New Agency Model Combining Creative Chops with Executional Strength Opens in New York

Tack NYC would like to get right to the point: the launch of this New York City boutique represents more than just another independent agency opening its doors. Rather, it’s a new model enterprise, one conceived in the pre-pandemic era but unveiled during pandemic times, designed to excel at meeting client needs by combining creative savvy with full-service in-house production strength. 

Founded by Ben Bettenhausen, a serial entrepreneur with a long history of working closely with agencies and brands in realising their creative visions, Tack NYC launches with senior leaders possessing extensive experience in working with fashion, beauty, wellness and personal care brands, as well as automotive, retail and many others.

Leading the tack pack is creative director, Kristin Moore-Gantz, who joins from a high-level freelance career, during which time she led creative teams handling big-budget, integrated projects for a range of brands, film studios and agencies. Prior to going out on her own she spent time at such agencies as McCann, atelier (Leo Burnett), Beauty @ Gotham, Grey, Publicis and others. Her portfolio includes work for such brands as Sotheby’s, L’Oréal, Coty, Maybelline, essie, Unilever Prestige, Dark & Lovely and P&G’s global Herbal Essences account. 

Working alongside her will be executive producer, Hugh Broder. A veteran content producer, he began his career on the agency side, serving as director of broadcast production at Doner, Y&R and BBDO, all in Detroit, and was then named director of integrated production for the retail giant Walmart, before starting his own content production company in New York in 2007. Most recently he was executive producer at The Underground, a New York finishing and visual effects studio. 

Ben has worked closely with Kristin for years, across numerous agencies, brands and campaigns, and the two share a deep sense of trust and mutual respect. “When the opportunity presented itself to start something intimate and intensely focused, and with Ben at the helm, it was too exciting to pass up,” said Kristin.  

“I think another common denominator here was the combination of both an experienced content producer with a highly versatile ECD, which is what tack NYC has in me and Kristin,” added Hugh, who worked with Ben at The Underground. 

Kristin points out that while the agency’s senior leaders all spent time collaborating with C-suite executives, they’re also experienced hands when it comes to the scrappier side of rolling up their sleeves and building something from the ground up. “That’s going to be one of our strong suits,” she notes. “We know how to help brands innovate and create content that sticks, across every touchpoint and every medium.” 

Ben says tack NYC’s ability to partner with brands, whether long-established or just starting up, is another advantage, particularly in today’s pandemic environment, “which has hamstrung many brands and forced them to look for new marketing and advertising content talents. We’ve already afforded our new clients a very high level of strategic and creative expertise and insights, backed by world-class production and post capabilities for everything digital, broadcast and print.” Added Kristin, “That efficiency makes us a valuable, one-stop resource for our brand partners.” 

Tack NYC’s head of client strategy, Carly Deiter, brings to the agency over ten years of strategic business and marketing expertise in advertising, e-commerce and big tech, including stints with Facebook and Uber. She sees opportunities in the current shift in consumer behaviour that surrounds beauty, lifestyle and wellness brands, as social distancing has changed how people dress, where they eat, how they groom themselves – almost everything. “Our ability to create and finish at a luxury-brand level and at a more accessible price point is helping our clients navigate this new landscape,” she says. 

Tack’s in-house team, said Hugh, can tackle almost any deliverable a marketer could need, from white space concepts to branding, photography and film, copy and product naming, CG package comps, logo design, POS, cinema-graphs and gifs to OOH executions and banner ads. The agency can quickly and easily provide not just live action video production and creative editorial, but also animation, colour grading, visual effects, social and experiential media, digital installations, AR / VR / XR content and motion graphics. 

“Directors, artists and image-makers with whom both Kristin and I have worked during our overlapping careers are very excited to team with us at tack,” he added. “For us, it’s like a hope out of the bottle moment.”