Takeaways from Ad Age Small Agency Conference 2026
By Nick Lowery
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the Ad Age Small Agency Conference and Awards in downtown Los Angeles. One theme consistently stood out throughout the event: a strong internal culture, combined with helping clients understand how culture shapes their consumers and brands, is one of the most important factors in helping an indie agency thrive.
Stretching out the legs mid session
Get out and get into the culture. Touch grass, try new products, and bring your clients along with you when you can. The best agencies aren't waiting for trends to show up in a report. They're out in the world experiencing the same products, environments, and moments as the consumers they're trying to reach.
Whether it's trying a newly launched product, visiting a retail location, attending a live event, or sitting in on a focus group to hear directly from consumers, those firsthand experiences create a level of empathy and understanding that can't always be found in a spreadsheet or presentation deck. When listening to Blake Heal, Candice Beck and Britta Larson in their session “Bringing Starbucks back to Culture” it was so fantastic to hear them share about their stories around connecting with the consumers where they are at. This included understanding trends on social media for new fan creations with their drinks and looking at how fans interpret Starbucks as a brand in today’s day and age.
Connecting with the Rise and Shine and Partners team
Another theme, which was not surprising, was the influx of the buzzword we all know and love: AI. Rishad Tobaccowala shared in his session titled “Workshop: Repricing creativity in the age of AI” that he believes AI is no longer just a collaborative tool, but a secondary brain. Instead of referring to AI as artificial intelligence, he described it as more like alien intelligence. Combining AI (alien intelligence) with HI (human intelligence) is the best way for agencies and brands to stay dangerous. Humans bring ideas, creativity, and lived experience to AI, while AI provides new ways to bring those ideas to life.
While AI has countless ways to help agency teams, there were also several reminders about how not to use it. Three themes stood out to me:
Using AI to create unrealistic project timelines
Relying on AI simply because it is the cheaper option rather than the best solution
Allowing AI to replace creativity instead of enhancing it
It was truly a pleasure connecting with a few of our agency clients such as Doe-Anderson and Rise and Shine and Partners and meeting new agency leaders throughout the conference. There's always something valuable about bringing the industry together to hear different perspectives and exchange ideas on where the agency world is headed.
A huge congratulations to all this year's award winners. It was exciting to see so much outstanding work recognized, and I'm already looking forward to attending again next year. Were you able to attend? If so, what were some of your favorite highlights?