00:00:00:02 – 00:00:18:29
Unknown
We were moving from art directors doing everything by hand to doing everything on a computer, and I can remember a very well respected older gentleman. He was one of the creative directors there who was adamant that he was not going to use a computer, that he was going to keep doing things with his sketch pen and all of the other things.

00:00:19:00 – 00:00:44:15
Unknown
Well, you know what? Six months later, we had a retirement party for him. All we can do is show our employees the power of AI and how it actually makes them better at their job, and lets them do more of the work that we all love to do, that deep strategic thinking. And if they’re not willing to embrace it, if they’re not willing to experiment with it, they’re not willing to be open to the fact that maybe it’s a tool that would make them better at their job.

00:00:44:16 – 00:01:07:20
Unknown
Then very quickly, they’re going to become obsolete, and we will be having retirement parties for them to. On Creative Assembly’s The Spark podcast. Our mission is to amplify Nashville’s diverse creative voices, foster growth, who shared journeys and inspire a city that thrives on collaboration. And now, here’s the spark. Welcome back to The spark. I’m your host, Marc Scrivener.

00:01:07:20 – 00:01:38:18
Unknown
And today I’m joined by a very special guest, great friend, drew McClellan. He’s with the Agency Management Institute and the Build a Better Agency podcast, which is the number one agency podcast in the world. He also runs a big conference for agency owners out in Denver every year in May. It’s called the Build a Better Agency Summit, and today we’re going to dig into a lot of research and a report that he releases at the summit every year.

00:01:38:18 – 00:02:01:21
Unknown
So, you know, our audience is going to be privy to some information that most people have to go to the conference. And I’m very thankful, drew, that you’re on the show and get to help us learn about what’s happening in the agency world. I’m glad to be back. Thanks for having me. Yeah. Well, drew, let’s maybe just talk a little bit about the build of editor Agency Summit.

00:02:01:22 – 00:02:27:20
Unknown
Some of the research, maybe that you know, that you’ve dug into and what maybe give us. What’s the big headline this year? The big headline this year is that for agencies this is a year of of and this sounds ridiculous because everybody knows it. But it’s a year of great change. And what’s going to happen is I think it is a moment of reflection and decision for a lot of agency owners.

00:02:27:20 – 00:02:47:02
Unknown
So the summit is focused on really future proofing your agency and recognizing that if your agency is going to be around 3 to 5 years from now, it is not going to look like what it looks like today. So we have some big decisions to make. Yeah. What, you know, I guess what surprised you the most out of this year’s data?

00:02:47:03 – 00:03:23:17
Unknown
Anything. There’s always surprises. So some of the surprises are how intolerant clients are getting around some of the behaviors that agencies have lived on for years. So I’ll give you a great example. They don’t want account people to be order takers. They really need as AI comes in and we can do all kinds of things through those tools that we used to either do in-house or with an agency, where they really perceive the value of a human being, of an agency is around strategy.

00:03:23:17 – 00:03:48:25
Unknown
And so having an account service person who is kind of just taking the order, like, hey, this is what I think I want to do. Who’s not pushing back? Who’s not asking questions, who’s not bringing them new ideas? Their tolerance for that is getting smaller and shorter, for sure. Yeah. So the agencies that show up for a call and they’re just checking the box on a checklist of here’s all the tactics and here’s the projects.

00:03:48:25 – 00:04:18:10
Unknown
Let me run you through what we’re working on and where we’re at with everything. But isn’t bringing a strategic value and insight a point of view to those conversations? The value of those kinds of people is diminishing really rapidly. Yeah, well, we’ve got a lot of stuff going on in the world today, and I guess, you know, a lot of things that affect agencies, you know, are we looking healthy right now, or do you feel like we’re in a little bit of a correction?

00:04:18:17 – 00:04:43:10
Unknown
I think it’s both I think the correction is that if you’re not continuing to evolve, the long term opportunity for your agency is getting shorter and shorter. And so in some ways it’s a correction, which is clients aren’t tolerating what we’ve put on the table in the past. But I think the opportunity is for the agencies that evolve.

