Established in 2022, New York–based ad agency Flower Shop may sell ad campaigns instead of flowers, but it has certainly received its flowers by garnering Ad Age’s Small Ad Agency of the Year Northeast title in 2025—and this success can likely be attributed to the team’s interest in high-concept, honest advertising with a heavy emphasis on relatability. “I’ve always found conceptual ideas really satisfying,” says chief creative officer Alastair Merry, who cofounded the agency with chief executive officer Mary Lou Bunn. “My friend Alice Cowling, who worked for Peter Saville, [and I] used to have ‘Social Realism Sundays’ in London, when we’d go see something by artists like Andrea Arnold, Mike Leigh, Ken Loach or Shane Meadows—no bullshit, no nonsense. I hope that seeps into our work.” As someone who learned by working in the industry at several agencies—first at TBWA\London and then at BBH London and Wieden+Kennedy—Merry learned plenty of insights from his higher-ups, like learning the importance of high creative volume from Nick Allsop, Paul Belford and Nigel Roberts; rewriting ideas in different ways from Kim Papworth; and making decisions from instinct by Chris Beresford-Hill. He now puts this knowledge into practice to create surprising yet resonant campaigns. “For example, in our latest work for home gym equipment brand Tonal, we exposed the fitness industry’s obsession with perfection, positioning progress as a better goal to pursue,” Merry explains. “And in our Soft Wins campaign for athletic wear brand On, which featured Elmo from Sesame Street, we were trying to make people feel the same way about running as they did about Elmo, which is altogether softer and more caring. Ultimately, at Flower Shop, we want to make people feel something when they watch the work we make for our brands; we love the advertising industry, and we want to make it look good.”