David vs. Goliath: Why Small Brands Will Outsmart the Giants in 2025

Let’s face it - the cost of eggs is all we can talk about. Prices are skyrocketing, everywhere, in every industry, and there’s a lot of questions circulating on just how we are going to make this new normal work. Each of us is learning to adapt, and so, too, are the industries around us. This past awards season, indie darling Anora was bestowed with the highest honor in filmmaking, Best Picture, on a meager $6 million budget.

Many bigger brands opted out of Super Bowl ads this year, choosing instead to launch online campaigns with organic reach. E.L.F., for example, which had the very memorable Jennifer Coolidge spot two years ago, went with a cheeky watch party entitled the E.L.F. TIME Show and an ad in the Puppy Bowl instead, which aligns with their cruelty-free/vegan mission statement. According to AdTaxi 2025’s Super Bowl Trend Analysis, 70% of Americans were slated to use, on average, two or more media platforms during the game, making this a worthwhile spend for the brand (without spending $8 million on just the airtime).

Marketing appears to be getting leaner, more efficient, and more innovative - and Lure is on the cutting edge of it all. Being a small, in-house company, we have, in the words of Bane, been “born into” this world, molded by it… we’re ready to adapt with the industries around us because we were made for this adaptation. Here are just a few ways why agencies like Lure are about to be HUGE.

First off, allow me to open this with a shameless Lure plug. Being such a small team, we are uniquely agile and able to work quickly within an industry that can sometimes feel bogged down by red tape and approvals. Having our in-house team of six & owning nearly all of the gear we need makes any project feel possible - and fast. Whether it is steering the skiff or providing support to a production already out at sea, we - as the kids say - “stay ready.” We can dip into our deep reserves of industry talent, rental house relationships, and personal connections to scale a project to nearly every size. Plus, we like to think we make it that much more fun (and our clients tend to agree).

The “creative” in creative agencies is threefold

Creatively ideate - our team is no stranger to thinking creatively from the very start. Whether it’s a tight budget, a super truncated timeline, or an exceptionally specific production element (hello beach house?), agencies like Lure know how to make any brand’s pain point an active part of pre-production. We believe in honest communication and want to tee up our clients to have the most successful product, but ALSO want to keep the specific project’s requirements and limitations at the forefront at all times.

Creatively produce - small but mighty, boutique agencies like Lure take the skills learned from larger, bigger budget projects, and scale them to every possible iteration. I can speak for myself, having come from the freelance & scripted union world, that narrative production has some wonderful systems and amazing learnings that can carry across many industries - one of which is leading with excellence. Regardless of budget, every deal memo is double- or triple-checked, every edit in post-production is completed efficiently, and every client request is attended to with the professionalism and attention to detail of a large-scale, big-budget project. Curious to know more? In my previous blog, 5 Golden Rules of Creative Producing, I go a bit more in-depth into how production companies like Lure are able to specialize in creative budgeting.

Excellence is in the DNA of every project, at every price point.

Creatively adjust - if I were to think of our agency as a physical thing (which I don’t very often because that would be weird), I would probably consider it to be clay. Clay is a very versatile and, perhaps most importantly, very malleable material that also does an amazing job of holding its shape as well as holding other objects in place. Allow me to explain: when HDMZ, a healthcare marketing agency, asked us to help produce a series of interviews, we jumped at the chance. In working with an outside agency, we were liaising between both the HDMZ team and their greater client. Lure was tasked with creating and editing the content, and when circumstances outside our control cut our shoot day short, we had to adapt. From a scheduled 12-hour shoot day to just 5 hours of actual shooting time, Lure was able to create the full amount of deliverables for HDMZ. In that way, we were able to maintain our shape while also supporting the already beautiful infrastructure HDMZ has created as their own entity. (Hey agencies, need some more clay? Reach out to us!)

Smaller production company = extremely personalized pre-production and development

There is nothing more infuriating than feeling like a number, especially in the creative world of marketing.

A new project is supposed to feel exciting, invigorating, and limitless - instead, clients have mentioned that they can feel sidelined, de-prioritized, or “passed around” with larger agencies. In a more intimate setting, we like to think that thoughts and ideas can flow freely, without judgment, and with the perspective needed to make them a reality. For Mint & Lily’s first television commercial, Lure was there every step of the way with personalized schedules and detailed decks - and our in-house DoP Chris even built a lighting grid (you can check out his recent collab post with us here). Giving our creatives and our clients, the latitude to let their creativity shine is a feature I believe to be unique to smaller, more nimble agencies. And I’m so glad that Lure helps to cultivate our shared love of the craft!

Personalized, individualized production means smaller agencies are staying on the cutting edge of trends, maximizing content across multiple verticals.

As I was writing this blog, I opened my LinkedIn to this post by Toby Hart. It illustrates beautifully how much marketing has changed in such a short period of time, and how vast and varied content needs to be across each platform. What performs well on TikTok does NOT necessarily mean it will perform well on Instagram, even though these channels strive to look so similar to each other. We have an excellent content strategist, Elise Wine, on staff who meticulously researches new trends and helps us to innovate content at every project level. You can read some of her best practices and suggestions for 2024 at her blog post; and she has already shifted gears into the world of 2025, where Meta is adding something new every week. Often, she will be on set as our “social” unit. Having that branch of production solely focused on social is a valuable asset because it helps maintain the focus of the main production while also devoting the appropriate time to creating specific, research-driven content that will engage your audience at all levels. Lure has been on set in a strictly social capacity before, and it’s something our small but mighty team does extremely well. Once it is shot, we then offer a full-service content strategy to properly implement this content on all channels - specialized copywriting, post scheduling, calendar creation, and more. Take a look at our longstanding partnership with Armor All to learn more (spoiler alert - our team has helped increase follower count by 52%)!

Smaller agencies can work with (and for) you

As mentioned above (hello HDMZ!), Lure is well-versed in working with in-house teams to create magic under budget. In fact, we find working with in-house creatives extra rewarding because they truly know their company, their products, and their brand. Some of Lure’s earliest successes with Verizon Media were born out of partnership with their in-house videographer James Bonnano, and the list extends from there. It’s a privilege to help support a project on its journey at any step. We take pride in the fact that we serve a product, and like to think that this egoless approach is something that keeps us nimble, humble, and kind. Not to mention, we have a deep well of production connections that can help match-make any project with the perfect team. Let us handle the nitty gritty so you can stay focused on the product, the message, and the overall goals of your brand.

The times, they are a-changing, and smaller agencies like Lure are ready, willing, and able to flow with the tides. We’re small and nimble, but meticulous and tenacious. We’re a company that adores collaboration at every turn and are flexible enough to work alongside any in-house team to help amplify a project’s success. We strive for excellence at all scales and have the connections to make productions (at any size) feel inspiring, exciting, and just plain fun. Plus, we love sharing GIFs.

Looking to share GIFs with us? You can reach out here to learn more and hop on the small agency train, so you can say you did it “before it’s cool.”

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Wondering how to get started? Let's talk. Lure Digital is an award-winning video marketing agency in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles dedicated to creatively connecting people to your brand.