broadhead.

Dean Broadhead

Chief Executive Officer

Underdog

Dean Broadhead doesn’t wait for permission; he builds what doesn’t exist. In 2001, with a writer’s curiosity and a desk in his spare bedroom, he launched broadhead on a belief that great ideas should answer people, not holding companies. That spirit of independence still drives the agency today. 

For Dean, being indie isn’t a business model, it’s a way of thinking. It means saying yes to bold risks, no to silos, and always to collaboration without ego. His mantra, “no silos, just solutions,” fuels a culture where strategists, scientists, storytellers and designers collide to create work that moves people and markets. At broadhead, tomorrow’s best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time. 

Being independent gives the team the freedom to bet on themselves. And they do, every day, pushing boundaries and building momentum as they help people eat, move and live better. To Dean, independence is more than a structure; it’s a mindset of fearless experimentation, decisive action, and unwavering optimism. That’s indie, through and through.

In most agencies, departments operate in silos: strategy over here, creative over there, media and digital in their own lanes. Dean rejects that model. At broadhead, he reimagined the workflow into cross-disciplinary “project pods,” where strategists, storytellers, data scientists and designers collaborate from day one. Spanning all three offices, this pod structure lets ideas move faster and smarter, and clients now see work sooner and stronger because silos are gone and collaboration starts on day one. Budgets follow the solution, not the org chart. 

Dean has also questioned another industry norm: that burnout is just part of the job. At broadhead, nights and weekends aren’t the default; they’re the exception. Dean’s “people-first” approach shows up in one of the industry’s strongest benefits packages, including three floating holidays in addition to PTO, empowering employees to celebrate what matters most to them. 

Twice each year, he flies the entire team to broadhead’s Minneapolis headquarters for a company-wide symposium: part professional development, part cultural recharge. Additionally, through the Bull Society, employees build deeper purpose through community service, athletic initiatives, and DEI engagement. It’s not just about better work. It’s about a better way to work.

Independence isn’t Dean Broadhead’s badge; it’s his engine. Every decision circles back to one superpower of the indie model: the freedom to act fast, bet long and remove the barriers of larger holding companies.  

That’s exactly how Dean led broadhead to become one of the most forward-thinking agencies around AI adoption. Under his leadership, broadhead launched Butter, its own proprietary AI model, purpose-built for modern creative workflows. The team at Broadhead backed Butter with a full tech stack tuned for speed and feature-forward experimentation. Dean’s vision positioned broadhead ahead of industry peers, leading to recognition from the 4As, which not only invited him to present at their national conference but also tapped broadhead to help educate other independents navigating AI integration. Dean builds, tests and scales smarter solutions ahead of competitors. That’s what independence looks like when it’s used to shape the future of an industry.

Dean Broadhead is a businessperson first, marketer second: a mindset that defines his indie character. While others chase trends, Dean calculates risks, spots the unseen angle and moves decisively. In the past six years, he’s acquired four agencies as strategic extensions of broadhead’s mission. He sees value where others hesitate, integrating talent, culture and capability to strengthen the whole. His superpower? Turning overlooked opportunities into long-term advantage.

In 2001, as the world recalibrated after 9/11, Dean Broadhead left the comfort of a network-agency career to start something of his own. No holding company. No roadmap. Just conviction. Two years later, broadhead landed its first million-dollar account, and that was the moment. The work, the team, the belief that it was all possible. That win cemented Dean’s philosophy: “Independence isn’t a stance, it’s a system; one where the people who create the value own the upside and never need permission to reinvent the rules.”

Dean exemplifies the spirit of independent leadership: bold, collaborative, and future focused. Serving on the 4A’s Independent Agency Advisory Council, Dean actively advocates for the unique advantages that indie agencies bring to the table: the agility to experiment fearlessly and the conviction to scale what works. His influence is not just theoretical. Dean has been instrumental in driving real operational change, particularly in embracing AI and emerging technologies, pushing the boundaries of what indie shops can achieve. 

Equally impactful is his involvement in AdFed’s AdVance CEO group, a close-knit collective of agency leaders committed to growth through shared learning. By engaging in open dialogue and knowledge exchange with fellow CEOs, Dean amplifies insights and innovation well beyond the walls of his own agency, creating ripple effects across the broader indie community. In every setting, Dean leads with intention and action, modeling how independent agencies can not only thrive, but shape the future of the industry together.

on