"Our future is a race between the growing power of our technology and the wisdom with which we use it. Let's make sure wisdom wins."
An introduction
Looking back, so much has changed.
The iPhone was a couple of years old.
Facebook was two years away from going public.
The 960 Grid System was the standard for website creation.
SEO was inserting keywords into footers of websites.
Wordpress vs. ExpressionEngine.
The preferred browser wars were very real (RIP Internet Explorer).
The websites created with Flash were mind-blowing.
Responsive design was a continuous debate (i.e. I vividly remember our early clients believing no one would look at a website on their phone).
Social media was largely expressed sentence fragments random activities, and photography of food.
Teehan+Lax (later acqui-hired by Facebook) was a thriving digital agency challenging my ideas about everything a browser window might be for people and organizations.
The standards for eCommerce were just beginning (Shopify was a few years old).
Some might call it Web 2.0 but for myself and my co-founder, Taylor Jones, it felt magical to see our ideas expressed within a browser window.
A decade later, it still feels magical.
But what we didn’t know in the early days of Whiteboard were terms like cell phone addiction, dark patterns, social media-induced depression, dopamine-fueled algorithms, and endless exploitative digital tactics that invite us to engage them on a daily basis.
Countless studies and commentary amplify a truth we often forget: the internet is the most powerful force of societal influence.
It is within this tension that I hold four unwavering beliefs:
I believe
agency is a word that’s been hijacked by billable hours, annual renewals, one-size-fits-all frameworks, and mythical “easy” buttons. Agency is full of nuance (especially for creatives), but I believe it’s best expressed as a verb and always advocates for the best in others.
I believe
that wrestling with the tensions of our digital age is one of the healthiest practices we can engage in. The moments when I’m not intentional with my time and resources are when the internet’s powers succumb my ability to ward off distraction, anxiety, and hopelessness.
I believe
the only way to shape the future is to understand the lessons from the past. Continual agency requires continual revision. The internet that exists today was not the internet expressed less than a decade ago (RIP AOL, Vine, MySpace, Google Glass, Rdio, Quibi) and will certainly look different over the next thirty years (ChatGPT, AI, Web3, NFTs, DAOS, DeFi, and cryptocurrency).
I believe
the future belongs to the optimists—people with cultured and vibrant imaginations and the fortitude to bring ideas to life.
My aspiration for the future of Whiteboard is the same as it was in 2010: I want everyone at Whiteboard to find their calling and feel like they're working with friends, enjoying their lives, and doing work that they feel they were meant to do.
If there's one absolute truth I've learned about leading a venture, it's this: leading an organization is a continual edit. It's a truth that inspired this retrospective.
In creating this AGENCY REPORT my aim is to:
Invite you into our agency journey.
Define and highlight our evolving impact.
Showcase the breadth of our work around the world.
Define why, what, and how our agency creates.
Clearly communicate our vision for a brighter future.
As creatives, it is our job to reconcile the truest truth about the work we do on behalf of others, their missions in the world, and the audiences they serve.
Eric Brown
CVO, Whiteboard
Part 1
When we started Whiteboard more than a decade ago, we set out on a mission to empower visionaries to lead meaningful brands. Countless times throughout the years, we’ve wrestled with a keyword in our mission…
"Meaningful"
It can seem obvious on the surface, and we have often taken that for granted. But as we dig deeper, it becomes apparent that everyone has a different definition of “meaningful.” What is meaningful to you may not be meaningful to someone else. In extreme cases, what some people find meaningful can even be harmful to others. So much tension and judgment can surface when people don’t share a common definition of “meaningful.” One only needs to read a few of the latest news headlines or social posts to confirm that truth.
So what constitutes meaningfulness? How can we help visionaries build meaning-driven organizations if we don’t share a common definition of meaningful?
At Whiteboard, we believe the world we live in is not yet what it ought to be, and the most meaningful work is on the pathway toward that reconciliation. And we believe that what ought to be centered on advancing the common good—is holistic human flourishing.
Simply put, we long for a Brighter Future where…
Peace replaces anxiety.
