#45: How Day One Agency builds trust in the age of influence, with CEO Josh Rosenberg

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Nov 3, 2025

Josh Rosenberg, Co-founder and CEO of Day One Agency, delves into the concept of 'earned creativity' and its significance in today's landscape. He shares insights on understanding Gen Z and Gen Alpha through their research initiatives. The importance of curiosity in hiring new talent is highlighted, alongside the agency's innovative Learning Fund for employee growth. With a nimble structure, Day One focuses on deep creative partnerships rather than a media practice, investing in editorial assets like podcasts to fuel ongoing learning and client engagement.

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INSIGHT

Earned Creativity As Core Strategy

Day One Agency was founded to bridge earned media and creative storytelling in a disintermediated media landscape.
Josh argues earning a place in culture requires editorial thinking and creative investment, not traditional PR alone.

ADVICE

Hire Curiosity, Not Just Experience

Hire for curiosity because curiosity powers adaptability and value in an AI-driven world.
Use junior talent and apprenticeship to surface new perspectives that keep client work culturally relevant.

ANECDOTE

Three-Month Apprenticeship That Hires

Day One runs a three-month apprenticeship for recent grads to test mutual fit and skill.
They hired three of six apprentices this summer, including two placed in Portland.

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Welcome to Agency Business.

This week, Olivia and Brian interview Josh Rosenberg, co-founder and CEO of Day One Agency, the creative shop founded 11 years ago to bridge the gap between earned media and brand storytelling. With offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Portland, Day One works with clients including American Express, Chipotle, Nike, Converse, and e.l.f. Beauty.

Josh shares how Day One was built around what he calls “earned creativity”—an approach that pairs editorial thinking with culturally relevant storytelling. He explains why curiosity has become the most essential trait in the age of AI, how the agency’s apprenticeship program helps identify emerging talent, and why Day One created its Learning Fund, a $30,000 internal grant program for employees to pursue continued education.

The group discusses how Day One resists adding a media practice in favor of deeper creative partnerships, how editorial projects like Ask Gen Z and a new Gen Alpha research report inform client work, and why investing in in-house content such as podcasts and newsletters fuels both learning and new business. Josh also details how the agency’s structure—organized around its Shape, Share, and Fuel teams—keeps it nimble and “built for change.”

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