Anomaly is a response to the widespread recognition in the industry - whether related to new product development and marketing or content and entertainment-that "the models are all broken" and "the traditional solutions are all becoming less and less effective." From the company's inception, we realized intuitively that, in order to succeed, we needed to create an entity that was, literally, an "Anomaly"-something that deviates from the norm or from expectations.
To that end, Anomaly fosters an extremely diverse and elastic set of skills; operates on a progressive and entrepreneurial business model; focuses on creating business solutions; and lastly, has a single bottom line - so as opposed to the status quo, mega-mall-esque conglomerations of specialty service providers, we can offer our partners solutions that are untainted by financial bias.
The typical agency generally views a client's needs through the lens of its own core capabilities and fixed resources. As a result, despite the complexity, diversity and opportunity facing everyone today, the agency invariably arrives at the same channnel solution.
This shouldn't be a surprise, since, from the agencies' point-of-view they are simply selling a service they are structured to provide and the one that affords it the greatest profit.
On the other hand, while Anomaly is more than capable of doing "traditional communications," we're not ideologically or infrastructurally compelled to, because our business model permits us to manifest our diverse capabilities and choose our resources through the lens of 'the business opportunity'.
Holding companies tend to be a collection of silo-like fiefdoms based on individual disciplines-the ad agency, the design group, the media department, the direct marketing division, etc.-that all have different P&Ls and agendas.
What this means for the client is that the resulting end-product of their collaboration isn't necessarily an objectively conceived, truly innovative solution, but more likely and unfortunately, a discipline-centric solution that is awkwardly integrated across channels as best as possible.
In the case of Anomaly, we are in a constant drive to recurit and retain some of the world's best talent from a wide-range of backgrounds. We all share a common goal, and a single bottom line that's influenced by our passion for solving business issues and capturing opportunities. Consequently, we contend that the best solution is the most effective and appropriate solution, regardless of whether or not it occupies one or more categories in the advertising award show circuit.
The open plan of Anomaly coupled with a people from many different experiences and capabilities enable creative solutions to come to life. Such solutions emerge from a healthy marketplace of ideas, sustained by people constantly contributing original ideas and receptive to the ideas of others.
Today, everything is media.
That philosophy, along with some great clients has enabled Anomaly to win The American Marketing Association's Gold Effie for Media 2 years running (KCA 2007, Converse 2008). Being proven innovative, creative and effective in media is an accomplishment we're quite proud of and is extremely relevant today.
Because the Anomaly model is so drastically different, there is no single entity that we see as a competitor. Frankly, we're much more focused on collaboration than competition. Anomaly champions collaboration, so we'll work with anyone and everyone in order to generate the best solutions.