Curiosity replaces cynicism.
Creativity replaces consumerism.
Authenticity replaces vanity.
Empathy replaces bias.
Intention replaces distraction.
Community replaces isolation.
Generosity replaces greed.
Intimacy replaces exploitation.
Roundtables replaces rants.
Unity replaces polarization.
Hope replaces depression.
Truth replaces lies.
Life replaces death.
The epicenter of these tensions is human relationships. And we all know that relationships are the most complex, nuanced aspect of our humanity. In relationships we can find difficulty; but we can also find connection, healing, and hope. The only way to build a Brighter Future is together—by empowering one another to engage these tensions through a common lens.
So we developed a set of simple design principles we believe are essential to building a Brighter Future, together.
We believe there are three intersecting foundations of a Brighter Future:
Belief
The first and most primal foundation to a Brighter Future is belief in one another. Not in ideologies, causes, or brands, but belief that there is good inside every human being.
Stewardship
The second foundation to a Brighter Future is stewardship—where we recognize our collective existence is dependent on one another. We as individuals did not create most of what we have, find joy in, or rely on. Through stewardship, we invert the notion that we as individuals own everything and recognize our actions impact one another. We become stewards of the good in one another, rather than only working to advance the good in ourselves.
Generosity
The third foundation to a Brighter Future is generosity—where we must contribute our own resources, both tangible and intangible, to advance human flourishing. It is through our personal contribution that a Brighter Future is catalyzed.
We call this “a Design System for a Brighter Future”
The Traps of Advancing a Brighter Future
We believe that the intersection of Belief, Stewardship, and Generosity is where efforts to build a Brighter Future are found. Without a balance of these three critical components, unintentional consequences—what we call "traps"—manifest that are destructive to our collective future:
The Brightest Future can only be realized when we as individuals believe there is good in every person, recognize our collective impact on and therefore responsibility to one another, and commit our own resources to advancing others. By holding the foundations in balance—belief, stewardship, and generosity—we can engage every challenge and decision thoughtfully and intentionally, trusting that our decisions will lead to a Brighter Future where human flourishing is maximized.
The hope of a Brighter Future is the essence of meaningfulness in our mission at Whiteboard. We empower visionaries to lead meaningful brands—visionaries committed to a future of human flourishing—where belief, generosity, and stewardship are the guiding principles of our life and work.
Part 2
As described in Part 1, we believe that the Brightest Future—where holistic human flourishing is realized—can only be accomplished when we as individuals consider three foundations in every decision we make: belief, stewardship, and generosity.
This simple design system empowers us to engage the complexity we all encounter in daily life and foster a Brighter Future, together.
The work of advancing a Brighter Future requires us to believe in the good within others, to recognize our responsibility in how our actions impact others, and to contribute our own resources to the advancement of others.
We believe the responsibility to and work of advancing others is best summed up in one word–agency.
Simply put, agency is the capacity to act on behalf of someone or something else, and an agent is a person or thing that acts in that capacity.
As humans, our very existence is inherently relational and interconnected. We are all agents of someone or something else, and we must engage the individual and collective components of our agency to bring about the brightest, most hopeful future.
Unfortunately, agency is a word not always known for delivering bright outcomes. It can often be associated with burnout, egos, exploitation, purposelessness and other dark patterns. Agency is so much more than Madison Avenue, Super Bowl ads, and various industry brokerages. But it can only be more—and can lead to a Brighter Future—if considered and engaged with intentionality.
Whiteboard was founded as an agency because our mission—to empower visionaries to lead meaningful brands—is fundamentally an orientation of agency. And through that work with more than 400 clients over the past decade, we’ve uncovered a simple rubric to ensure we leverage our agency capacity to build a Brighter Future.
Mission vs. Mastery
&
Ambition vs. Advocacy
If you plot these two spectrums on a simple two-by-two, some interesting insights surface:
At the extremes of these two tensions are the cornerstones of true agency: ambition, advocacy, purpose, and expertise.