00:04:43:10 – 00:05:10:21
Unknown
So when we look at the agencies inside the Army community, the reality is 70% of agencies grew in 2025. So it’s still clearly there’s an uptick to the opportunity. Most agencies inside our world, you know, we see the financials of 300 or so agencies. Most of them were somewhere between 16 and 18% profitability. And they’re predicting and projecting 20% profitability for 2026.

00:05:10:21 – 00:05:35:17
Unknown
So again, there’s a lot of good opportunity out there if you are willing to evolve. Yeah. What is I mean, I’m sure there’s probably agency owners that are listening to the podcast and they’re at 0 to 5, 10%. Like what? What do you think those higher performing agencies that 75%, what are they doing different? I think they’re doing several things different.

00:05:35:18 – 00:05:59:08
Unknown
Number one, without exception, they have narrowed down their focus and they are niched in some way. So the the large generalist, we do everything for the butcher, baker and candlestick maker. Those agencies are really struggling to even put double digit profitability on the table, let alone getting close to 20%. Clients expect us to understand their business and they want a specialist.

00:05:59:08 – 00:06:21:20
Unknown
So that’s number one. Number two, they’re investing in professional development. They’ve got good people. A lot of agencies have said to me, you know what, I’ve got one of the best teams I’ve ever had, but that you cannot allow that good team to be stagnant. There’s just too much that’s changing in our world that if you’re not continually educating your team and helping them get better, that’s a problem.

00:06:21:20 – 00:06:50:28
Unknown
And employees tell us that their expectations is, hey, I expect you agency owner, to pay me a healthy wage and help me develop skills for my future. And if you’re not doing both of those, I probably am not going to stay very long. So it’s both a retention strategy and also a leveling up strategy. The third thing they’re doing is they are baking AI into operationally how they do their work.

00:06:50:28 – 00:07:12:17
Unknown
So it’s not so much about using AI to to put together client deliverables, although a lot of agencies are doing that too. But it’s really about running my business more efficiently, more effectively by using AI tools. And the last thing they’re doing is that they are recognizing that they cannot live on the feast and famine of new business.

00:07:12:18 – 00:07:36:19
Unknown
They have to build a new business machine where they’re doing activity every single day. We actually released a new product or a new service last year called the Sales Momentum Learning Lab, where every week agency owners who subscribe to this service are getting very specific things they need to do around new business, around five different sort of core audiences, and then they are actually being held accountable.

00:07:36:19 – 00:07:55:19
Unknown
They have to email me every Friday and tell me what they did, and then I give them some feedback. But what we’re seeing is when they start systemizing what they’re doing and when they’re actively doing new business every single week, which you know, is really hard to do when you’re busy and onboarding a new client or whatever it may be.

00:07:55:20 – 00:08:20:18
Unknown
It’s so easy to be distracted, but the ones that are systematizing new business so that they’re constantly filling the pipeline, those are the activities that are putting 20% profit to the bottom line. Yeah. Well, I know that you’re Build a Better Agency podcast reaches thousands of agency owners all around the globe. So it’s not just, you know, something in Colorado or, you know, the US.

00:08:20:18 – 00:08:46:02
Unknown
And I know you’re reaching a lot of people, a lot of agency owners. What what are you hearing today that agency owners are the most worried about? I think there are three things that right now are, you know, as as the catch phrase is, are keeping agency owners up at night. Number one, I think they’re worried about clients taking a lot of work in-house, whether it’s with freelancers, an in-house team or AI.

00:08:46:04 – 00:09:12:07
Unknown
Number two, I think a lot of them are worried about the fact that AI can sort of minimize or marginalize work that they have historically at a high margin in doing. And number three, I think in general, you think about the economy and the world economy right now, and there’s it’s sort of where like a caution light all the time, like it’s we’re not really sure what’s going to happen next with the economy.

