Day One Agency is built around three centers of storytelling excellence: Shape, Share and Fuel – and they do just that for a range of top consumer brands. In the past year, one of their greatest successes has been their organic growth, thanks largely to the aforementioned storytelling model. Eighty-eight percent of the agency’s growth was a result of new opportunities within existing clients. As such, they’ve grown their team 52 percent across offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland. In response to demand from clients, the agency recently launched Day One Studios, a new offering dedicated to all things social storytelling and production. From viral hashtags to episodic YouTube series to trending TikToks and nimble social photo shoots, their real-time response to social trends contributed to $10 million in agency revenue in 2021 alone.
Leadership team:
Josh Rosenberg, Co-Founder & CEO
Rob Longert, Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Brad Laney, Co-Founder & President
Jamie Falkowski, Chief Creative Officer & Partner
Heather Feit, Executive Vice President
Jenny Bohuslavsky, Executive Vice President, Head of Client Service
Notable long-term clients:
American Express, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Nike, Meta
New client wins:
Beam Suntory (Basil Hayden, Tres Generaciones)
How are you innovating and moving the industry forward?
“Day One is committed to help move our industry forward in several ways, including initiatives around diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as fostering the next generation of talent. Most recently, we reinforced our commitment to being an anti-racist organization with DEI programming and training across the agency. Additionally, we host monthly safe space conversations with our entire staff facilitated by a DEI expert to encourage open and honest dialogue regarding social and racial injustices plaguing our communities and society overall (i.e. current events/hate crimes, etc.).
“To grow the next generation of talent, Day One’s apprenticeship program allows managers to nurture new talent and gives participants first-hand experience. The program is designed to offer the opportunity to learn about our award-winning business, gain valuable experience, and work directly with team members. A highly successful element of our talent strategy, we’ve graduated over 77% of apprentices to full-time roles. We launched The Ones to Know (TOTK) - our dedicated resource designed to elevate underrepresented creators who are driving subculture trends. We started TOTK to combat the sea of sameness crowding the influencer/creator landscape and it fueled our desire to elevate fresh perspectives and emerging talent. We’ve worked with 500+ creators since launch.
“In 2021, we refreshed AskGenZ, our youth insights arm, in order to share the resources of our community of Gen Z responders with those looking to understand the next generation of consumers.”
It has been a year of milestones for FINN Partners, starting with the agency’s 10-year anniversary. Founder Peter Finn’s vision of building a world-class agency came to life as FINN achieved record growth and global powerhouse status with 27 offices and 1,200 employees worldwide in a decade’s work. FINN’s values-centric culture has attracted clients in need of trusted counsel, employees in search of upward career mobility and entrepreneurs eager to tap into the financial stability and global scale of a top independent agency with values they admire, while retaining their sense of autonomy. Agencies that have joined the FINN fold via acquisition include Hawkins International PR and Maverick Creative, Anthology Marketing Group and AHA.
Leadership team:
Peter Finn, CEO & Founding Managing Partner
Notable long-term clients:
The Dorchester Collection, St. Regis Aspen, Montage Hotels & Resorts, Carillon Wellness Resort, Dolder Grand, Gstaad Palace, Mountain Lodges of Peru, Turtle Bay Fiji, Dubai Tourism, I Love New York, Hong Kong Tourism, Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau, Pure Michigan, Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Panama, South Africa, Travel Alberta, Iceland, Air Partners, Seabourn, Starboard Cruise Services (USA), Seatrade Cruise Services (USA), Inspirato, onefinestay, Living Vehicle and Royce & Rocket luggage, Wilderness Safaris, Nomadic Expeditions, Bushcamp Company, Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, American Museum of Natural History, Foundation Louis Vuitton, Gagosian, The Getty, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, MoMA, Qatar Museums, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Whitney Museum of American Art, Bosch-Thermador, Jack Daniel’s, Marmot, Margaritaville, Tempur-Pedic, Villa Antinori, von Mandl Family Estate Wineries
New client wins:
The Ned, St. Kitts Tourism Authority, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (as commissioner, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State, of the exhibition at the U.S. Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale), Luma Arles, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Bloomingdale’s, Bolthouse Farms, Faraday Future, The Fragrance Foundation, Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars
How are you innovating and moving the industry forward?
“The Great Resignation has tipped the scales of power in favor of employees. We are battling a new set of competitors: from start-ups to staff choosing to freelance, go client-side or leave the industry. In the war for talent, recruiting and retention are paramount. Employers with the best culture and commitment to caring for employees will win. We have renewed our focus on our people, encouraging flexibility, adding more affordable insurance options, offering telehealth visits and access to mental health counseling and doubling down on creating a diverse, inclusive community. We acquired one of the leading purpose-driven Employee Engagement agencies, AHA, in order to serve clients, but also tap their expertise for FINN employee experience enhancements. We also launched the Excelerator training program focused on creating a fast track for diverse talent to earn full-time PR careers.”
