New Work from Agency SOS

Check out our launch campaign for Element[AL] Wines, a new wine label in a first-of-its-kind aluminum bottle. Welcome to AL.

Click here to see the work and read more.

Agency SOS collects six awards at SF Addys

We don’t submit for most ad award shows, but we have a soft spot for the local SF Addy awards. So we were chuffed that all six of our entries were honored this year.

Silver for Kodak Moments’ “Let Your Home Tell Your Story” TV campaign. Silver for Omada Health’s “Omada Works Different” social media campaign for Linked In. Bronze for Ooma’s “Copper Monster” social media campaign. Bronze for Kodak Moment’s “Let Your Home Tell Your Story” Internet commercial. Bronze for Virtuo’s “Don’t Get Stuck in the Past” social media campaign. Bronze for SOS’ theme song video.

Thanks to our terrific clients and the extended team of SOS-ers for the great work. Thanks to the Greater SF Ad Club and the American Advertising Awards for the honor. 

15 Favorite Ad Campaigns of 2023

We looked back at every single campaign that we featured in our weekly newsletter last year and picked our 15 favorites. Highlights include harnessing your hate mail, marvelous musicals, and the best email campaign we’ve ever seen.

Click here to see the full list.

78 Creative Campaigns that Caught Our Eye in the Second Half of 2023

Each Friday, we put out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week—creative campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment and other inspiring bits.

The goal is simple: lots of marketers get so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss interesting marketing ideas that are happening in other industries. We highlight three each week and, hopefully, inspire people as they think about the next creative activation for their brand.

Here are the 78 ideas that caught our attention over the past six months.

Click here to see the full list.

2023 Wrap Report

Thanks to all who supported us in 2023. Here's an end-of-the-year update from our founder with creative highlights, leftover mugs, and some sad dad beatboxing.

Watch the 2023 Wrap Report

New Work from SOS

Check out our new campaign for Kodak Moments. There are some moments too good to stay on your phone. Let your home tell your story.

Click here to see the work and read more.

The 10 biggest lessons from our first two years

Agency SOS just turned two! Our founder shares 10 lessons he’s learned in the first two years of running a new agency. They include:

10 - It's harder than it looks

9 - You have to build your list

8 - Grown-ups FTW!

7 - Your (true) brand will emerge

6 - You need the right tools

5 - Choose your partners carefully

4 - You're gonna wear a lot of hats

3 - Building for the long-term is hard

2 - Your network is everything

1 - Remember why you're doing it

Click here to read the full breakdown.

Weekly “3 Things” Newsletter

Each Friday, we grab three things that caught our eye that week. Ads, campaigns, stunts, activations, art installations—bits of creative inspiration for the modern marketer. Click below for links to all our past issues.

Click here to see current and past newsletters

Our 5 favorite Super Bowl ads

Agency SOS did not have a spot in the big game, but we know how much time and money goes into making a Super Bowl ad. We tip our hat to the brands and agencies that got in the game (literally and figuratively) this year. 

This year, it was a great game...but the great ads were harder to find. Still, there were a few that caught our eye...

Click here to see our favorites

Our 10 Favorite Ad Campaigns of 2022

Here are our 10 favorite ad campaigns of 2022. (OK, 12...there's a three-way tie of canister-related creativity in the final slot.)

It's difficult to get good stuff through the gauntlet that is the ad-making process. Most of it is crap. (As an agency that puts out a creativity newsletter and tries to watch most of the new stuff that comes out each week, let us assure you...there is a LOT of crap.) These 12 are NOT crap!

Click here to see the top 10.

Agency SOS 18-Month Wrap Report

Agency SOS has been alive for 18 whole months. And we’re still here!

This wrap report includes news about a financial milestone, project update, a look back on 2022 (including some real talk on what all those “recession!” news stories did to production work), some WINS and FAILS (one may involve me wearing too many hats), and a look ahead to 2023.

Click here to read the report (or watch the video, if that’s your thing.)