AMBITION (SELF) vs. ADVOCACY (OTHERS)
While agency is ultimately the work of advancing others, we cannot effectively do that, especially for more than short bursts of time, without tending to our own human needs as part of the work. We must remain physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy in order to meaningfully advance others. Simply put, you must put your oxygen mask on before helping your fellow passenger, but you don’t take the whole oxygen bottle for yourself. But if we over-focus on our own self-health without engaging others, our capacity for empathy diminishes, and we become alienated from those we have a responsibility to advance.
Mastery (Expertise) vs. Mission (Purpose)
To be effective agents, we must willfully submit to the mission of those we seek to advance (and in turn, we must take the time to define and understand that mission). But without a level of mastery of one or more skills, it is impossible to contribute to the advancement of any mission. Conversely, if our focus is too heavily weighted on developing our own mastery, we lose touch with the mission of others and may end up with powerful talents that are irrelevant to advancing others within our purview.
As an agent, it doesn’t take a long time to realize that agency is frequently difficult. We believe the difficulty is because the work of a true agent is not linear—it’s not defined as a set of ordered steps to a successful outcome. It’s not “up and to the right.” Rather, true agency is about constantly maintaining balance between these tensions.
This model is the True Agency Axis.
True Agency can only manifest when mission, advocacy, mastery, and ambition are held in balance.
If we fail to hold these tensions in balance, we can end up in what we believe are the Four Temptations of True Agency, found in the four extreme corners of the True Agency Axis:
Ineffectiveness
When we focus so much on others that we forget about self care OR when we focus so much on the mission that we ignore our capabilities, we become ineffective. Without the requisite skills and physical, emotional, and mental stamina, we can’t successfully advance the work of others. Ineffectiveness is found at the extremes of mission (purpose) and others (advocacy).
Burnout
Likewise, when we focus extremely on others OR on mastering the skills we think are necessary to help them, it’s hard to remain focused on the collective mission and the state of our own health. This leads us to burnout, where we feel like we’re drowning in people who need our help and that we’re working as hard as we can, all of the time, but with no rest or north star. Burnout is encountered at the extremes of others (advocacy) and mastery (expertise).
Isolation
When our energy becomes solely focused on our own personal ambition and the development of our own mastery, we lose sight of both the collective mission and the needs of others—we wake up one day and realize we feel isolated. Paddling the boat alone. And that’s because we are. We’ve left our connection to others and our common purpose behind.
Vanity
And finally, when we are completely enamored with the mission at hand, but we have virtually no skills to offer to advance the mission, we arrive at vanity. Here, there are often ample metrics but very little movement. This is where celebrity- and cancel-culture thrive, but where true agency goes to die.
We cannot build a Brighter Future without a healthy understanding of the individual and collective aspects of our agency. We believe that by using the True Agency Axis as our lens, we can keep ourselves and our company centered and more rapidly advance a Brighter Future... without leaving a wake of cultural debt that those after us will have to pay back.
Part 3
What came to life in 1969 when Charlie Kline at UCLA attempted to send a 5-character message to Bill Duvall at Stanford Research Institute has become the most powerful force of cultural change in history.
Since its inception, what promises has the internet made us?
Global collaboration to advance good? Or global invasion and exploitation of human privacy?
Global human connectedness? Or an epidemic of loneliness, anxiety, & depression?
Assistance to make informed, good decisions or algorithmic bias on a global scale?
Elimination of geographic and cultural boundaries? Or sensationalism and hate?
What was invented as a pathway to collaborate on what could be humanity’s greatest achievements has empowered some of the darkest and most destructive patterns in history.
But what if the internet was stewarded to be more than pictures of what your friends had for dinner last night? More than the unrealistic facade “influencers” want people to believe? More than out-of-context soundbites or headlines of political disunity?
More than the darkness much of it has become?"
From the time we were 10 years old, we were captivated by the promise of the internet—first as a tool for understanding the world, and as we got older, as a tool for making the world better.
We are all familiar with stories of how the internet can expose the worst of our human nature. But after working with more than 400 clients across 10 years — we believe more than ever that when the internet is engaged with redemptive purpose, it offers unprecedented capacity to facilitate positive cultural change.