00:09:12:07 – 00:09:26:28
Unknown
And that’s completely out of our control as agency owners. So I think it’s those those are the big three worries right now. Are my clients going to take it in house if they’re going to continue to let me do the work? Are they going to ask me to lower my prices because they think AI can do it faster, better?

00:09:26:28 – 00:09:53:07
Unknown
And three, I have no control over the economy. And so the sales cycle is longer because clients are slowing down their decision making because they’re anxious. Yeah. What are some of the the bigger blind spots that maybe agency owners or, you know, or that you’re seeing with agencies? The biggest blind spot is that we have time. We really don’t have like we we must begin the evolution.

00:09:53:07 – 00:10:17:24
Unknown
Now, I’m not saying you have to completely wholesale change your agency, but you don’t have another 2 or 3 years to watch and wait and see what happens with technology or AI or the economy. You do need to start making some changes and recognizing what clients are really asking for. And so not only do we have this trends report, but at the summit, we will also walk through every year.

00:10:17:24 – 00:10:37:16
Unknown
For the last 14 years, we’ve done research that we call the agency edge. And every year we talked to people who hire agencies about some aspect of that relationship. And last year in 2025, we talked about sort of, hey, clients, how are you using AI? How do you think your agencies are using AI and what do you want from them?

00:10:37:17 – 00:10:56:17
Unknown
And this year, the focus, which will unveil all of this research at the summit this year, it was really about, hey, client given AI’s place in the world, what do you think the what do you think you’re going to need and want from agencies in the future? And we asked them to project out what they thought they were going to buy three and five years from now.

00:10:56:18 – 00:11:20:04
Unknown
And it’s dramatically different than what we’re selling now. And so we have to, as a business, begin to move on the path towards what they think is valuable about us. Otherwise, what we have to sell is not going to be sought after. Well, I know that, you know, we’ll be air in this podcast after the Build a Better Agency summit, where you unveil all of that.

00:11:20:04 – 00:11:38:29
Unknown
But like, what are some of the big headlines that you’ve learned from that report? Yeah, the big one is when we so we gave them in the in the survey, we said, what are the top three things that you believe you’ll buy from agencies. So again we really limited their choices. So they had to be really judicious about what they picked.

00:11:38:29 – 00:12:07:14
Unknown
And and by a 20% margin, the number one answer was AI implementation and governance inside my organization. So not you using AI on my behalf. It’s you coming into my organization and setting up AI for me and then helping me set compliance and governance around that. That was the response. That was the number one response. It was 52% of the respondents.

00:12:07:14 – 00:12:32:03
Unknown
So over half that was the number one thing. They know they’re going to buy from agencies. And the next answer down was 20 points lower. So if you as an agency are not capable of walking into a client today and helping them assess what their AI needs are, what their AI boundaries are, how AI can serve them, and by the way, not just in marketing, but in in their entire organization.

00:12:32:06 – 00:12:57:25
Unknown
If you can’t do that, understand that the number one thing that clients want to buy, that 52% of clients want to buy, you don’t have on, you don’t have on the menu for them to order. That to me is pretty significant. Yeah, I know we briefly talked about, even if you can’t do it building an ecosystem around you as an agency, that you can go offer other partners.

00:12:57:27 – 00:13:21:03
Unknown
Absolutely. Tools. They want you to bring them. The solution, whether it’s you are the solution or a partner, is the solution less important to them? But think about it. If you’re if you are working with a client and you’re helping them build that AI infrastructure inside their organization, think about how sticky that makes you as an agency. You know, we always worry about how long am I going to keep the client?

00:13:21:04 – 00:13:54:02
Unknown
Everybody else is chasing after my clients, especially if you’re a project shop. I have to keep reselling them. But when you when you offer something like that, that is an ongoing service that continues to add more value. Your value proposition increases naturally. Yeah. You mentioned earlier about, you know, just speed. Like we don’t have the time. And I’ve heard that to on some of your podcasts just about how clients expect things faster than they’ve ever expected it before with AI.

