Rooster: Built to Be Nimble to Bring Value to You

By Karen Pfautsch, Executive Vice President and Chief Growth Officer

As the fifth full-time employee at a start-up marketing consultancy, nimbleness just comes with the territory. All five of us had to jump-in and get it, whatever “it” was, done. Without manuals of processes or historical references of how we did it before, we had to figure it out. And as we grew to 40+ employees since I joined Rooster almost 6 years ago, we’ve never let go of that nimble-minded approach, and it’s been a foundation of our success.

We have no choice but to be nimble because our clients have unique, distinct needs. We’re not fans of cookie-cutter plans. We dig in to understand goals and develop custom solutions. And there’s a strong correlation between custom and nimble. Being nimble means building the right plan for the unique situation. There’s also a strong correlation between being nimble and being bold, another Rooster core value. Being nimble means being ok with thinking of unique, never-been-done-before solutions.  

We’re nimble in our thinking and in how we work, and our approach to building our team allows us to be more nimble than many companies. We hire experienced ag marketers, all senior people, that can move the ball forward without handholding. We have a lot of autonomy to make decisions, which reduces layers and boosts efficiency. Our senior team, which is our whole team, knows how to pull the specific levers each unique project needs. We can adapt and respond quickly.

At a company retreat in 2023, our employees defined what being nimble at Rooster means, and here’s a few of the responses, which are now part of our Rooster Way.

-We learn as much as we can so we can be ready to veer when necessary.

-We’re able to be nimble by including the right people on the front end of the work.

-We embrace technology that allows us to be nimble.

-We have processes and guidelines, but we aren’t so rigid that we get in our own way.

-We make the best of the direction or assignment in front of us.

Being nimble isn’t meant to be a bash on structure or process. They have their place. We have non-negotiables in how we work, like every project needs a brief to ensure we’re aligned with our client and internally across multi-disciplinary teams. But, our mindset is not to let structure be a roadblock in delivering for our clients. Instead, we center on the client’s need and are constantly problem solving to deliver. How CAN we make it work with the available budget? How CAN we get it done with the hurdles in front of us? How CAN we ensure success even though the environment is not ideal?

We work with ag businesses and associations that have a wide range of needs and budgets. We help iconic ag brands launch new campaigns while also helping start-up tech companies develop farmer-friendly messaging. We work as an agency of record or take on a one-time, quick-term project. We’re skilled at uncovering expectations and tailoring our support to meet those expectations, with the goal to exceed them.

In my first few months on the job, I played account lead, new business strategist, employee mentor, copywriter, business leader, IT, recruiter…and I continue to play most of those roles yet today, though many in lesser degrees as we’ve brought on experienced and specialized team members. And that’s specialized team members with a nimble mindset. We value that mindset because our nimble culture helps our clients win. I’ve seen it firsthand over and over.

Let’s talk about your needs and a custom approach to solve them. Over coffee, Zoom, Google Meet, LinkedIn Messaging, Slack, Teams, a phone conversation…whatever works best. We’re nimble.