The most dangerous thing a creative agency can do is stop selling. But we did it anyway.
For the last few years, my agency, Creadio, went dark. We didn’t prospect new clients. We didn’t run any ads. We barely updated our own portfolio (just look at our Instagram 😱)
From the outside, it might’ve looked like we had slowed down. But from the inside, we were moving faster than ever.
We shifted Creadio from a client-service agency into the Brand Engine for my holding company, aWLCo. So, instead of chasing RFPs, we focused entirely on building our own assets. We crafted the visual identity and digital presence for TolHouse, ensuring the physical space matched the digital vibe. We developed the brand strategy for Commons Pizza, which is opening this year in the Vistula District, and we built the initial prototypes and visual language for ICON, a photography startup.
We treated our own companies like our biggest clients. We’re our favorite marketing technology and production agency, so we hired ourselves.
And it worked. The brands stand out because they were built with an owner’s mindset, not just a vendor’s checklist.
It turns out, the best way to become a better agency was to become our own best client. It forced us to trade the vendor’s checklist for the owner’s intuition, and the work is better for it.
We are officially opening the doors to outside collaborations again. To see what we’re building now, head to creadio.com.