00:13:54:04 – 00:14:22:28
Unknown
And I guess other than speed, what are some of the other client expectations that maybe are changing right now? So I think I think here’s what here’s the client recipe. Here’s what they want. They a they want you to understand their business. So they want you niched in what they do okay. Right. Number two they want whoever is their point person, their account service person to be a subject matter expert in their industry and be that business advisor and thought partner.

00:14:22:29 – 00:14:47:12
Unknown
Right. That I can I can have a conversation with my account service person, whatever, whatever title you give them. That is an elevated business conversation. And by the way, not only that I can initiate that conversation, but that they’re initiating those conversations with me. They’re saying, hey, have you noticed this trend in your industry? We’re tracking this trend, or we’re seeing your competitor do that?

00:14:47:12 – 00:15:16:01
Unknown
So that’s number two. Number three, they expect you to be an AI expert and expert in terms of how you’re using AI under your roof to serve them. But also, as we were just talking about how they can use AI under their roof, but they want you to be the architect of that. Number three, one of the things that we’re seeing in studies like the Edelman Trust Barometer and other things are world is more and more distrustful right now.

00:15:16:02 – 00:15:38:04
Unknown
We struggle to have confidence and trust in others. So transparency around billing and things like that become really critical that we are a trusted partner, that they never have to worry if something isn’t quite on the up and up. And I would say the last thing that they’re looking for is for most of us, we are not working with the business owner.

00:15:38:05 – 00:16:04:01
Unknown
We’re working with a CMO or a VP of marketing. They have to justify how they spend the money of the business they work for. So they need metrics and measurement and dashboards that are built for the C-suite for them to understand so that they can justify that we’re the right partner and we’re delivering the results that they want to have delivered for the dollars they’re spending.

00:16:04:01 – 00:16:29:09
Unknown
That’s that’s the package they’re looking for. And we as a business, have to be able to deliver on all of those. Yeah. You know, I know we’ve talked about this in the past through about, you know, midsize you know, companies actually moving away from some of the big holding company agencies and going to really like your audience, which is the small to midsize agencies out there.

00:16:29:09 – 00:16:51:15
Unknown
And I guess, you know, talk a little bit about that, like what you’re seeing, because I know it’s it’s probably speeding up pretty quickly on just, you know, midsize companies moving to a smaller to midsize agency. So there’s been more M&A activity inside the agency space in the last couple of years than there has been in the last decade.

00:16:51:15 – 00:17:16:15
Unknown
Over $50 billion was spent in consolidation and agencies buying and being bought. And what we’ve been seeing, and if you’re reading at age or Adweek, what you’re seeing is a lot of the big holding companies buying other holding companies or buying larger independents and sucking them up into the holding companies. From the CMO perspective, what that means is a couple of things.

00:17:16:16 – 00:17:56:01
Unknown
Number one, they’re getting more and more homogeneous, right? They as they get bigger, they’re less specialized. They aren’t a niche agency anymore. Now they’re serving the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker. And if I’m a smaller fish in their pond, then I’m getting the B team. I’m getting the kids, the 23 year olds. So what we’re seeing is a lot of sort of mid-sized mid-market companies are walking away from the larger sort of name brand holding companies and are willing to be open to the idea of working with a smaller, independent agency because that agency checks those boxes.

00:17:56:01 – 00:18:26:27
Unknown
It does have the specialty expertise of their industry. They are going to get a more senior team. They are going to get the attention that they want, and they’re going to be a bigger fish in that agency’s pond, which means that they’re going to get more attention in time. And so the opportunity for independent agencies right now is probably never been better to kind of reach kind of punch above their weight and to earn clients that are bigger, perhaps, than they’ve ever had before, because those clients are dissatisfied with the opportunities at the holding company level.

00:18:26:27 – 00:18:55:07
Unknown
And so, again, for the agencies that are willing to evolve and sort of mature up to the future of what an agency looks like, there’s nothing but upside right now. I believe that for most agencies. So I believe it’s I believe there’s two things. One, I think we’ll see fewer agencies a year from now or two years from now than we have today, but the agencies that survive are going to be healthier and more profitable than they’ve ever been before.

