Successful creative agency
KNOCK is likely to find even more open doors in its future, with expansion of its brand strategy, advertising, and design services to global clients.
The agency's CEO, Lili Hall--quoted in our
lead feature this week--has been zipping around the world in the past six months, and just completed a Master's degree in international practice management. She's in talks with business connections in countries like Saudi Arabia and India, and she anticipates much more global work coming to KNOCK in the near future.
"Global is really becoming our focus," she says. "We have a great partner who's consulting with us about cultural relevance, and we feel very connected to global networks in a new way."
Hall founded the company in 2001, just a few months after 9/11, and she admits the timing was challenging. Without a business plan, and in a tricky economic climate, KNOCK might have faltered if it hadn't been for Hall's passionate belief in creating an agency based on the right way to treat colleagues and clients.
"When I started the company, I reflected on the attributes of people I admired and respected," she says. "But I also thought about the situations I'd seen that were negative. I created a list of 'how to never treat people,' and in many ways, that's become a major part of our philosophy."
For example, KNOCK stands apart for blending creatives with account professionals, which is an unusual arrangement for an agency. Those two "sides" tend to do battle, but Hall saw the power of collaboration from the start, and has shown that blending those viewpoints creates more strength for clients. In other words, when thinking about how never to treat people, the first lesson is: don't make your colleagues into enemies, just because of their job titles.
Hall also credits transparency, a proactive approach, and internal entrepreneurial energy for driving growth throughout KNOCK.
Source: Lili Hall, KNOCK
Writer: Elizabeth Millard