AdAge 2025 Design Agency of the Year

This is the first time we’ve been in the running for this, so I flew up to Toronto on the off chance that we’d win. I figured it’d be a good networking opportunity, and I was blown away at how supportive the indie advertising community is. From helpful legal advice on managing staff to tips on how to go big and stay small, the programming was all super relevant to a small design shop, even though the conference was more ad-focused. 

Granted, I felt a little like Tom Hanks in Big (and I stood out in a light suit among a sea of black ones), but the experience drove home two big takeaways that shape how we work with clients:

1. Being a small agency is a superpower.
   There is absolutely no need to do it all under one roof. It’s more efficient and more impactful for a scalable creative agency like mine to focus on big creative ideas and strategic brand design. Then we bring in our curated network of specialty partners for execution, working closely from start to finish.
   
   
2. AI was the belle of the ball.
   When it comes to AI in advertising and design, people are freaked out or excited as hell, and oftentimes a bit of both. AI is fundamentally changing advertising, and the traditional business models built up around the industry will be disrupted in the next few years. We look at positive ways to use and humanize AI, and we work with AI companies that want to ensure the tools they’re introducing improve lives. 

So what does that mean for Selman? We’ll remain focused on being a massively helpful creative agency. What helpfulness means in practice may change as the years go by, but our commitment to it will be steadfast. At the core, it’s about using award-winning design to solve every business challenge our clients bring us. 

Over the past decade, our work with small businesses, non-profits, cultural institutions, and Fortune 100 companies has driven our efforts to design systems that are practical and easy to use while still being radically creative. Our 12-year partnership with internal creative teams at Google has led us to define various partnership models and project types to help keep the train on the tracks and moving at light speed. Our Webby Award-winning educational initiatives, Peace Post and No Web Without Women, have helped shine a light on people working towards positive change in the world. 

Ultimately, our ambition to be massively helpful has brought us to this point, and we are honored by this unbelievable recognition from AdAge. And if we’re nominated again, I’ll bring a black suit :)