Trey Curtola, President of H/L, is celebrating the agency’s 40th year. What started as Lewis Browin in Oakland in 1985 rebranded to Hoffman Lewis in 1991—holding the initials of two retired founders—and shortened further to H/L in a recent rebrand that captured the agency’s guiding philosophy: Make Momentum. The agency has grown to 180 people across 6 offices in 22 states, all built on localizing Fortune 100 brands at the micro-audience level. Trey brings 22 years of indie conviction after escaping the constraints of big holding companies. H/L doesn’t chase global scale. Instead, they’ve proven that technology and scrappiness can outmatch size.
The Name That Stuck
The origins of H/L are rooted in practicality and loyalty. When Hoffman and Lewis retired decades ago, leadership considered changing the name entirely—then realized the brand equity was too valuable. Toyota had been working with them for over 30 years and McDonald’s for 25. These weren’t just clients; they were family. The H and L stayed, even as the world shifted.
The recent rebrand to H/L reflects how the agency itself has evolved: stripped of excess, direct and ready to move fast in today’s market.
What H/L Became Known For
H/L carved out a rare niche: they localize big global brands. While Fortune 100 companies excel at massive national and international campaigns, they often struggle with authentic regional activation. H/L fills that gap by embedding boots on the ground across 22 states.
They know that Toyota drivers in the Bay Area have different needs than Toyota drivers in rural Texas. McDonald’s customers in a South Asian enclave aren’t the same as those in suburban Ohio. The agency has spent four decades proving that micro-audience work—deeply local, culturally specific and highly targeted—is where regional brands and global companies find real growth.
The Three Pillars That Hold It Up
H/L operates with three core strengths that distinguish them from larger competitors. First, everything stays in-house: research, data collection, production, analytics and optimization. A 65-person media team handles programmatic, search and social in-house—no vendor roulette, no delay.
Second, speed. Independence means they react to market conditions in days, not quarters. If something works, they scale it immediately. If not, they pivot. Third, data and innovation. Launched this year as a dedicated department with an engineering team, this vertical focuses on identifying micro-audiences and authentic connections at scale—the antithesis of broad-reach tactics that miss the mark.
Why Independence Isn’t Luxury—It’s Necessity
Trey spent 22 years climbing the holding company ladder before joining H/L. The difference was immediate. At a mega-agency, ideas faced bureaucracy, approval chains and competing priorities across thousands of people. Independence eliminated the red tape. If an idea works, it gets practiced. If it doesn’t, the team moves on without institutional grief.
That agility is rare at scale—and clients feel it. For big brands tired of slow-moving apparatus, H/L’s independence is permission to experiment, fail and succeed in real time. The micro-audience work that defines H/L would be impossible at a traditional holding company, where scale and broad reach are the default playbook.
How Micro-Audiences Beat Mega-Reach
When H/L talks about localizing big brands, they’re not just talking geography. Micro-audiences mean ethnicity, lifestyle, community values and cultural touchstones. A few years ago, the agency identified a thriving South Asian community in the Bay Area and Fremont. Rather than running broad automotive or food campaigns, they used technology to collect data quickly, uncovered the region’s deep connection to cricket and partnered with professional cricket team players.
The result: authentic connectivity, low cost, fast execution and a sustaining marketing strategy. That kind of specificity is invisible to macro agencies. It’s the sweet spot where H/L’s independence and data infrastructure meet real client impact.
Why Brands Work with H/L
Big agencies have buying power and legacy relationships. H/L has something harder to replicate: speed and technology. AI and modern tools let small teams do what large teams took months to accomplish. Data collection that once required focus groups and research firms now takes days or weeks.
Brands can react to market shifts, test messages and optimize in real time—advantages that used to belong exclusively to larger companies with more resources. H/L can’t match WPP’s global footprint and they’ll never try. Instead, they’ve positioned independence as a superpower: the ability to compete locally while moving at startup velocity.
Why Talent Chooses H/L
H/L’s leadership doesn’t hire people who need to be managed in the traditional sense. They hire people with ideas and the drive to ship them. The Data and Innovation department came directly from employee ideas that found their way into practice. The agency operates with pillar groups—three pillars, 21 VPs, seven per pillar—and solicits ideas from all levels.
Think tank mentality rather than process-heavy machinery. Good ideas don’t spend two years in approval. They get built immediately. For talent drawn to entrepreneurship, rapid iteration and the chaos of scaling something real, H/L is home. The weirdos, misfits and underdogs who’ve traditionally chosen indie shops over corporate roles find themselves in the best company.
Weirdos, Misfits and Underdogs
When asked which category best describes H/L, Trey doesn’t hesitate: “Without question, all three of them.” Independents have always been weirdos, misfits and underdogs, but Trey believes now is the best time yet. Creativity is at its utmost need, and while some think AI eliminates the need for creativity, H/L is embracing it.
“There’s such a huge opportunity to use this technology to create and implement better products for our clients,” Trey says. The scrappiness that defines the agency draws people who don’t fit the corporate mold. Most of the management team came from big agencies but chose to leave. The weirdos, misfits and underdogs tend to end up in indie agencies because you can be an entrepreneur, be wacky and it just fits.
A Shout-Out to Ariat
When asked which CMO or marketer he wants to call out, Trey points to Ariat, a Western wear company with a killer brand, killer products and a killer future. “We love this brand,” he says. Beyond that, he emphasizes the brands that matter most to H/L’s roots: Toyota, McDonald’s and AAA. “Those are our families.”
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