Beliefs That Shaped Nebo’s First 22 Years

In 2004, a little company called NeboWeb was born. We opened our first office on Mitchell Street in downtown Atlanta, starting with nothing but hope and optimism that we could get our business off the ground and make great work in the process. Facebook didn’t exist yet. Gmail was an invite-only beta program. Shrek 2 was at the top of the box office. We had a ton of passion and a little know-how. And we had no idea where the future would take us.  

This year, Nebo turned 22. In that time, we’ve grown to a team of 120+ of the best marketers in the world. We’ve celebrated Pi Day with pie, watched office puppies grow up into office dogs, and drank many, many Beer Friday beers. (Over time. Not all at once.) Together, we’ve weathered the economic recession of the mid 2000s and the COVID-19 pandemic. And we continue to ride out the ups and downs of this crazy time we’re living in. 

But most importantly, over the last two decades, we stuck to our values. And we can say with absolute confidence that our human-centered worldview is what has carried us through to 22. The beliefs that make up that worldview are nuanced and plenty. But we gave our best shot at putting them down on the page. 

So without further ado, here are the 22 beliefs that have shaped our first 22 years.  

1. We believe in being human-centered in every way. And not just when it comes to how we approach marketing. We embody this belief in how we treat employees, clients, vendors, other agencies and anyone within our orbit. Understanding the wants, needs, hopes, desires, fears, challenges and goals of other humans is central to being a good person. In short, it’s following the golden rule.
2. We believe in craftsmanship. We believe in doing great work. Yes, good work may get approved, but great work is what can truly make a difference in the lives of our clients and our clients’ customers. 
3. We believe in great ideas. Because good ideas are the enemy of great. Great ideas inspire consumers, change brands, and transcend what we think is possible. To come up with those, we have to create an agency environment that’s co-creative, where brilliance is nurtured and good ideas die. 
4. We believe integrity matters more than ability. It’s not enough to be really smart. It’s not enough to have big ideas. It’s not enough to get results. Trust is hard to earn and easily lost. The truth matters. A person’s word matters. None of us are perfect, but our intentions should be noble. We should get up each and every day, trying to be a better person than we were the day before.
5. We believe in having fun. Life is too short to be unhappy. It’s too short to work 100 hours a week. Life is too short to miss out on real, human connections with your family, friends, and coworkers. Because at the end of the day, that’s what matters most.
6. We believe passion and curiosity are requirements to work here. When you've got a team of lifelong learners sharing ideas and pushing each other to be better, magic happens. We view complacency as a disease, and are always questioning our industry, ourselves, and the world around us. Curiosity is what makes our work not just better, but also fun. 
7. We believe in purpose-driven innovation and disruption. Anyone in marketing can tell you: our industry changes fast, every day, sometimes multiple times a day. We aim to be at the forefront of change and innovation, but only if and when it serves our people, clients, consumers, and humanity.
8. We believe in having a bias toward action. We believe in getting things done. We believe in trying and failing, trying and learning, and eventually, trying and succeeding. Whether you fail or succeed, inaction is worse than not trying at all.
9. We believe that what you do is more important than what you say. Actions matter more than words. You show the world who you are by what you do.
10. We believe in being humble. Humility is a huge factor in being successful. It keeps you hungry. It keeps you passionate. It grounds you. It forces you to keep learning. It holds all of your inner asshole in check. Most of all, it keeps your priorities in order and helps you remember what matters most: other people.
11. We believe that being human means that we all make mistakes. We believe no one should be afraid to ask for help after making an error. We believe in supporting each other when we mess up. Most importantly, we believe that failure helps us grow and learn, and no one should be punished for that. 
12. We believe in being anti-asshole. Assholes just aren’t very fun. What’s worse, they reduce the quality of work. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or how many awards you have. None of that matters if you’re an asshole. 
13. We believe our employees are more important than clients or new business. The well-being of our people is our number one priority, always. We all have human needs and lives outside of work. Work should never infringe on our values, our families, or our emotional well-being. We don’t sell our employees’ souls for profit. 
14. We believe in diversity. Of people. Of ideas. Of backgrounds. Of point of view. When our team is diverse in race, age, gender and life experiences, our ideas are bigger, better and more successful.
15. We believe in equality. On the surface, this may seem the same as valuing diversity. But equality and diversity aren’t the same thing. You can have a diverse team, but that doesn’t matter unless everyone is given equal opportunities to grow and succeed, to voice their concerns and ideas and be heard. 
16. We believe every single person deserves to feel safe and be loved, supported, valued, and empowered. Those are table stakes. It’s the bare minimum not to discriminate. We also have to continually ask ourselves how we can truly empower every single person who works for, with, or near us.
17. We believe in love. And we don’t care if that sounds cheesy. We love each other. We love our friends and families. We love our pets, our planet, our industry and our clients. We love humanity. We love our country, and we believe love is greater than fear. We bring that with us to our work every day.
18. We love animals. Yes, we love our office dogs (and cats, and bunnies, and pet spiders). But moreover, we believe in the fair treatment of all animals. We’re pro-animal rights and anti-factory farming, and never take on clients that perpetuate animal cruelty.
19. We believe in dedication. Too many agencies expect loyalty to be one way: to the agency. We’re on this incredible journey together — regardless of tenure. If we don’t have each other’s back, then who will? Loyalty matters. It builds and cements trust. We believe in growing our people and promoting from within.
20. We believe in telling people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. It’s about truth over comfort. We care, and part of caring is honesty.
21. We believe that being successful is easy. All you have to do is make everyone in your life better for knowing you. A manager I once had told me this, and I’ve never forgotten it.
22. We believe it’s our responsibility to make the world a better place. Whether that’s by giving back, standing up for what’s right, or fighting injustice. We believe in asking uncomfortable questions of ourselves in order to improve. We know that in the grand scheme of things, marketing may not be the most important field in the world. But when we do it right, we can make people’s lives better — and that’s all that matters. 

 There are a lot of smart people who say this isn’t a public-facing blog post. That this is more of an internal message.

And they’re right in large part. This post isn’t for them. It’s for all of the smart, dedicated, awesome people that we call coworkers and peers at Nebo. And hopefully, this will help each of us, from new interns to the leadership team, know and remember why we come to work each day. For everyone else, if you want to know what Nebo truly believes in, then this rant will let you peek behind the curtain. 

As our many office Swifties might say: we don’t know about you, but we’re feeling twenty-two. Everything will be all right if we keep standing by our beliefs.