With nine offices and a relentless focus on integration, The Shipyard is one of the largest independent agencies redefining how media, data, tech, and creativity work together. Chief Growth Officer Lance Porigow shares how their model fuels client success—and why love is still the most valuable metric in marketing.
Please provide a top line view of your agency’s structure, scale and capabilities. We “Engineer Brand Love.” We leverage media, data, technology and creativity into one seamless integrated program for clients’ success. We do not have silos between paid, earned, owned and emerging media. Because Love cannot be bought...it must be earned.
We know that brands that are loved will outperform other brands by 350%.
To achieve this...we are one team. Working together. A privately owned company. Our owners are our leaders. Our retention rate for crew members and clients is among the best in the industry. And we have held on to these values while growing to be one of the largest independent agencies in the nation serving all types of clients across the country from our 9 offices coast to coast.
What inspires you most about your agency? There’s a reason a place of grit and guts and colossal ambition inspired our name. It’s not the ships in the yard (though they are impressive feats of engineering and artistry). It’s the people who work there. Our Shipyard is filled with tenacious and hardworking doers who solve problems with ingenuity and precision... with an experimental mindset no matter the craft or channel.
Just as we
Engineer Brand Love, we also engineer a culture where people feel inspired, appreciated, and truly connected. It isn’t just a workplace–it’s a community. These behaviors set The Shipyard apart. We are bold enough to imagine, daring enough to act, and experienced enough to trust.
We’d like to hear about a new business win that you’re particularly proud of. It was announced in March that The Shipyard had been selected by Veloz, a nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit and longtime innovator in electric vehicle (EV) education to support its
$43.5 million sponsorship from Electrify America to educate consumers on the benefits of Electric Vehicles.
The Shipyard will support that national “Electric For All” consumer education effort to reduce misperceptions and unfamiliarity with EVs encouraging more Americans to go electric.
We’re just getting started, so there is no case to share yet, but we can share the link to the
press release.
Visit California’s "Let's Play" campaign is the first rebrand in over a decade, launching “The Ultimate Playground” tagline. Celebrating California’s globally recognized playful spirit, the iconic beach ball (which was invented in California) acts as a metaphor for the contagious nature of that spirit. Play is a critical part of human existence and can be transformational, especially when combined with travel. Research shows that most of us crave more play in our lives. California is the ultimate place to come find it!
How do you stay nimble and adapt your agency’s strategy as new technologies or platforms emerge? Where do you see most opportunity for brands? Our Engineering Brand Love philosophy ignites exploration across all creative, media and technology disciplines. The Shipyard stays nimble working across teams creating multidisciplinary groups — brand, product, and marketing strategists collaborating closely with media, creative, design, and technology teams to rapidly test emerging tools in real use cases. Internal labs exploring generative AI and dynamic design systems aren’t siloed experiments—they directly shape the work we deliver.
For brands today, the real opportunity lies in using new technologies not just for efficiency, but to craft experiences that feel personal, alive, and emotionally resonant across every touchpoint. When brand ads become brand actions connecting to what consumers desire, relate to and appreciate, brand love is the result.
