At the end of August, the Broadway advertising agency AKA reached a new milestone: 15 years of New York City operations. The agency, which originally launched as a boutique shop, has since grown into a full-service, data-driven creative and media partner representing not only Broadway productions but also other institutions.
Guided by a mission to “get people to go places through real stories and experiences,” AKA is currently represented on Broadway with 2025 Best Musical Tony Award winner “Maybe Happy Ending” as well as the currently running “& Juliet,” “Art,” “Buena Vista Social Club,” “Cabaret,” “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” along with the upcoming “Liberation,” “Oedipus” and “Waiting for Godot.”
AKA’s client list has expanded well beyond the Broadway sphere, as the agency now represents a variety of museums (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, Studio Museum in Harlem), athletic organizations (the Harlem Globetrotters and NBA Experiences) and other institutions (the New York Botanical Garden), an oeuvre that only strengthens AKA’s efforts in the theater world.
“The growth of our client roster across multiple sectors has been transformative, allowing us to apply insights from theater to museums, from attractions to sports and back again, creating a powerful cross-pollination of ideas and strategies,” CEO Elizabeth Furze told Broadway News.
Beyond Broadway in a physical sense, AKA opened an office in Los Angeles five years ago, taking on West Coast clients such as BroadwaySF, Pasadena Playhouse and the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts. AKA employs 115 individuals across the New York and Los Angeles offices.
Included in this staff are newly appointed Beth Watson as senior vice president, head of theater, and recently promoted senior creative directors Sam McMenamin (head of content and social) and Lisa Lewis (head of copy and design), as well as senior vice president of arts and culture Kevin Bradley and group account director of attractions and destinations Vanessa Javier.
With this personnel increase comes a rise in knowledge. “As our team has grown in size, we’ve been fortunate to welcome category specialists who bring deep expertise to every aspect of our work,” Furze continued. “Having this breadth of knowledge in-house ensures that whether it’s paid media, creative, content or business intelligence, our clients are supported by experts who know how to deliver impact in their field while also contributing to an integrated whole.”
Furze acknowledges that this change in breadth and scope of clients was inevitable, and came hand-in-hand with the ever-shifting nature of advertising.
“The most significant shift [in the last 15 years] has been in the advertising landscape itself,” explained Furze. “Audiences today are surrounded by a more fragmented media landscape than ever before, which makes cutting through increasingly difficult. In response, AKA has evolved into a content-forward, data-fueled agency, building campaigns designed to connect with audiences in the ways they consume and share stories today. Today we utilize 39 different data tools, giving us the ability to interpret shifting behaviors with precision and agility, and to reach the right audience, at the right moment, with the message that resonates most.”
This data focus has brought about many of AKA’s unique client offerings, including its longstanding in-house market research firm Show & Tell Research, and influencer/creator platform the Arts Insider.
More recent initiatives, called Official Box Office and Next Stage, were soft-launched at the beginning of 2025. Designed to streamline the ticket-purchasing process, Official Box Office is a platform that links to official ticketing sites to provide a simple and direct way to find out what productions are playing on Broadway. Next Stage’s goal is to make Broadway more accessible, welcoming and inclusive for all New Yorkers. The community outreach program engages with multicultural audiences by promoting exclusive ticket rates and curated media content for Broadway productions.
As AKA looks ahead to the next 15 years and beyond, the agency will continue to embrace the shifting landscape.
“The agency has long embraced the mantra of ‘always moving,’ and that philosophy continues to guide us,” said Furze. “To remain a best-in-class partner, we must constantly evolve, refining our services to meet the expectations of today’s audiences and clients, and anticipating where those expectations are headed. Our focus remains on driving audiences to experience the very best live entertainment, culture, and attractions in New York and across the U.S.”