00:18:55:07 – 00:19:24:09
Unknown
So it really is a decision for every agency owner to make, which is, do I have enough gas in my tank to evolve my agency to the agency of the future? And if you do, it’s a great time to own an agency. Yeah, yeah. You know, I know we’ve touched on AI and I guess, you know, just as you as you look across all your, like, agencies, like our clients starting to question whether or not they even need an agency.

00:19:24:11 – 00:19:51:00
Unknown
I think what they are questioning is, do I need this vendor who, who sells me stuff that AI can now make that I think they are questioning that what they’re not questioning, and in fact, what they are increasingly valuing is I need a human being who can connect the dots in a way that AI cannot. I need that thinking partner.

00:19:51:00 – 00:20:13:23
Unknown
I need that strategic advisor. I need that Sherpa to guide me into the future. And I also want somebody who does all of that, but uses AI appropriately to make me smarter and to make themselves smarter, to have better strategy. But they recognize that one of the limitations of AI is that it regurgitates what it’s already been fed.

00:20:13:23 – 00:20:49:29
Unknown
But it’s not the generator of new ideas. It’s not the generator of new connections between dots that seem disparate. So I believe what they’re saying is I want an elevated relationship with an agency who can sit at the C-suite table or the strategy table and help me really think about my business, study what my competitors are doing, anticipate what the world is going to bring, and then help me make the right choices to try and take advantage of all of these new opportunities that are presenting themselves in the marketplace.

00:20:50:02 – 00:21:05:25
Unknown
I think that’s what every agency owner said to me. I’m tired of being treated like a vendor. I want to be treated like a partner. Well, now is the time to kind of put your money where your mouth is. If that’s really who you want to be, then evolve your agency so you can be that because that’s what they want to buy.

00:21:05:29 – 00:21:33:22
Unknown
Yeah. Are you are you still shocked that like agencies, even though you’re talking a lot about AI and the some it’s going to be, you know, heavily around AI when you go to any conference there? We’re talking about AI and still and I’ve met so many great agency owners through Army over the years and, and then met a lot here in Nashville that some are still hesitant of.

00:21:33:24 – 00:22:06:28
Unknown
We wouldn’t use AI or we only use it for these basic uses. Our you still sometimes like shock that that’s the case. I am surprised at how hesitant many agencies have been about going beyond sort of the basic ChatGPT create a bot. You know, I think about some of the interesting things your agency is doing with lots of different tools to automate intelligence so that you are being constantly fed the best new trends.

00:22:06:28 – 00:22:25:07
Unknown
And even, you know, one of the things that you’re doing, which I don’t see a lot of agencies do, is like reviewing your meetings and coaching you on how to be better for clients and for each other. So there’s so many what feels to me like table stakes, things we could be doing with AI that a lot of agencies are not.

00:22:25:10 – 00:22:50:27
Unknown
Most agencies are not where your agency is at. Most agencies are. Maybe they’re using chat, maybe they’re using Claude to do a little bit of writing. But they’re really not automating things. They’re not really building. The opportunity is to create AI employees, in essence, that have a specific responsibility and role that serve the rest of the team. I don’t see a lot of that.

00:22:50:27 – 00:23:22:11
Unknown
I see a lot of people using it for research. I see a lot of people using it to mine their own RFP responses to write a new RFP response. I see a lot of that sort of what to me feels like very basic level activity, but I don’t see people actually thinking about how can this actually be the equivalent of a human being who’s working 24 over seven on my behalf in some specialized capacity, and we have to get there?

00:23:22:15 – 00:23:53:25
Unknown
Yeah, yeah. You know, just I know I’ve heard it on your podcast and others about, you know, it has to be cold and, you know, you have to like we see as have to make a huge effort in the learning it rolling it out to the team. You know. And we’ve I feel like I try to do a really good job but but still there is like you know there’s still a fear of you know is Marc or any other agency owner.

