I just read Bart Cleveland’s article in Ad Age about how he worked with a phenomenal production company on the cheap and realized it wasn’t about the money for them, it was all about the opportunity and the love for what they do. The Darkly Agency is very similar to Zoic Studios (and we’re thinking we should definitely get to know these brilliant people).

We started our agency on one of the ideals that we should always do this for the love of it and that no project should ever seem like work. That’s why we jump at the chance to work on a project that we know will be creative genius, even if the budget isn’t always a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. That’s also why if McDonald’s came to us tomorrow with a check for $500 million, asking us to be their agency of record under the condition that they have full creative control, we’d flat-out turn them down.

Of course, we’re not dictators; we want the process to be a win-win. The client absolutely needs to walk away happy, but we also need to feel like we were valued and it truly was our work.

After all, not to sound cocky, but we are the experts, and your goal is to connect your brand to your consumer, not to you.