AN EVENTFUL FEW MONTHS

Before we get into the last few months, let’s kick this off by acknowledging that it’s been really eventful around here for more than a decade. From a handful of Rough Hacks not letting what they didn’t know get in the way of doing amazing things (you know, floating a skatepark on a barge down the Mighty Mississippi River?), to reorganizing as a full-on integrated marketing agency, to taking on investment partners, to enduring a global recession and a pandemic with everyone else, to the present day – change has been a constant here at SixSpeed.

Thus we found ourselves in a partnership with a corporate holding company. 

There were some upsides to merging with a bigger organization – access to profound human and intellectual resources, particularly on the analytics and media sides. Visibility to a larger pool of prospective clients, including those not in industries we’d historically served (read: Not gas / oil / outdoor / adventure). And perhaps most compelling: A safety net.

In this era of belt-tightening, a “grow or die” mergers & acquisitions environment, robust in-house marketing teams, and global crisis, can you blame us for seeking some of that sweet, sweet security? 

And credit where credit is due – our parent company provided what they promised. 

But along with what we signed-up for came some challenges that served as an occasion to take a long look in the mirror and ask, “Who are we?” And the truth was, we had a hard time recognizing what we saw looking back at us. And with that, “To thine own self be true” reverberated in our ears: “Who are we? WHO are we? Who ARE weeeee?” The answer came.

We’re SixSpeed, that’s who. A sauntering independent who’s laid-back in the face of adversity. Fast and deadly with the tools of our trade. Accountable to those who depend on us. Possessing enough guile to game the system, and enough wit to cut through all the nonsense.

But most important to the moment, we were unwilling to let where we’d been get in the way of where we wanted to go – proud of our history, not beholden to it. 

So this winter we shook the organizational snowglobe and amicably re-acquired our agency from the holding company of which we were part. 

It means we’re free from administocracy – so we can haul ass. It means we can do what we know is right – for our clients and team. It means we can rebuild – to serve a broader audience. It means we must bet on ourselves – so we live by our own advice:

“To be what others can’t, you have to do what they won’t.”

And so we did. Nice to meet you again, world.