Humanaut is the world’s most creative agency with a mission to get good things inside people’s brains—making the most high-performing brands that are creating a better future. In our world of the attention economy where every brand (a corporate entity or an individual influencer) is clamoring to arrest a consumer’s focus, stopping the scroll requires a feat of creative brilliance and a bit of magic—especially for emergent and challenger brands.
From stronger financial accounting principles and systems to rigorous project management and process development, from new business pipeline management and operations to accurate revenue and resource forecasting, the initial top priority was focusing on the fundamentals to build a strong foundation that could shoulder future growth. Within a matter of months, our small, fledgling operations team built the strategies, metrics, process, systems and tools to stabilize the business—allowing us to decision more strategically as longitudinal data became more valuable.
With the fundamentals in place, we could identify areas of efficiency and friction, understand key gaps, realize what was unnecessary—ultimately determining what offerings drove revenue and profit, and which should be the focus. Then rinse and repeat, iteratively improving across the entire lifecycle from prospect targeting, developing pitch collateral, forecasting demand, scoping and reconciling projects with precision, and creating an environment for the entire team to thrive.
Much of the creative process is pure magic—the brilliant talents of individual creatives collaborating together. And parts of that process can be defined, structured, built, measured and scaled. With an internal toolset to operate the core agency business in place, we then built the MotherBrain as a key part of Humanaut’s “central nervous system” which is comprised of three elements: the creative operating system, a distributed global network of remarkable creatives and a collaborative platform and environment designed to develop individual talent — all of which fueled the agency’s award-winning, attention-arresting, scroll-stopping work.
Michael Dunn
Chief Marketing Officer, Global Brand Strategist
Increased lead generation by 10x and top line revenue by 35%. By building a business development strategy, process and toolset, our team was then able to prioritize new business opportunities, prospects to target and leads to nurture, as well as measure pipeline velocity, more accurately forecast revenue, and predict client buying patterns.
With a strong foundation of accounting principles, business development, and project management and reconciliation in place, we enriched the leadership decision making process with more and more objective data that led to greater operational predictability, accurate forecasting of resource demands, reduced hiring risk, and more precise financial planning farther out on the horizon.
Increased the agency’s remote talent network 1600% by launching the MotherBrain platform. After a few trial runs via a quick prototype, we designed and built an MVP platform with a creative community where we launched a series of distinct, structured assignments that were a part of larger client projects. We crowdsourced ideas, headlines, new consumer and cultural truths, design concepts, short video clips, and much more. Some of the creatives were even actors for nationally-broadcast advertising campaigns—receiving royalty payments and all.
It is an exceptionally exciting challenge to not only structure, define, design and build a platform for creativity, but to prove—even at a small level—that it can be scaled is a significant achievement. I firmly believe that co-creation at scale will be a leading force in our forthcoming “industrial” revolution.
As Managing Director, I wore many hats — crafting the agency’s growth and financial strategy, defining operational objectives, leading business development pursuits, serving as product manager for a creative and talent platform, and much more.
Led the development of the agency’s strategy for growth and scale, and operationalizing these objectives across the entire business.
Drove financial focus and rigor with stronger accounting principles in partnership with our world-class Director of Operations to establish greater predictability in forecasting revenue and resource demand.
Built the new business development strategy, operation, and pipeline. Established new processes and implemented new CRM and sales tools.
Actively led the agency’s recruitment strategy, hiring, and resource planning.
Nurtured financial and operational transparency, as well as created a culture of feedback and openness for the entire team.
Product Manager for the MotherBrain platform, led community management in order to grow the talent network into the thousands, owned the end-to-end project collaboration process, and managed multiple technology partners to build the platform.
Richard Tseng
Creative Director, Writer
There are not many words truer than Kevin Ashton’s on the power of no. “The math of time is simple: you have less than you think and need more than you know. Saying ‘no’ has more creative power than ideas, insights and talent combined. No guards time, the thread from which we weave our creations. Yet, we are taught not to say ‘no.’”
We must learn the value of ‘no,’ the focus it brings to any endeavor, and the value that creates. ‘No’ is not an act of verbal violence, but an empowering constraint that leads to greater success.
Equitable is not equal. In life, and especially in business, clearly defined relationships, responsibilities, boundaries and hierarchies are critically important. Business success is built on relationships—trust given to those that are building together.
Throughout my career, I continue to (re)learn the power and value of creativity, design, and collaboration. The intersection of creativity and culture inspires ideas, catalyzes innovation, and drives new products — benefits instrumental to human development. This is my favorite lesson to consistently surprised and re-educated. I continue to believe in the power of people, and their creative magic!
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