How Omelet Cracked The Secret to Success in Advertising

Omelet is a boutique LA-based agency that's quickly rising in the ranks of the Californian advertising scene. Releases for brands such as Ubisoft, Pokemon, Microsoft and HBO have been major wins for the agency and partnerships with brands such as Guild Guitars have made waves over the Atlantic too. The successful business movements of the company, their brand work and enviable portoflio can't just be down to their creatives, but their planners and strategists must play a key role in advancing the forward progression of the company. We sat down and chatted to Omelet's Chief Strategy Office Thas Naseemuddeen to learn why Omelet's business is so cracking.

LBB> What are the origins of Omelet? How did the agency get its name?

Thas Naseemuddeen> Omelet was born 13 years ago when a few young creatives from a big holding company agency hatched a plan: start a new kind of agency, free from the bureaucracy and ego of the larger shops. Their vision was to create an independent, boutique shop focused on better work, better service, and better culture.

The agency’s name was inspired by the adage that the test of a true chef is the making of an omelet. Omelets are not only an absolutely delicious breakfast item, but they’re also the ultimate product of craft/skill for any chef. It is a reflection of our spirit and of our process: a little messy to start out with, but the product is beautiful and simple.

LBB> In the rapidly-changing advertising industry, how has the agency evolved over its 10+ years and what has stayed the same? What would you say Omelet is best known for?

TN> We see Omelet’s 13-year history as a great example of the evolutionary cycle of client-agency relationships. In the early days of Omelet, we did some incredible work in the digital and experiential world, with some of the most fun brands you could imagine.

Those days are when we realized that a flavor of pop culture is a fundamental part of Omelet’s DNA, as we grounded much of our work in entertainment and truly culture-shaping brands and artists.

As Omelet evolved, we took on bigger challenges, including an AOR relationship with Microsoft in 2014 and ongoing relationships with brands like Walmart and AT&T, both of which have been partners of the agency for over six years (close to half of our existence!). 

In a project-based world, we’re really proud of our long-term client relationships; we love being smart and scrappy, but we believe it’s entirely possible to do that over time, while also carrying on lasting, trusted relationships.

LBB> Tell us about your senior leadership team, their backgrounds, and day-to-day responsibilities.

TN> Don Kurz is the CEO of Omelet. While not formally from the world of advertising, his years of experience in business, consulting and marketing makes him a valued and loved leader of the pack. 

Our CCO Grant Holland is a sports fan extraordinaire and the first to board a plane to see his Tar Heels win the NCAA National Championship. He’s also driven incredible brand platforms, leading accounts like Starbucks at 72andSunny and Adidas at 180LA. His sense of humor coupled with firm work ethic is leading Omelet into the next chapter of its existence.  

Ricardo Diaz is our self-proclaimed king of the nerds and Executive Director of Digital. He’s got over 20 years of experience making things in the digital space with a career punctuated by firsts: the first iAd (remember those?), the first e-commerce site powered by a gestural interface, and the first award-winning software platform built for an agency network. He spent many years running digital at TBWA and then at Zambezi before joining the team at Omelet.

Mike Wallen is our Chief Content Officer, overseeing both our Walmart relationship and Omelet Studio. He comes from an entertainment background, so he’s constantly challenging us and our clients to embrace entertainment as an effective way to do brand storytelling. And he’s spearheading original content for Omelet, including a feature-length documentary “License to Operate” and our comedic web series “Workin’ It!”

Dan Ruth is a freaking enigma - Omelet hype man and Chief Production Officer. When he’s not making his own beats or directing music videos for the likes of Denzel Curry, he’s producing award-winning films for brands. He joined Omelet last year after years as an EP at 72andSunny, overseeing production for Activision’s Call of Duty franchise.

LBB> In what ways does Omelet operate as a traditional advertising agency, and in what ways have you adapted upon what it means to be an agency, such as with your entertainment arm?

TN> We are built as a full-service agency offering brand and creative capabilities in addition to our branded entertainment division Omelet Studios, our in-house production unit Benedict (yes, like the eggs), and our strategic consulting arm of the business. 

Our Omelet Studios division has us out there pitching original shows and films to brands, constantly building our own slate of content. We have lots of talented folks here that are writing screenplays and web shorts in their free time, so Mike and his team have a created an environment where people can create with the backing of the agency. 

With our production arm, Benedict, we’re constantly prototyping and testing out the feasibility of our ideas so having on-site capabilities only made sense. That is also where we flex our social making muscle, being fluent in the different types of content, how they’re created, and the best practices with which they can be deployed across different channels

We also like to “make” think-y things as well - which manifests in our strategic consulting arm of the business. We work with clients like Nickelodeon fairly upstream on business and strategic problems, providing insight and recommendations on everything from audience development through to content strategy and product innovation.

Omelet's style captures two of the characteristics most important in today's advertising climate: creating fundamentally social-friendly content and featuring sharp top-shelf production value. How do these characteristics fit into Omelet's creative strategy, and what is your POV on these trends?

We believe that in the creative company of the future, everyone has a creative bone. That’s a big reason why we created Benedict, our maker space: to support our team’s innate desire to make stuff. Benedict also allows us to create quickly and more efficiently for our clients, do a lot of heavy lifting on production within the walls of our agency, and stretch our clients’ budgets further. Since launching Benedict, we’ve produced several pieces of social content for AT&T, Mitsubishi, American Cancer Society, DTS, and Nickelodeon, bringing new revenue streams into the agency, while improving response times and budget management for our clients.

There’s no reason why we need to sacrifice quality when making social-friendly content, but we also need to consider how social content is consumed: really, really quickly. It’s got a short shelf life, and there’s room for a lot of it. So we consider the medium and audience when setting up social content productions.

LBB> What is something that people don't know about Omelet that you'd like them to?

TN> While we’ve never labeled ourselves a “purpose-driven” agency per se, it’s undeniable that it’s in our DNA.  We’re particularly driven by projects that allow us to give back to LA in some way - whether that’s creating, funding and producing a feature-length doc on the amazing strides LA is making to reduce gang violence and improve law enforcement’s relationship with the community it servers. Or whether that’s working with the City of LA to support water conservation through our “Save the Drop” campaign. We love lending our creative muscle in support of important messages and causes. It’ll always be a critical part of the way we operate at Omelet.

LBB> What are Omelet's ambitions moving forward?

TN> Keep testing new models and continuing to move at the speed of culture. When you’re independent, you have freedom to flex with the demands of the market. We’re lucky that we have a team here that’s game to pilot new models, to try our new ways of working with clients, to drop “the way it’s always been done” in service of better/faster/fresher. So our ambition is to grow, but to do so strategically and in a way that’s true to our philosophy.