• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, July 12, 2013

Former MRM Worldwide CEO Marc Landsberg took the wraps off his new social media agency this week. He has named it socialdeviant and declared it to be one of the few “ego-less” firms in the business. If true, that would certainly deviate from the norm in Adland.  

The Chicago-based shop has been a work in progress since early 2012, when Landsberg left McCann Worldgroup, where he was last president of corporate business development.

Currently, the new shop has 15 staffers with small outposts in New York and Los Angeles. Landsberg says he hopes to expand into full-fledged offices by year’s end.

Initial clients include Procter & Gamble, Farmers Insurance, Keystone Report, and Kellogg School of Management, among others. The shop has also done project work for Google. “We’ve gotten some great traction so far,” Landsberg said.

Landsberg said the idea for socialdeviant arose from numerous conversations with marketers that said they knew that social would be an increasingly important part of the marketing fabric. But they also suggested that there is a dearth of offerings that provide sound strategic advice for integrating social plans into the overall marketing mix. “What they don’t need is to hear about another point solution or tool,” he said.

As for the shop’s corporate culture, it revolves around being “kind and composed,” said Landsberg. “The world is full of unkind people,” he said. The business is filled with “screamers who run around like their head is on fire.”

That said, marketers have a need for speed. And the shop commits to working fast for its clients. “Collaborate, prioritize, execute and move on” is the agency mission in a nutshell, Landsberg said.

Up to now, Landsberg said, the new agency has been largely self-financed. But the company has plans for a new product platform that will likely require outside investment. For now, he’s keeping the wraps on the platform details. But he promises that when it’s ready for prime time, “it will be a game changer.”