All agencies need to grow, but not all founders and C-suite leaders are willing to air their agency’s growing pains for all to see.
“The part of growth that we don’t talk about enough is the things that got you to wherever you are today … are not going to be what gets you to the next threshold of growth,” Jeremy Heilpern, founder and CEO of Ammunition, said on a panel at ADWEEK House: Advertising HQ on Monday.
Gogi Gupta, the founder of Gupta Media, and Emily Garvey, head of strategy at Zulu Alpha Kilo NY, also shared their agencies’ growth journeys, opening up about what it takes to break through as an independent.
Gupta said he quickly learned that in expanding his team from 60 to 100 people, he had to also bolster the company’s infrastructure, including human resources and technology.
Garvey said Zulu Alpha Kilo thinks about growth as not just expanding the team, but looking at each hire as an “exponential value add.”
In a job market where AI is disrupting employment opportunities, the trio pushed back on the notion that CEOs are eliminating entry-level and mid-level positions.
Despite the industry’s obsession with tech and AI, people are still the greatest growth drivers at agencies, Garvey argued.
“[AI] can’t replace good judgment. So you have to give younger talent the opportunity to hone their judgment and to see judgment in practice,” she said.
At Gupta Media, to curb what he termed “cognitive surrender,” Gupta said new hires have limited access to AI tools for the first six months. Meanwhile Heilpern explained Ammunition has an AI innovation unit that evaluates tools used within the agency. He’s also had discussions about sanctioning new hires from using AI for the first few years.
“You need to be able to know when AI is lying to you,” Heilpern said.
As a creative agency, Garvey said Zulu Alpha Kilo’s human-first strategy is bolstered by in-person work; there’s no better way to mold creative taste and judgment than through the organic “watercooler moments,” which create the right environment to foster “career-defining work.”
Clients also want humans behind the machines, Heilpern said, adding that he has seen an increase in demand in clients to meet all team members assigned to their account.
“I haven’t had a single client call me and say they wish they could talk to a robot instead of a human,” Heilpern said. “So the good news is for all that AI handwringing, they still seem to be wanting humans on the work, so that’s a good thing.”
While independent agencies have the ability to invest more freely than publicly traded holding companies, in an increasingly crowded space where everyone has access to the same tools, Garvey said it’s not enough for an agency to “rest on its [indie] laurels.”
The focus has to be on the culture.
“Based on our size, to be able to bring people in and ensure that they will have an impact—versus being a cog in the machine—has been really helpful at this stage,” Garvey said.
