Golden Hippo Company Culture & Values

What creative approaches does your company take to recognize and celebrate employee achievements?

At Golden Hippo, we’re dedicated to celebrating and recognizing the people who make our success possible. We do this through a variety of programs designed to show appreciation in meaningful ways. Our Pitch Contest gives team members the opportunity to share innovative ideas and be recognized for their creativity, while our new IMPACT Awards spotlight employees who embody our core values. We celebrate milestones with our Work Anniversary Program and make birthdays special with a gift card and mailed postcard for every employee. To recognize exceptional efforts in real time, we offer Spot Bonuses, rewarding those who go above and beyond their job duties. We also highlight achievements through our Win of the Week Program and run company-wide recognition campaigns, such as our Women of Impact initiative and diversity spotlights, to ensure voices across the organization are celebrated. Beyond recognition, we value growth and development through our mentorship programs, company book club, and other opportunities that reward initiative. Together, these programs help foster a culture of appreciation, motivation, and connection at Golden Hippo.

How do you ensure your recognition programs remain meaningful and motivating across different departments and roles?

We ensure our recognition programs remain meaningful by tailoring them to celebrate a wide range of contributions, milestones, and personal growth across departments and roles. For example, while some employees are motivated by company-wide visibility through our Win of the Week Program or IMPACT Awards, others may find more value in the personal acknowledgment of a Spot Bonus, a birthday postcard, or a work anniversary celebration. Our Pitch Contest and mentorship cohorts allow employees in every role to be recognized not only for innovation but also for initiative and professional development, while our book club and reimbursement program further support individual growth. At the same time, our recognition campaigns, such as Women of Impact and diversity spotlights, ensure we are shining a light on the unique contributions of employees across different backgrounds and experiences. By balancing personal, team, and company-wide recognition, and by offering opportunities that honor both accomplishments and growth, we make sure our programs feel genuine, inclusive, and motivating for every Hippo.

What innovative approaches does your company take to foster collaboration across departments and locations?

Collaboration is built into the way we work across teams, departments, and locations. One of the ways we foster this connection is through our monthly KPI challenges, which encourage cross-departmental participation and creativity. Teams not only collaborate to meet goals but also contribute to shared goals, including submitting homemade videos that may be featured in our advertisements. This gives employees across the company a chance to impact our brand storytelling directly. Beyond performance initiatives, we keep our culture thriving through a variety of Slack channels that help employees connect on a personal level, whether it’s sharing pet photos, celebrating personal wins, introducing themselves, or discussing the latest company book club pick. We also ensure collaboration and transparency go hand in hand. Each department’s team intranet is accessible through our broader company intranet, allowing anyone at Golden Hippo to see what other teams are working on, learn from shared resources, and stay aligned with our company values of transparency and collaboration.

How do you create opportunities for meaningful connection and relationship-building among team members?

We believe meaningful connections are the foundation of a strong, collaborative culture. Our Hippo Buddy Program helps new hires feel welcomed from day one by pairing them with a teammate who can offer guidance, answer questions, and help them navigate both the company and our culture. Our open floor plan at HQ encourages organic interaction and spontaneous collaboration, making it easy for team members from different departments to connect, share ideas, and build relationships throughout the workday. We also create intentional opportunities for growth and connection through our mentorship program, which pairs employees looking to learn and develop with experienced mentors across departments. This program fosters personal and professional development while strengthening bonds between team members at all levels of the organization. Beyond day-to-day work, we bring employees together through a mix of in-person and virtual events; from celebrations and wellness activities to learning sessions that engage our entire team, no matter where they’re located. And through Hippo Reads, our company book club, employees can connect over shared ideas and discussions that inspire both personal and professional growth.

How do you celebrate your culture internally?

At Golden Hippo, our culture isn’t just what we say, it’s what we do every single day. We recognize individual and team wins in real time through Spot Bonuses, Win of the Week highlights, and Town Hall shoutouts, because speed of implementation matters and great work deserves fast celebration.

We believe the best idea wins, no matter where it comes from. That’s why our Pitch Contests are open to everyone across the company, giving any team member the chance to bring bold ideas forward, spark innovation, and help shape our next breakthrough ad or strategy. Transparency is another core part of how we operate. Through our anonymous suggestion box, anyone can submit questions for our executive team to address weekly, keeping communication open, honest, and truly two-way.

We keep things personal, too. Every employee gets a handwritten birthday card; because even in a fast-moving, innovative environment, human connection always comes first. We also share promotions, career milestones, and team accomplishments across social channels and bring people together through virtual and in-person events, strengthening our sense of community no matter where we’re working from.

Altogether, this blend of recognition, transparency, innovation, and rapid action ensures our culture isn’t just talked about—it’s lived, felt, and built by all of us.

What impact do external awards or recognitions have on your culture?  How do you promote these accolades?

External awards and recognitions reinforce the culture we practice every day at Golden Hippo, and are proof that our innovation, collaboration, and commitment to excellence are being noticed far beyond our own teams. These accolades energize our employees, validate the work they’re doing, and strengthen pride in the culture they help create.

We promote these wins widely. Internally, we highlight them in Town Halls, Slack channels, and our company newsletter, always spotlighting the teams and individuals who made the achievement possible. Externally, we share awards through social platforms and our Careers site to showcase the people, values, and mindset that make Golden Hippo stand out.

These recognitions also hold us accountable to our cultural commitments. They give us a benchmark to measure against and fuel momentum to continue innovating, piloting bold ideas, and investing in initiatives that strengthen our culture. They remind everyone that culture is a company-wide achievement and that every team member contributes to making Golden Hippo an exceptional place to work. Ultimately, external validation motivates us to keep raising the bar, living our values in action, and building a culture we’re proud to sustain and share with the world.

At the heart of our company’s values and culture lie passion, data-driven decision-making, collaboration, innovation and transparency. Our recognition programs, including the monthly KPI program, shoutouts program and win of the week program, serve as pillars supporting these principles.

Describe your company culture in one word. What made you pick that word?
One word: growth.

Growth defines not just my personal journey within the company, but also the mindset that drives our entire team. It captures our continuous push to evolve, learn and take on new challenges.

I started seven years ago as a video editor. Through consistent learning, trust from leadership and a culture that values potential over titles, I gradually took on more responsibility. Today, I’m a creative director, leading a high-performing team that delivers over 30 creatives a month. That journey resulted from a company culture that rewards data-backed results, supports internal growth and gives people the chance to rise when they deliver. Growth is not just encouraged — it’s expected and supported at every level.

What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and how did it help you grow professionally?
Every shoot we have feels like a new and exciting project. Each one comes with its own creative challenges and opportunities to push the boundaries. What I enjoy most is the process of conceptualizing new sets and discovering new talent. There’s something incredibly rewarding about taking a creative idea from a rough sketch to a fully realized visual story — with the right setting, mood and cast.