Paul Venables, Founder and Chairman of Venables Bell + Partners, launched the agency in San Francisco in June 2001 — right after the .com meltdown crashed the ad world. Will McGinness, Partner and Chief Creative Officer, and Brittni Hutchins, Associate Partner and Managing Director, run the show alongside him now. The New York Times wrote about them on opening day — a Stuart Elliott column that ran next to coverage of three agencies shutting down. Then 9/11 happened in September. They survived that too. “If we could do great work that moves clients’ business, we will have clients,” Paul says. Coming up on 25 years, that’s still true.
A ship that launched into two storms
Paul knew early he wanted his own shop. He’d been Co-Creative Director and Associate Partner at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, running over $400 million in business. But starting an agency when the world is ending either breaks you or makes you unbreakable. June 2001 was the latter. Three months after launch, the economy went into a tailspin. Most startups would’ve folded. They didn’t. Will joined in 2010 as Paul’s partner. Brittni is boomerang talent — she worked at VB+P early in her career, left for 72andSunny and returned in 2021.
Creativity they breathe, not just claim
Will puts it plainly: every agency says creativity first. Not many live it. Venables Bell + Partners does. The first core strength is that creative thinking drives everything — not just the work but client relationships, strategy and culture. Second: a senior model with smaller teams that get faster answers without seventeen-layer approval processes. Third: they make people feel something. Not informed. Moved. That emotional core shows up in everything from Chipotle to PlayStation to Girl Scouts.
The coach, not the disapproving parent
Will tells a story about his high school art teacher, Sally Aldridge, who believed in his work when nobody else did. He went home and painted every night, brought her a painting every morning and the momentum kept building. That coaching mindset is how the agency treats talent — the opposite of the fear-based energy that kills creativity in bigger shops. Belief moves people harder than criticism. That’s not sentiment. It’s competitive advantage.
Partnership pure play
Paul calls it a “partnership pure play.” No shareholders. No venture capital. No holding company. Their fiduciary responsibility points at clients, not investors. That means they can focus on building brand love and loyalty instead of chasing efficiency metrics for efficiency’s sake. Too many marketers are stuck on what Paul calls “the crack pipe of performance marketing” — squeezing impressions and clicks while brand growth erodes underneath. Venables Bell + Partners exists to do the opposite.
Why brands keep coming back
Brittni frames it around three things: independence (no one gets in the way of the work), senior talent (no game of telephone between strategy and execution) and a focus on emotion. Every budget is smaller, every timeline is quicker, but the expectations are higher. The agency’s answer is to make people feel something — about your brand, your product, what you’re asking them to spend their time and money on. Clients like Chipotle, Audi, REI and Scout Motors stick around because the work builds businesses, not just awareness.
Wonderful souls who swing for the fences
Paul says he’s “collected wonderful souls” — good human beings first, talented ones second. The agency spans San Francisco, New York, Austin, Denver and Los Angeles, not because they wanted satellite offices but because the right people lived there. The coaching mindset matters for retention as much as hiring. Give people high standards and the support to meet them, and they don’t burn out — they push further. Brittni, who founded Women That Fight (WTF) — a collective of senior women in advertising — is proof of the culture in action.
Underdogs with a quarter-century track record
Will says the correct answer — and the easy answer — is underdogs. It’s woven into their DNA from day one. That spirit contributes to the work ethic, drives them to break things and look at problems from new angles. Venables Bell + Partners has always thrived with challenger brands, probably because they are one. Silicon Valley is down the road, and that entrepreneurial Bay Area energy runs through the building.
Send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses of marketers
Paul’s closing line deserves to be written down: “Send us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses of marketers who are slaving over spreadsheets. We will free you from the crack pipe of performance marketing and show you what real brand growth looks like.” Brittni shouts out Scott Keogh (repeat partner), David Corns (former employee turned client) and Chris Brandt at Chipotle — eight-plus years of partnership. Will co-signs all three. When your clients become your advocates, you’re doing something right.
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