Whether for new startups that need to bring their ideas to life or for mature organizations in need of digital transformation, we help leaders navigate and execute across the complex digital landscape.
Along the way, we’ve been able to help some amazing people:
Blake Canterbury
Blake Canterbury and the team at Purposity are working towards a brighter future where every need is met in every community.
Kevin Scott
Kevin Scott and the team at ADDO are working towards a brighter future where high school students make an extraordinary positive impact in their local communities through Chick-fil-A Leader Academy.
Marija Zivanovic-Smith
Marija Zivanovic-Smith and the team at IEX are working towards a brighter future that brings transparency and integrity to financial markets.
Alexander Mclean
Alexander Mclean and the Justice Defenders team is working towards a brighter future where everyone deserves a fair hearing.
Stephen Kump
Stephen Kump and the Charityvest team is working towards a brighter future where everyone unlocks the impact of a personal giving account.
Heath & Joey
Heath Wilson, Joey Odom, and the team at Aro are working towards a brighter future where families can experience life, uninterrupted.
Laila Mickelwait
Laila Mickelwait and the team at Justice Defense Fund is working towards a brighter future where justice is brought to survivors of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse.
Jason, Steve, Malcolm, & Morgan
Jason Provonsha, Steve Cox, Malcolm Harris, and the team at Steam Logistics are working towards a brighter future when the exploitative practice of non-compete agreements finally ends.
Jessica Kim
Jessica Kim and her team at ianacare are on a mission to encourage, empower, and equip family caregivers with practical with practical tools and supportive communities, so no caregiver does this alone.
This is your invitation to join us in our work to create a brighter future.
To make your work meaningful.
Whether you need help driving engagement for your existing organization or product, you need to develop solutions to big challenges you’re currently facing, or you have an idea for a product or platform, we’d love to talk to you.
How and what we invest in our team, their families, and the communities we hold offices within
What we create and how it advances the missions of our clients and partners
OUR COMPANY CHARTER
First, we are a people company.
We believe that engaging others with empathy, kindness, and generosity is the foundation for a meaningful future marked by human flourishing. Great work starts with and revolves around people, and people matter.
Second, we are a creative company.
We believe the future belongs to the optimists—people with cultured and vibrant imaginations and the fortitude to bring ideas to life. The evidence of creativity is the launching of great ideas, and we work to launch ideas that brighten our future.
Third, we are a technology company.
We believe technology enables us to scale our efforts, so when we combine purpose-driven people, meaningful creativity, and inspired technology, we can facilitate widespread redemptive cultural change.
At Whiteboard, we help leaders create and cultivate digital experiences that advance their vision for a brighter future.
In the disciplines of philosophy, economics, and political science, the common good refers to what is shared and beneficial for all or most members of a given community. It is most often achieved by creative citizenship, collective action, and active participation in society.
At Whiteboard, "for a brighter future" is how we express the common good.
“There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”
President Woodrow Wilson
Through our work, we leverage the internet to scale meaningful ideas and create tangible outcomes for the organizations we serve.
We help leaders navigate the complex digital landscape across all facets of the internet—websites, apps, branding, marketing automation, advertising, content, and more—our team helps organizations lead digital transformation, end-to-end.
We measure our success as a company by how well we achieve our mission, not only by the size of our profits. Our work is concentrated on how people experience brands, ideas, and products on the internet.
In the attention economy, we believe that time spent is the most precious resource. Our goal is to steward attention spans toward ideas that incite positive outcomes in the world. We are committed to serving founders and ideas that result in time well spent.
We believe the common good expands beyond the social sector and believe it can be expressed in a variety of sectors and operating models.
Creative Citizenship:
How our clients and our team
co-create solutions to address organizational problems, societal challenges and target audiences.
Collective Action:
Actions taken by our clients and our team co-laboring together to achieve a common objective.
Active Participation:
Consistent and simultaneous engagement of all stakeholders–our clients and our team–as we learn, think, study, imagine, visualize, and create solutions together.
We help leaders create brands, platforms, and campaigns that create positive outcomes in our world.
