Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year PMG Weathered the Pandemic by Prioritizing People

Last year threw a Texas-sized wrench into media plans everywhere. But while businesses had to slam on the brakes and figure out how to react, Fort Worth, Texas-based PMG had a plan—one that didn’t involve furloughing or laying anyone off. Since the agency was built as a digital-first ecommerce-based company, it was easier to pivot for its client base, leading to an estimated 30% or more revenue growth year over year, the majority of which was from media operations. As an independent agency with offices in Fort Worth, Dallas and Austin, Texas, as well as London, New York and Los Angeles, PMG has risen in prominence since its founding in 2010 thanks to its "Digital made for humans" approach to business, which founder George Popstefanov describes as a “pursuit to create … genuine connections on behalf of our customers between their audience and them.” Making those connections has garnered PMG, one of Adweek's Fastest Growing agencies in 2020, plenty of business from high-profile clients, including Beats by Dre, Madewell, Michael Kors, Old Navy, Sephora, SurveyMonkey and the recently landed TikTok for Business. And while Covid-19 has been challenging, it accelerated PMG's vision that everything will ultimately be digital and that having a partner that can help navigate the digital universe is critical. PMG is Adweek’s Breakthrough Media Agency of the Year because of its ability to pivot, grow its revenue and retain its customer base during the pandemic while taking care of its employees through personal and professional support and actually growing its head count during 2020. Growth by word of mouth Popstefanov and his team value the partnerships PMG has with its clients. As a result, clients are loyal to PMG and there is little client attrition, which Popstefanov attributes to the way the agency does business. “There's measurable results in partnership with our customers. We don't incentivize our employees on cross-sells, upsells or anything else. We incentivize employees by driving business goals and results and showing up for customers,” he says. Most of PMG’s new client growth comes from referrals, and Popstefanov says the agency’s customers invest and grow with it. The agency doesn’t put out many RFPs. Instead, it focuses on relationships with CMOs and CEOs who bring the agency on when they move to new companies. “We can only do that because we want to be the most respected,” Popstefanov says. PMG has driven over $50 billion in ecommerce revenue globally, with revenue increases in 2020 across its Gap Inc. portfolio—Old Navy, Athleta, Banana Republic, Gap—with most of that change resulting from a shift to ecommerce. SurveyMonkey accounted for much of the agency’s organic growth in 2020, growing by triple-digit percentage points as a second-year PMG client. PMG won over $20 million in net new business revenue, contributing to more than 30% year-over-year revenue growth in 2020 compared to roughly 45% growth in 2019 and around 50% growth in 2018. The agency also furthered its relationship with Ralph Lauren by adding influencer marketing and developing a strategy to engage new, more diverse audiences. In addition, PMG’s Creative Studio took on new assignments in 2020, including long-standing client Cole Haan, which introduced new product lines during the pandemic. Those high-profile clients are part of PMG’s aim to work with the most ambitious brands. “We find a lot of companies that are looking for a solution provider like us that’s digital first, that’s data-driven,” Popstefanov says. Key wins: SurveyMonkey, TikTok for Business, Michael Kors, Best Western, Omni Hotels & Resorts, McDonald’s, Tripwire, Planet Fitness, Ace Hardware. Losses: Cirque du Soleil, G6 Hospitality, Cadre, Housecall Pro, MarkLogic. Strategic moves: Hired 360i veteran Jason Hartley as head of search, social and shopping; hired MDC Partners executive Ashley Stewart as head of brand marketing and communications; expanded teams and operations in growth markets including Dallas, Los Angeles and London; expanded creative leadership in Dallas with the addition of Andrew Harper and Kyle Kelley as executive creative directors from The Richards Group; grew head count by 35%, including welcoming 37 new graduates to join the agency via its Graduate Leadership Program. Global revenue: +30% YOY, the majority from media operations (Source: PMG). Growing with SurveyMonkey and TikTok One of those longtime customers is Denis Scott, now vice president of marketing and growth at SurveyMonkey. Scott previously worked with PMG when he was at OpenTable and, before that, at Gap and Old Navy. He remembers the positive relationships his former companies had with PMG and wanted that at SurveyMonkey. The digital survey company expanded its offerings when Scott was hired nearly two years ago, adding consumer experience and market research products and moving into enterprise business. Scott had confidence PMG could help the company target different types of customers. SurveyMonkey turned to PMG for more data and analytics support and expansion in terms of geographic coverage. In 2020, PMG unified 27 data sources, 71 metrics and more than 100 conversion events across seven SurveyMonkey products and created the company’s first holistic view of what was happening with the business in real time. “There is a lot of data moving around in different ways. [We needed to] ensure that we're measuring this accurately and that we're showing we're scaling," Scott says. "I think that's where [PMG] really excels: data-driven, results-based-type marketing." PMG also recently added TikTok to its roster, focusing on the wildly popular social network’s business platform. Carly Zipp, head of global b-to-b marketing at TikTok, says of the partnership, “PMG shares our vision for the TikTok for Business brand and demonstrated that they were capable of bringing it to life globally." PMG helped TikTok launch a partnership