So, what makes being indie special? For us at JSB Media, it’s the ability to work with what we already have. Small and mid-sized brands often can’t start from scratch, and that’s completely okay. The key is to look at your current assets, processes, and resources, and use them

Big holding companies are slowing down, getting caught in cycles of consolidation, restructuring, and red tape. Meanwhile, indie agencies around the world are taking smart risks and raising the bar of creative standards. A huge part of that is AI. It gives us new tools to

You can have the best product, the wildest idea, the most exciting innovation... but if no one sees it, it doesn’t matter. That’s where a solid marketing plan comes in. Knowing your audience and how to reach them is just as important as building the product itself. At JSB Media,

Like most agency owners, I get this question all the time: What makes you different? The simple answer is that we don't think like a typical agency. Even the word “agency” feels off. It sounds too transactional and suggests distance. Like a scope in, scope out relationship. We

Single data points used to be enough to track a media's performance, but that is now a thing of the past. As social platforms and nontraditional channels have matured, performance needs a more nuanced KPI system. Brands that rely on one metric to define success are

In a recent interview, Lou Cohen (EY’s chief digital officer) said marketers aren’t using AI to its full potential, which I believe is generally true. AI is already dramatically improving how we identify and target specific audiences. Used well, it sharpens both effectiveness

Independence is an indie agency’s real operating advantage. At JSB Media, we're not answering to a holding company or protecting quarterly earnings. We're also not tied to preferred partners or internal politics, so the only thing our work and guidance is shaped by is what

When markets tighten, even the biggest brands start talking like challengers. They want to look more "human" and emulate that scrappy (but charming) small business feeling. The problem with that is structure. Large organizations are built for scale and protection. There are

At JSB Media, we see our role as a strategic partner embedded in your business. That means understanding all the small details that may not seem overly relevant, like how revenue is generated or what operational constraints exist. When we treat paid media as an isolated business

Most clients are blown away their first time working with an indie team because of how involved we are from the beginning. At an indie agency, onboarding is a big deal, which means that we're going to go deeper than the brief. We look at publicly available data, paid research,

A lot of brands just need clearer direction to reach the next level of their business. Sometimes the fastest way to get there is a second set of eyes on your media mix or creative strategy. Before I sign off for the week, just wanted to remind you everyone that at JSB Media, I’m

Marketing needs a balance between creativity and analysis. Data gives teams the ability to understand how audiences behave and what's working. Without that information, strategy breaks down into guesswork. But another undervalued benefit of data is the direction it gives a

One of the biggest advantages indie agencies have is the ability to adapt quickly, especially because new opportunities can appear and disappear within a single news cycle. Independent teams often have less red tape, which makes it easier to shift direction when something new