31
2018
Detroit, Chicago, San Diego
Strategic Creative Agency
16
Underdog
We help brands think like Creators, but execute as an enterprise. We do this in two ways that are unique to the creative agency space:
#1: We develop the best briefs in the industry
The Rule: most marketers rely on algo-driven, quantitative data to arrive at the same insights and briefs as their competitors (then wonder why their brand isn’t differentiated). It’s not that the insights aren’t true, they’re often not true enough. Because they are averages.
How We Break It: we developed the D/CAL SubMethod™ – a hyper-qualitative deep dive into the subcultures that exist within our Client's audiences to either validate, reframe, or identify completely new insights. This leads to much stronger, differentiated briefs. We can demonstrate how this method has led to more distinctive work for brands like Scotts, Gibson, Wolverine, and others.
#2: We’ve killed the walled garden model
The Rule: most agencies are designed as walled gardens, whereby the development of strategy and creative is tightly controlled within the confines of rigid departmental structures, resulting in a gap between agency culture and the ebbs and flows of the culture at-large.
How We Break It: we are the only agency with an independent board consisting of agency outsiders who understand the nuances of the Attention Economy and the interplay of brands and the culture at-large. Members of our board include: Tony Hawk, Paul Blair, Rick Williams, Jessica Murnane, to name a few. Each member owns an equity stake in D/CAL, offering their unbiased opinions on strategy, creative, and the overall vision of D/CAL. They’re also the tippy top of our deep network of Creators of every ilk.
For a deeper dive into how we're differentiated, we have attached a link to an agency overview for your perusal.
There are several aspects of how we run our agency that can only exist because we are independent.
Investment: we can choose to invest in growth Clients without pressure from a HoldCo to deliver margin. We can also choose to invest in our own technologies and services without certain platforms and tools being mandated.
Collaboration: we can partner with any specialist agency we want, versus the all-too-common “arranged marriage” between HoldCo partner agencies.
Real Estate: we aren’t beholden to long-term leases or expensive office build outs that HoldCo agencies are often saddled with that contribute to operational bloat. This also gives us the freedom to have our own POV and policies around in-office versus remote working.
But above all of that, everyone here legitimately feels empowered and sees the direct result of their efforts. And because we don’t follow a rigid structure, a powerful alchemy of overlapping hard skills and soft skills happens, allowing people to do more than they ever thought possible. And do it all within a normal 40-hour workweek that respects their real lives.
The first ever advisory board of agency outsiders
The first creative agency ever hired by Gibson in their 122-year history
The smallest AOR agency ever hired by Scotts-MiracleGro
Survived the pandemic after only being in business for 1-year with zero layoffs
Average tenure of employees: 5.2 years
Longest running Client relationship: 4 years
Ownership stake and key developer of an AI-powered video tesitng platform called Maiven
Our Co-Founder, Adam Wilson, had talked about starting an agency going back to 2010. But it was his time running brand marketing at Carhartt (his first and only Client-side role) that was the most formidable. He saw the rise of Creators and the Attention Economy and knew that if he started an agency, it would have to be born of that mentality. After meeting Tony Hawk on a few different occasions, Adam proposed the idea of D/CAL.
Our biggest challenge has been packaging and messaging our unique approach in a salient and approachable way for brand leaders. We knew we had something special from day one. But it has taken a lot of trial and error to turn a philosophy into an operationalized approach. And a big shout out to our friends at NBZ for helping us validate and sharpen the message.
By virtue of our independence, we can continue to evolve faster and with real empathy for the complexities that brand leaders face. After all, if our industry continues to allow them to languish, the very people who hire agencies will be deplatformed.
