What Ways & Means does

Ways & Means is a women-owned, independent paid media agency founded in San Francisco in 2014 by Karen Halstead (30+ years of media experience) and Diana Bormuth (20+ years), with a second office opened in Portland in 2017. The firm operates with a deliberately small, senior-operator team (1–10 employees) and delivers an integrated four-pillar service platform covering Strategy (brand spend rationale, budget scenario planning, audience and competitive analysis), Planning (campaign choreography, creative collaboration, vendor/RFP management, brand-performance alignment), Buying (direct negotiation, trafficking, specs management, financial stewardship), and Measurement (brand tracker management, campaign reporting, media and creative optimization). Its client base spans more than 30 named brands across enterprise technology (Splunk, Sophos, Freshworks, BMC, Rubrik, Commvault, Barracuda), healthcare (Sutter Health, Montefiore, Perricone MD), beverage (Liquid Death, Louis Roederer Champagne), financial services and insurance (Personal Capital, At-Bay), consumer goods, education (UC Berkeley), and nonprofit organizations (Special Olympics Northern California, California Academy of Sciences, Tipping Point Community).

The business model is professional-services based, with the agency earning fees for media strategy, planning, buying, and analytics engagements, supplemented by typical agency commissions or markups on media spend. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and is negotiated per engagement. GTM is sales-led, relying on direct client relationships, a primary digital presence at wamsf.com, and inbound via [email protected], with no disclosed partnerships, no outside funding, and no proprietary technology platform underpinning the offering. The agency's competitive position rests on a "senior team on every detail" promise, a human-judgment positioning that explicitly contrasts with algorithmic buying, and its women-owned independent status in a market dominated by holding-company networks.

Name

Ways & Means

Legal name

Ways & Means

Website

https://wamsf.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ways & Means is a women-owned, independent paid media agency based in San Francisco and Portland, founded in 2014, that provides strategy, planning, buying, and measurement services to enterprise, startup, and nonprofit brands across technology, healthcare, beverage, and consumer industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Media Agency Services

NAICS

Media Buying Agencies (54183), Media Buying Agencies (541830), Advertising Agencies (541810)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311), Services-Advertising (7310)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital & Programmatic Media Buying (Display, Video, CTV, Audio) (BPAFABAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Media Measurement, Attribution & Mix Modeling (MMM/MTA) (BPAFABAN)

Keywords

• Media strategy services
• Media planning services
• Media buying services
• Campaign measurement analytics
• Paid media agency

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Media Agency Services: The agency earns revenue through fees for media planning, strategy, buying, and measurement services. As a media agency, they likely earn commissions from media vendors or charge retainer/project fees to brands for managing their paid media programs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Ways & Means is an independent paid media agency that builds media programs for brands and companies. It delivers four interconnected service areas: Strategy (brand spend rationale, audience and competitive analysis), Planning (campaign choreography, vendor management, brand-performance alignment), Buying (senior-led direct negotiation, ad trafficking, financial stewardship), and Measurement (custom measurement plans, brand tracker management, and ongoing optimization). Services are delivered by a small, concentrated team of senior operators.

Product overview

Ways & Means is an independent paid media agency offering a unified service platform comprising four interconnected core service areas: Strategy (foundational planning and audience analysis), Planning (media plan development and creative collaboration), Buying (senior-led negotiation and ad trafficking), and Measurement (custom measurement plans and campaign optimization). The agency operates as a women-owned, senior-operator team serving clients across diverse industries including technology, healthcare, finance, and consumer brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Strategy Foundational media strategy services for brands and companies, including brand spend rationale, budget scenario planning, target audience analysis, competitive spend analysis, and geographic/test market strategies. Used by enterprise and consumer brand marketing teams to architect the foundation of their paid media programs.
• Planning
• Buying
• Measurement

Named customers36 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Empower Media Group: Empower is an independent, women-owned media agency offering media planning, buying, and analytics. A highly comparable peer to Ways & Means given shared women-owned, independent positioning and full-service paid media capabilities.
• Butler/Till: Butler/Till is an independent, employee-owned media and communications agency offering media planning, buying, and analytics. Directly comparable to Ways & Means as a similarly positioned independent agency serving a mix of mid-market and enterprise clients with a full-service paid media offering.
• Mediahub: Mediahub is an Interpublic-owned media agency built to compete with independent shops by offering a more entrepreneurial, senior-team-driven model. Comparable to Ways & Means in its emphasis on senior talent and integrated paid media services across enterprise clients.
• Goodway Group: Goodway Group is an independent media services company providing media planning, buying, and analytics across paid digital and traditional channels. Closely mirrors Ways & Means' independent positioning and full-funnel paid media service model.
• Tinuiti: Tinuiti is an independent performance marketing agency covering paid media across Amazon, retail, social, and search. Comparable to Ways & Means as an independent agency offering paid media services to a mix of consumer and B2B brands with a senior-practitioner model.

Broad incumbents

• Carat: Carat is a Dentsu-owned global media agency offering media strategy, planning, and buying. Comparable service offering to Ways & Means but materially larger in headcount and geographic footprint.
• Wavemaker: Wavemaker is a WPP-owned global media agency focused on media planning, buying, and content. Overlaps with Ways & Means on the core paid media services but serves global enterprise clients from a holding-company platform.
• Assembly: Assembly is a Stagwell-owned digital-first media agency offering media planning, buying, and analytics globally. Comparable in service offering but larger in scale and backed by a holding-company network.
• Hearts & Science: Hearts & Science is an Omnicom media agency built around data-driven, audience-led planning and buying. Comparable to Ways & Means in core service scope but operates at much larger scale as part of a major holding company.
• PHD: PHD is an Omnicom-owned global media network delivering strategy, planning, buying, and measurement. Comparable to Ways & Means on full-funnel paid media services but operates as part of a major holding-company network.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 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 Ways & Means