IanSchafer.com

You may have caught the news this morning, but in case you haven’t, here it is, and I’m very excited to give it to you.

Deep Focus has joined forces with Engine as Engine USA’s first agency in the US. We’re going to be building something amazing together, keeping digital at the head — and heart — of a marketing organization that was actually built in this decade to reach consumers in the way they are actually behaving.

I’m honored to be working with (no fewer than) three legends of the advertising business: Peter Scott (Engine UK), Martin Puris (Engine USA), and John Bernbach (Engine USA) to keep Deep Focus forging the future of innovation and engagement marketing. These guys have seen enough to know just how broken the business has become. We all arrived at the same solution independently, and now we’re doing something about it. Heck, Engine UK has been doing it for several years now, and it’s been nothing short of amazing.

I’ll remain as CEO of Deep Focus — our work is just getting started, after all. This is an opportunity to get better. Stronger. Faster. And with relationships that will mean wonderful things for our clients, and access to resources that will mean wonderful things for the team at Deep Focus.

It’s a step towards building the agencies of the future today. It may sound cliche, but it’s true. The stars are aligned. The path is being paved — we know because we are paving it. The funny thing is that where we’re going, we don’t need roads (h/t Doc Brown). This is the continuation of something amazing.

Deep Focus will continue to be a force. Now we’ve just got some force behind us. (ed. note: the force has always been strong with us.)

Steven Johnson has written an amazing book called Where Good Ideas Come From. Read it. In it, he talks about how innovation springs from the “adjacent possible”, and how the boundaries of possibility grow as we explore them. This is Deep Focus’ “adjacent possible”, and a door that we’re opening that we believe will take us to great new heights — and other doors.

Stay tuned for more great Deep Focus news in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, we’ll be busy kicking ass. This isn’t an exit, it’s a grand freaking entrance, and we can’t wait to show you what we’ve got up our sleeves.

Personally, I wanted to just extend a special thanks to all the people that make Deep Focus tick, because you ARE Deep Focus, and you’re the best in this (or any other) business. I’ve never worked with a team that cared more, that was more dedicated, or had such strong conviction. That’s our special sauce, and the game that we will keep bringing each and every day.

Whew. Big day. Big future.

In the meantime, read our Engagement Agency Manifesto, and see where this is all headed…

• ← The Engagement Agency Manifesto
• The Future of Geo-Location: Faith, or Science? | Epicenter | Wired.com →