With its abundance of museums and breathtaking backdrops, San Francisco is every artist’s dream. Steeped in history and culture, the city rests carefully on the divide between the past and future. Both a bohemian paradise and a global tech capital, San Francisco lives in a league of its own — and it takes a great deal of grit and ingenuity to stand alone in its ranks.
In a city of such cultural caliber, it’s important for businesses to maintain strong relationships with their consumer audiences. Given the rapid growth of consumer research and the emergence of increasingly smarter technology, this feat, while seemingly simple, is a rather daunting one. To help businesses push against the stream of consumer society and find their footing, the city boasts countless advertising agencies that specialize in helping brands grow and build their personal identities.
Top Advertising Agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Metric Theory
- ARGONAUT
- Beyond
- Bonfire Labs
- BSTRO
- Division of Labor
From influencer-led campaigns to TV commercials, there’s nothing that can’t be done at these San Francisco advertising agencies.
Founded: 2012
Focus: Startups, B2B, Retail, E-commerce
What they do: Metric Theory is a performance digital marketing company that works primarily with ecommerce and retail clients. Their services, which include everything from search engine marketing to digital video content, help companies boost their digitally sourced revenue and retain new customers.
Who they work with: Optimizely, Carvana, Too Faced, GoFundMe, The Walking Company, Dean & Deluca and LexisNexis.
Founded: 2006
Focus: Adtech, Martech
What they do: NextRoll is a marketing and advertising technology company working with clients, both big and small, to integrate cutting-edge technology into their tech stacks. The agency maintains tools, like AdRoll, RollWorks and NextRoll, which all help clients to unlock ad revenue through different strategies and platforms.
Who they work with: Oracle, Blackbaud, WPengine, PayScale, Gant, Freshly and Personify
Founded: 1986
Focus: Film, Publishing, Media + Entertainment, Beauty Products, Food + Beverage, Attractions, Non-profits
What they do: With several offices around the world, Allied Integrated Marketing is a marketing agency tailored specifically to entertainment, culture and lifestyle. With an emphasis on film, TV, hospitality, attractions and touring shows, the company offers a wide range of marketing opportunities for its clients, including influencer and celebrity-driven campaigns, experiential work, such as mobile tours and pop-up experiences, promotional partnerships, consumer research, publicity work and entertainment touring partnerships.
Who they work with: A24, Focus Features, IFC Films, HarperCollins, Sephora, Disney Parks and UNICEF.
Founded: 2003
Focus: Video Streaming Services, Finance, Telecommunications, Film, Educational Organizations, Cable Networks, Food + Beverage, Media + Entertainment
What they do: Ameredia is a multicultural marketing agency committed to delivering results-driven advertising services, such as creative design, development, production and media planning and buying. The company works with clients by identifying the common threads that exist within different groups to establish a unique brand identity with each of them, enabling clients to establish long-term relationships with their audiences. In addition, Ameredia focuses on direct marketing solutions, grassroots strategies and market research.
Who they work with: Netflix, American Express, T-Mobile, Warner Bros. Studios, Smithsonian Institution and Time Warner Cable.
Founded: 2013
Focus: Telecommunications, Food + Beverage, Finance, Health + Fitness, Automotive, Beauty Products, Insurance
What they do: ARGONAUT is a marketing agency committed to creating work for its clients that is measurable, results-oriented and open to optimization. Focusing on creative, strategy, account management and production services, the company provides a wide range of marketing strategies, including influencer partnerships, user generated content, TV commercial production and social media marketing campaigns.
Who they work with: Cricket, Honey Bunches of Oats, Nerdwallet, Fitbit, Brookside, Dodge and MetLife.
Founded: 2010
Focus: Film, Tech, Automotive, State Health Programs, Educational Institutions
What they do: Beyond is a marketing agency that uses design and technology to accelerate transformative customer experiences. When working with clients, the company builds new products and services through learning, testing and hyper-efficient iteration, designs high-performing programs and systems, discovers opportunities for unforeseen growth and provides flexible and scalable thinking and technology. Past work includes building scalable digital platforms, digital channels, Chrome extensions, dynamic editorial platforms and digital communities.
Who they work with: Warner Bros., west elm, Google Cloud, CarMax, California Tobacco Control Program and Ithaca College.
Founded: 2010
Focus: Insurance, Food + Beverage, Toys, Pet Food, Non-profits, TV Networks, Tech
What they do: One of 289 BBDO offices scattered across the globe, BBDO San Francisco is a full-service advertising agency that works with brands to create culturally influenced marketing strategies. The company specializes in strategic planning, econometrics, measurement, creative development and all forms of production. In the past, BBDO San Francisco has worked with clients on creating pilot programs, short films and TV commercials.
Who they work with: Wells Fargo, Wholly Guacamole, Barbie, Nutro, 826 Valencia, HP and Seeds of Change.
Founded: 1992
Focus: Tech, Social Media, Software, Health + Fitness, Hospitality, Social Networking, Media + Entertainment
What they do: Bonfire Labs is a creative advertising studio that collaborates with brand partners at all stages of the creative and production process to make impactful work and build strong relationships. The agency specializes in producing integrated campaigns, TV spots, brand stories, social content and product films, focusing on content strategy and development, live-action production, motion design, visual effects and animation and web design and development.
