Maintaining an Agency Culture During Rapid Growth

Curt Seiss, VP, Operations Brightline Interactive
April 15, 2015

Over the past two years, Brightline Interactive has experienced an enormous amount of change. Our staff has more than doubled, our activation stages have grown in scope and visibility, and we have added to our physical office space to accommodate expansion. Through it all, we have emphasized the preservation and valuation of our fundamental asset — our people. Our strategy has seen tangible success, as Brightline was recently named one of Event Marketer’s Best Places to Work in Events (as voted on by employees). Through selective hiring, we have assembled a smart and dexterous group whose collective brand personality aligns with our agency values. By hiring to values and aligning personality traits, the agency enjoys the collateral benefit of an organically contagious culture. Through the nurturing and maintenance of this culture, the often seismic proportions of change are more easily embraced and woven into the fabric of our creative technology business.

Brightline has established a culture of collaboration cross-departmentally. While that’s the cost of entry for any successful agency, for a company that traffics in aggressive production timelines, interdepartmental communication and collaboration are vital to mitigating quality control. By identifying and removing barriers to communication such as unclear roles and responsibilities, agenda-less meetings and burdensome bureaucracy, the teams can focus on harnessing the creative power needed to deliver high production value in short timeframes. True collaboration — where the sum total is greater than the parts — only happens when teams are comprised of people with unified values working toward clear mutual goals. Brightline’s ability to maintain that collaborative culture is evidenced by an extremely low turnover rate — even through a year-long phase of growing pains — and by producing national, award-winning work year after year.

Brightline began its journey when our CEO was one of the first to stream live content on the net. We now design, build and install digital experiences for some of the biggest brands at the biggest events in the world. Our brand identity certainly has evolved, but what’s sustainable is how quickly our teams adapt to our clients’ needs. We share an unquenchable curiosity, and that manifests itself in a wellspring of strategic, creative ideas and unique technological expressions. We are driven to deliver disruptive brand experiences but in so doing, support and push one another to enjoy the collective success.

Holding community meetups, celebrating milestones, and group golf or vineyard tours are easy ways to create camaraderie and solidify relationships. But the real cultural work happens in the face of client growth. That’s when you know your team has the gravitas to sustain that growth.

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