Big companies want disciples who love their brands, not just customers who buy their products. And to build that loyal following, they want content – YouTube videos, documentaries, blogs – not just advertising.

That means ad agencies increasingly need to show they’re also content creators. To do that, a handful of local ad agencies have a new approach: starting their own print and digital magazines.

Omelet LA in Culver City, Tiny Rebellion in Santa Monica and Anthemic in L.A.’s Fairfax District have all started publications, using them as both a creative outlet for their employees and a marketing tool to lure clients.

Sean McNamara, Omelet’s chief strategy officer, said the company started its quarterly print and digital magazine, Wake Up, after years of telling clients to “think like publishers, act like publishers.”

“We were giving this advice to our clients to really have a strategic editorial view and we decided, ‘Why not walk the walk ourselves?’” McNamara said.

Agencies are making everything from social media content to advice columns and articles on behalf of clients, usually in the same voice and style you’d see in traditional media. But working on publications of their own gives an agency the opportunity to practice what it preaches by testing out its ability to create content that would attract a wider audience.

Anthemic is the latest to jump into publishing. Two weeks after the firm opened last month, it announced the launch of its online culture magazine, Flood.

Alan Sartirana, Anthemic’s chief executive, said the magazine gives the agency an additional layer of expertise that’s attractive to clients.

“I really wanted to develop a media entity and an agency that focuses on programming and original content,” Sartirana said. “Now, you kind of have to do that. If you’re not doing it, I don’t know how you’re servicing your clients properly.”

High volume

Flood is Sartirana’s second go-round in the world of publishing. In 1999, he and Alan Miller co-founded Hollywood ad agency Filter Creative Group, which also published music magazine Filter.

The magazine and agency closed in June. Sartirana said he wanted to create a new agency and publication that was broader in scope. Filter magazine focused on music, so clients typically approached the agency only for music marketing. With Flood, he hopes to delve into arts and culture more generally, and thus help bring in a more diverse clientele for Anthemic.

“The goal of Flood is expanding on what Filter offered into other areas,” he said. “We’re fans of everything. We don’t want to just be another entertainment portal or another magazine or music site.”

Unlike publications run by other ad agencies, Flood and Anthemic operate as separate entities. Flood has three full-time employees with several contributing writers across the country. All are former Filter employees and contributors. The magazine, published only online for now, is supported by ads.

Anthemic has a staff of 20 with clients that include Toyota, Guitar Center, DirecTV and Whole Foods.

Sartirana said the separation gives Flood’s content more credibility, while the relationship between the magazine and the agency reflects positively on Anthemic and gives it a leg up with clients wanting to know what the next big music festival is or who the next hot comedian will be – just as Filter did for Filter Creative Group.

“Our ambition is to have a successful agency and at the same point and time a separate media entity known for original content,” Sartirana said.

Press day

For Tiny Rebellion and its quarterly magazine, A Tiny Rebellion, the line is a bit more blurred. Employees submit articles – as do clients – and each issue is put together by three of the firm’s employees, many of them designers, said Jennifer Parke, Tiny Rebellion’s executive creative director. The magazine is distributed to clients and potential clients as well as people Parke sees as influencers and thought leaders.

The print and digital quarterly’s first issue came out this summer and focused on showcasing the company’s own work. Future issues will also feature companies and people it finds inspiring, Parke said, the idea being to give clients an idea of what the agency is all about and how it approaches its work.

“You’re setting your mission out there and the more you say it in the right way the more people will look at it,” Parke said. “An Adweek (magazine) might show a piece of work, but it doesn’t really show a whole summation of who you are.”

As a marketing tool, is it working?

Parke said Tiny Rebellion snagged three new clients who came to the agency after receiving the publication in the mail.

For Omelet, Chief Strategy Officer McNamara said the purpose of creating its quarterly magazine last year was to discuss topics affecting the advertising and media world that are often reserved for academic environments. It’s a way of letting clients know the company is home to big-picture thinkers.

Each issue is themed around a topic. Its sixth and most recent, published this month, looks at all things men, from marketing to breaking down the values of different generations such as millennials and boomers.

A team of 10 Omelet employees work on each issue, in addition to their client duties, and employees are able to submit articles.

So far, the issues have racked up 6.7 million online views and Omelet has distributed more than 60,000 print editions.

While it’s certainly a marketing tool, McNamara said Wake Up also helps keep the firm’s staff interested and engaged, helping them hone creative skills that will be useful in serving clients.

“This doesn’t generate a dollar of revenue,” he said. “This is a platform for us to explore thought leadership and have a point of view and for our folks to use muscles that keep them conditioned for the daily grind of our client business.”

Of course, there are costs associated with creating magazines – mostly staff time.

Tiny Rebellion’s Parke said printing and mailing costs were about $1.50 for each issue and the agency printed about 2,000 issues for its first run.

“But that’s not accounting for the design time and employee time,” she noted.

She added that it’s why the agency only has three employees dedicated to working on the issue so it doesn’t negatively impact the amount of time spent on client work.