Business Development Team Recognized for 2020 Success Story
Cincinnati, OH — January 12, 2021 – Global business magazine, Campaign US, recognizes Curiosity, a Cincinnati-based creative solutions agency as a finalist in the Campaign US Agency of the Year Awards for its successful business development team.
If nine new client wins with a 100% close rate, including two major P&G assignments wasn’t enough, Curiosity also underwent a complete company rebrand and launched a new website, earning 90 million media impressions for the agency, thousands of new social media followers, and numerous awards, from a local “Best Place to Work” to an International Webby Award for Best Use of Social. 2020 was also the year Curiosity took a public stand to support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, becoming the first independent integrated agency to join ANA’s SeeHer and an early partner in the One Club for Creativity’s ONE School, a free portfolio school for Black creatives.
Campaign US hosts the Agency of the Year Awards to celebrate independent and public agencies, as well as individuals, across creative, digital, media and public relations for their “bold creativity, strategic excellence and ability to build brands and create work that moves the needle.”
“We are proud to announce our shortlist for Campaign US’ Agency of the Year Awards,” said Campaign US Editor Alison Weissbrot. “Each of these agencies demonstrates a commitment to their clients and their craft that sets the bar for the industry. Congratulations to all of our winners, who deserve to be celebrated for their hard work in a very difficult year.”
Curiosity’s business development team is led by Chief Development Officer Ashley Walters and Marketing Manager Susanna Max, who together ensure seamless integration between sales and marketing. The duo is supported by a team of social media leaders, strategists, a data scientist, designers, paid media specialists and project managers who collaborate to execute Curiosity’s well-orchestrated strategic plan. Formed in 2019 under Ashley’s vision that “Sales fuels Marketing and Marketing fuels Sales,” Curiosity’s business development team carries dual roles - create stories to sell and sell the stories you create.
“When you stop siloing business development to just sales, you witness the impact it can have when integrated with marketing,” said Chief Development Officer, Ashley Walters.
2020 required a new way of thinking for business development teams, so Curiosity literally rewrote the pursuit playbook. A living, breathing, beautiful story that captures the entire process from first date to marriage and all of the bumps and breathtaking moments in between, making the pitch process fun, easy and seamless. Gone are the days of rehearsed, senior executive pitch teams. 2020 required a more authentic and nimble approach.
“We killed the idea of pitch teams,” said Walters. “Instead, we look at the agency as one pitch team, because BD is everyone’s responsibility. And when you stop thinking about it as pitching and start thinking about it as building relationships built on vulnerability and authenticity, you see meaningful results.”
Perhaps the most critical result of Curiosity’s successful 2020 story is that the agency retained 100% of its staff, and actually added new positions. The agency also dedicated its time and talent to give back to the community in a big way, launching “Save Cincy Small” to support local small businesses, and created a campaign to raise awareness and funds for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.
Campaign US Agency of the Year Finalists were announced this week and winners will be recognized in a virtual ceremony on February 18. To learn more about the Campaign US Agency of the Year Awards, visit their website.
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About Curiosity
Curiosity is a fast-growing independent creative solutions agency with four superpowers: strategy, creative, media and analytics, all driven by curiosity. We use our extreme curiosity to strategically solve business and marketing challenges for courageous clients such as Procter & Gamble, Native Deodorant, Formica, and Western & Southern Financial Group. Recognized by The Webby Awards for top social media campaign, Communication Arts for digital advertising, and the Cincinnati Business Courier as a Best Place to Work, we ask the right questions to solve the right challenges because we believe curiosity is the key to unlocking the right solutions.
Curiosity is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the branding capital of the world and home to more Fortune 500 companies per capita than anywhere else in the country.
Curious to learn more? Find us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, and online.
