I Spent 2 Full Days In The Walls of The Ad Age Agency of the Year

By: Jack Westerkamp, Co-Founder & Head of Growth of Breaking and Entering Media

My background is in Banking and Consulting. I got a finance degree. I have never worked at an office where people can wear t-shirts. I have also never worked at an office where your job is to come up with incredible ideas for a living. That also means I have never worked at an office where you have the pressure, expectations, and stress that comes with the job of coming up with incredible ideas.

On the flight from New York to Richmond, VA, I really was not sure what to expect. I’ll say this: if I was the one coming up with award-winning, client-growing, gold-standard work, I would let people know about it. I would be insufferable. I’d consider wearing a t-shirt that just says “Agency of the Year 2023”, with my last name on the back. Honestly I might still do it.

All that to say, I felt that the people creating the best work might let you know about it and walk a little taller or feel a little high and mighty. That was my expectation. My expectations may be completely biased due to my experiences in the finance/consulting world, but nevertheless, these were my expectations.

I didn’t expect Rushil Nadkarni, an Associate Creative Director, to open up his personal office to Geno and I so we could have a much-needed espresso break.

I didn’t expect Michael Chapman, Chief Client Officer, to be dressed as Beetlejuice and dance in front of the entire agency.

I didn’t expect Danny Robinson, the CEO, to be playing pinball in between meetings and to give us an extended introduction and welcome to the Martin Agency during the all-staff meeting.

I didn’t expect Jerry Hoak, the Chief Creative Officer, to go out of his way to have a chat with us at lunch and spend more time talking about the feeling of working at Martin versus the award-winning work they produce.

I didn’t expect Sofie Diskin, Manager of Brand Communications, to bring us opportunities to speak with whoever we wanted to at the agency, knowing that she had other priorities that would be waiting for her at the end of the day.

These are just a few of the people that completely flipped my expectations on their respective heads.

The common theme from all of these experiences is people putting others before themselves. It felt like that theme was ingrained in the walls, staircases, windows, floors, and ceilings of the immaculate building squarely centered in the city of Richmond.

It goes to show that you can create award-winning work and be the best agency in the world while also being a good person, being humble, and being focused on making everyone around you feel comfortable and excited. And nothing made that more evident than the All-Staff Meeting that Geno and I were fortunate enough to attend.

The All-Staff Meeting was much more like an All-Staff Musical. The level of creativity, execution, preparation, and excitement for this “meeting” was unlike anything I had ever seen before. I wondered the whole time:

“How can they do all of this while also doing their jobs at the highest level of anyone in the industry?”

I think I have the answer.

It’s because this excitement, this extracurricular activity, this culture is the reason they create incredible work and are amazing at their jobs. When you have the outlet to express yourself in ways that are not solely client-facing, it makes your client work that much better. You can “release your inhibitions” and have the room to be yourself. Oftentimes, the client work has set parameters, or you may have to work within a certain box of rules, but when you can step back and put together a choreographed dance while your Chief Client Officer dances as Beetlejuice, that makes things feel a little less stressful.

From a work and execution perspective, you cannot help but notice the impacts of giving your employees room to spend time on things other than client work. It completely changes your perspective on the work itself, and I imagine it puts you in a better headspace to come up with incredible ideas.

From an employee satisfaction perspective, it has to feel good to be a Martin employee and know that your leadership wants you to have fun. And leadership can say that they support employees and want to let employees have opportunities to truly express themselves, but it means nothing if you are not leading by example. This is why I think it is so powerful that Danny Robinson, the CEO, spends time everyday playing pinball. I don’t think it is performative at all, but the fact that he is doing it subtly gives every employee the feeling of comfortability to do something other than execute on client work.

So when I got back on a plane to go back to New York, I reflected on the time that the people at Martin sacrifice to ensure they are all feeling respected, comfortable, and taken care of. I reflected on the laughs, the buzz of being in the office, and the fact that I don’t even recall any employee talking about their work until someone directly asked them about it. That one will stick with me for a long time. A random guy at a bar can’t go two seconds without talking about work, but all of these people at Martin didn’t ever talk about work with us in casual conversation unless we directly asked about it. That spoke volumes. And maybe that is the secret sauce. Maybe when you create an environment where the work isn’t the end all be all, you create a product that becomes recognized as the best in one of the most competitive industries in the world.