5 Minutes with… Kristen King
Kristen King joined full service creative agency and production studio ATTN: in February 2023 as EVP, managing director. Tasked with accelerating growth and shaping the strategic and creative vision for the agency’s client partnerships, the MD and chief experience officer's first two years has seen nearly 200% growth, landmark creative launches, and personal development as a leader.
Having started as a pioneering social media publisher, ATTN: and its Creative Shop aim to connect people with brands through culture, driving conversation and sparking earned media moments instead of seeing attention as the end goal.
Prior to joining ATTN:, Kristen held leadership roles spanning operations, positioning and account management at FIG, Grey, Digitas, Deep Focus, and DDB. Driven by a belief that culture is the most powerful media channel today, she has helped shape campaigns for HBO, Zillow, Comcast, Frito-Lay, and DirecTV, and now brings the philosophy to ATTN:.
Speaking to LBB’s Ben Conway, Kristen discusses how she’s scaling “the best kept secret in marketing”, how becoming a mother sharpened her leadership perspective, and why attention isn’t the end point at ATTN:.
LBB> Much of your career has been on the accounts side of things, but noticeably you’ve always been involved in brand strategy. How do those two disciplines intersect for you?
Kristen> For me, the throughline between account management and strategy has always been curiosity. The best account people aren’t just keeping trains on time; they’re asking the extra questions, probing on why something matters to a consumer, or digging into what’s really driving a client’s business challenge. That same impulse is what makes for great strategists: an insatiable desire to understand people, culture and context, and then connect those dots to creative ideas that resonate.
I didn’t start out thinking of myself as a strategist, but I was always the one leaning in, trying to unpack the ‘why’ behind the brief and the work. What started as curiosity evolved into a craft. Over time, it pushed me beyond managing the process to shaping it, ensuring the work was not only flawlessly executed, but rooted in meaning and designed to make a real impact.
LBB> Your last couple of roles involved operational work, agency positioning and leading account management departments. But with ATTN:, you seem to be closer to the work and the strategy behind it. How has your role and focuses changed?
Kristen> Even in my most operational roles, I’ve remained deeply embedded in the work. That’s where I bring the most value and the part of the job I love the most. You can’t build effective systems from the sidelines or in a silo. To design operations that enable creativity to thrive and the work to flourish and soar, you have to be immersed in the dynamics of the client relationship, the creative ambitions of the team, and the realities of execution.
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of mentoring and nurturing incredible leaders who’ve grown into their own, which has allowed me to balance both – supporting the bigger picture operational side while still staying close to the strategy and creative.
At ATTN:, this hasn’t been a shift so much as a continuation: I bring the operational discipline and agency perspective from my past roles but I’ve never lost sight of the work itself. For me, it’s always been about keeping those two things connected: making sure we’re building strong scalable systems while ensuring the work remains sharp, impactful and culturally relevant.
LBB> Since joining ATTN:, you’ve helped drive nearly 200% growth and created some standout work - what’s been your proudest moment thus far? And what’s been the biggest challenge?
Kristen> For me, the challenge and the accomplishment are deeply connected. The challenge has been unlearning the processes and ways of working that traditional agencies conditioned me to see as the norm. The accomplishment has been recognising what to keep, such as rigour, craft and accountability, and what to let go of: the outdated layers and approaches that slow great work down.
At ATTN:, that balance has allowed us to build something that feels both disciplined and modern: a creative shop that can scale, move at the pace of culture, and still deliver thoughtful, strategic work that drives results. Seeing that come to life in the growth of the agency, in the calibre of the work, and in the team we’ve built has been the most rewarding part of this journey so far.
LBB> ATTN: prides itself on its ability to grab attention, but how do you convert attention into business results? What are the common pitfalls that cause a disconnect between the two?
Kristen> Generative AI has fundamentally reshaped how people discover and evaluate brands. What was once ‘top of the funnel’ or ‘nice to have’ (earned, organic, cultural conversation) is now the engine that determines whether a brand even shows up in the places consumers are searching. Algorithms reward what culture is already talking about. If your brand isn’t part of that conversation, you risk invisibility.
That’s why at ATTN:, we don’t think of attention as an end point. We design work to infiltrate the algorithm, and spark earned media moments, organic content, and creator storytelling – work that rises to the top because people engage with it authentically. When that happens, it doesn’t just create awareness; it drives discoverability, relevance and, ultimately, conversion.
The biggest pitfall is chasing attention for attention’s sake without considering how it connects to the systems that actually drive business. A viral stunt that isn’t tied to cultural momentum or brand truth might generate a momentary spike, but it won’t last. The real win comes when you’re intentional about sparking cultural conversation that platforms amplify and consumers engage with. Today, attention and conversation aren’t just about awareness. They’re the signals algorithms prioritise, the proof points consumers trust, and, more than ever, the direct pathway to purchase.
LBB> You’ve recently driven research into ‘the science of attention’ and expanded your Assembly panel to improve insights. What has been the most significant or surprising insight that you’ve discovered from this process?
