5th Column, a global strategic communications and marketing agency headquartered in New York City, is celebrating five years in business. Founded in 2015 by industry veteran Akbar Hamid, the agency has worked with notable names in luxury, including Van Cleef & Arpels, Champagne Bollinger, and Belvedere Vodka. Their roster also includes corporate clients such as Publicis Sapient as well as newer innovative brands including Haoma Skincare, Of Mercer, Don Papa Rum, and Miami Cocktail Company. This year, the agency officially announces its expansion into Los Angeles and Miami, with 12 team members spread across these new offices and the NYC HQ.
We spoke with Akbar to learn about the company’s journey to year five, his key learnings since launch, plus a glimpse at what’s to come from 5th Column in the future.
Reflecting on the first five years of your agency, what are some top milestones that stand out?
One moment I will never forget is our first big win as an agency. In our very first year, we were invited to participate in the RFP process to execute a major brand ambassador campaign launch for Rémy Martin Cognac and eventually become their communications agency of record. We were just three team members at the time including myself and we were up against some of the top agencies in the field. We worked around the clock up until the final hours of the due date and poured all our creativity and passion into our ideas to show the brand our fresh approach. After waiting a few days to hear back from the client, our mood was somber and I remember going to a Soul Cycle class thinking we for sure did not win, only to get a phone call on my walk home letting me know we won the business. I remember just breaking out into tears in the middle of Soho and dancing all the way home. You never forget your first big win, and I will never forget that feeling. It is what empowers me to keep going everyday through a pandemic, economic crisis, and one of the most difficult years of our lives. I always call upon that moment to push forward.
Another major milestone was our first office in a non-shared workspace! To be able to design such a unique and creative environment with my team in Dumbo was a dream come true. There is a whole new level of creative energy that comes with your own office workspace that is hard to explain, but it was an incredible feeling and sense of pride for the full team who have grown with 5th Column.
Fall 2019 Paris Fashion week was a major milestone for 5th Column and our very own “Emily in Paris” moment. We got to execute a major global fashion show at the Hôtel de Crillon and an international campaign shoot with Coco Rocha and Ellen Von Unwerth for one of our luxury couture clients. It was a full circle moment for me having spent many summers interning in Paris and always walking by the Hôtel de Crillon hoping to one day create something truly magical at that property.
What are your three most important learnings, having now been in business for 5 years, that you would impart on a fellow business owner?
1. You are nothing without your team. This is so important and something we need to remember as creative entrepreneurs and leaders. We may have incredible dreams and visions, but we cannot execute these alone. Having an incredible team around you that shares your vision, goals, and dreams and wants to succeed just as much as you do is one of the most rewarding and important aspects of running a business. You can’t do it all and you need to pull in the right people for the right roles. They will empower you and you will empower them and together you will do incredible things. We are now just over 12 people; while still boutique, we are powerful!
2. Lead from the center – not from the top. You are the core of your business, you are the energy source and it is your job and your duty to empower your team and all the operators of the organization to do their best work. You need to be at the center of the business, not at the top looking down, understanding every aspect of your business and how it runs. You should be able to jump into each job function so you can empower that role and that individual. You should understand your strengths and weaknesses and hire the right people for each job function. I firmly believe that it does not matter if you are the CEO or Office Manager, you must treat everyone the same as each role is crucial. No agency can run without a proper administrative foundation, it is one of the most integral roles. Lead with love, lead with compassion, and lead with the right mix of heart and mind.
3. Constantly improve and reinvent yourself. I am a completely different person now than I was five years ago. While my spirit remains the same, I have grown, evolved, improved, and reinvented myself many times over the last five years. You push forward, you make mistakes, you learn, you grow, you adapt, you change yet you remain authentic to who you are. It is so important to be able to take criticism, make mistakes, learn from them, apply the key learnings, and keep on moving forward. Do not stop, do not listen to haters, do not ever think that you are not enough.
What made this the right time for 5th Column to open a Miami office?
We were excited to officially expand to Los Angeles at the start of 2020, with those plans going on pause due to the pandemic. Now we are not only excited to officially announce Los Angeles and our growing West Coast Division led by Vice President, Kristin Kelly, but we are equally thrilled to announce our Miami office helmed by me splitting time between South Florida and New York. In New York, Vice President, Jaclyn York, continues to run our headquarters.
We have a few national clients that are actually based in Miami including premium ready-to-drink (RTD) industry leader Miami Cocktail Company; sanitizing and wellness brand Sanibelle; top beauty and wipes manufacturer Anthem United States of Beauty; and fine jewelry brand Aaron Basha. Aaron Basha relocated their headquarters from Madison Avenue in the heart of New York City to Miami. It made sense for us to open an office nearby to service these clients and we look forward to offering this added value to our global and national clients for all their South Florida and Southern region needs while we continue to grow our client base in Miami.
Miami continues to develop into a larger national and global hub and gateway to South and Latin America. We are excited to plant roots here and grow with the Magic City.
What are a few projects you’re working on at the moment that you’re excited about?
We are really excited about our growing beauty and wellness division and one of our new clients, Dr. Gerry Curatola, founder of Rejuvenation Health, who is a renowned biologic restorative dentist and co-inventor of the first “prebiotic” toothpaste, Revitin.
With the continuing boom in the luxury resale and vintage market, we have added some exciting clients to our fashion and accessories division. Vivrelle is a members-only club providing access to coveted designer handbags, jewelry, watches, and diamonds on a monthly subscription basis, and LePrix offers the largest selection of authentic, pre-owned designer fashion on a “Farfetch for vintage” style e-commerce platform.
Amidst the pandemic, we also were lucky to launch new sanitizing and wellness brand, Sanibelle, that has developed proprietary, first-ever biodegradable wipes technology – which is so incredible given the excess use of wipes globally.
We are also the US agency of record for Miami Cocktail Company, an organic, premium craft cocktail company based in Wynwood, Miami. Miami Cocktail Company is leading the way in organic, ready-to-drink cocktails that are vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO, and are handcrafted using fresh, natural ingredients sourced from organic farms.
What are a few future goals or plans for the agency?
We are going to be dropping the “PR” from our name. You can currently check out our newly redesigned website here, which will soon change to a new domain. Public Relations is such a broad term. With our growth in providing social media and content creation services to event ideation and execution, campaign development, strategy, and brand partnerships, we want to allow ourselves to grow with no limits.
5th Column is also committed to diversity in the workplace and we will continue to develop a workforce comprised of individuals of varying gender, religion, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, and other attributes.
We look forward to growing our presence in both Los Angeles and Miami as our New York home base continues to grow. We want to provide a very strong national and regional communications and marketing foundation for all our clients. With many regional markets becoming major hubs for business and creativity, we are looking forward to having each office infiltrate their regions and plant roots nationwide to help our clients continue to expand.
