Creative agency Courage is again telegraphing its ambitions with the hiring of a former Adweek managing editor as its executive director of development.
Shannon Miller has been tapped by the agency in a “hybrid” role that will see her leading its business development efforts as well as communications and brand building. “My overall goal is to build the visibility of this agency,” she says.
“Courage is doing a lot of excellent work, but in order for them to continue to do that and expand how they want to, people need to know about it,” she adds. “My job is to build communications strategies and to connect our work with the outside world and build up a social presence. Internally, I’ll also be working with new business to make sure Courage is forging new relationships that help them expand their reach.”
Courage launched less than a year ago, and quickly won major business with brands including CIBC, KFC and Nescafé through “great relationships” that members of the agency’s team had been able to build through their previous experience. Those wins triggered exponential growth for the agency, allowing it to reach a headcount of 40 people and growing, and its executive team has an eye toward expansion – primarily through new business at the moment, though its footprint may grow in lockstep with that work as it develops.
“Building a good bedrock is the goal, before we go, ‘Okay, it’s time to really expand and build offices,'” explains Miller. “What we’re doing right now is building those bridges.”
For her part, Miller sees major opportunity for Courage – on both sides of the border – as a result of its “really deep cultural roots.” She points to the brand’s work with Nescafé, including its highly-touted “Jars” campaign from earlier this year, as one example.
“Our Nescafé work is so deeply rooted in the cultural understanding of connection and growing together. I think it’s because of the team we have, which is so diverse and hungry. Businesses that are ready to do really good, cultural work are going to be an excellent fit for us at the end of the day. And there are a lot of opportunities there that I think Courage can satisfy that not a lot of agencies can, because they’re still building their cultural identities or, frankly, more inclusive models. Courage is a little ahead of the curve when it comes to having that infrastructure and staff.”
Miller is speaking from a position of experience on that topic. At Adweek, she served most recently as managing editor of creativity, creator economy and DEI. In that role she focused heavily on the ad industry’s efforts toward equity, inclusion and consistency. She also created and hosted its DEI podcast, Off Madison.
And with Courage, she will be working with the executive team “to create mandates that help build inclusive environments” – a mission that will extend across No Fixed Address’ informal network of agencies, she notes.
“That’s definitely a priority for us,” Miller says. “Having the opportunity to leverage the resources of not just Courage, but also NFA and Mischief as well, is going to be super helpful in building those policies and mandates that will make us the most inclusive in the business.”