LeadDog Marketing President & CEO Dan Mannix knew that ’15 was an incredibly successful year for his firm, but he was still surprised as he led his high-fiving, fist-bumping contingent off the stage with the award for Best in Event & Experiential Marketing. “We’ve been nominated four of the last five years, so I was inherently like, ‘We’re not going to win,’” Mannix said. Why was ’15 different for LeadDog? The agency picked up huge clients in Audi, the NFLPA and TCS, partnered with ESPN on its "SportsNation" tour sponsored by Toyota, and spearheaded the launch of the Drone Racing League’s inaugural season. Despite some ribbing as he posed for a photo with the group’s award, Mannix was thrilled to share the win with his staff. “We’re just excited for everybody, and for all the hard work [they’ve done],” he said. Before Mannix even had a chance to text his wife to tell her the good news -- something he was eager to do -- he was already looking ahead to what’s next for LeadDog. “We’ve got a big summer with Audi’s tie-in with Major League Soccer,” he said. “We just got brought on by Bayern Munich related to their tour this summer. We just finished America’s Cup, so we’ll see what that’s going to look like going into Bermuda. So some exciting stuff on the horizon.”