Whiteboard will create tools and resources that help people navigate the complex digital landscape, explore philosophies about the importance of creative work, and pursue strong points-of-view about the industry we serve within.
We care for the health our team, our clients, and our industry.
We engage beyond our walls with the greater issues affecting the cities we call home.
Whiteboard was birthed from a passion to serve courageous people and bold ideas. We work with a multitude of social ventures and understand the tension of delivering bold, world-changing ideas amidst budget constraints. Our passion, pressed by this tension, gave birth to the Brighter Future Fund.
Whiteboard's Brighter Future Fund aims is to build stronger communities by investing resources to create platforms at the intersection of social entrepreneurship, technology, and education. It’s not charity, but it is our method to leverage our profits on purpose. Our way of giving back. We fulfill this mission through five specific initiatives:
We sponsor education because education changes everything.
We leverage technology to do good through in-kind services.
We do one pro-bono project a year for a local nonprofit in one of our office locations.
We provide paid volunteer hours for all Whiteboard employees.
We match donations made by employees to non-profit organizations through Charityvest.
Every year, Whiteboard partners with at least one local 501(c)3 organization in each of the cities it holds an office to provide pro-bono services and consulting.
Whiteboard has established a Change Committee designed to lead and implement our anti-racism strategy across the agency.
When clients choose to work with Whiteboard, a portion of your investment is used to lend a helping hand.
Whiteboard invests in our team. We provide mentoring and educational stipends for all team members.
Whiteboard builds digital products and experiences that create opportunities for leadership and community development.
Whiteboard provides team members with competitive benefits, education stipends, health and wellness programs, and counseling services to enhance personal growth.
Whiteboard reports on team and leadership demographics, finances, programs and strategies employed to build a diverse, inclusive, and equitable organization.
Today, Whiteboard has partnered with over 400 organizations in over 20 countries, building solutions for business, education, government, healthcare, faith, media, arts and entertainment, and more.
Purpose-Driven Business
Work that focuses on stewardship of our society and our planet in the pursuit of profit. We believe in the power of a competitive marketplace that incentivizes innovation and creativity, and that business should mandate a positive impact in the world.
Health and Wellness
Work where the primary objective of the organization is to research and make possible ways for people to live a healthy and fulfilling life; serving areas of physical, mental, and social well-being.
Innovative Education
Work that advances a new paradigm in education, whether in the physical classroom or the digital one. The technological revolution has forever transformed our society, and we believe a new approach to education is required develop students that can make meaningful contributions to this new society.
Science & Emerging Tech
Work aimed at discovering and developing new technological and scientific frontiers.
Humanitarian Aid
Work where the primary objective of the organization is to alter humanity for the better; saving lives, alleviating suffering, and maintaining human dignity for all.
Spiritual Formation
Work that serves a movement of believers who have found new standards for how to treat one another, serve one another, and even forgive one another in ways that run counter to the world.
Problems We'd Love to Serve
Build a City
Pnohm Penh, Cambodia
From Southeast Tennessee to Southeast Asia, the goal of the Build A City project was to rebuild a community that had lost everything–to give people new homes, new roads, new jobs, and new hopes.
We traveled to Pnohm Penh, Cambodia to piece together the brand narrative and creative alongside the talented filmmakers at Between Pixels. When the project was completed, Build A City provided over 900 families a place to call home by May 2015.
Legacybox
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Legacybox is the largest and most trusted memory digitizing company in the world. Our work with their founders, Adam Boeselager and Nick Macco, began when their team was digitizing a few hundred items a week. But today, their team preserves over 700,000 priceless memories a week.
In many ways, the work we did alongside the Legacybox team was foundational in how think about building brand experiences online.
Serving Orphans Worldwide
Global
Serving Orphans Worldwide (SOW) exists to rescue, train, and sustain struggling children's homes around the globe. Their work supports over 6,000 children across 60 children's homes in 29 countries.
In 2013, Whiteboard had the opportunity to bring the Serving Orphans Worldwide brand to life and create multiple digital marketing campaigns to support their work.
