Episode Summary
In this episode of An Agency Story, host Russel Dubree sits down with Dwayne Ciacco, Co-Founder of Atomic Idea, a Colorado-based brand marketing agency known for cutting through traditional agency bloat to deliver high-impact, efficient solutions. What began with a sudden layoff turned into a career-defining leap into entrepreneurship, guided by purpose, partnership, and a people-first mindset.
This episode dives into:
- How Dwayne’s abrupt exit from agency life led him to create a firm rooted in clarity, collaboration, and culture.
- The power of intentional hiring, including the agency’s firm “no jerks” policy and holistic approach to building team chemistry.
- Why relationships—not just results—are the real currency in agency-client success.
Whether you’re an aspiring agency owner or a seasoned operator, Dwayne’s story delivers honest lessons, practical insights, and a few unexpected laughs (including holding a couch cushion over an air vent during a video shoot).
Agency Info
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Company: Atomic Idea
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Guest: Duane Ciacco
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Year Started: 2005
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Employees: 1-10
We don’t do everything ourselves, and we don’t pretend to. If we’re not great at something, we find someone who is.
Duane Ciacco
Key Takeaways
Bold Growth, Lean Structure
Atomic Idea’s “compressed-layers” model lets senior strategists stay hands-on, trimming bureaucracy and accelerating timelines.
Culture Is a Client Deliverable
A strict “no-jerks” hiring rule keeps morale—and retention—high. “Nobody wants to work with a jerk, internally or externally,” Dwayne says.
Client Service Is Personal
From hospital-room check-ins to gift baskets, team members treat clients as humans first, budget-holders second. The relationship drives the result.
Financial Rigor Fuels Creativity
Scaling from freelancer to full agency demanded outsourced bookkeeping, detailed forecasting, and monday.com for task visibility. The result: creative teams stay focused on ideas, not invoices.
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