Growth Marketing Agency
"I love the smell of fresh spackle and hope."
The Challenger Brand Perspective
Challenger brands run on ambition. Whether expanding to new audiences or entering global market, a growth marketing agency exists to turn that ambition into measurable growth. As an independent agency — often the “wild card” in Fortune 500 pitches — we specialize in what others find difficult: achieving 10x growth on one-tenth the budget. Fast. Strategic. Focused. That’s the challenge we love most — and it shows in our results.
Our experience in new customer acquisition spans from emerging startups to the world’s largest advertiser, World's Largest Advertiser, Amazon, which continues to think like a challenger when entering new markets.
1. The Growth Agency for Challenger Brands
New-to-market challenger brands must satisfy both a founder’s ambition for rapid customer acquisition and investors’ demand for measurable return. Media buying for venture- and private equity–backed brands requires using paid media to drive accountable, scalable growth.
Yet too often, startup marketing falls into formulaic thinking — the “Uber of X,” the “ChatGPT of Y.” As an experienced growth marketing agency, we help brands escape that trap. We combine proven performance frameworks with what’s unique about your customer, proposition, and path to profitability. Because not all customers are equal — and it’s never too early to focus on lifetime value.
We thrive on innovative approaches other agencies might overlook. Because copycat strategies are for copycat brands.
2. Growth Media Strategy for the Mid-Cap
CMOs call them challenger brands. CFOs and bankers call them mid-cap companies — too big to be small, too small to dominate. Most of our clients fit this profile, and it’s a challenging place to be. For mid-cap advertisers, media strategy means using paid media to drive customer acquisition and growth — without the scale or infrastructure of category leaders. It’s about gaining the advantages of big-brand marketing without the bureaucracy or waste.
The key is knowing what not to overengineer. Mid-cap brands need the right tools to manage data, not bloated ad-tech stacks with inflated automation promises and capped “support” hours. Criterion Global helps brands cut through the noise, choose what works, and scale smarter. Ready to see how this begins? Read on.
Growth Marketing Agency Strategy
- New customer acquisition analysis
- Market sizing
- Startup marketing budget
- Performance marketing audit
Media Planning for Growth
- Pipeline-based paid acquisition modeling
- Audience-based optimization analysis
- Performance marketing media strategy
Media Buying
- Full-service paid media execution
- 360* digital: affiliate, search, display broadcast/traditional (TV, Out of Home)
- "Launch-to-Growth" Transition
Media Measurement + Optimization
- ROAS-based cross-channel reporting
- Quantitative and qualitative stakeholder reporting 24/7 optimization
3. Growth Agency 101: How Do We Begin?
- The Talk. Every engagement begins with a conversation — understanding your brand, current growth marketing strategy, and customer acquisition funnel. Where’s the real value? What’s broken? Which channels align best with your pricing and product strategy — whether DTC, B2B, or subscription-based? These talks might happen after hours with an exhausted CMO or founder, or on-site with the full team.
- The Gameplan. From there, we collaborate across your organization to develop a plan that connects every growth lever — from affiliate and retail media to marketplace sales, comparison engines, on-site personalization, and beyond.
Our best clients view us an an extension of their team because we understand the value of being nimble and needing to outsmart the market. Contact us to have the talk and catalyze your growth.