00:23:53:27 – 00:24:14:16
Unknown
They trying to replace me. And you know, even though we stress it so much of like we want you to have more time back one for your family, for the, you know, for our clients of where can we lean in on strategy. But no matter how much you talk about it, I’m sure you still see that out there.

00:24:14:16 – 00:24:44:25
Unknown
What is what’s maybe a best practice you’ve seen of rolling this out to your team in a way that they all completely embrace it? I don’t know that you can make someone embrace it. Yeah, I think you can. I think you can set the example. I think you can show. I think you can build out processes and tools and bots to do things that are that repetitive task that, frankly, in most agencies, nobody wants to do anyway.

00:24:44:27 – 00:25:21:17
Unknown
But and that give you more. That’s I think, the part that a lot of employees don’t understand is that the whole point of AI is not to to diminish what I do, it’s actually to give me more so I can do better. And at some point in time, I can remember way back in the day, I was very young in my career, and this will age me a little bit, but we were moving from art directors doing everything by hand to doing everything on a computer, and I was with inner at the time, and I can remember a very well respected older gentleman.

00:25:21:17 – 00:25:50:09
Unknown
He was one of the creative directors there who was adamant that he was not going to use a computer, that he was going to keep doing things with his sketch pen and all of the other things. Well, you know what? Six months later we had a retirement party for him. And I think that’s I think that’s what we’re getting to, is all we can do is show our employees the power of AI and how it actually makes them better at their job, and lets them do more of the work that we all love to do, that deep strategic thinking.

00:25:50:09 – 00:26:11:05
Unknown
And like that’s the that’s the juicy part of our work. But if they’re not willing to embrace it, if they’re not willing to experiment with it, they’re not willing to be open to the fact that maybe it’s a tool that would make them better at their job. Then very quickly, they’re going to become obsolete, and we will be having retirement parties for them to.

00:26:11:08 – 00:26:39:25
Unknown
That’s the reality. You know, drew, you touched a little bit on pricing. And I remember last year at the at the summit, you released your study, and I can’t remember the exact number, but I think it was like number 37 on the list was the clients actually want you to decrease prices because you’re using AI. What do you what do you see in today from like a pricing profitability.

00:26:39:27 – 00:27:05:02
Unknown
So so you’re referencing the Agency Edge study from 2025 which in your show notes, I’ll make sure you have a link so people can download that. And then I’ll get you the link to download the 26 study as well. But in that study we said if your agency is using AI, what do you want out of that? And you’re right down like way, way down like the 36th most common response was cheaper prices for my agency.

00:27:05:10 – 00:27:33:29
Unknown
So we asked that question again in 2026 and the numbers did not change. Clients aren’t looking for cheaper. They’re looking for faster and better. That’s what they care about. And so as long as we deliver faster and better, there is no reason why we will have to compromise on price. Yeah. Is there? I know we’ve touched on a little bit, but is there like just one hard truth that agency owners don’t want to face right now?

00:27:34:01 – 00:28:05:13
Unknown
If you are a generalist agency that mostly sells execution, you have to understand that your days are numbered. Yeah, that’s the hard truth that if that’s really what you bring to the party, that between freelancers and AI and international talent, any client can get that teacher. And as fast and frankly, within their scope of the ability to discern quality just as good.

00:28:05:13 – 00:28:25:12
Unknown
And so if you’re not willing to specialize and if you’re not willing to sort of level up your strategy game, odds are you have a limited lifespan. That’s that’s the hard truth. And that gets back to me saying, I do think we’ll have fewer agencies because there are a lot of agencies that that’s what they do, right? They they sell the execution.

00:28:25:12 – 00:28:53:17
Unknown
In fact, they give away the strategy to get the execution work. And agencies that behave on that model going to be obsolete. Yeah. Well, you know, I know a lot of the agency owners that are or most of the agency owners that are in your org are all trying to scale. They’re all trying to grow, get better. And I guess is there a big mistake, maybe that you see that there that other agencies are making when they’re trying to grow?

