Ad Age.

?? If you’re interested in learning about Proof Advertising’s award-winning culture, our Gillian Follett profiled the agency here.?

?? Lindsay Rittenhouse spoke with multiple leaders of independent agencies, in addition to Hahn and Arthur, about how their shops have remained independent and maintained their values over the years. Read it in full here.?

? On the client side? Be sure to check out Furze’s full op-ed for more insights on fostering strong agency relationships.

?? Join Ad Age virtually on Nov. 12 for the Emerging Tech Summit and dive into the latest advancements transforming the advertising and marketing space.

Stellantis’ creative review?

Amid steep sales declines, Stellantis is conducting creative agency reviews for its Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo and Fiat brands in the U.S., Ad Age’s E.J. Schultz reports. Omnicom’s GSD&M and Stagwell’s Doner are the incumbents.?

?? Read more about the review here.?

One has to wonder whether Stellantis will expand its agency roster, a growing trend among marketers. Our Ewan Larkin wrote about the various reasons behind the shift, as well as the pros and cons of widening your agency bench.?

?? Read more about agency rosters here.

Influencer gifting gone wrong

Despite reports that gifting influencers with free products is often wasteful and ineffective, brands can’t seem to get enough of it. The practice recently backfired on Tarte when the cosmetics brand sent $700 bracelets to some influencers, while others received earrings and necklaces valued between $10 and $30. Some influencers were not pleased, our Gillian Follett reports.

?? Read the full story here.?

TikTok gives advertisers what they want

Search advertising on TikTok is starting to resemble Google and Amazon’s platforms, as the social app is now allowing brands to target campaigns by keywords, Ad Age's Garett Sloane reprots.

?? Read more about TikTok’s search ad revamp here.?

Breaking and Entering x Ad Age

We’re excited to announce that we’ve begun publishing episodes of the Breaking And Entering podcast on our site. Produced by Breaking and Entering Media , this show serves as a valuable resource for all advertising professionals, especially those looking to break into the industry. In the latest episode, Aaron Duffy , co-founder of SpecialGuest, joins host Geno Schellenberger to share his creative journey—from being a video director to co-founding an award-winning creative agency.

?? Listen to the full episode here.

After listening to Breaking and Entering, head over to the latest edition of Ad Age’s Marketer’s Brief, where Klarna Chief Marketing Officer David Sandstrom tells our Brandon Doerrer how the fintech company has used AI to drastically cut marketing and agency costs.?

?? Listen to the full episode here.

Creativity Corner

“Playful visuals, a beguiling mystery and a charming payoff add up nicely in Ogilvy South Africa 's latest strong work for Volkswagen, promoting the new Tiguan SUV,” writes Ad Age Creativity Editor Tim Nudd .

?? Watch the full spot here.

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?? Hi there, thanks for reading: This newsletter was curated by Ad Age Web Editor Mark Fischer . Have any feedback or tips? Reach out to him at [email protected].