While on a panel at the Ad Age Small Agency Conference last month I was asked why Fancy was deliberately set up a bit differently from the typical agency model of FTEs, butts-in-seats, show-up-Sunday-or-don’t-bother-Monday.

Well, we’re building the agency we always wanted to work for but never could find.

From the very beginning we wanted to offer people who had a lot to contribute to the success of agencies and accounts an opportunity to do so in a way that let them live their lives. Because honestly, we all know that we're actually better at our jobs when we have experiences outside of them. And we’re more efficient when we have something else to do. Just ask any mom.

We also knew standard, day-rate freelancing doesn't solve that problem. Because, when you freelance in that way you are owned by the agency for the full day. And a full day in advertising is definitely not 9-5. You still can't take your kid to the dentist. You still can't commit to that weekly pottery class. You still can't go to the grocery store when it's not jam-packed.

So for the most part we hire people based on the project, and we pay them based on the project. And they can work wherever and whenever they want. We’ve been that way since day 1. Long before Covid made #wfh the way of the world. This works because the Fancies, the grown-ups who work with us (who can be any age by the way, it’s a maturity level I’m talking about here), have our trust that they'll get their job done, when it needs to be done.

It's up to them how many projects they want to take on at any one time—they can scale up or down depending on their own lives and what's happening within them. Generally speaking, they continue to work on the same brands project after project just like they would at a more traditional agency, but they have the utmost flexibility and control over their schedule and their workload. Their “non-billable” time is their own time and they can spend it however they wish. Taking their kids to ballet, taking a walk, taking a nap, or if they want to, taking on more work.

This works for the Fancies because they’ve finally found a way to work in a way that works for them. They’re able to fit their job into their life, not fit their life into what’s leftover after the job. It works for our clients because there's a consistency of thought leadership project to project, yet the team can shift and grow depending on the nature of the assignment. And it works for us at the agency because we have people who are genuinely excited to work on the projects they’ve chosen. And people who are excited work harder, are more invested, and genuinely want to have true and lasting impact on the brand.

Working at and with Fancy? It just works.