Spark Foundry Is Adweek's 2022 U.S. Media Agency of the Year

Publicis Media delivered an astonishing year of new business in 2021. Its agencies—Spark Foundry, Zenith and Starcom—reeled in some of the biggest fish, as the group collectively landed Walmart and automaker Stellantis. Zenith snagged over a billion dollars in managed media spend for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Inspire Brands' Dunkin’ and Arby’s, while Starcom ended 2021 by wrestling McDonald’s $700 million account away from Omnicom. In total, Publicis Media won nearly $7 billion in new business, according to COMvergence’s 2021 new business report. When adding the accounts the group retained and lost, the net value of Publicis Media’s new business ranked first among the industry’s media groups. “We are truly living the Power of One, but it took us awhile to get there,” says Chris Boothe, chief operating officer, Publicis Media, referring to the collaborative strategy that Publicis Groupe has been using to pool resources across the holding company for six years. “But you really started to see that kick into high gear in late 2020 and 2021.” At the center of that charge stands Spark Foundry and its 16 new business wins. In fact, no media agency won more accounts last year than Adweek’s 2022 U.S. Media Agency of the Year. The agency has made significant investments in capabilities that clients desperately need guidance in, such as Web3 and commerce, and in understanding how to effectively put data to use. “We have the spirit of a startup and the soul of a powerhouse,” says Spark Foundry CEO Sarah Kramer. “That permeates through our behaviors and attitudes, and it's what allowed us to endure the pandemic in the way that we did to come out with such a strong 2021.” New business machine Spark Foundry's ingredients for new business success are simple: People. Power. Process. Kramer says two wins in particular—KFC and Meta—best represent Spark's pitch-winning recipe. Clients and consultants have told David Calkins, Spark Foundry’s chief growth officer, that its people are its greatest strength. “Having a diverse pitch team made up of different backgrounds, skill sets and perspectives is so incredibly important because it elevates our collective thinking for more strategic business-driving solutions,” Calkins says. Due to the Covid-19 omicron variant, KFC only had one chance to meet with the Spark Foundry team in person. When that meeting finally happened, KFC's new CMO, Nick Chavez, says there was instant trust and chemistry with Spark’s leadership. “We were blown away by their smarts, their heart and their capabilities,” Chavez says. Spark Foundry’s power comes from the Power of One strategy: When the agency pitches, clients understand there’s a massive agency network waiting in the wings, should they need services beyond what Spark can offer. And in a new age of consolidation, Publicis Groupe built its framework for this future. Due to the scope of the agency's responsibilities for Meta, the brand will likely utilize every capability Spark has to offer. Process looks different to every client at Spark, creating a unique path to solve each client’s business problems, Calkins explains. “The common denominator for most clients is that they are looking for strategic, business-focused solutions that combine both brand and performance activity,” Calkins says. KFC saw that immediately when the agency delivered what Chavez describes as unmatched consumer insights, which the agency was able to “bring to life and culture through a media plan and media buy” that he says were “very, very impressive.” New capabilities Spark also attracted so much client interest because of its forethought in building expertise in areas where marketers were likely to have significant knowledge gaps. The metaverse, for instance, is on most marketers' minds as brands look to stake their claim in Web3. As agencies race to equip themselves to advise clients on activating in the space, Meta is probably the best client an agency can have on its roster to show the industry it understands the metaverse. After all, Meta shifted its entire purpose in hopes of being the dominant player in Web3. While Spark Foundry excelled at the more traditional components of a media review and impressed Meta with its enthusiasm for the business, the agency also showed a keen ability to help the client understand consumers’ needs in the metaverse. Calkins says the agency has a team dedicated to Web3, enabling it to educate clients on activating in a “way that’s strategic and thoughtful for their business challenges and ... more importantly, their consumer.” For example, Spark is working with Meta to determine what consumers will find most interesting in the metaverse and virtual reality. In addition to helping transform Meta’s business, Spark Foundry has helped existing clients make their first forays into Web3 and NFTs. Kramer says the agency is evaluating ways to create monetization opportunities for brands in the metaverse and helping them not just have one-off executions, but to use the metaverse as “an ongoing new development in their innovation pipeline.” Key campaigns: Macy’s The iconic department store has embedded itself within several national holidays, including Christmas, Independence Day and Thanksgiving. With so many events steeped in tradition, Macy’s wanted to remain forward-looking with its marketing, says Francis Anderson, who leads strategy for Spark Foundry on the Macy’s account. To share that heritage with younger generations, it created the largest branded NFT giveaway to date, sharing 9,500 NFTs of Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons, which fans quickly gobbled up and started reselling, with 10% of the sales going to charity. In total, the campaign drove 562 million earned impressions. Campbell’s A single insight—that adults eat Goldfish crackers by the handful—led to billions of impressions on TikTok for Campbell’s. Ebony Jones, vp, content at Spark, says with that in mind, there was no one better to center a TikTok challenge around than Boban Marjanović, who has the largest hands in the NBA. The campaign, which also had a TV component, allowed the brand to engage with “new consumers in a new way that