How Boutique Agencies Lead the Remote Work Movement

People who say size doesn’t matter are just kidding themselves. Sure, they say it to be positive but, if it really didn’t matter, we’d all be sleeping in twin beds. 

This does not mean, however, that bigger is always better. Far from it. Perhaps you are old enough to remember the first wave of mobile phones, which were so big they required a backpack and had an extendable antenna. It was like having a conversation while holding an iron skillet to your ear, and you still found yourself asking “Can you hear me now?”  

Instead of blindly favoring what is biggest, it is far more prudent and practical to seek out what fits best. Indeed, despite the breaking and entering, Goldie Lox was actually on to something there: things should not be too big or too small, but just right. 

So it is, too, with advertising, where right-sized boutique agencies like Lemonade better meet clients’ day-to-day needs, and are much better positioned to serve them in the remote work era.

Large, bloated agencies, on the other hand, run inefficiently through layers of bureaucracy and games of telephone, fill client-facing positions with interns and fresh-out-of-college newbies, and often lose sight of their smaller clients by focusing on their whales. 

Lemonade: The Right-Sized Boutique Agency

At Lemonade, being right-sized starts with an agile staffing model. Lemonade is comprised of a core team of project managers, creatives and strategists who are all-in on our clients, all the time. Supporting this core team, we have a network of SMEs and niche specialists who can bring specific expertise to client work as necessary. 

We can expand and contract as necessary, and the client gets exactly what they need—no more, no less—when they need it. 

And, while we didn’t build Lemonade around remote work, the same instincts that maximize productivity in lean boutique agencies also lend themselves to an ideal remote work culture. Keep this in mind as we outline some of the key distinctions between behemoth, old-school advertising agencies and right-sized, modern boutique ones like Lemonade.

Speed: Stock Cars vs. Mack Trucks

Optimized objects move faster through space than enormous ones, this is just simple physics—it’s why people race stock cars, not mack trucks. With marketing agencies, it means cutting through traffic faster, enabling quicker turnarounds for quality work. 

It’s logical when you think about it: In a right-sized agency, there are less people to onboard and sync up, offering a lean, mean, dedicated team that’s all-in on a client, has been with them since onboarding, and understands their past, present and future needs.

There’s less red tape, less people to manage and, honestly, less people feeling like they need to manage somebody. This is because, at boutique agencies, everybody knows their job and is trusted to do it. When things go wrong, they are trusted to say so. 

There are no micromanagers, no fleet of program, product, and project managers stepping on each other’s and everybody else’s toes. Deliverables do not need to navigate a labyrinth of rubber stampers and middle managers.

But just because our leadership team doesn’t micromanage at Lemonade doesn’t mean they are inaccessible; our copywriters are a figurative stone’s throw (or in this case, a Slack ping) away from our creative director. He can offer support and inspiration to anybody on his team as necessary but need not be a looming presence. Ditto our Director of Strategy. And our Director of Project Management. 

Obviously, this rapid, trust-based working style enables remote work, and vice versa. Micromanagement, constant check-ins and huddles necessary to manage enormous teams are impractical and unwieldy in a remote work environment. 

Agility: Speedboats vs. Container Ships

Optimally-sized objects are also much more agile, making them easier to pivot. Recall that it was a massive container ship, not a speedboat, that clogged the Suez Canal in 2021. It was simply too big. 

For example, at Lemonade, we often build out monthly social calendars for our clients. A lot of work goes into this from a strategic and a creative perspective, and we align these calendars with a client’s goals and initiatives. 

Yet, it occasionally comes to pass that, after we’ve scheduled the month out, something changes on the client’s end. Perhaps a project launch gets delayed or an initiative takes a turn, but whatever the case, suddenly that carefully-crafted calendar no longer fits.

At boutiques like Lemonade, this is no big deal. The same team that built the previous calendar can quickly get together and pivot in a new direction. They are already experts on the account, they have resources available when they need them, and aren’t juggling an armful of other projects. 

Oversized agencies would take some time to adjust, would hem and haw about needing to get social, creative and strategy together to reconsider the calendar. By the time a large agency can assemble a team to discuss a revised social calendar, Lemonade would have already delivered one. 

Like speed, this agility harmonizes perfectly with a remote work culture. In an emergency, we don’t need to all huddle around a conference table and order take out—we just sit in our same home offices, rally around the Slack channel, and carry on like we always do. 

Accessibility: a Personal Touch vs. a Handshake

Optimally-sized objects are also easier to map and navigate, making them more accessible. Would you rather lose your phone in a bedroom or a warehouse?

Agencies like Lemonade are easier for clients to navigate and offer greater visibility and transparency throughout a project. 

We’ve said it before and we will say it again: we are comfortable with whatever form and frequency of interaction that our client wants. From Project Managers and Creative to Strategy and Leadership, boutique agencies can offer a level of accessibility oversized agencies simply cannot accommodate.

Large agencies might rhapsodize about offering a personal touch, but that personal touch is typically the handshake that closes the deal, nothing more. After that, most clients not named Toyota or Coca-Cola simply disappear, handed off to junior staffers not empowered to make creative or strategic decisions and unable to quickly access those who can. 

Meanwhile, right-sized agencies like Lemonade see themselves as an extension of the client’s team, responding nimbly when necessary but also just, you know, there in a pinch.

And with an agile staffing model, there is no client too big for Lemonade to handle, and no client so small that we lose sight of them.

At Lemonade, it’s just right.