This time, we’re speaking to Alanna Nathanson, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer at Giants & Gentlemen, a highly awarded independent strategy & creative shop offering powerful ideas and zero attitude. As entrepreneurs, they bring a grow-or-die attitude to make brands tower like giants, while always acting like gents. Unique to G&G is Outthinking™, a process that leads to deeper and more competitive insights that bring meaning to brands.
Alanna is one of those rare creatives that actually loves business, so…she started one. In 2012, she co-founded Giants & Gentlemen along with Natalie Armata and Gino Cantalini. Pre-G&G, she’s grown brands in every category, like IKEA, P&G, Wrigley’s and MINI, while winning a host of industry awards. As Chief Creative Officer at G&G (along with Natalie), she continues to push for excellence in all of the work that goes out the door; the result has been meaningful, award-winning advertising that drives success. She also gives back, teaching at the Miami Ad school and working with the Assaulted Women’s Helpline.
Tell us about the origins of Giants & Gentlemen.
My co-Founder and co-Chief Creative Officer Natalie Armata and I had been creatives in the industry for about 15 years. We’d won a whack of awards, helped grow brands in many different categories and worked at a lot of the best agencies in the city when we decided it was time to strike out on our own. A lot of the indie shops were being bought up by the holdcos and it felt like the right time to start something new. So, eight years ago, we made a brave (or crazy) decision: as sole income earners, we left our jobs and began building Giants & Gentlemen from nothing.
That’s not an exaggeration – we had no clients or investor money. We refinanced our homes to make it work, and then worked out of said homes (Starbucks was our back-up office.)
We wanted to create a new kind of agency that didn’t focus on the latest trends but instead was founded in an unbending philosophy of being brave and decent. Where bold decisions are made in order to grow brands, in an environment of integrity and respect.
Gino, our co-Founder and COO, joined as our third partner shortly after. He’d led marketing teams client-side at places like Colgate, Campbell’s, Molson and Labatt (where he won two Gold Lions) and shared our entrepreneurial spirit as well as our philosophy of being brave and decent – something he had always practised. He also knew how to use excel which was super impressive to us. We lured him away from his job as VP at a big ad agency and the rest is history.
We wanted to create a new kind of agency that didn’t focus on the latest trends but instead was founded in an unbending philosophy of being brave and decent.
Had you worked with Gino before?
When Natalie and I started, we were actively looking for a third partner who would be more focused on strategy and new business. Natalie had met and worked on a project with Gino at a Schulich School of Business course, Masters of Brand Communication, a couple of years prior and she mentioned that he would be fantastic – but we were doubtful he’d leave a VP position. Literally the day after she mentioned him as a possible fit, he contacted her about a project. She told him she had just started something new with a partner and asked if he wanted to meet with us. He said yes and we just clicked. Within a few weeks, we were signing a Shareholders’ Agreement. It was, as we say, “meant to be.”
Where did the name Giants & Gentlemen come from?
It comes from our core philosophy of “Be Brave, Be Decent”. We do brave work to make our clients stand out like giants in cluttered markets while leaving big egos at the door (plus we liked the way that collection of words sounded).
What makes G&G special?
I think it all starts with our philosophy. It’s the lens for everything that we do from hiring to working with clients. At the end of the day, our business is all about relationships and it needs to be a good fit for everyone involved. When you have a shared vision and goal, the sky really is the limit – but when you don’t it can hinder your success.
Beyond our culture, our sweet spot is growing brands when they’re at pivotal moments.
We have processes that uncover different perspectives and fresh insights, like Outthinking™ where we access an “outsider” (i.e. someone outside of both advertising and our client’s industry) to broaden or shift perspective on a given project.
As a woman, you have to fight a little harder and work a little harder to be heard. Overcoming those hurdles makes you more innovative, more resilient and braver.
We also have an in-house performance and technology media partner, Push, which allows us to work as an integrated team.
Along with that, Natalie and I offer a unique perspective as women and moms.
As a woman, you have to fight a little harder and work a little harder to be heard. Overcoming those hurdles makes you more innovative, more resilient and braver. It’s arguably why we had the guts to start a company from scratch in the first place. People were saying, don’t do it, it’s too risky, it’s crazy, but my whole career I’ve just pushed the noise aside and continued to move forward.
Do you and Natalie ever encounter any resistance for being female business owners?
I don’t think so, but maybe I’m just being naïve. I usually just try to ignore that stuff and move forward. I do know that many young women come to G&G because they want female leadership.
Let’s talk about G&G’s ownership structure. You have three partners, can you tell me a little bit about them and the roles they play?
Natalie and I are both Chief Creative Officers (CCOs) which means we manage the creative department and oversee all of the work that goes out the door. Gino is COO and oversees operations, finance, as well as new business. That’s how we specifically define our roles, but as three founders we’re all very involved in running the business, especially when it comes to big decisions like the company vision and how we’re going to expand. We’re all consummate entrepreneurs.
Lots of people think that starting a company with partners is a bad idea. Why do you think your partnership works so well?