Kristen> One of our most significant discoveries has been debunking the myth that the human attention span is shrinking. Our research shows the opposite: people will give their full attention for far longer than the industry assumes – but only if the content earns it. What’s changed isn’t capacity, it’s choice. People are more selective than ever. They’ll quickly move on from irrelevant content, but they’ll stay with something meaningful, entertaining or culturally resonant for minutes, not seconds. And the longer they stay, the more likely they are to buy.
Our Assembly panel, comprising more than 5,000 super socially and culturally connected young people, has been invaluable for discovering insights directly from diverse communities that fuel the development of the work, and as a testing ground for ideas before they scale. It’s taught us a key truth: attention today is a two-way street. People don’t just consume content; they engage with it, remix it, and expect to see themselves reflected in it. Brands that think of attention not as a metric to capture, but a relationship to nurture, earn trust and drive impact.
LBB> Have you had to evolve or adjust your leadership approach with time, and with new generations of talent? What kinds of support do teams need more of today than perhaps 5-10 years ago?
Kristen> Leadership has to evolve constantly. Not just because of new generations entering the workforce, but because culture and the industry are changing so rapidly. The speed of ideas, expectations for transparency, and the ways in which people work are radically different from even five years ago. Those forces have pushed me to be more adaptable, more direct and more intentional in how I show up for my teams.
On a personal level, becoming a mother sharpened that perspective. It taught me that the most valuable thing you can give someone is unfiltered feedback delivered with empathy. Growth happens when people know exactly where they stand, what they’re doing well, and what they need to tackle head-on – paired with the support to stretch into their potential.
Teams today thrive in an environment that pairs honesty with care, and clarity with trust. That balance empowers people to take risks, grow quickly and do their best work.
LBB> ATTN: intends to put brands at the centre of culture. How do you do that authentically, especially when culture today shifts at a rapid pace? Is authenticity even more elusive when working with social good causes, which are also a focus for you?
Kristen> Authenticity comes from earning your place in the conversation, not forcing your way into it. Culture moves fast, and brands can’t outpace it by chasing every trend. They have to understand where they have the right to show up and then do so in a way that feels true to both the brand and the audience. That means grounding creative in insight, designing for participation, and ensuring people see themselves reflected in the work.
When it comes to social good causes, the stakes are even higher. Authenticity isn’t optional. It’s the difference between meaningful impact and backlash. We push brands to do the work inside their organisations first, then amplify that commitment externally through storytelling that invites people in. When you spark a cultural conversation rooted in truth, people will engage and platforms and algorithms will carry it forward.
LBB> What developments are exciting you about the ‘attention era’ right now? What is on the horizon, in culture and media, that you’re looking forward to engaging with or utilising?
Kristen> What excites me most about the attention era is how quickly the media landscape is changing. People aren’t just encountering brands through traditional ads or planned campaigns. They’re stumbling upon them through TikTok rabbit holes, Reddit threads, YouTube deep dives, and increasingly, through AI-driven recommendation engines. Discovery has become participatory, decentralised and deeply cultural.
The opportunity now is to produce creative designed for that reality – content that doesn’t just earn attention in the moment but continues to travel through algorithms and conversations long after launch. The future isn’t about who can shout the loudest, it’s about who can embed themselves most authentically into the streams of culture that people and platforms are already moving with.
I’m also energised by how the attention era is reshaping the talent pool inside agencies. Creating work for today’s discovery pathways requires both fresh thinking and seasoned perspective. That means building teams with varied cultural backgrounds and specialties. It also means rejecting ageism and recognising that marketing veterans don’t just bring wisdom and experience, they bring ideas shaped by years of pattern recognition, creative problem-solving, and having seen trends rise and fall.
When you pair that perspective with the experimentation and new energy of emerging talent, the result is powerful. The best ideas now come from hybrid teams: strategists who think like creators, creatives who understand algorithms, and veterans who’ve navigated brand building across decades. That mix of new voices and hard-earned expertise is what energises the work and defines what a truly modern creative shop looks like.
LBB> What are your goals for ATTN: in the rest of 2025 and for next year?
Kristen> The rest of 2025 is really about scale – taking what we’ve built and making sure more brands discover what we’ve known all along: that ATTN: is the best kept secret in marketing. We’ve proven that our model works: social-first, culture-led, and built to turn attention into action. Now, it’s about expanding that impact across more categories and with more brands ready to lead culture.
That means two things: continuing to deliver standout work while doubling down on the infrastructure (data, insights and creative capabilities) that make us a long-term growth driver, not just a partner for one great campaign. It also means investing deeply in our team. ATTN: has some of the best talent and leaders in the business: people who bring creativity, strategic rigor and cultural fluency, but also an unmatched level of drive and curiosity. Watching them grow, lead and create at the highest level is one of the most rewarding parts of my role and I’m excited to see them continue to soar.
My goal is that by this time next year, ATTN: is no longer a ‘best-kept secret’, but a must-have partner for marketers who understand that in the attention era, culture is the most powerful media channel they have.