meaningfully changed their perception of our brand,” says Janda Lukin, CMO at Campbell Snacks. As a result of the campaign, the brand effectively reached its target audience (adults without kids), drove 12 billion video views and increased sales 14%. Wendy’s One of Spark Foundry’s greatest strengths is its relationships with media partners like WarnerMedia, says Wendy’s CMO Carl Loredo. The agency capitalized on the network’s IP, creating a Rick and Morty-themed drive-thru in Los Angeles to celebrate the launch of new limited-edition Coca-Cola flavors Mello Yellow Portal Time Lemonade and Berry Jerryboree. Customers waited in a line of cars for nine hours to experience the activation, creating organic videos on TikTok and Twitter that were viewed almost 60 million times. Web3 in the wild Before Spark won the Meta pitch, the agency had cut its teeth on NFTs with clients like Macy’s and Campbell’s on projects that revived iconic portions of their brands in Web3. For instance, Andy Warhol’s painting of the Campbell’s soup can is a defining moment in pop art history. When Campbell’s redesigned its timeless packaging, the brand sought a modern way to celebrate it while paying homage to Warhol's work. Enter Spark Foundry and its innovative thinking. The agency commissioned artist Sophia Chang to develop pop art NFTs of the new can. The brand tapped into drop culture, becoming the first company to drop branded NFTs on Ntwrk, a mobile-first live shopping platform. The proceeds from the NFTs went to Feed America and provided 165,000 meals for families in need. In total, the campaign drove 800 million impressions, with 100 million coming on social alone. Macy’s had what Tim Stalker, vp of communications planning, strategic initiatives and media, calls a “cold start problem.” That is, Macy’s had no NFTs, and there was no demand for Macy’s NFTs. So Spark created both. Using Macy’s classic parade balloons, the agency gave away 9,500 NFTs to celebrate the 95th anniversary of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Users claimed every last NFT within 45 minutes and began reselling them, creating a market for the NFTs. With each transaction, 10% of the proceeds went to Make-a-Wish, generating $300,000 for the charity. Navigating networks for retail media In addition to Web3, Kramer says, retail media networks have been top of mind for marketers, especially in the CPG space. As retailers add such networks left and right—even Dollar Tree has one—Spark Foundry has raced to build teams that can dissect each one, learning their ins and outs, strengths and weaknesses. The agency hired April Carlisle, who brought critical prior CPG experience at Coca-Cola and P&G, as its evp of commerce to lead the specialized practice and ensure "that areas like commerce are woven into the way we think about our end-to-end planning approach," Kramer says. Kramer views the agency's commerce group, which saw a 22% increase in revenue in 2021, as a significant competitive advantage. Cultural fluency Spark Foundry’s expanding capabilities work hand in hand with its success at identifying audiences through cultural fluency—or intentionally inclusive mass marketing. “The reason cultural fluency sits at the center of Spark and everything that we do is in recognition that diversity and inclusion in terms of [different] demographics and communities of people are growing every day,” says E.T. Franklin, chief strategy and cultural fluency officer at Spark Foundry. As Franklin explains, cultural fluency extends beyond race and includes age, gender, ability, religion, ancestral ties, orientation and military service. Key wins: Spark Foundry won 16 accounts, including Dreyer's, H-E-B, Humana, KFC, Labcorp, Logitech, Meta, Regal, Sally Beauty, WGN America and Wingstop. Losses: None. Strategic moves: Appointed Sarah Kramer as CEO; hired April Carlisle as evp, commerce, and Jason Smith as president, diversified investments. Revenue: In 2021, Spark Foundry had a 20% year-over-year increase in annualized billings and returned to growth beyond pre-pandemic levels. “Spark provides a huge number of insights in multicultural audiences," says Jon Halvorson, global svp, consumer experience at Mondelēz International. “They have a formidable buying group in that space that really fuels that model.” During the past year, Spark has increased its clients’ investment in diverse audiences and with diverse media suppliers by 31% year over year. Additionally, Spark and Publicis Media launched the “Once and for All Coalition” to align more than 30 brands, 30 minority-owned or targeted suppliers and multiple industry trade groups to devise solutions that ensure equity in media spend. Spark’s ability to develop new cohorts based on consumers’ engagement has proved invaluable for longtime client Wendy’s. CMO Carl Loredo explains that Spark, using capabilities of Publicis’ data arm Epsilon, has helped the brand with its day-to-day execution and thinking strategically in the long term. “Spark has really helped us a lot in where should we invest, how should we invest and, ultimately, how we can be smart in our one-to-one engagements,” Loredo says. Spark Foundry’s penchant for mixing all the ingredients of a successful media agency, including precision targeting and adding new in-demand capabilities, has fueled growth through not only new business but also expanded relationships with current clients. (Spark grew 51% of its 108 accounts in 2021.) Billings were up 20% in 2021, and the agency expects to return to pre-pandemic growth in 2022. Such success has fueled a culture that's kept leaders like Boothe, Kramer and Franklin at Spark Foundry and Publicis Groupe for 92 years combined, while Calkins is a boomerang employee who returned to the agency in 2017 after a decade away. “When you walk into a Spark office, when you work with Spark employees and teammates, you have such incredible trust and respect for each other,” Calkins says. “It's just not like any other agency that I've been at.”

Media Agency of the Year

US Media Agency of the Year Spark Foundry's New Business Machine Powered a Monster Year

The Publicis Groupe shop nabbed Meta, KFC and more than a dozen other clients

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