The independent agency world — news, work, people and thinking.
Less Than a Year in, HLoveCo Expands its Team as the Agency Builds the Future of Personal Brand Strategy
New hires will support HLoveCo’s mission to redefine how leaders build influence in a human-first economy.
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Sometimes the Loudest Work Isn’t the Loudest — A Super Bowl Debrief
Abalone Partners and Quality Meats on restraint, Gen Z blind spots and why the quietest ad in the room may…
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Business Mints, Quiet Mutinies, and the Death of Traditional Loyalty
Indie Spin: The one with post-game analysis, AI recruiting shifts, and strategists reclaiming their humanity.
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Employee Ownership Built This Agency — 111 Years Later, It’s Still the Foundation
Doe-Anderson CEO John Birnsteel on investing your own money, keeping Maker's Mark for 50 years and why the long view…
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verb Left on a Friday and Was Fully Booked by Monday
Shannon Jones and Yadira Harrison join Christian Gani on the Year One show to talk about the realities of starting…
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Humanaut Helps Hero Cosmetics Launch Chocolate Pimples for Valentine’s Day
The social campaign features an all-too-realistic batch of chocolates that look like they need to be squeezed.
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You Can’t Photograph a Vibe — So Familiar Creatures and Hype Williams Made a Music Video
The Crunch Fitness campaign that put a legendary director, a Montell Jordan classic and zero dialogue to work.
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Venables Bell + Partners Has Been Proving Independence Works Since 2001
Paul Venables, Will McGinness and Brittni Hutchins on the partnership pure play, coaching culture and why brand love beats performance…
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Something Different Is Exactly What It Sounds Like
Tommy Henvey and Patti McConnell on independence, craft and why flat leadership matters
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BackPocket Doesn’t Want Your RFP — They Want Your Mission
A Chicago indie with journalism DNA, a brewery collaboration and client relationships that survive four agency changes
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The Agency That Localizes Fortune 100 Brands at the Block Level
H/L on 40 years of independence, micro-audiences and why scrappy beats scale
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The Underdogs Who Refuse to Blend Into the Algorithm
A 55-year-old Seattle shop proves that independence, weirdness, and genuine care beat scale every time
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Velocity Meets Strategy: Inside Vysical’s Rapid-Ascent Model
How a 14-person agency is teaching Fortune 500 and founders alike to move at the speed of culture
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Cosplayers, Tabletop Gamers and Sneakerheads Run This Agency
How Kris Longo, Collin Millington and Jeremy Atkins built Modern Fanatic on passion over demographics
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Indie Spin: The One Where Everyone Had Opinions About The Big Game
Indie Spin: The one with Super Bowl autopsies, AI efficiency traps, and frozen pizza opera rock
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Please Don’t Hire Us if You Want to Play It Safe
How three Richards Group expats built a Dallas agency on creative firepower, humor and the give-a-shit factor
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Barbarian Has Been Inventing the Next Thing Since 2001
How Jeff Blackman, Danielle Parkes and Alara Yildizlar keep a 120-person New York agency sharp across AI, culture and brand…
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No Chair Throwing. No Bloated Overhead. Just Revery.
How Davis Priestley built a Portland studio-agency hybrid on earnestness, integrity and a Gus Van Sant film
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Super Bowl Advertisers Spent Up to $10M Per Spot. Here’s What Happened Next (Especially With Talent)
A talent strategist on the missing Gen Z play, the AI trust gap and why no one cast the next…