00:28:53:18 – 00:29:16:19
Unknown
Like, what is that? I think one of the biggest I think I think there are two mistakes, and we’ve talked about both of them in a different context. Number one is not. So they try and grow horizontally rather than vertically. In other words, I am a PR agency and now I’m going to offer content and SEO and PPC and ad campaigns.

00:29:16:19 – 00:29:41:13
Unknown
So they’re trying to grow horizontally as opposed to I’m going to grow vertically, which means I’m going to be more valuable to a specialty audience with my niche. I’m like, I’m going to know more about them than anybody else so that I can help them in a deeper, more meaningful way. That’s mistake number one. And number two is that they are not investing in continuing to level up their talent.

00:29:41:13 – 00:30:07:15
Unknown
So professional development for your A players is mission critical. A if you want to keep them. And B they have to keep getting better to stay relevant. So if I were an agency owner today, based on everything you’ve told me today and help me fill in the gaps if I miss anything, but the first thing would be to find the niche and niche down.

00:30:07:16 – 00:30:42:04
Unknown
Become the subject matter expert in whatever industry vertical you’re selling into. You know, then it’s to embrace the AI and to not only utilize it for your own operations and to improve your your organization, but also how can I leverage this to go to my clients to do better work? Yep. Right. It’s to like be able to produce better, higher quality work faster than you’ve ever done in the past or that any other agencies done in the past.

00:30:42:05 – 00:31:12:26
Unknown
It’s to and charge a premium for it. Okay. Right. Yeah. I mean, that’s part of it too, because we still have to run profitable business. And when we deliver at that level, when you when you think of me as a specialist and I deliver better work faster and worth more. Yeah, yeah. And then the team development is to continually like learn yourself, but also to continually develop your team into better in each of their niches within the agency.

00:31:12:27 – 00:31:33:13
Unknown
Yeah. And I think the thing you have to think about with employees is you have to treat them all fairly. But that doesn’t mean equally. So some of your employees show up and they punch in and they punch out, and it’s a job. And other employees show up and it’s their career and they’re they’re investing their own time on their own time in their own dime to learn how to get better.

00:31:33:15 – 00:31:54:10
Unknown
Those are the employees that you want to double down on, and you want to invest your time and your dime on making them better so that they stay and they keep adding exponential value to your clients. Yeah, right. I mean, that’s the key is that your a players want to keep getting better and that’s a shared responsibility and a shared opportunity.

00:31:54:13 – 00:32:27:21
Unknown
Yeah. You know drew I mean it’s been fabulous. I’m I know we’re going to I’m going to ask you a few rapid fire questions. But also like maybe is there anything that I didn’t ask you that maybe you think the audience ought to know? I think one of the interesting things, and it is the focus of my keynote for the summit, is we talk a lot about what we have to do different, and we talk a lot about how we have to do different, but we’re not really talking about who, who, how do we have to show up as leaders, as agency owners?

00:32:27:21 – 00:32:52:09
Unknown
How do we have to be different to lead our team into this new evolution of agencies? And how are how are some of our habits and our behaviors? For example, if you’ve been in the business a long time, you’re used to being the expert like you had all the answers. Well, the reality is today, with every corner, there’s going to be something new that you and I have.

00:32:52:10 – 00:33:18:11
Unknown
Even though we’ve been in the business a long time, we have never seen it before. So how we show up as owners has to change. We have to. We have to be more open to exploration and to experimentation and to not having all the answers, and to being the Sherpa who understands how to guide clients and our team along this path, but also recognizing that we have to keep learning to.

00:33:18:12 – 00:33:57:01
Unknown
And so I do think there is a shift in how owners have to show up if they’re going to survive and thrive in the next three, five, eight, ten years. Great, great insights. Well, drew, we’re going to do a quick, quick rapid fire Q&A for today’s 32nd spark. All right. Let’s do it. And you know, we’re lucky enough to have you in Nashville knowing that you travel here from Denver for a couple of reasons, but most importantly for your family, because you’ve got a son that goes to Vanderbilt University and you and Danielle, your wife, come here to visit.

