Three former top executives from Cashmere, the renowned cultural agency, have launched Currency Advisory Group (CAG), a new consulting firm dedicated to helping businesses unlock the significant, often untapped, enterprise value of their organizational culture. The firm aims to elevate culture from a mere marketing layer to a core strategic business function, operationalizing it as a measurable asset for growth and performance.
According to information shared with Marketing Dive, Currency Advisory Group positions culture as a vital value center for companies. It offers a proprietary "Culture Capital Engineering" methodology designed to transform culture into essential business infrastructure. This approach moves beyond traditional brand activation, focusing on integrating cultural intelligence into every facet of a company's operations.
A primary focus for CAG will be private equity firms that acquire portfolios based on financial metrics but often need expert guidance to harness culture as a strategic asset post-acquisition. The firm has already secured engagements with C-suite executives from Fortune 500 companies across diverse sectors, including telecom, retail, gaming, and sports apparel retail, as detailed in press releases.
Currency Advisory Group was officially launched on November 19 by Ted Chung, Ryan Ford, and Cameron Crane. All three previously held senior leadership roles at Cashmere, an agency celebrated for its expertise in activating culture within brand marketing. Cashmere was acquired by S4 Capital in 2021 and merged into its Media.Monks unit. Notably, a significant portion of Cashmere's leadership, including these three executives, abruptly departed the agency last November.
Ted Chung, who founded Cashmere and served as its chairman, is joined by Ryan Ford, formerly president and chief creative officer, and Cameron Crane, the agency's chief growth officer. Cashmere's impressive client roster included major brands such as Dave & Busters, Marriott Bonvoy, Budweiser, and Taco Bell.
While marketers have long recognized the importance of leveraging culture to connect with target audiences and build lasting relationships, Currency Advisory Group argues that its potential extends far beyond marketing. The firm identifies culture as a significantly underleveraged source of enterprise value, primarily because many companies treat it as a temporary, tactical element rather than an integrated operational component.
The "Culture Capital Engineering" methodology is designed to systematically analyze a company's untapped cultural equity, pinpoint potential cultural risks, and develop a comprehensive, cross-functional plan. This plan aims to identify growth opportunities and mitigate pitfalls across various business areas, including marketing, product development, talent retention, and partnership ecosystems.
"Currency equips management leadership teams to harness culture as a strategic asset, aligning strategy, talent, and innovation to drive measurable business results and long-term impact," stated Ted Chung, co-founder and senior partner.
CAG believes there is a clear gap in the marketplace for senior strategic partners who can build robust infrastructure around cultural intelligence, ensuring it becomes deeply integrated into operations and provides a sustainable competitive advantage.
Ryan Ford added, "[Culture] is a $1.1 trillion growth economy and one of the most underleveraged sources of enterprise value today."
