• by Fern Siegel , January 8, 2023

What’s in a name? For openers, a quirky, offbeat agency name gets attention. Say StrawberryFrog.

The moniker is inspired by the strawberry frog, the rarest frog in the world, with blue legs and a red body. It is the opposite of what managing director Shana Bellot calls factory dinosaurs —  slow, bureaucratic firms.

StrawberryFrog is agile, fast and nimble — and she credits that “rebel-with-jeans” ethos for the agency’s winning track record.

Bellot shares some of that credit.

As managing director, she led the expansion of the agency's 25-year-old Movement Strategy, Movement Outside and Movement Inside principles. The Movement platform provides a strategic framework for marketing that galvanizes employees and mobilizes consumers.

“We work with large companies to establish or transform culture, focus employees so companies can thrive, such as Walmart and Pfizer. We call this Movement Inside. I push our teams to use creativity to solve business problems,” she says. “For example, an augmented-reality message can be delivered through a QR code — a unique way to reach your audience.”

“I have honed my philosophy around two core beliefs. First, you need to use creativity in the service of a Movement — it's a powerful way to engage and mobilize people inside and outside companies."

"Second, creativity means ideas that build your business, disrupt — solve a problem in a way that stimulates,” Bellot says. “Creativity is vital at every touchpoint” to build a community.

And her commitment is paying off.

Agency co-founder-CEO Scott Goodson says Bellot spearheaded the development of better processes and systems that enabled the company to “woo, win and deliver 20% growth in the business,” working closely with co-managing director Dan Langlitz to devise a five-year plan for StrawberryFrog's future. She is quick to give a shoutout to her team's talents in project planning and management.

“Profitability is all about being a well-oiled machine, so you can create the highest-quality work with the greatest efficiency, especially on complex projects,” she says.

Those projects also include Prudential and Truist. Bellot brought decisive leadership that helped guide these clients, including Pfizer, to strong performances — even during a period of record inflation. She also oversaw the agency's Walmart work, which used social media for the first time to engage a hard-to-reach audience.

A former group account director for Yard NYC, group business director for McKinney and account director for Ogilvy, Bellot is acutely aware of advertising's specific challenges since COVID-19 pandemic — from marketing fatigue to employee burnout. “It's a bit of a crisis, but also an opportunity for us,” she says — “realizing our opportunity is about building and growing the best team in the marketing and purpose-driven transformation space.

At StrawberryFrog, I am more of a visionary. You have to have clear goals, bring teams into that shared vision, then mobilize and motivate. When it’s all working, you feel the flow — and it’s amazing.”

Bellot reports that she and Langlitz have found a powerful way to lead the organization — as befits its name — “from leap to leap.”