One highlight in working with SOW was connecting their team to the filmmakers of Blood Brother, a documentary that won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Sundance in 2013. The campaign we helped create served as a precursor for the feature length documentary called, Almost Holy, a film about Gennadiy Mohknenko, a Ukrainian pastor who fights against child homelessness. His tough love approach has made him a hero to some and a lawless vigilante to others. The documentary debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015.
Bitcoin Foundation
Washington, D.C.
Established in 2012, The Bitcoin Foundation engages governments around the world in open dialogs regarding the benefits of Bitcoin, assists in providing information for pro-Bitcoin legislation, and actively advocates for the prevention of negative regulation. It is the longest established Bitcoin advocacy organization in the world.
Whiteboard was selected to lead a global rebrand of the foundation. As a whole, the logo represented two "blocks" or "bits" in an extensible system, and shows how they can come together to form something greater than the sum of their parts.
WinShape
Atlanta, Georgia
WinShape was established in 1984 by Truett Cathy and his wife, Jeannette, as a way to invest in college students and shape winners—thus, the name “WinShape.” Over time, the organization added other ministries to its portfolio to serve more demographics—children, marriages, work teams, foster families and more.
Our team has had the honor of serving WinShape for nearly a decade across their portfolio of initiatives.
Purposity
Atlanta, Georgia
Everywhere around us, we see people in need. We also see people who want to help others but don’t know how. Purposity helps connect those dots through the power of technology.
School systems and non-profits in local communities let us know needs in your area. Purposity spreads the word to individuals near them who are willing to help. They click a link, see the need, and make a difference for someone near them. It’s easy. It’s simple, and it takes just a few clicks to make a difference in someone’s life.
Our team has had the honor of serving Purposity since the very beginning. We designed the brand, created the MVP and Version 1.0 of the app, and continue to steward Purposity's growth through marketing campaign creation and implementation. A milestone moment for us was watching Purposity's founder, Blake Canterbury, tell The TODAY Show's Sheinelle Jones how the app is connecting communities so neighbors can see needs and fulfill them.
Praxis Labs
New York, New York
Praxis Labs is a venture-building ecosystem with a redemptive imagination, supporting founders, funders, and innovators motivated by their faith to address the major issues of our time.
Redemptive entrepreneurship is not merely a theory; it’s an advancing reality, embodied in a global community of practice, building and funding ventures that make a significant mark in dozens of sectors and countries.
Our team has had the honor of serving Praxis Labs through a variety of initiatives over the years.
Tennessee Aquarium
Chattanooga, Tennessee
The mission of the Tennessee Aquarium is to connect people with nature and empower them to make informed decisions about water and wildlife. Within their two buildings, you’ll trace the path of water from the mountains to the sea. Come face-to-face with the fascinating native animals that live in our backyards and the amazing creatures that thrive in some of the most remote locations on Earth.
It's been pure joy for our team to serve alongside the team at the Tennessee Aquarium over the years.
Headway
Menlo Park, California
Throughout history, transportation has been a powerful catalyst for cultural, political, and technological change. In the past century alone, we’ve seen countless examples of radical social progress accompanied by quantum leaps in ground and air transportation technologies, and that joint evolution of society and technology continues today. There is little doubt that the century ahead will introduce revolutionary new modes of transport, and Urban Air Mobility (UAM) ranks among the most promising.
Our team had the opportunity work with Airbus's policy team to name, brand, and create the digital experience for Headway, a 5-year policy framework for Urban Air Mobility. Shoutout to the legendary team at Fern for illustrating scenes that will someday be our new normal.
Justice Defenders
Africa
Founded in 2007 as African Prisons Project, Justice Defenders is a registered UK charity and US nonprofit with nearly 350 people working across three African countries.
Some of us are free and some imprisoned. Some are poor in spirit and some just poor. We find value in serving others and showing mercy. We’re people who have fallen from the law and been captured by grace. Given our histories, we know that without grace, we are nothing.
Our team had the honor of working alongside Mighty Ally to bring Justice Defenders new brand and website. The new brand launched just in time for Anderson Cooper to tell Justice Defenders story on 60-Minutes.
