Agency H5 is a values-driven organization based in Chicago serving local and national clients across PR, digital and integrated communications for over two decades. The woman-owned firm has drawn a workforce of top marketers that left big agency life in favor of a more family-driven work culture, an environment that leadership has created through programs like hybrid workplace scheduling, unlimited vacation days, wellness spend allotment and regular team training. Over the past year, the Agency H5 team has evolved and elevated services like strategic affiliate marketing programming to best meet the needs of an expanding client base. Wielding the power of partnerships, Agency H5 has developed a process for creating strategic affinity partner programs for their clients seeking to reach new audiences and forge new connections; and to better accommodate clients, teams and budgets, Agency H5 created a roster of preferred partners with enhanced negotiated rates. Much of their success stems from the team’s attention to analytics; this year, Agency H5 made a sizable investment in Talkwalker software to help their teams monitor trends that can help content go viral, as well as monitor their content and the connections they’re creating.
Leadership team:
Kathleen Henson, President and Founder
Jenny Kolpien, Chief Financial Officer
Jenny Kelly-Cogdal, Chief Strategy Officer
Amie DeLuca, Senior Strategist
Katie Feltz, Senior Strategist
Amanda Urban, Senior Strategist
Notable long-term clients:
Ferrara Candy Company (Laffy Taffy, Brach’s Candy), Mizkan (ZenB pastas and sauces), Girl Scouts of America, Great Wolf Lodge Resorts, Henkel (Persil, all, Purex), Magellan Development Group (St. Regis Chicago Residences and Hotel), National Funeral Directors of America, Ritual Beverage Company, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Tribune Tower Residences
New client wins:
Vytalogy Wellness (Natrol Brand and Vytalogy Wellness Corporate Communications), 50/50 Restaurant Group, Dairy Farmers of America (Kemps, Plugra), The Langham Chicago, Momentum, Chicago Hounds Rugby Network
Describe the top three achievements of your agency in the past year that demonstrate your commitment to excellence and client satisfaction.
“At our core, Agency H5 is a values-driven organization offering PR, digital and integrated communications support to a wide variety of national and local clients driving unparalleled strategy, infused with unbridled creative that delivers impactful results. The “5” in Agency H5 is rooted in five core values of kindness, creativity, integrity, passion and hustle that is our compass evaluating our team and client partners. But it is the “H” in Agency H5 that pays homage to our founder’s principle of creating an agency where people can remain both “Human” and “Happy” through their work. In the last year, the leadership team at H5 has made strides to evaluate and adjust our workplace design to satisfy the evolving needs and expectations of our workforce so we can better continue our commitment to driving strategy, creativity and results for our clients. We believe it’s an important reason why we have maintained an employee retention rate of 82% and client retention rate of 90% over the past year.”
