SHADOW provides full-service creative marketing support to a portfolio of industry-leading brands, from PR, influencer marketing and social media to experiential, content development and media training. Since its inception, SHADOW has set itself apart from other major PR agencies by providing clients with in-house integrated services. Over the past year, SHADOW has won nine new accounts and hired 20 new team members to support the agency’s growth, and expanded creative scopes with its existing portfolio of clients. Another core principle at SHADOW: fostering growth within the agency, especially via a recent slew of promotions that further expand and strengthen the leadership team.
Notable long-term clients
American Eagle, Aerie, Janie and Jack, Pottery Barn
Recent client wins
Moët Hennessy's Emerging Brands portfolio (Belvedere Vodka, Glenmorangie Scotch Whisky, and Volcán de mi Tierra Tequila), Bentley Motors, Park Lane Hotel, Smyth Tribeca Hotel, MUSH, Anastasia Beverly Hills, American Girl, Zumba, Claire’s
What was your biggest business challenge this year and how did your team overcome it?
In our industry, and in this cultural climate, it can be challenging to pivot in a moment’s notice -- which has been especially prevalent as of late. At the height of the pandemic, it was a difficult period to market and encourage commerce in general, and as such, SHADOW had to completely rewrite the playbook on how we did it. Capability-wise, we quickly stacked up our digital efforts and redirected internal resources within weeks to become one of the first to execute virtual experiences on a large scale, for example. We continue to evolve at a similar pace and have advanced our social and creative capabilities largely as a result. Marquee agency clients began to lean on us for full service creative campaign ideation and execution, including award-winning first-time entry campaigns into TikTok, to short-film development, to original music production -- an extension of the creative division that writes, records, produces and promotes custom branded music for client campaigns. On an even more important level, we consulted clients on the importance of connecting with their customers during these times, and how to do it from a place of empathy and real world perspective. #AerieREAL Kind Hotlines, “Call-mercials”, “Sun Shantys” and immersive digital microsites later, the past year has not only re-emphasized the critical role of creative strategy in marketing, period, but allowed SHADOW to show its creative POV in a bigger way.
Internally, the swift transition to a fully remote working environment and new digital capabilities afforded us the ability to quickly adapt, but it also made us recognize the need to reevaluate our culture infrastructure as it was becoming fairly easy to work nonstop with this new set-up. As such, we have placed various protocols in place to keep employees engaged, connected and optimistic, and to promote an enhanced work/life balance that prioritizes time for the staff's personal mental health – from mental health days, extended time off, and a work-from-home stipend to maximize staff’s working space, to no-meeting Fridays and more.
