The Vignette Effect

What 20 Years in Marketing Actually Teaches You With Agency Founder Jared Harman

Episode Summary

What does it really take to build a marketing agency where clients stick around for years, not months? Jared Harman, CEO and co-founder of One Group Agency, has spent over 20 years building brands across hospitality, sports, broadcasting, and agency life, and in this episode, he shares exactly what's underneath that kind of staying power. Raquel and Jared dig into the non-linear path that led him to agency ownership and what it actually looked like to go from two people doing everything to a 16-person team with fully in-house capabilities. They also get into the realities of an agency acquisition, including what it costs you when you double your headcount overnight and how long it really takes to stabilize. The conversation takes a sharp turn into the psychology of marketing, including why clients with brand new businesses expect results before they have data, how the "set it and forget it" mentality hurts both agencies and the people who hire them, and why Jared now believes great work can come from ideas his clients bring to the table. If you've ever wondered what makes the difference between a business that keeps its clients and one that churns through them, this episode gets into the mechanics of that in a really honest way.

Episode Notes

What 20 Years in Marketing Actually Teaches You With Agency Founder Jared Harman

If you've ever hired an agency, been frustrated by one, or thought about building one yourself, you're going to want to hit play on this conversation.

Jared Harman is the CEO and co-founder of One Group Agency, a full-service marketing agency based in Canada with 16 full-time, in-house team members. He's spent over two decades building brands across hospitality, sports, broadcasting, and now agency life, and he's here with Raquel on The Vignette Effect to talk about what's actually underneath a business built on long-term client relationships.

In this episode, Raquel and Jared cover:

• Why restaurant and service industry experience is still some of the best training you can get for business (and why you should keep it on your resume)
• The non-linear career path that took Jared from sports radio and junior hockey to co-founding an agency in 2018
• What he and his business partner Matt saw as the gap in the market for small and medium businesses that couldn't afford the big agency model
• Why One Group Agency keeps all service offerings in-house rather than contracting out, and what that makes possible for clients
• The relationship-building approach that's kept original clients with the agency for years
• What actually happens to client relationships during an acquisition, and why the "they'll never leave" assumption is the most dangerous one you can make
• How the agency went from 10 to 26 people overnight and what it took to restabilize 
• The "set it and forget it" mentality that kills agency-client trust, and what Jared does instead
• Why new businesses often want to pour gas on the fire before they have the data to support it
• What Jared wishes someone had told him earlier
• Why he now believes the best marketing happens when you're not the one attached to the outcome

The mindset shift that stuck:

Jared talks about a hard-earned truth that most marketers don't arrive at until years in: you're not always the audience. When clients are too attached to their brand to see it from the outside, your job is to help them get to 30,000 feet. And the only way to do that is to get there yourself first.

Connect with Raquel:

• Website: vignettebrandstudio.com 
• Instagram: @raquel.furman

Connect with Jared:

• Website: onegroupagency.ca
• LinkedIn: Jared Harman