Hold Fast & Co

What Hold Fast & Co does

Hold Fast & Co is a Milwaukee-based independent marketing and advertising agency founded in 2021 by David Dugan (Partner, Chief Connector) and Brian Ganther (Chief Creative Officer). The agency provides strategic and creative marketing services to consumer brands, including campaign development, branding, advertising, and multimedia content production across video, digital, and print channels. Its client base spans enterprise and mid-market consumer brands across food & beverage (Johnsonville, Athenos), real estate (Land.com, Shorewest), automotive (Discover Oshkosh), and entertainment (Ticket King), with additional SMB engagements including restaurant branding (Lupi & Iris) and ticketing branding (Ticket King).

The company operates on a professional services revenue model with project- and contract-based pricing; specific pricing is not publicly disclosed. Its distinguishing operating model is described as "talent-rich, employee-free" — a small, highly concentrated permanent staff with minimal overhead that uses deep-rooted relationships to source experienced strategic and creative talent on a per-project basis. This structure allows the agency to scale up or down based on client needs without carrying the fixed costs of a traditional agency's larger employee base. Go-to-market is relationship-driven and direct, with David Dugan leveraging 30+ years of agency experience to secure enterprise client relationships. The agency is privately held with no disclosed parent company, no institutional investment, and operates as an independent founder-controlled entity.

Hold Fast & Co positions itself as a disruptor in the marketing/advertising agency space, explicitly challenging traditional agency conventions under the tagline "Burn Down Agency Convention." Its work has earned industry recognition including a 2025 Effie Award, a 2024 Silver Effie Award, Communication Arts features, Jay Chiat Awards recognition, and features in Adweek's Freakiest Ads and TBS's Funniest Commercials of the Year. The agency operates from a single headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2018 S 1st St #222), with no disclosed geographic expansion, subsidiary structure, funding rounds, mergers, acquisitions, or formal partnerships documented in available materials.

Name

Hold Fast & Co

Legal name

Hold Fast Co

Website

https://holdfast-co.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Milwaukee-based independent marketing and advertising agency founded in 2021 that delivers strategic and creative services — including campaign development, branding, and multimedia production — to enterprise and mid-market consumer brands across food & beverage, real estate, automotive, and entertainment verticals.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Milwaukee

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Creative Agency Services: Provides strategic and creative marketing services to brands, including campaign development, branding, and advertising across multiple media channels.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Hold Fast & Co is a marketing and advertising agency that develops strategic and creative campaigns, branding, and multimedia content (video, digital, print) for consumer brands. The agency operates with a small core staff and assembles project-based teams of experienced freelance creative and strategic talent drawn from long-standing industry relationships, delivering work for clients such as Johnsonville, Land.com, Athenos, Oshkosh, Shorewest, Lupi & Iris, and Ticket King.

Product overview

Hold Fast & Co operates as a single-service marketing and advertising agency, offering creative and strategic marketing services rather than a software product platform. The agency's portfolio includes campaign work across multiple client brands (Johnsonville, Land.com, Athenos, Oshkosh, Shorewest, Lupi & Iris, Ticket King), featuring case studies and multimedia content. The company is structured with a small, concentrated team and uses talent relationships to source experienced strategic and creative professionals for each brand engagement. The agency has been recognized with industry awards including the 2025 Effie Winner for its client work.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Marketing and Advertising Services End-to-end marketing and advertising services for consumer brands, including strategic planning, creative campaign development, branding, and multimedia content production across video, digital, and print channels. Delivered by a small core staff supplemented by experienced freelance creative and strategic talent sourced through long-standing industry relationships.

Named customers7 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Regional players

• BVK: Milwaukee-based independent creative agency (former employer of Hold Fast CCO Brian Ganther). Directly comparable as a same-market Midwest creative competitor targeting enterprise consumer and healthcare brands.
• Energy BBDO: Chicago-based creative agency (BBDO network) with deep Midwest enterprise relationships and award-winning consumer work. Closest geographic and category peer to Hold Fast's Milwaukee base and Midwest enterprise clientele.
• Cramer-Krasselt: Midwest-headquartered independent creative agency (Chicago/Milwaukee) with a long-running consumer-brand roster and independent ownership. Directly comparable as a regional Midwest competitor and former employer of Hold Fast's CCO.

Direct peers

• 72andSunny: Independent creative agency recognized for brand-building campaigns for major consumer brands (Google, Activision, REI). Similar enterprise-brand focus and disruptor narrative to Hold Fast, though at much larger headcount and revenue scale.
• Anomaly: Independent creative agency known for non-traditional, 'disruptor' positioning and a distributed talent model. Operates as a strategic/creative partner to enterprise brands in a similar way to Hold Fast, but at materially larger scale.
• Mekanism: Independent creative agency known for integrated brand campaigns and entertainment-flavored work (Alaska Airlines, Facebook, Ubisoft). Closely comparable in size, creative positioning, and mid-market-to-enterprise brand client mix.
• Mother: Independent creative agency with offices in New York, London, and Los Angeles, built around a lean-partner model and a reputation for distinctive creative work. Directly comparable to Hold Fast's positioning as a founder-led, anti-holdco creative shop.
• The Martin Agency: Independent creative agency (now part of Omnicom) with deep CPG/Food & Beverage heritage (Geico, Kraft, Walmart). Directly comparable to Hold Fast given overlapping enterprise consumer-brand client profile.
• Crispin Porter + Bogusky: Independent creative agency (now part of Stagwell) historically known for edgy consumer-brand campaigns (Burger King, Old Spice, Domino's). Closely comparable to Hold Fast in creative positioning and enterprise consumer-brand orientation.

Broad incumbents

• Wieden+Kennedy: Largest privately held independent creative agency, famous for Nike, Coca-Cola, and P&G work. Comparable in independent, founder-ethos culture but operates at vastly greater scale and global footprint than Hold Fast.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/hold-fast-co

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Hold Fast & Co