Spoiler: It’s not bigger decks, more jargon, or legacy models
Growth brands don’t play by the old rules.
They need to develop/adapt/live in the moment, not to wait six months for a post-campaign report. They need to see the impact media and creative are having on their business, not wade through media plans built to impress procurement. They want partners who bring them ideas and tactics to help them grow their brand, not glossy creds and big network logos.
What do they really want?
Speed, clarity, courage, and partnership.
And yet – too many media agencies are still operating like it’s 2013.
1.They Want You in the Room, Not on the Roster
Growth brands don’t want a supplier. They want a partner: someone who’s in the trenches with them and lives their brand like they do. Who can move as fast as they do, and isn’t afraid to speak plainly.
When Liquid Death (yes, the canned water brand with death metal branding) launched, they didn’t hire a traditional agency. They built a team of misfit creatives and growth hackers, and scaled with performance-driven, unorthodox content. Why? Because they needed people who got them, not a holding company that billed them.
Your job as an agency today? Be embedded. Be honest. Be useful.
“Growth brands aren’t just fighting competitors. They’re fighting investors. Time. Burn rate. Hype cycles. Category fatigue.
They need media partners who get the stakes, and who operate like business allies – not channel guardians.”
2. They Want Performance Without the Binary
For years, media has been split into two camps: brand vs. performance.
Growth brands know that’s a false choice. They don’t see media as a funnel, they see it as a flywheel. Every impression is a chance to build the brand and drive action.
Take Duolingo, a brand that’s mastered this balance. Their TikTok strategy is pure brand storytelling: irreverent, weird, highly memorable. But it drives real results: 82% of Duolingo’s Gen Z users say TikTok ads influenced their decision to download the app (source).
Your media should convert. But it should also compound. One without the other is just wasted potential.
3. They Want Fewer PowerPoints, More Progress
Growth brands don’t need 86-slide decks. They need answers, direction, movement.
As Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said in the early days of Facebook: “Move fast and break things.” Most agencies still move slow and duplicate things.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the brand you’re pitching in Q1 might not even have the same priorities by Q3.
Speed wins. Simplicity wins. Real-time learning beats rigid planning.
4.They Want to See You Take a Risk
Not on their budget – but on your thinking.
In a world where everyone has the same tech stack, the same CPMs, the same targeting tools…your point of view is your power. What do you believe about how growth works in this category?
Where are you willing to challenge the brief?
What are you prepared to stand for?
5. They Want You to Understand Their Pressure
Growth brands aren’t just fighting competitors. They’re fighting investors. Time. Burn rate. Hype cycles. Category fatigue.
They need media partners who get the stakes, and who operate like business allies – not channel guardians.
When Gymshark launched in the UK, they didn’t focus on big-budget TV. They focused on community-building through paid social, micro-influencers, and razor-sharp measurement. Their agency understood what mattered: scale, sure, but with accountability.
So What Do Growth Brands Really Want?
They want:
- A partner, not a pitch machine
- Ideas that ladder up and down – from brand to action
- Progress over process
- Opinions, not just optimisation
- Commercial fluency, not channel fluency
They want agencies who are built for today and ready for tomorrow – not still playing by yesterday’s playbook.
And here’s the good news: you don’t have to be the biggest agency in the room.
You just have to be the one that moves fastest, thinks bravest, and cares most about growth.
Need a partner who thinks like a start-up but plans like a strategist? Let’s talk : +44 (0)20 7257 2600 or hello@smithfieldagency.co.uk (https://smithfieldagency.com/contact/)