What Trade School does

Trade School is a private, employee-owned advertising agency founded in 2020 and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Operating as GBG Trade School, LLC within the independently held Chalkboard Ventures group, the agency was spun out from sister media agency 22squared to address enterprise marketers' need for personalized content creation at scale. The firm serves primarily enterprise brands across retail, consumer goods, logistics, healthcare, grocery, hospitality, and travel — including The Home Depot, FedEx, SharkNinja, AdventHealth, Publix, Buffalo Wild Wings, Southwest Airlines, and Makita — delivering end-to-end creative, strategy, production, influencer marketing, and retail media services. Trade School also pursues non-profit and higher-education engagements (e.g., Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, Morris Brown College) and runs an in-house Chief Inclusion Officer function tied to its DE&I positioning.

The agency's product surface consists of two integrated offerings. Mainspring AI is a proprietary generative-AI content creation and versioning engine that produces hundreds of platform-optimized text and video variations while maintaining brand consistency. Trade School Studios is a 5,500-square-foot in-house production facility featuring cyc walls, 4K cameras, edit suites, and AR/VR capabilities, enabling in-house execution from live-action shoots through post-production. Together these assets allow Trade School to deliver demonstrable creative-volume outputs — including 230+ personalized assets on a single Home Depot remodeler production, 80 video assets on the Ninja Foodi campaign, 500+ content pieces for Home Depot's Pinterest 360-degree experience, and 1M+ views on the How To Undo YouTube series — without reliance on external vendors.

Trade School generates revenue primarily through professional-services engagements (project-based work and retainers) with enterprise clients, supplemented by managed-services work tied to its Mainspring AI creative-automation offering. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. The go-to-market motion is enterprise field sales, with direct new-business outreach via a dedicated email channel, supported by a public case-study portfolio, industry awards (Shorty Awards, Addy Awards, CSS Design Awards, FWA, Campaign US Agency of the Year finalist), and thought-leadership coverage in AdAge, Digiday, Fast Company, and Forbes. The agency is ranked #5 among Atlanta's largest advertising and marketing agencies by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and is led by co-founder and CEO Genna Franconi, who also serves as CEO of sister agency 22squared.

Name

Trade School

Legal name

GBG Trade School, LLC

Website

https://tradeschool.works

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Trade School is a private, employee-owned, Atlanta-based advertising agency founded in 2020 as a spin-off from 22squared, serving enterprise brands with scalable AI-enabled content creation, in-house production studios, and platform-optimized campaigns.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Full-service creative agency providing strategy, creative development, production services, influencer marketing, and retail media services to enterprise brands. Revenue generated through project-based and retainer engagements.
2. Creative Automation (Mainspring AI): AI-powered content creation and versioning tool offered as part of agency services, helping brands scale content production efficiently.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Trade School is a full-service advertising agency providing strategy, creative development, production, creative automation, influencer and creator marketing, and retail media services to enterprise brands. The agency combines its in-house Trade School Studios production facility with its proprietary Mainspring AI creative automation tool to produce scalable, brand-safe, platform-optimized content for major consumer and B2B clients.

Product overview

Trade School operates as an integrated advertising agency offering a unified platform of creative services centered around two core products: Mainspring AI (their proprietary AI-powered creative automation platform) and Trade School Studios (their in-house full-service production facility). Mainspring AI serves as the core content-creation engine for scaling personalized creative at speed, while Trade School Studios provides the physical production infrastructure for executing campaigns. Together, these products enable the agency to deliver strategy, creative, production, creative automation, influencer marketing, and retail media services under one roof.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mainspring AI Mainspring AI is Trade School's proprietary AI-powered content-creation and versioning platform that helps marketers produce high-performing, platform-optimized creative at scale. It blends human creativity with AI-driven efficiency to generate hundreds of content variations while maintaining brand consistency and enabling hyper-customization for multiple audiences and regions.
• Trade School Studios

Quantifiable outcome

• 230+ personalized content pieces created for Home Depot remodeler campaign in one production
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and notable.

• Chalkboard VenturescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Parent company and independent operating entity. Trade School serves as the creative agency within Chalkboard Ventures group. Chalkboard Ventures also houses sister agency 22squared.
• 22squaredcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Sister media agency within Chalkboard Ventures focused on media and analytics. Trade School and 22squared collaborate on client engagements, with Trade School handling creative and 22squared handling media planning and buying.
• ESPN/College GameDayflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerTrade School created content for The Home Depot's integration with ESPN's College GameDay program, leveraging the iconic college football show for brand messaging.
• PinterestnotableGTM or Marketing PartnerTrade School created the Built-in Pins campaign for The Home Depot, including the first-ever 360-degree shoppable experience in Pinterest. Pinterest acknowledged the campaign as 'the most effective work we've seen in a long time.'
• CBS/March MadnessflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerFor Buffalo Wild Wings, Trade School negotiated custom media buy with CBS to become Presenting Sponsor of all March Madness tournament overtime games.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Mekanism: Independent creative agency that, like Trade School, blends storytelling, content production, and influencer marketing for enterprise brands. Comparable focus on integrated content at scale and mid-market independent positioning.
• Mother: Independent creative agency network with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London. Comparable independent ownership structure and creative-led approach to enterprise brand work; competes for similar Fortune 500 creative mandates.
• RPA: Independent, employee-owned creative/advertising agency of similar scale with a strong enterprise client roster. Closely comparable on ownership model, size, and full-service creative-plus-production capabilities.
• The Richards Group: Historically independent, Dallas-based creative agency of comparable size with a strong enterprise brand portfolio and in-house production capabilities. Direct structural parallel to Trade School's independent, full-service model.
• The Martin Agency: Independent, full-service creative agency of comparable size headquartered in the Southeast US (Richmond, VA). Competes for the same enterprise brand clients and shares the independent-ownership positioning that distinguishes Trade School.
• 22squared: Sister media and analytics agency under the same Chalkboard Ventures parent. Most directly comparable peer—same ownership, same Atlanta base, same founding DNA, and complementary service offering that Trade School often pairs with on client engagements.
• Anomaly: Independent creative and brand consultancy with proprietary IP-led products and a model that blends advertising, content, and product development. Comparable independent positioning and willingness to build proprietary tools/ventures for clients.

Broad incumbents

• R/GA: Global creative and technology agency within the IPG network, known for combining brand work with product and technology development. Comparable on the integration of proprietary technology (analogous to Mainspring AI) with creative services for enterprise brands.
• 72andSunny: Large independent creative agency with offices in multiple geographies, serving major consumer brands with culturally-led, platform-optimized creative. Comparable in target customers and creative platform-first philosophy, but materially larger and broader.

Emerging players

• GUT: Fast-growing independent creative agency network founded in 2018. Comparable independent structure with a content-and-creative-at-scale model, though smaller and earlier-stage than Trade School on enterprise relationships.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/trade-school

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Trade School