D/CAL, a strategic creative agency co-founded by Tony Hawk, and Apollo Program, a consumer intelligence software company based in New York City, announce a partnership aimed at offering powerful, industry-exclusive behavioral insights and creative services to brands. The partnership combines qualitative, street-level insights from D/CAL’s industry-first Cultural Advisory Board (CAB) with Apollo’s quantitative ability to assess real consumer behavior at the intersection of content, consumption and media, at scale. “In my former Brand Marketing role at Carhartt, we were one of the first brands to leverage the Apollo Program. It was hugely successful and I’m thrilled to join forces with them,” said Adam Wilson, co-founder of D/CAL.

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While each firm remains independent, they believe this powerful combination creates a strategic advantage for both firms’ current and future client partners. “At D/CAL our mission is to help brands outperform their functional, vertical category through lateral, culture-driven engagement. Instead of making more ads, we make brands happen around the stuff people really care about,” added Wilson. “Our network knows what kinds of music, food, causes, art and other categories audiences are into right now, but Apollo brings that validating gut check.”

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Since 2016, several Fortune 500 brands have leveraged the proprietary Apollo platform. “We no longer need to solve business problems in the rear view mirror with off-the-shelf solutions, outdated data or biased self-reported surveys,” explained Caruso, co-founder and CEO of Apollo. “By mining billions of digital signals, we can zero in on specific consumer behavior built around a client’s business objectives, then apply it to strategic and creative planning on the front end. D/CAL’s unique approach is a perfect fit to unlock the potential of the intelligence we uncover.”

As many brands begin their 2020 planning, D/CAL and Apollo believe more brands should shift more of their lower-funnel resources to the top of the marketing funnel. “We can make the top of the funnel wider and a lot more interesting to consumers, and a lot less subjective to our clients, with our lateral approach,” said Wilson.  “With Apollo, we don’t have to cross our fingers hoping a content series, an activation, or a brand collab will resonate.”

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