Agencies of the Future

President & CEO of Double Forte Lee Caraher shares how simplicity and transparency have built love and loyalty for her agency amongst clients and employees alike. The agency is built to solve business problems through communications and they make sure every assignment stays true to that. After George Floyd’s murder last summer, she and her colleagues brought the same focus and tenacity to tackling their DE&I problem.  Listen and learn how they worked together to tackle this business problem.

In this episode, Kathy Bloomgarden, CEO of RuderFinn, shares her passion for serving clients and the constant learning that entails. Staunchly optimistic, Kathy has adopted a mantra of “What’s Next?” for the business.  She keeps the entire RF team focused on learning versus languishing and has committed to initiatives like Tech Lab and weekly reports to the leadership team to remain future-focused. Listen and learn more about how Ruder Finn will remain one of the world’s most successful agencies.

H&S is a small agency that delivers for big clients. Founder and CEO Elizabeth Harrison attributes some of this success to long-term efforts to ensure their staff represents their clients' diverse audiences. Today, the firm boasts a leadership team that is 70% diverse and has attracted and retained diverse talent at all levels. In this podcast, Elizabeth shares keys to success, which include being intentional about creating positive experiences for diverse employees.

Founder and CEO of Imre, Dave Imre says his idea of a successful agency is one where you are happy to see your colleagues every single day. But COVID and the racial justice movement forced this agency to rethink everything to take care of their employees. Listen and learn how Imre reengineered employee processes and offerings to continue an aggressive growth path and keep everyone smiling when they see each other -- be it in the office or over Zoom. 

Challenging times often expedite innovation and that’s what’s happened with IPG’s PR firms and the industry overall, according to Andy Polansky, Chairman and Chief Executive at the newly branded IPG DXTRA and Executive Chairman at Weber Shandwick. The organization he helms is built to provide clients with the expertise they need, when and where they need it. Culture and diversity are required to make it all work and that’s long been a focus at IPG, according to Andy. Listen in to learn more.

This time last year, who could have known how appropriate and necessary Teneshia’s new book would be? Published in November 2019, The Big Stretch provides step-by-step guidance for dreaming big and converting those thoughts and ideas into successes.  In this episode, Teneshia shares how she and her team put the principles in her book to work to drive winning outcomes for the agency and its clients through COVID-19, the economic downfall and the racial justice movement.

After his agency’s successful first decade in business, Kim Hunter celebrated by launching The LAGRANT Foundation (TLF) to provide financial support, mentorship, professional development workshops and employment opportunities to ethnic minority students entering the fields of advertising, PR and marketing. Twenty years later (Happy 30th LAGRANT Communications!), Kim and TLF have helped hundreds of students enter the field of communications. Through the agency, TLF, and his recruiting firm, which specializes in placing minorities in senior communications roles, Kim shares his insights into how the industry can be more successful in attracting and retaining diverse talent. 

As 2020 comes to a close, winners are becoming clear. AnnaMaria DeSalva, Chairman and CEO of H+K Strategies, isn’t going to claim victory but she does acknowledge that 2020 events accelerated the strategy she put in place upon taking the reins in 2019. Learn more about how her team leveraged their global network and heritage in issues and reputation management to deliver for employees, clients and their holding company. AnnaMaria also shares future bets she’s placing, including a strong focus on global DE&I.

A social awakening has put diverse audiences and diverse agencies in the spotlight. “It’s about time,” says Natalie Boden, founder and CEO of the Boden Agency. “The future is going to be about culturally rich communications.” Learn more about communications that speak to cultural truths of diverse communities 365 days a year – not just during special recognition months – as well as hear some truth spoken about how this super successful mother of three tries to be good to herself.

According to Melissa Waggener Zorkin, global CEO and founder of WE Communications, moving people to positive action has long been the global firm’s mission and the decades-long tenure of many employees and clients is proof positive.  Continuous reinvention and a laser-sharp focus on people and purpose over profit have been guiding principles for Waggener Zorkin and took her from a simple conviction that technology would change the world to becoming one of the world’s largest communications agencies.