We all share the same core beliefs and that’s allowed us to move forward as partners. Another smart thing we did before we signed our Shareholders’ Agreement was to fill out a five-page document answering some tough questions about our goals etc, in order to make sure we were aligned on all fronts. That was an invaluable exercise and I would encourage others to do the same. Before you jump in, ask those hard questions. Of course, we don’t always see eye to eye, but we’re respectful of one another and want to hear each another’s opinions. We will argue and debate and if we don’t agree, it becomes a case of majority wins. But we all have the same goals and we like each other as people. We got really lucky in that regard.
G&G has been up and running for seven years now. Would you say you’ve hit your stride?
We have. We’ve always had the right processes in place – with technology and experience they’re becoming more and more sophisticated. We have this unique culture that has persevered from the beginning and still resonates. But I think that, in today’s world, things are changing so quickly you can never sit back and say, “Okay, we’re done now”. You’re always figuring things out and you’re always adapting and evolving. It’s also just the way entrepreneurs tend to think—how can we be better? How can we do better? How can we keep growing?
In today’s world, things are changing so quickly you can never sit back and say, “Okay, we’re done now”. You’re always figuring things out and you’re always adapting and evolving.
Every stage of business comes with different operational struggles. Can you talk a little bit about how your struggles have changed over the years?
When you have kids, just when you think you finally have things all figured out they’ve moved on to the next stage and you need to catch up. Running a business is similar in many ways. You feel like you have it all figured out—you know what people want, you know what your process should be—but then you grow or the market changes and suddenly you’ve got to figure things out all over again. In the early days, we were asking questions like, how are we actually going to do this? What should our processes be? Who are we going to hire? How are we going to get clients? These days, it’s more about optimizing—how can we be more profitable? How can we find other sources of revenue?
You are a BeachHead client. Can you tell us a little bit about why you brought us in?
We’d been doing well and we’d been growing. We didn’t have any major issues, but we also knew that we could be better and we wanted an objective viewpoint as we’re so close to our own business. We brought BeachHead in to look at our profitability, our staffing, our revenue, and give us some advice on how we could optimize all those areas. I wasn’t expecting it, but what ended up being most useful for us were the interviews you conducted with our staff. You were really great at asking the right questions and making them comfortable. We got some great insights which allowed us to change up some things to make sure people were getting the most out of working here. We now involve everyone in talking about our vision and our plans to ensure they feel like they’re part of building G&G.
What ended up being most useful for us were the interviews you conducted with our staff. You were really great at asking the right questions and making them comfortable.
G&G has been receiving a ton of accolades lately including being featured on Canada’s Top Employers for Young People, The Career Directory: Canada’s Top Employers for Recent Grads, Canadian Business Growth 500: Fastest Growing Companies in Canada List and shortlisted for Strategy’s Small Agency of the Year. What do you attribute your success to?
I think it’s connected to my answer for “what makes G&G special”. Our success comes from our people and our processes. What attracts and retains both people and clients at G&G is our core philosophy of being brave and decent and, as I mentioned previously, our unique processes that have allowed us to really grow our clients’ businesses. I’d also add that being independent and having three equal partners running the business has added to our success. There’s no bullshit. There are no other layers, no one else to answer to. Our structure allows us to make decisions and move quickly and that helps.
What’s different about working at G&G than at other, bigger shops?
From some of the feedback I’ve gotten, I think that being our size and independent means that everybody has a voice here. We are very open and collaborative. If people have issues or if they want to change something we’ll listen to them and if it makes sense, we’ll make it happen. We give people as much autonomy as they can handle—if you’re doing well, we’ll let you keep doing your thing and make it your own. There’s a lot of flexibility because of the way we’re structured. Another huge benefit is that the Creatives produce tons of awesome work here. As a Creative, you get a lot of great opportunities here and if you’re doing well, you’ll keep getting more opportunities. We respect our people and see them as human beings. They work hard, but we want to make sure that they aren’t getting burnt out and that they feel appreciated for the work that they’re doing.
If people have issues or if they want to change something we’ll listen to them and if it makes sense, we’ll make it happen.
What are some of the tools you rely on, either to make your job easier or just to inspire you?
Natalie always tells me I don’t need to read business books because I rely a lot on my instincts. I think I have a pretty good emotional intelligence and a natural sense of logic for how things should be done.
I tend to get my inspiration from the non-advertising world – novels, a great HBO series, stand-up or live music.
From a practical point of view, we implemented Function Point last year, which has been helpful as a tool. It’s an agency management software and allows us to track hours and profitability etc… We worked with BeachHead, obviously, and we also work with another advisor—Andy Macaulay. He’s absolutely brilliant and we’re so fortunate to have him as a resource. We also have our industry friends and peers as well as a female founders group that Natalie and I are part of. It’s helpful to hear what other people are up against and how they’re dealing with it.
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Learn more about Giants & Gentlemen and the awesome work they do on their website: https://giantsandgents.com/ or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
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