with Shopify and also worked to build strategies to inspire small businesses and demonstrate the TikTok for Business platform's value to them. Zipp says the goal was “to create a range of content that educates brands that are new to the platform and provides new approaches and solutions for experts.” While TikTok may not be the biggest PMG customer by revenue, it is one of the most high-profile, especially during the pandemic, and PMG saw a chance to help the business grow. While the relationship is still in its early months, PMG estimates growth opportunities will increase in 2021. “We believe it's an incredible platform with an amazing and very engaged audience,” Popstefanov says. “I think the vision they have for the marketplace and where they want to go is absolutely tremendous.” Caring for its own Building a plan for growth in 2020 was no easy feat, but PMG focused on both the people at the agency and those it works with to foster a culture of growth. PMG goes to great lengths to recruit and retain employees. One of its most significant pipelines is its Graduate Leadership Program, a postgraduate training and onboarding program “where we're basically training [the graduates] how to do everything," says Parks Blackwell, PMG’s vice president of marketing and client development. "And that's a pretty big investment. This year should be about 70 new hires, [compared to 30 in 2020] which will be a big boon to the business as well." During the pandemic, PMG didn’t furlough or lay off any employees. (In fact, it grew its head count by 35% on the year.) Instead, it mobilized a remote workforce while introducing a stipend and Care.com benefits for working parents. It created a mental wellness task force to keep a pulse on morale and designed programs to help people maintain their well-being. It reorganized into client-centric pods, keeping its staff focused on building expertise across media, data and analytics, creative and production, and technology. “Ultimately, if you don't [take] care of your people, they're not going to take care of our customers, and you're going to have a high turnover,” Popstefanov says. “I think what's important for me is not to grow and fizzle out. How do we create sustainable, measurable growth while keeping up with the people-first metrics? That's the biggest challenge and opportunity we see in our business today.” A push for diversity Meanwhile, PMG has taken aggressive steps to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. It has committed more than $1 million and hundreds of employee hours to DEI and has seen an uptick in nonwhite graduates in its Graduate Leadership Program. While the agency is still predominantly white, it has joined the 600 & Rising "Commit to Change" campaign, conducted a thorough audit of recruiting practices to drive more inclusion, implemented changes to external communications and launched a series of diversity and inclusion training sessions. “[DEI] has always been a part of our values, but we want to ensure that it is a part of the fabric of who we are,” Blackwell says. “Every employee, regardless of their background, [should come] in and feel that is a core value of PMG.” Popstefanov and PMG are focused on bringing in people who want to grow and develop professionally as good leaders, good managers and good people. That, combined with the capability to land new clients like TikTok for Business and grow current clients like Sephora and SurveyMonkey while expanding its employee roster—all during a pandemic—makes PMG a breakthrough agency worth watching. “What Covid taught us and our customers is that having a partner that can help navigate that is very important," Popstefanov says. Key campaigns Old Navy, "Pandemic Pivot" In March 2020, retailers faced enormous challenges due to mandated store closures. Old Navy and PMG pivoted quickly, implementing omnichannel strategies to appeal to quarantined consumers and accelerate the brand’s business. PMG helped strengthen Old Navy’s market position through new customer acquisition. As shelter-in-place orders lifted, the agency developed a drive-to-store plan covering 1,000-plus stores throughout North America. When Old Navy decided to launch a new product line (face masks), PMG crafted and executed a fluid full-funnel media plan in just 30 days. According to Gap Inc.'s earnings report, those efforts helped Old Navy achieve substantial growth in online sales (up 136%) with a “compelling and relevant digital marketing investment” and hugely successful drive-to-store efforts (nearly 3 million store visits). Beats by Dre, "Taking Beats Global for Prime Day" As 2020 Prime Day rolled around, Beats had gone roughly a year since its last big product and advertising rollout. Knowing that Beats had aggressive global sales goals across all of its product lines, PMG had to overcome new challenges to maximize purchases. Leading up to Prime Day, the agency ran ads to reach new audiences and drive awareness of Beats’ latest products globally. During Prime Day, the PMG team increased ad frequency among previously engaged shoppers, as well as Beats' core audiences, working in 24/7 shifts to take advantage of real-time opportunities. Beats surpassed the number of headphones sold by 47% year over year and exceeded its global sales goal by 51%. Beats X became Japan’s No. 1 selling product. Along with robust sales of Powerbeats Pro, EMEA surpassed its weekly sales goal on Prime Day alone. TikTok for Business A social campaign for TikTok for Business showed how brands could leverage their product placement by gamifying. In one example, snack brand Totino’s gamified its pizza rolls, using an AR filter to make the snacks float down on parachutes as fans ate them out of the air and earned points. Users were encouraged to compete and share their results. Check out our full coverage: A New Rallying Cry Set the Perfect Tone for US Media Agency of the Year Wavemaker in 2020Global Media Agency of the Year MediaCom Helped Clients See the Bigger Picture During Crisis