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Aro
Knoxville, Tennessee
It’s no secret that screen time is one of the biggest issues facing families today. Aro leverages the science of habit formation and motivational design to ensure parents and kids don't miss out on what's most important by helping reclaim time spent on their phones.
Our team worked with Aro's founders, Heath Wilson and Joey Odom, to create the brand, digital experience, app design, and more with the goal of helping families live life, uninterrupted.
TED
New York, New York
TED is a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world. They believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world.
Our team has served TED by leveraging Webflow to design and build digital experiences for TED Conferences, TED Countdown, and the Audacious Project.
New Story
Latin America
New Story is changing lives by building a more inclusive housing market in Latin America.
New Story goes beyond building homes for families. They build a housing market that includes families in need. Vulnerable families want to be more than passive beneficiaries. They want to participate in a housing market that meets their needs and desires — just like you.
That’s why they use a market-based strategy that incentivizes the market to serve low-income families.
It's been pure joy serving New Story and their mission to pioneer market-based solutions that empowre families to buy land, secure home financing, and build generational wealth.
At Whiteboard, our daily work is anchored in six specific questions. It is our way; our blueprint. It is how we translate vision into value.
Six Pillars for Strategic Execution
- 01Investigate the Cultural Tension
What problem are the leaders trying to solve?
- 02Define the Strategic Vision
What does this organization do in the world?
- 03Understand the Leadership Intent
What script are the leaders of the organization living out?
- 04Know the Operating Model
What does this organization do for its people and partners?
- 05Design the Brand Expression
How does the organization express its vision to the world?
- 06Lead Digital Transformation
How does the organization leverage the Internet to fulfill its mission?
The Digital Flywheel
Whiteboard creates momentum for your organization by holistically integrating your brand, website, and marketing campaigns.
Any brand will fall short without a strong platform and effective activation.
That’s why our team is structured to lead you through a process to maximize all three areas.
Brand Studio
The Brand Studio at Whiteboard helps leaders and organizations clarify their vision and make it a reality.
WEB Studio
The Web Studio at Whiteboard helps leaders and organizations plan, craft, and build worthwhile digital experiences.
Growth STUDIO
The Growth Studio at Whiteboard helps leaders and organizations identify the appropriate pathways from current reality to desired results.
Our initiatives aim to invest in the well-being and growth of our industry and cultivate wisdom, character, and courage in the way we navigate the World Wide Web.
We work with communities, leaders, agencies, and strategic partners that are deeply committed to advancing the common good.
Our Advisors & Mentors
Travis Mason
&RULES
Dr. Kelly Burton
Black Innovation Alliance
Jeff Shinabarger
Plywood People
Marija Zivanovic-Smith
THE IEX GROUP
Chris Woodhull
BUILD ME A WORLD
Robbie de Villiers
WILTON FOUNDRY
Allison Long Pettine
CRESCENT RIDGE PARNTERS
Uli Becker
INVESTOR, ADVISOR & FORMER CEO, REEBOK
A sampling of resources that are shaping , challenging, and inspiring our imagination as we pursue true agency for ourselves and our clients.
In 2023, we set out to accomplish ten key milestones and we accomplished them all.
- Complete a strategic acquisition to expand our Brand Studio services
- Deploy version 1.0 of our Equitable Comp Model to bring full transparency to pay structure and growth trajectory
- Whiteboard's Brighter Future Fund partnered with New Story, a non-profit empowering vulnerable families to become active participants in a market where they can access and afford quality housing
- Continue to foster and grow client relationships that don’t exceed 10% of our total portfolio
- Make progress in shifting away from being a founder-led company and build a high-performance leadership team
- Continue to invest in the health and wellness of our team through our partnership with SentryHealth
- Consistent education and adoption of our anti-racism plan led by our Change Committee (our 3-year report is coming soon)
- Continue evolving our Understudy Program
- Maintain low turnover and a working culture that laughs a lot, celebrates one another, and has fun amid a cultural moment filled with incivility, drama, etc.
