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WINNER
Traction
Location: San Francisco
URL: www.tractionco.com
Key executive: Adam Weinberg, CEO
Employees: 30
2008 revenue: $4 million
2008 b-to-b revenue: $2.5 million
Key clients: Adobe Systems, Bank of America, Egencia, SAP
Major 2008 campaigns: Adobe, "Real or Fake?" interactive game, social media; Bank of America, prototype Web site; Egencia (formerly Expedia corporate travel), "Stretching Travel Dollars," online
Comments: Grew revenue by 30%; won AOR relationships with California Bank&Trustand Message Systems; added work from existing clients Adobe, Egencia and Sun; won ADDY award for Livescribe "Never Miss a Word" campaign and IAC award for ZoneAlarm ForceField "virtual You" microsite.
INTERACTIVE AGENCY TRACTION has come a long way since its founding in 2001 in the aftermath of the dot-com crash.
"It was probably the worst time in the history of the ad business to start an agency," said Adam Kleinberg, CEO of Traction, who founded the agency with former colleagues from Tribal DDB, San Francisco.
The agency's original team of four, who met in 1997 while working at interactive agency Think New Ideas in San Francisco, started Traction as an online advertising, branding and digital marketing agency. Since then, it has grown to 30 employees and has rolled out new services including social media and experiential marketing.
The agency's revenue topped $4 million last year, up 30% from 2007. Growth came from such new accounts as California Bank & Trust and Message Systems, as well as expanded business from existing clients Adobe Systems, Bank of America, Egencia and Sun.
For Adobe's education vertical, Traction created an online game in a Facebook application in which...