Then & Now: Allison+Partners’ Evolution through the Eyes of an Old-Timer

Few things are as boring as an “old-timer” reminiscing about the good old days, whether it is his or her golden years or an earlier “more magical time” in an organization’s history. That’s why when Scott Allison asked me to blog something about my reflections on the agency as we hit our 10-year milestone, I panicked. How would I manage to write something that wouldn’t put everyone to sleep?

Seeking to avoid a verbose trip down memory lane, I resorted to my familiar crutch … bullet points! Why not list a few observations from this old-timer (I joined Allison+Partners in February 2003!), highlighting not just what’s different today than the early years, but also a few of the ways in which we’ve remained the same.

Allison+Partners Today – What’s Different:

• Our offices are nicer, and some of us even have a front desk person. When I joined the company, the San Francisco office was a bit of a ramshackle operation stuffed in one big room with a mishmash of grey cubicles and open desks. The walls were bare, sans framed artwork or even client clips. When a guest visited, they had to wander aimlessly around, tapping on someone’s shoulder to get their attention, as there was no front desk and definitely no Brigitta.
• We have infrastructure – things like an HR person, ongoing training and professional development programs, a full-time marketing director to keep our collateral updated and consistent. When I started in 2003, a 23-year-old recent college grad was splitting time between office management/basic HR duties and administrative support for Andy Hardie-Brown, and she was your only source for questions about your W2 form and payroll. Marketing collateral – besides a tombstone-looking murky grey and black logo – consisted of whatever was on file from the last new business proposals created. Training was whatever classes a person found on their own and asked the company to pay for them to attend. The idea that someday we would have such a robust ongoing training and professional development program as headed by the amazing Courtney Newman would have blown our minds.
• People know us! When you tell someone on the train who you work for, chances are more than 50-50 they will have heard of us. Maybe our name recognition is not yet at Burson or Edelman levels, but it’s creeping up there. Flash back to so many networking events of the mid-2000s when you’d see a blank look when introducing yourself from “Allison+Partners.” It’s nice to skip that routine.
• Big brands on the roster. We finally work with – and now even attract inbound RFPs from some of the biggest brands in the country. Best Western, Progressive, eHarmony, Samsung, Orbitz … these brand names were the stuff of dreams for us back in 2003, when 1-800-Radiator and the Sheet Metal Workers Union were paying our bills.
• Family time. Yes, today more of us have babies … and more than a few grey hairs to go with them. When I had my son in 2007 I think I was only the second woman to have ever taken maternity leave at Allison+Partners. Figuring out how to navigate working moms back into the fold and handle flexible schedules has been a challenge for senior management, but today it seems we have more than our fair share of moms and dads successfully juggling parenthood with the rigors of agency life. Baby visits to the office – once rare – are a regular occurrence in the SF office now.

What remains the same:

• Everyone still works really hard. Let’s face it – this is agency life, folks, and it will never ever be a 9-5, Monday – Friday job. However, it’s worth noting that this hard work ethic starts at the top, with both of “The Scotts” still rolling up their sleeves with client work on a regular basis, and all of the partners leading by solid example in the diligence department.
• But we still know how to play, too. Sure, we got in trouble one year at a now infamous company retreat that left Allison+Partners banned from a certain hotel in Pismo Beach forever. But there’s no changing a company culture that’s been built around strong personalities and a wicked sense of humor since day one. The San Francisco office, for example, hosts “beer and a shot” breaks in the late afternoon about once a week , and after-work happy hours at Gio’s and Aventine are more the norm than the exception around here.
• It’s still an extremely entrepreneurial place – maybe more so than ever. Now, though, we are not inventing new ways to manage clients (“Wow, how about doing a ‘Scope of Work’ every month?), but coming up with new ways to solve communications problems and further business objectives while building agency revenue. Everything from the creation of BIG to a budding video production department and a Hispanic Marketing practice show the continuing belief in and support for new ideas and ventures beyond the standard media relations offering.
• We still do great work – in a variety of practice areas and disciplines. At the first-ever retreat, we had a workshop to create the company’s mission statement and core values. “It’s about the work” was a phrase I threw out there to capture the idea of valuing our work property – how creative and innovative and ultimately effective our strategies and execution were on behalf of clients – rather than how big the agency could grow or the amount of profit we could amass. I’m proud to say that today that value has been borne out. Every time I read about the awards an office has received for a brilliant campaign, or see the recent results of a client, I am reminded that we do indeed do great work … just as we did “back then.”

~Aimee Grove, San Francisco

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