- Expand health insurance benefits
💥Worth Celebrating 🎉
Paul Rustand
joins Whiteboard AS VICE PRESIDENT, BRAND DESIGN
Sarah Tebo
PROMOTED TO STUDIO DIRECTOR
Widgets & Stone
JOINS WHITEBOARD TO EXPAND
BRAND STUDIO SERVICES
NCR Greenhouse
NOMINATED FOR A
WEBFLOW AWARD
Jason Locy
JOINS WHITEBOARD AS VICE
PRESIDENT, HEAD OF STRATEGY
FiveStone
JOINS WHITEBOARD TO EXPAND
BRAND STRATEGY OFFERINGS
Emilie Young
PROMOTED TO STUDIO DIRECTOR
120 Clients
Served in 2023
ROI
ERIC BROWN AND KEVIN SCOTT
WROTE A BOOK ABOUT INSPIRATION
Pursell Farms
LAUNCHED NEW WEBSITE
Emilie Ricks-Tyree
Joins whiteboard as
BRAND DESIGNER
Agency
ERIC BROWN AND TAYLOR JONES
ANNOUNCE NEW BOOK
Canopy
CREATED NEW BRAND FOR
INTERNATIONAL FLOORING CO.
Mark Walter
JOINS WHITEBOARD AS
BRAND DESIGNER
New Story
LAUNCHED NEW WEBSITE
Amber Grace
CREATED NEW BRAND FOR
AMBER GRACE
Katie Haremski
JOINED WHITEBOARD AS
PROJECT MANAGER
Happy Valley Farms
CREATED A NEW BRAND FOR
HAPPY VALLEY FARMS
Zack Johnston
JOINS WHITEBOARD AS
ENGINEER
TENx10
LAUNCHED THEIR NEW PLATFORM
Mailchimp
PJ SIMMONS SERVED ON MAILCHIMP'S
CUSTOMER ADVISORY BOARD
Junior Achievement
LAUNCHING A NEW FINANCIAL
LITERACY PLATFORM IN 2024
Comic Relief
HELPED LAUNCH A NEW WEBSITE
FOR COMIC RELIEF
Immerse
LAUNCHED ON WEBFLOW ENTERPRISE
United Way
ERIC BROWN SPOKE TO COMMUNITY
LEADERS IN CHATTANOOGA
CFC Kits
DESIGNED THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY
KITS FOR CHATTANOOGA FC
Intellicheck
SERVED INTELLICHECK ACROSS
BRAND, WEB, AND GROWTH STUDIOS
Pandora CloudCover
LAUNCHED A NEW WEBSITE FOR
PANDORA CLOUDCOVER
In 2024, we aim to accomplish ten milestones:
In 2024, we aim to accomplish ten strategic goals:
- Continue to foster and grow client relationships that don’t exceed 10% of our total portfolio
- Continue to integrate our Menu of Services to help leaders and organizations fulfill their missions through the power of brand, websites, and growth initiatives
- Launch version 2.0 of our Equitable Comp Model
- Create and facilitate Whiteboard's Leadership Playbook, a strategy for how to practice leadership in work and life
- Embrace a strategy-first model that supports client objectives and the work of our creative studios
- Expand health insurance benefits (100% paid plan)
- Launch new book being written by Whiteboard co-founders, Eric Brown and Taylor Jones
- Launch a new product geared towards serving Employer Brands and internal communication
- Launch a new event purposed to serve and encourage people who are tired and burnt out in the creative industry
- Continue to be a place of business that cultivates healthy high-performance leaders
Thank you for taking the time to engage this retrospective. Our deepest hope is that you leave this website inspired. If you'd like to connect about a new project, agency partnership, career opportunity, or something else click on the links below.
New Business
Have a new project to discuss?
We'd love to connect with you and learn more.
Partner
Interested in an agency partnership?
We love combining our skillsets with other agencies to serve the missions of their clients.
Careers
Interested in working at Whiteboard?
Work from our offices in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Nashville, or remote.
Contact
Reach out to us
For general inquiries, media inquiries, speaking requests or anything else, drop us an email.