5 Minutes with… Dan Gardner
Dan Gardner founded Code and Theory shortly after his first ever agency job. Inspired by the possibilities of digital, but disgruntled by the lack of attention towards it by the traditional agency he was at, he took a leap of faith, launching Code and Theory almost 23 years ago.
Fast forward to today and Code and Theory is quite literally one of the most tech-adept creative agencies in the business: it has a staff of 50% engineers to 50% creatives, rather than the usual specialism in one or the other.
After growing up alongside the internet, both Dan and Code and Theory are ecstatic about the vast potential of AI for their business - so much so, it’s giving Dan a bit of an anxiety attack.
LBB’s Addison Capper chats with him about that and much more.
LBB> While researching questions for this interview, I found a piece with you from 2019 in which you spoke about Code and Theory's digital-first perspective. Fast forward to now, what are your thoughts on that, considering digital elements touch pretty much every facet of advertising now?
Dan> It's more than just advertising. It's the full customer experience. Digital has blurred the lines of what is messaging, what is service, what is value and what is entertainment. People move in and out of these brand constructs more seamlessly than ever. We believe a brand is the sum of all these interactions. It's what makes this moment both incredibly challenging and exciting. We get to use creativity and technology in ways that transform companies to create differentiation in crowded markets.
Some people may call this ‘digital transformation’, an overused term in business. But to us, it means something: transforming a business using digital where digital is the strategy rather than a tactic. We help build the right technology capabilities behind the scenes that enable our clients’ businesses to be as efficient as possible to deliver the best value to their customers.
The exciting thing is that we are at one of those moments where everything is changing. Like when people started talking about the @ symbol, and then all of a sudden, email was everywhere. Or the launch of Facebook or the iPhone and what ensued for businesses after. AI and the speed of technology, in general, will disrupt every industry again. Every business should ask themselves what they need to transform so they don't get wiped out.
LBB> Sorry, I feel like that was a big question to start on! Let's talk about the agency a bit more generally. Who and what is Code and Theory today? What kind of place do you feel you occupy in the market, and what kind of client is perfect for you?
Dan> We are a technology-first creative agency. We believe businesses need this technology-enabled creative approach to survive in this ever-changing landscape. The roles of people, the processes, the silos of business and the methods and platforms people will engage with will go through radical change. We have a staff of 50% engineers and 50% creatives to deliver our solutions, unlike other companies that consider themselves ‘creative’ but lack depth in technology or the opposite, where consultancies are heavy on ‘technology’ but don’t integrate creativity into their solutions. We have expertise in technology, creativity and consultancy housed under one roof, where we can tackle our clients' modern challenges and build long-term growth. I'd say the perfect client has a big ambition to push the boundaries of opportunity or is aware of the disruption happening and wants to be proactive in business change instead of reactive when it's too late.
AI is revolutionising how we anticipate and meet customer needs, unlocking new possibilities for delivering outcomes for our clients that were unthinkable a short while ago. The pace of change is only quickening. When you consider the added dimensions of even spatial computing and its vast potential, my excitement reaches new heights — it's almost overwhelming. I joke that the volume of new ideas is giving me a bit of an anxiety-inducing attack.
LBB> You have around 2,000 employees now across five or so countries. How do you find the challenge of leading such a large business compared with when you were starting up?
Dan> When I started this company, I had never dreamed I'd run a company this big. I like to think that 23 years ago, when I co-founded Code and Theory, I was a kid and that I got to grow up simultaneously with the company and the internet.
Growing has been about ‘scaling creativity’, which, conceptually, is an interesting challenge. It's a constant focus to be relentless on quality and that the thinking remains as smart as it was when we were a dozen people. I like having the management philosophy of acting small and being flexible to keep that small-company energy.
With that said, scale allows us more capabilities that deliver value to more ambitious clients and partners. We partnered with Oracle to deliver AI to enterprises at scale early last year. We work with Amazon, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase... a bit different than some of the first-year Flash websites we did for some bands.
LBB> Much of your career in advertising has really been spent at one company — your own agency. How do you feel that's shaped your approach to the industry and the way you operate within it?
Dan> I've been shaped by the talent around me and our clients. From our first hire to our most recent hire, I've looked to them to bring their experience to Code and Theory. We change with our people, and I get to learn and experiment alongside some of the smartest people there are. One thing I've learned, well, there have been many, but one of the biggest values of having different types of people with different perspectives is embracing discourse. If you're not having honest conversations and arguing both sides of a perspective, you won't find the right solution.
LBB> How did you wind up doing this in the first place? Do you feel it was quite intentional or more a happy accident?
Dan> I was young and naïve, and I didn't like my job at a traditional agency. Not enough people were talking about digital, but I was super inspired by the possibilities. Depending on how you look at it, I was stupid enough or smart enough to say I could do better. We had some big early wins developing the first Flash video use case before anyone else. We were, and still are, the go-to for publishers looking to reinvent themselves. We've just experimented, failed, learned and built year after year. When the next big thing arrives, we jump in because the one thing we know for sure is that the only constant is change. The companies trying to solve yesterday's problems are going to lose. Technology remains undefeated against its analogue counterparts.
LBB> You said recently that you have high expectations for other people. How does this shape the way you lead Code and Theory?
Dan> We've got a culture of people who want to build things that haven't been built before. That's powerful, so it's not about my expectations. It's about hiring people who are wired to have high expectations for themselves — the ones who want to dig into AI and the new tools, and create something new. We've always had an internal mantra: ‘Only be limited by our own creativity’. That is, neither one person nor the company should limit their capabilities.
LBB> What's a recent project that you feel is a really good representation of what Code and Theory excels at in 2024?
Dan> It's hard to pick one, especially with the crazy pipeline of innovations we have coming up. I will have to go with Yeti's ‘Map the Gaps’. There are still parts of Google Street View that no one ever charted. So we hacked Google's API to let people chart over 75 miles of unexplored territory. I'd encourage everyone to check it out. It's a slick, creative experience engineered so you can be right alongside the trailblazers who, of course, have the Yeti Hoppers on their backs. Sales of the Hopper tripled after the launch, and Map the Gaps is the top-visited part of its site.
With that said, I'm super excited about this next year. We are working on new things that will change how they think about how they use the internet.
LBB> Outside of work, what is currently keeping you occupied and content?
Dan> I have five kids. Spending time with my family is all I do when I'm not working.
