Under The Hood Agency Interview: How Lunne Succeeds as an Agency in Highly Regulated Industries
In our latest episode of Under the Agency Hood, Mark Sneider sits down with Doug Lunne and Chris Wilguess of Lunne to unpack how a 21-year-old shop stays sharp for clients in the finance and health sectors.
The conversation explores how Lunne thinks about delivering real value in highly regulated categories where trust, precision, and speed matter just as much as creative output.
What you’ll learn:
- How to position your agency as an “agency of relationships” that augments in‑house teams and becomes the go‑to partner rather than an expensive, risky AOR.
- Practical ways to use AI responsibly across workflows—including client governance, internal education, and prompts that actually improve output without leaking proprietary data.
- How specializing in finance and health shortens onboarding, avoids legal landmines, and expands opportunity (B2C, B2B2C, referral funnels).
- Client‑friendly ways to offer project‑based work that makes it easy for marketers to try you and scale engagement.
- Becoming skilled at navigating regulatory guardrails, reducing legal back-and-forth by knowing what can and cannot be said.
Throughout the discussion, Doug and Chris reinforce that Lunne’s model is designed to make it easier for marketers to say yes.
The agency often begins relationships on a project basis, coexists smoothly with in-house teams or other agencies, and expands support as trust builds.
With a Midwest-rooted service mindset, deep category fluency, and a disciplined operating system, Lunne positions itself as a partner clients genuinely enjoy working with while still delivering work that competes with much larger and more expensive firms.
If your agency wants to stop being “only as good as your last project” and start building dependable, scalable client relationships in regulated industries, this interview is a must‑watch.
