• by Larissa Faw , June 23, 2020

Playbook Media is expanding beyond media buying, creative and strategy to introduce GrowTal, a marketplace designed to match those seeking work in advertising and marketing with open opportunities in the industry.

“On one hand in-housing is an increasing threat to the agency ecosystem,” explains Bryan Karas, founder, GrowTal. “On the other hand an on-demand talent pool can help agencies win business and staff up more quickly than traditional hiring practices.”

Karas, who also serves as CEO of Playbook Media, says the platform was specifically designed to address two growing opportunities. The first is that many companies like the idea of hiring in-house marketing expertise over agencies.

The second is that many talented marketers are choosing to work for themselves because they realize that it often pays better than working for someone else and provides a much better work-life balance.

“This was the epiphany that made me realize that there was a need for a matchmaker between marketing experts and companies, and thus GrowTal was born,” he says.

He recognized there was a need for this service through his day job running the media agency. There were a lot of job openings, yet it was growing harder to find qualified talent. He decided to develop the concept with backing from private investors, yet the company operates under the same roof as Playbook in San Francisco. 

After a soft launch in the middle of last year, the platform is fully debuting this month. Participating companies include Square, Shutterfly, Headspace, Grove Collaborative, Redfin, Personal Capital, Uber, and Imperfect Foods.