Today we’d like to introduce you to David Berry.
David, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
The campy, appropriate response to how I got started starts back at FIU in a series of public relations and advertising classes. Or when I got my MBA and split the next four years of my career between two big-time ad agencies (Crispin Porter Bogusky + and Zimmerman Advertising). But the story — the real story — doesn’t start until April 2016, when I got canned from Zimmerman.
What I got fired for wasn’t a true fire-able offense. And that’s not the self-indulgence of someone protecting his ego. I know so because three weeks later, I was offered my job back. But by then, I had taken the jump into something I didn’t dare to do on my own. Getting fired propelled me into it, and I haven’t looked back.
I founded DB + Partners the night I got home from getting fired. And I have poured myself into the business ever since. We’ve grown to a team of four and we’ve worked with major brands and brands on the cusp of major growth. I think we’re like David slaying Goliath. We’ve run digital media campaigns for AVIS, University of Miami, BMW, Youfit, the YMCA — you name it. In the first nine months of this year, we’ve invested $3.7MM in ads that have driven an attributable revenue mark of $13.3MM. We may not be the biggest, worst agency on the block. But I’d put our talent and commitment up against anyone.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Certainly not. But I’m fortunate that the origins of the business are a fixture of our identity and a reminder that failure isn’t fatal. We’ve lost clients through brand-side regime changes, and we’ve lost revenue when clients went into bankruptcy. It’s a cliché, but the only constant, especially in advertising, is change. On top of that, we live in a dynamic industry. What made us experts six months ago would make us amateurs today. We have to evolve and grow or we’ll cease to exist.
As a sole proprietor, your job is to get enough to eat and stock some away for a rainy day. But as a business owner with employees, you have livelihoods at stake. Their faith is in you to bring business to the table, and it’s an incredible privilege to deliver on that. But the weight of that comes with its host of struggles. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, though.
Please tell us about your business.
Home of the same old nothing. We are a performance digital marketing agency, with a laser-focused eye on results. Our expertise is in the strategy, placement and management of ads across digital channels — social media, paid search, programmatic and display. Our ‘why’ is ROI.
When we say we’re about ‘the same old nothing,’ it’s because we know the ‘big, bad ad agency game,’ and it goes something like this: have the A-team sell you the world in a bunch of fancy conference rooms, then pass you on to the C-team to execute the work while you blow a ton of cash and hope for the best. How do we know? Our founder and partners came from that very environment but wanted to create an agency model that worked harder for clients and the bottom line.
Founded in April 2016, DB + Partners was created to do just that. We saw an opportunity to make it simple for our clients. That means cutting through buzzwords and the clutter of media partner networks to help you win – without having you pay to furnish our game room. All of the above is what I’m most proud of. That’s true of us. We have a chip on our shoulder because we know what we’re fighting for. We know who the big guys are, and we want to take their lunch. Those big agencies aren’t hungry the way they are. That’s the advantage that young businesses have. It’s not just a rationalization of being small. When you’re small, you ARE more nimble. You ARE more agile. Your name is on the work. The clients have your cell phone number. They know that you’ve invested. And I know the bigger shops can’t say that.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
That’s a great question, and I don’t think I’ve been asked it. But I would say that it was making my first hire in June 2018. She was a former colleague of mine, and I hand-picked her. I knew her work ethic. I knew her attitude. I knew her abilities. And I wanted someone like that on my team. But it’s a hard sell getting someone to join a single man shop with (at the time) no office and no other employees. It was a courtship but she said yes and she has been critical to what we’ve become. She put her faith in what I told her we could be, and right before our eyes, we are becoming that. It was the first time I felt like maybe I wasn’t an imposter running a one-man show. I finally saw what the future might hold.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dbpluspartners.com
- Email: hello@dbpluspartners.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dbandpartners/
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