Dave Averdick | Dec. 21 2021
As 2021 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to reflect on the year because a lot of happenings have happened. From campaigns with our clients that truly challenge comfortable to internal initiatives that assisted in moving the world forward, starting with our people, and hilarious photoshop competitions that would give the most viral Reddit threads a run for the money; 2021 was action packed like a Fast & Furious movie except we never went to space or jumped out a skyscraper or did we?
My name is Ty Gates and I’m the Communications Manager here. Personally, my favorite moment was having the opportunity to have my mother guide us for a two-part discussion revolving around Ijeoma Oluo’s book, So You Want to Talk About Race. The discussions were thought-provoking. I never thought I’d see the day that my mom would meet my coworkers, but The Many is a special place and opened the doors to a special experience that I’ll forever cherish.
Featured below are some folks from across the agency highlighting some of their favorite moments from 2021. We hope you enjoy the glimpse into what happened here this year and we wish you the best! See you in 2022.
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Andy Craig, Group Strategy Director
“How rapidly we’ve scaled with eBay. This is a portfolio client who has a LOT of things to say and support, with a huge appetite for creative innovation. Through integrated planning, franchise-caliber ideas, and hive-mind client relationships, we’re scaling smartly, thinking long term, and cracking learnings and IP that will help drive the entire agency forward.”
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Svetlana Kornilova, Associate Director of Project Management
“One of my favorite moments of 2021 was how surreal and special it felt to go back to the office after a year of complete isolation. Still very beautiful and inspiring place. Also, meeting some faces for the first time which also feels like you’ve known them forever after staring at each other on Zoom calls but it is totally different in real life <3. Wherever we are: at the office, at home, between the West and East Coast, or Australia, I’m proud of the teams I’ve worked with throughout this year. Proud of how our teams can bring that energy through the screen, how much we laugh, how much we energize each other and learn from one another. It proved again, anything is possible when we are together.”
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Amy Woo, Associate Design Director
“My most memorable experience this year was being sent on a last minute trip across the country with four other coworkers I had never met irl (two of them were in their first week, so they were complete strangers). The team ended up hitting it off and produced some great work in a short amount of time. I see this small moment in 2021 as a reflection of the agency and spirit we foster here – passionate, kind folks who are unafraid of diving into the deep end together to create impactful work.”
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Caroline Tambling, Associate Media Director
“What I’ve really loved about this year is how our team doubled down on connections in year two of working virtually. We have hired folks across different time zones who we haven’t meet IRL, so strengthening our bond as a team has been priority #1. This comes to life in our onboarding process, weekly 1:1s, and team statuses, as well as a few happy hours here and there. We’ve been through so much as a team and I just know we can handle anything 2022 throws our way!”
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Ashley Milhollin, Creative Director
“My favorite moment slash biggest pride and joy this year is our ‘Please Don’t Buy Mixwell’ campaign. It’s such a wonderful coalescence of what our work can be: meaningful but not expectedly earnest, hugely provocative but for a larger purpose and brave enough to risk the bottom line in favor of protecting real value(s).”
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Kim Vorse, Senior Producer
“There was a tipping tip at our agency where we experienced such tremendous growth that, suddenly, all the people I had only met on Zoom outnumbered my pre-COVID co-workers. My favorite moment this year has actually been multiple moments. It’s been shoots, random dinners and sporadic office visits where I get to say hello to old friends and figure out how tall my Zoom friends really are. It’s easy to go heads down working together virtually – but there’s nothing like being together, in person.”
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Edwin Barrera, IT & Facilities Manager
“The Friday Gatherings with Special guests have been my favorite moments this year. The two-day sessions with Ms. Pamela Lewis and the workshop ‘Standing on the Shoulders of Giants’ with the Berkeley group were inspiring and uplifting. These moments are meaningful because they deal with real life and help us understand each other more and try to make this place better for generations to come. Can’t wait to see what The Many has in store for next year. I’ve also enjoyed seeing the agency grow so much. If you had told me at the start of the pandemic that we would reach 150 employees, I would have not believed it. And look at us now, doing our thing and striving for more. It’s beautiful to see and exciting to be part of.”
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Johanna Penry, People Experience Manager
“We launched a mentorship program that was pretty grassroots and centered around developing relationships. At the end of the program when we gathered feedback from the folks that participated, we were blown away. Every single mentor and mentee saw results from improved confidence to increased empathy. One person mentioned that the program shifted their thought process from contributing individually to contributing collectively— that’s what it’s all about.”
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Rediate Tekeste, Senior Brand Director
“Our Old School Meets New School series with @eBaywatches! The conversations between talent, collaboration with the client and our team, and the final work was culture-forward, honest, and real-talk we love to see. We challenged gender norms, highlighted the impact of Black culture on luxury, and did it all so beautifully in multiple social spots. Beyond doing well with the press & on social – our ability as a team to create content that had a viewpoint about our world and not only a product – reminded me exactly of our superpower as storytellers.”
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Lauren Gluck, Director of Growth
“I am so proud of the amazing growth I’ve witnessed first-hand at the agency. We have been lucky to welcome so many incredible partners and brands into our fold this year. From our integrated work with The Bouqs to the meaningful work we are doing with Ad Council and the way we have grown our existing relationship with long-term clients like Synchrony. Seeing the way that everyone at The Many rallies around new opportunities and gives each one 150% inspires me every day.”
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