Who they work with: Google, Facebook, Salesforce, Adobe, Fitbit, Airbnb, Ancestry, LinkedIn and Sony.
Founded: 2004
Focus: Beauty + Skincare, Medicine, Video Streaming Services, Educational Institutions, Museums, Non-profits, Food + Beverage
What they do: BSTRO is a digital marketing agency that works with clients by diving deep into their needs, goals and objectives. Backed by a team of designers, website developers, social media strategists and branding experts, the agency offers a variety of services, such as marketing audits, analytics and reporting, brand positioning, UX / UI web design, graphic design and marketing tech integrations.
Who they work with: Neutrogena, Tylenol, Roku, Johnson & Johnson, University of British Columbia and Museum of the African Diaspora.
Founded: 2011
Focus: Batteries, Real Estate, Sustainable Apparel, Video Streaming Services, Sports, Food + Beverage
What they do: Established in 2011, Camp+King is an advertising agency that works with its clients by combining brand storytelling with expertise in digital, social and content development. Their services include campaign development, consumer research, brand architecture, community management, influencer marketing and app design. In the past, the agency has developed social media campaigns, fully integrated campaigns and websites.
Who they work with: Energizer, RE/MAX, prAna, YouTube, Sling TV, Sacramento Kings and Insurgent Brands.
Founded: 2010
Focus: Sports, Food + Beverage, Entertainment, Athletic Apparel, Employment + Recruitment Companies, Tech, TV Networks
What they do: Division of Labor is an advertising agency that creates integrated marketing campaigns that sell clients’ products and improve awareness of their brands. Besides catering to big companies, the agency also offers hourly brand consulting services for start-ups and smaller companies that aren’t ready for a big integrated campaign or media spend. Their services include brand strategy, strategic planning, film and video production, packaging, graphic design, copywriting and media buying.
Who they work with: San Jose Sharks, Raley’s, Live Nation, Nike, Ford, Headlands Brewing and Simply Hired.
Founded: 1999
Focus: Tech, Software, Aviation, Retail, Food + Beverage, Finance, Transportation Tech, Healthcare, Hospitality
What they do: Eleven, Inc. is a creative advertising agency that seeks to break down the walls between agency teams and client teams to create direct lines of communication and collaboration. Working within a variety of sectors, including AI / cloud computing, gaming and travel, the agency offers a wide range of services, such as brand and category positioning, culture and trend mapping, motion graphics, media planning, social activation, retail and event design and digital platforms.
Who they work with: Google Cloud, Virgin America, Oakley, 19 Crimes, SurveyMonkey, Apple and SoFi.
Founded: 1996
Focus: Consulting, Educational Institutions, Food + Beverage, Tech, Broadcasting Corporations, Hospitality, Fashion + Retail, Banking
What they do: Gershoni is a creative advertising agency dedicated to building brands, working with companies from every industry in all sizes and stages of growth. With a focus on innovation, strategy and design, the agency works with clients on brand strategy, package design, content creation, experience design, photography, video and more. Past projects include mobile app and web development, branded visual systems and social media campaigns.
Who they work with: Deloitte, San Francisco Art Institute, Google, BBC, Oceana Beach Club Hotel and Bank of America.
Founded: 2004
Focus: Food + Beverage, Healthcare, Personalized Products and Services, Travel
What they do: Operating in conjunction with Deloitte Digital, Heat is an advertising agency dedicated to building brands, combining marketing with technology, business strategy, data analytics and human capital. The agency works with its clients to create national campaigns, short extras, fundraising campaigns, national campaigns and more.
Who they work with: Mountain Dew, San Francisco General Hospital Foundation, Aspen Dental, Shutterfly and Hotwire.
Founded: 2005
Focus: Retail, Transportation Tech, Food + Beverage
What they do: Sum Digital is a full-service digital marketing agency that works with its clients to hit targets through marketing in social, search, display, video and mobile. The company works with clients across various verticals, including e-commerce, consumer software, consumer subscription services, SaaS and B2B lead-generation. Sum Digital specializes in Google Ads, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat advertising and retargeting and display, some of which includes conversion tracking code setup, audience targeting and testing and value-based optimization.
Who they work with: Rareform, Pura Vida Bracelets, Blenders Eyewear, Living Royal, Lyft and ChefStepss
Founded: 2018
Focus: Food + Beverage, Health + Beauty Products, Banking, Broadcasting Corporations, E-commerce, Transportation Tech
What they do: With a second office in Mexico City, Synapbox is committed to AI-powered content testing, validating the ROI of clients’ content with real consumers to gain granular insights. To access the power of content optimization, the company has developed a scalable solution that delivers a holistic understanding of human behavior, calculating real-time emotional response, eye tracking and attention, automated object detection and rational survey responses.
Who they work with: Heineken, Uber, Colgate, Mondelez International, BBVA, Turner and OLX.
Founded: 2018
Focus: Social Media, Real Estate, Web Hosting Companies, Tech, Food, Software
What they do: Twenty First Century Brand is a marketing agency dedicated to developing brands that are led by purpose, driven by community, enabled by world-class technology and based on a universal narrative. The agency works with its clients on creating brand blueprints, highlighting each company’s purpose and values, developing a marketing roadmap that identifies key goals and overseeing procurement and client/agency relationship management.
Who they work with: Pinterest, WeWork, Thrive Global, GoDaddy, Peloton, Uber Eats and TurboTax.
