In our Creative Cultures series, contributor Crystal Henrickson spends a day inside companies to learn how hiring, onboarding and company culture play a role in employee happiness. From startups to design firms and all in-between, we’re pulling back the curtain on what it’s like to work in inventive and productive environments.

You wouldn’t normally think of heading out of the metropolis region of a big city to find a digital marketing agency at the creative forefront for many of today’s big brands. But that’s where I found myself, visiting Jelly Marketing located in BC’s Fraser Valley region.

“I’m Jelly’s biggest fan,” enthuses Sarah Clark, Project Manager. “Everyday is different… I love how collaborative we are and how closely we’re able to work together. We feed off of each other’s energy.” Teammate Amaan Fazal, Social Media Coordinator, finds the office to be a warm and welcoming place where everyone is open to trying new things. People support you and push you to be better. “I feel like I’m surrounded by my biggest cheerleaders everyday.”

The sweet spot

Social media, PR and Digital Ads are its bread and butter (and jelly). To execute social well, a company needs the right player at bat, and some raving fans don’t hurt either. Nico Bauman, Director of Operations and Personnel, refers to Amaan as a “social superhero” who “works so hard” at his craft. Adding that “some don’t understand the vastness [of social media]; the detail and the care that it takes to execute social flawlessly, beautifully and so humanly.”

Creative Cultures: Welcome to the Jelly Jungle

By Crystal Henrickson

• The power of play. Creativity, strategy, teamwork. + Lasertag.

  By Crystal Henrickson

• Lunch in the lounge is a midday highlight: good eats, laughs, and stories!

  By Crystal Henrickson

• This team represents, conferences and all!

  By Crystal Henrickson

  Amaan, Sarah, and Tim reppin’ Team Jelly at the CTA Conference hosted by Unbounce

• What happens after a successful 4-person plank stack.

  By Crystal Henrickson

  Team building events at Jelly range from laser tag to yoga.

• Team Jelly puts the human touch back into client gifts this Christmas.

  By Crystal Henrickson

  With the help of Certified LEGO Professional Robin Sather,

• Jelly’s Jungle comes with its very own unicorn at the helm.

  By Crystal Henrickson

  Darian Kovacs is a dynamic presence and opportunist in the digital industry.

• Ugly sweaters and all, Jelly celebrates wins, big and small.

  By Crystal Henrickson

• Jelly’s Executive Team get their dancin’ shoes on at a Hootsuite #HootUp

  By Crystal Henrickson

• Droppin’ bass on Halloween.

  By Crystal Henrickson

Along with social and content production, Jelly also specializes in a variety of market niches including digital advertising and PR. It serves clients in for-profit as well as not-for-profit sectors including LA-Z-BOY Furniture Galleries of Metro Vancouver, Spence Diamonds, and Canuck Place. The name is short and sweet, full of life and flavourful. It’s a company that’s about making connections, being inclusive and having fun.

The people place

“Happy, healthy humans are vital to Jelly’s profitability and longevity,” expresses Darian Kovacs, Jelly’s Principal. “Early on, we chose to make HR a priority, creating a role dedicated to caring for people. Not a lot of companies in our industry do this, especially so early in the game. As a service provider, it’s the humans of Team Jelly that serve our clients, so HR is vital to our output.”

Greeted by a vibrant living wall, multi-coloured legos and a handmade origami crane hanging mobile, Jelly’s office feels like someone’s home, creating a comforting and welcoming atmosphere for anyone who visits. “Jelly invests in me personally and it makes me want to invest in others,” reports Amy Mitchinson, Client Experience Coordinator. Amy is often the first point of contact in this 9-person office, playing the caretaker of everything from in-house DJ, to coffee aficionado, to operations support.

“I feel like I’m surrounded by my biggest cheerleaders everyday.” – Amaan Fazal, Social Media Coordinator

Working in a small company like this one, it’s easy to see the impact bringing passion to work can have. When Amy and Amaan wanted a foster a better coffee culture at work they made a plan to switch from Keurig pods to the more cost effective and tastier French Press, sourcing beans from a variety of local roasters. Enthusiasm percolates in everything that they do at Jelly: from the way they brew their coffee to the way in which they tell their clients’ brand stories. Everything has become part of the caring and considerate office ecosystem.

That’s the way they roll

At Jelly, staff meetings have been ditched in favour of an upbeat, bi-weekly Staff Jam where the team comes together to reflect lessons learned, provide “failure reports,” identify opportunities for collaboration and share each unique perspectives. When a teammate wants to recognize a coworker for going the extra mile, they do a “Pumpkin Pass” with an orange monkey they’ve all dubbed “Pumpkin.”

Job interviews at Jelly aren’t your run-of-the-mill either. During one group interview, the interviewer arrives, intentionally late. The first question they ask is to introduce someone else in the room. It’s one of their many way to test whether someone is the right fit for a social job. Beyond on-the-spot challenges, interviewees must declare their spirit animal. The office is currently full of dolphins, turtles, tigers, hummingbirds, mermaids, eagles, t-rex/orangutan/tiger crosses, squirrel monkeys, meerkats and glow worms.

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