The founder
Stephen Conley
Stephen has spent twenty-five years in advertising and brand strategy. He started inside the big networks, at Y&R, DDB, McCann and JWT, working on the kind of brands that can afford to get strategy right.
In 2011 he founded Gisteo, an explainer and brand video studio that has since delivered more than 3,000 projects for clients including Intel, Harvard and Bills.com. Running a studio taught him what the agencies never did: how to get good work made quickly, for businesses watching every dollar.
The fCMO Agency puts the two together. Stephen is a Certified Duct Tape Marketing advisor, so the strategy follows John Jantsch's method, one built for small and mid-sized businesses. And because the studio is in-house, the plan doesn't stall waiting for someone to produce it.
Why this works
Four things most fractional CMOs can only claim one or two of.
01
Big-league thinking
Strategy habits formed at four of the largest agency networks, applied to businesses that have never had access to them.
02
A working production engine
Gisteo has made more than 3,000 videos. When the plan calls for video, our own studio makes it.
03
AI we use every day
Gisteo runs a hybrid human and AI production model, and SiteWow.ai builds AI-assisted, human-finished websites. The tools are in daily use.
04
A licensed method
Duct Tape Marketing's Strategy First and Marketing Operating System, delivered by a certified advisor. Proven before it reaches you.
About the name
Why "Agency", if we're so hard on agencies?
Because we do the work. A fractional CMO who hands you a plan and wishes you luck has solved half the problem.
What we don't do is behave like one. You work with the strategist directly. A retainer starts only once there's a plan, and we recommend what the plan calls for, whether we make it or someone else does. Strategy comes first, and it decides what gets built.