00:33:57:01 – 00:34:27:14
Unknown
But also we have the luxury of spending a couple of days with you, every quarter of you coaching snapshot and our company to, you know, continue to grow niche down be better. Just all the things that you’ve really leaned in and helped us out of the last couple of years. So I appreciate that. But knowing that, you know, you get to taste some Nashville stuff while you’re in town, you know, just maybe say the first word that pops into your head whenever I ask you these questions.

00:34:27:14 – 00:34:56:06
Unknown
The first one, Ryman or an arena show? Ryman. Okay. Hot chicken. On a scale of mild to regret, where do you stop? So for many of my family there on the regret side. But I am on the super mild side. You’re on the southern. Yeah. Yeah. Fried chicken. Good hot chicken. Not so good. Yep. Okay. Black coffee or latte with enough sirup to be a dessert?

00:34:56:09 – 00:35:26:29
Unknown
Absolutely. The dessert. I don’t need to taste the coffee, but I need the caffeine. Yep. Okay. That’s surprising. Worst industry buzzword of 2026. Whoo! That’s a good one. I’m going to say AI centric agency. Like, that’s a differentiator when every agency on the planet needs to have AI inside of it. Yeah, yeah. Okay. AI, your creative assistant or your replacement?

00:35:27:02 – 00:35:55:17
Unknown
Oh, it’s my thinking partner. Yeah. Makes me better. But definitely my creative assistant, for sure. Yeah. The death of billboards. Fact or fiction? Fiction. As long as we’re driving, we have to have something to look at. And there’s something incredibly powerful about that seven word or less message that gets us to make choices. Yeah. Okay. TikTok trends is are you a participant or observe from a distance?

00:35:55:18 – 00:36:04:22
Unknown
I am an observed from a distance. Yeah. Okay. The most underrated skill in marketing.

00:36:04:25 – 00:36:34:00
Unknown
I believe today the most underrated skill marketing is really great creative writing I think. I think we have farmed that out, and I think that’s still at the end of the day, it’s storytelling. Yeah. The best way to find the spark when you’re stuck in a creative rut, the best way to find a spark would be to collaborate and talk out loud with a great thinking partner.

00:36:34:06 – 00:37:02:28
Unknown
Yeah, great. Well, thanks, drew, for going through that. And, you know, I really appreciate all you’re doing for the agency community around the world. It’s been so impressive to meet so many agency owners at the Build a Better Agency summit. You do every year in in May and listen to your podcast. You know, I’ve listened to it for years and it was great to meet you in person, reach out, and then ultimately land you as our coach.

00:37:02:28 – 00:37:28:11
Unknown
So appreciate all the support you’ve given me, the friendship we’ve built, you, being our very first guest on the Spark podcast as we launched and you know, now coming back a year later to just continue to share your insights and expertise with the Nashville creative community. Yeah, thanks for having me. It’s my pleasure. Yeah. Well, thank you all for joining us on another episode of The Spark.

00:37:28:12 – 00:37:49:05
Unknown
I’ll drop all of Drew’s information in the show notes. If you’re not going to his agency summit every year. I would definitely recommend it. Or to become a part of the Army community. If this episode has done anything for you, please subscribe, rate and review just so we can get this message out to more creative folks in town.

00:37:49:05 – 00:38:12:27
Unknown
And then we’ll see you next week on The Spark. And that’s a wrap on this episode of The Spark from Creative Assembly. Thanks for spending time with us and exploring the minds shaping Nashville’s creative future. If you’re walking away more inspired, connected, or energized, that’s exactly the point. A big thank you to our sponsor snapshot and the incredible team behind the scenes who make this show possible.

00:38:13:00 – 00:38:30:00
Unknown
Your support fuels every conversation and keeps collaboration alive, so if you haven’t already, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and leave us a review. Thanks again for tuning in and till next time, stay creative, stay curious and keep that spark.