Gale's Audience-First Approach Wins ADWEEK's US Media Agency of the Year

According to global CEO Andrew Noel, Gale is setting the standard for modern marketing by blending “the strategic prowess of consultancies with the creative excellence of agencies.” Since its founding in 2014, the agency has grown from seven employees to more than 750, offering full-service capabilities across creative, digital, public relations, data, and technology. It also boasts a robust media arm, which has been integral to its success—and has earned Gale ADWEEK’s 2025 U.S. Media Agency of the Year award. “Today, you have to consider media as an expression of creative, experiences, [and] culture,” said Gale North America CEO Sophia Zhang. “We need to have a deep, ingrained knowledge about how media gets activated in this space.” This unique positioning is paying off, as Gale projects its 2024 net revenue to hit $166.5 million—a 15% increase year-over-year. The agency’s strong media offering contributed to adding more than 15 clients to its roster in 2024, including Don Julio (global social AOR), Fogo de Chao (AOR), Bath Fitter (media AOR), and Cotton Incorporated (creative and social AOR). AI-powered media Technology is at Gale’s core, and the agency has been toying with machine learning and AI since its inception. Last year, it took its tech offerings a step further by launching Alchemy.Ai, a bespoke platform with a custom application layer and capabilities for data visualization, custom algorithms, and search and discovery. Gale’s media team uses the platform to identify audiences, allocate budget across channels to maximize ROI, and direct traffic where ads are running. One client that has benefited from Gale’s investment in AI is longtime partner Pella. The window and door manufacturer looked to the agency to reduce its media spend and shift its strategy during a period of slow sales. Using Alchemy.Ai, Gale created bespoke plans across 57 markets that increased ROI by 17%, according to the agency. “[Alchemy.Ai] is a significant accelerator for us,” said Noel, “from insights about audiences and what those audiences are interested in, to conversations [around] competitors, to social insights.” In the past year, Gale has rolled out a training program to help employees integrate Alchemy.Ai into their daily workflow. Employees have access to the platform and other tools built for the specific accounts they work on. “There’s so many more capabilities that we can add to [Alchemy.Ai],” Zhang said, adding that as those capabilities grow, Gale will invest more in training its people. “We have a team that’s been learning along the curve, but they also know where some of the challenges lie,” added Noel. Audience and results-first Gale prides itself on an approach to media that is audience and results-first. “[We] feel like a management consultancy, but we offer the services required to move [our clients’] business,” said Noel. Chili’s chief marketing officer George Felix said Gale’s curiosity and “deep understanding of our business” stood out to him. Originally brought on to manage the restaurant chain’s data and customer relationship management strategy nearly two years ago, Gale’s remit with Chili’s has expanded to include loyalty, performance media, measurement, and analytics. “They have been able to provide strategic thinking at a deeper level than most partners can,” Felix said. “We’re pretty early on, but we’re already starting to see that pay dividends.” Felix added that Gale has been instrumental in helping Chili’s better understand audience demographics, leading to viral success on a campaign for its Triple Dipper appetizer. Gale was able to quantify how the menu item appeals to younger Chili’s guests so the brand could tailor its marketing strategy accordingly. According to the restaurant chain, the Triple Dipper accounted for 14% of total sales from October 2024 to December 2024, a 3% increase from the quarter prior. “We were also able to understand the purchase behavior,” Felix said. “We now know, not only is that skewing younger, we’re actually able to validate that with our data [and] understand the frequency at which they’re coming.” Brand safety Any top tier media agency has a strong approach to brand safety—especially as online discourse gets more polarized in the current political environment. Gale’s approach is a mix of both automated and manual checks and balances, as well as a checklist of custom parameters for individual platforms. “We have a list of QA [quality assurance] requirements that we go through anytime that we buy and place media,” explained Zhang. “We also have whitelist and blacklist approval processes with our clients to make sure that the publishers that we’re showing up against are preapproved.” Gale’s focus remains on understanding how its clients want their brands to show up. “We then provide them with a recommendation on the right content, strategy, and media placement,” said Zhang. Hiring nontraditional talent Gale believes that investing in its people is key to long-term success. In 2024, the agency didn’t initiate any layoffs, and its employee retention rate was 90%, up from 86% in 2023. It also made 15 new hires and promoted 30% of its workforce. Gale invested $1 million in employee training and development last year, a new milestone. It has also stayed committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) with programming, training, and partnerships with clients who share similar values. “When people talk about diversity, a lot of times they’re referring to physical diversity,” Zhang said. “In this industry, having cognitive diversity is where creativity happens.” — Key wins: Don Julio (global social AOR), Fogo de Chao (AOR), Bath Fitter (media AOR), Cotton Incorporated (creative and social AOR), Papa John’s (loyalty), and Polestar (strategy), Old Parr and Buchanan’s (creative AOR), Rocket Software (creative, media), Kohler (integrated) Losses: Chipotle and Truth Initiative Strategic moves: Gale added 15 new hires and promoted 30% of its workforce. The new leadership role of managing director, creative was also added. Gale launched a media accelerator program for talent across paid social, SEO, and paid search, and hired all 11 participants this past year. Revenue: Gale projects 2024 net revenue of $166.5 million, a 15% revenue increase year-over-year. DEI: Gale’s staff is 52% women and 47% male, and at least 60% of them are non-white. This past year, Gale implemented mandatory unconscious bias training for hiring managers and an optional off-boarding meeting for people from underrepresented backgrounds to provide unfiltered feedback to its head of DEI. Key campaigns Hard Rock Hard Rock, "Come Together" Gale launched Hard Rock’s first global loyalty program, Unity. After building its technology backbone and visual identity, the agency created a global campaign to promote it featuring John Legend, Shakira, and Lionel Messi, as well as a reimagined version of The Beatles’ 1969 song “Come Together,” recorded by singer Noah Kahan. The campaign film appeared across social media and on live TV during the 2024 NBA and NHL playoffs. Gale also created campaign content across the full marketing funnel, highlighting Hard Rock’s experiences and the core benefits of the Unity membership. Subsequently, Gale drove a 30% increase in Unity sign-ups, a 23% increase in cross-line-of-business revenue, and a 31% boost in brand favorability. H&R Block H&R Block, "Sir Block" To help H&R Block appeal to young and first-time tax filers, Gale developed the tax-themed Minecraft Competitive League featuring top gamers from across the country. It also hosted a livestreamed creator tournament with a prize pool of $100,000. During the competition, an H&R Block-branded playable character, Sir Block, became a player favorite. The activation drove over 730,000 unique viewers and a 101% increase in website traffic for H&R Block during the campaign. Gaming drove a 39% lift in consideration with its target audience, which was the largest growth of all channels, including TV, streaming, and social. Pella Pella, "Overcoming Economic Pressure." Gale created a bespoke strategy for Pella to help the window and door manufacturer combat a period of sluggish sales. The agency considered the distinct preferences of different regions, coupled with continuous optimization of the brand’s channel mix. With a goal of reducing marketing spend without sacrificing the success of years past, Gale facilitated a 20% increase in appointment bookings from direct mail recipients, 11% more efficiency of its search engine marketing campaigns, and a 17% increase in total return on marketing investment.

Media Agency of the Year

Gale's Audience-First Approach Wins ADWEEK's US Media Agency of the Year

The Stagwell Media Network agency continues to enhance its robust media offerings

Cydney Lee

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