The Unrelenting Pursuit of Better
Setting An Agency Vision
The Challenge:
In 2016, Wasserman wasn’t the global powerhouse it is today. Rapid acquisitions had created a fragmented agency—divisions operating in silos, competing against each other instead of working together. The talent was there, the services were there, but the agency lacked a unifying vision.
I joined in early 2017, stepping into an organization that had just suffered a series of high-profile pitch losses coupled with underwhelming revenue and EBITDA performance. My mission was clear: stop the losing streak and build a shared vision that would unite the agency.
The Idea:
The Strategy:
For a month, I went all in—meeting with as many people as possible, from department heads to associate directors and everyone in between, understanding their divisions, their goals, their challenges. The potential for success was obvious, but it wasn’t being leveraged.
By focusing on the fundamentals—getting the right people involved at the right time on the right projects—we could turn the tide. It wasn’t about reinventing the agency. It was about making everyone realize that their best work could only be achieved through collaboration.
The Manifesto:
The Execution:
The agency was already being invited to large, integrated RFP’s, and our new vision—paired with a complete overhaul of the pitch process—started to convert. The Unrelenting Pursuit of Better got underneath everyone’s skin and as a result into their everyday work, as team members started to assimilate their contributions through its lens. What we started to see was the systematic death of the status quo. Approaches, insights, strategies, creative and design all began to noticeably improve. And as they did, we converted AT&T, Target, Wells Fargo, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, Microsoft, GoDaddy and The NBA, amongst others.
In time, The Unrelenting Pursuit of Better was replaced. The agency needed new coordinates to chart its future. But for the first four years of my tenure as Executive Creative Director, this positioning was a game-changer—fueling our growth, sharpening our competitive edge, and taking Wasserman exactly where it wanted to go.
This agency vision was supported with a rejuvenation to every visual aspect of the brand. We dug into our design language to create our arsenal of distinctive codes. To this day, this design language is still in play at Wasserman.
The Results:
15 out of 19
New business opportunities converted in the first year.
$17M+
Total revenue of Creative Dept
in five years - up from $0
Wasserman became Agency of Record for AT&T, Wells Fargo, Microsoft, Molson Coors.