85 Creative Campaigns that Caught Our Eye in the Second Half of 2022

Each Friday, we put out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week—creative campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment and other inspiring bits.

The goal is simple: lots of marketers get so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss interesting marketing ideas that are happening in other industries. We highlight three each week and, hopefully, inspire people as they think about the next creative activation for their brand.

Here are the 85 ideas that caught our attention over the past six months.

Click here to see the full list.

Build a Better Brief

You know the old saying: garbage in, garbage out.

It’s extra true at the start of a marketing project. If you don’t get “the brief” right, you waste time, money and end up with the aforementioned “garbage.”

There are approximately 438 million articles out there about “good creative briefs.” (Seriously, I just did a Google search.)

Then why do we all still run into bad briefs all the time?

Here are 5 things that define a good brief…

Read “Build a Better Brief”

79 Creative Campaigns that Caught Our Eye in the First Half of 2022

Each Friday, we put out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week—creative campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment and other inspiring bits.

The goal is simple: lots of marketers get so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss interesting marketing ideas that are happening in other industries. We highlight three each week and, hopefully, inspire people as they think about the next creative activation for their brand.

Here are the 79 ideas that caught our attention over the past six months.

Click here to see the full list.

New Work from SOS

Check out our new campaign for Ooma. It features water-ski video calls, very professional fist bumps, and wear-all-the-hats glamour as small biz owners discover “business phone bliss.”

Click here to see some of the work and read more.

New Work from SOS

This month, we helped our friends at Anchor Brewing Company launch two new IPAs. We worked with them to develop a media plan to build awareness and made a series of social videos and banner ads for a regional digital campaign.

Click here to see some of the work and read more.

Our 6 favorite Super Bowl ads

Now, Agency SOS did not have an ad in the big game this year. But we enjoy nerding-out about the commercials.

We were glad to see humor back on the menu, don’t think “celebrity” is an idea in and of itself, and felt many brands tried to cram too much into their ad. But there were bright spots. Here were our six favorites

Click here to see our favorites

New Work from SOS

This month, we helped our friends at Grove Collaborative launch their new sustainable line of pet grooming products called Good Fur. We embedded with the brand team to produce a photo shoot, create images for product pages, and create video and static social ads for the launch.

Click here to see some of the work and read more.

75 Creative Campaigns that Caught Our Eye in 2021

Each Friday, we put out a short email newsletter with three things that caught our eye that week—creative campaigns, PR stunts, art installations, branded entertainment and other inspiring bits.

The goal is simple: lots of marketers get so mired in the day-to-day on their own brands, they often miss interesting marketing ideas that are happening in other industries. We highlight three each week and, hopefully, inspire people as they think about the next creative activation for their brand.

If you don’t already subscribe (you should!), here are the 75 ideas that caught our attention over the past six months.

Click here to see the full list.

3 Things I Learned in My First 6 Months of Running a New Agency

To say “I’ve learned a lot these past few months” is a major understatement. It’s been terrifying and thrilling, exhausting and rewarding. 

Click here to read/watch 3 things I’ve learned so far.

6 Tips for Better Creative Presentations

When you work at a creative agency you are, for better or worse, in the “presentation business.” It’s a big part of what we do every day, both internally and for our clients.

People who can grab attention, deliver information, and motivate an action are the most valuable people in advertising. You might as well be one of them. Here are 6 tips...

Click here to read the article

5 Things That Make a Good Creative Brief

You know the old saying: garbage in, garbage out.

It’s particularly true at the start of a marketing project. If you don’t get “the brief” right, you not only waste a ton of time and money, you end up with the aforementioned “garbage.”

There are approximately 49.1 million articles out there about creative briefs (seriously, I just did a Google search.) But despite all those links, it’s amazing how often bad briefs rear their ugly heads.

So here’s article forty-nine-million-one-hundred-thousand-and-one on the topic. 😎

Click here to read the article