This Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Agency Has a 40-Pound Pig Roaming Its Halls

Specs

Who Founder Ed Mitzen, strategists Michelle Olson and Andy Pyfer

What Fingerpaint, a full-service creative agency

Where Headquartered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., with offices in Albany, N.Y., Scottsdale, Ariz., and Villanova, Pa.

Headquartered inside a defunct Border's bookstore in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., full-service creative agency Fingerpaint is a bit "nontraditional," said founder Ed Mitzen, who counts GE, Disney and Saratoga Spring Water as clients. For one thing, there's a 40-pound office pig named Stunner roaming around. Like many independent shops, Fingerpaint allows its 120 employees to bring their pets to its offices and that's how Stunner found a place in the mix. But Mitzen, who founded the shop in 2008, wanted to shake up the agency structure, too. "We don't have titles and we don't have offices and everyone owns stock in the company; it's a very collaborative environment," he explained.

The laid-back culture seems to seep into the agency's work, too. When promoting Ted 2 for Universal Pictures in Phoenix last year, the shop set up a bar crawl with the titular bear. A few hours of grassroots outreach attracted 1,000 fans eager to take photos with the plushy star and upload them to social media using #TedInPhx.

This story first appeared in the Oct. 5 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.