Taking an Integrated Agency Model Into a New Market

DOPE Studio already operated from Athens with an integrated approach to creative, media and technology. The Tirana operation extended that model into Albania, creating a local team capable of serving brands, institutions and complex digital projects while drawing on the wider DOPE network when specialist capabilities were required. The local core team brought together client, media, strategy and creative leadership around an Inspire, Create and Activate model.

Opening an agency in a new market is not simply a matter of importing an existing capabilities deck. Client expectations, talent, budgets, competition and ways of working are different. The challenge was to preserve what made DOPE distinctive while creating a Tirana operation that could operate credibly and independently in the Albanian market, with its own team, clients and commercial reality.

How do you bring an established agency model into a new market without simply creating a smaller copy of the original?

The objective was not to recreate Athens in Tirana, but to translate the underlying model. DOPE’s value came from connecting creative, media, technology and data rather than treating them as separate services. That principle remained constant, while the local operation had to develop its own understanding of audiences, business culture, client needs and market opportunities. The strongest version of DOPE Tirana would therefore feel clearly connected to the wider network while being built around the realities of Albania.

I approached DOPE Tirana as both a market-entry project and an agency-building project, establishing the local positioning, team structure, client relationships and delivery model while adapting the wider DOPE capabilities to the Albanian market. Strategy, creative, media, content, technology and performance were designed to work together rather than as separate departments, allowing projects to move from business problem to execution, distribution and optimization through one connected system.

I led the development and day-to-day direction of DOPE Tirana across business development, strategy, client leadership, creative direction, media, digital projects and operations. The agency delivered work spanning campaigns, content production, social media, performance marketing, programmatic media, websites, UX/UI and technology-driven communication, with cross-functional teams connecting local execution to the wider expertise of DOPE Studio. The capabilities ranged from content and campaigns to intelligent websites, ecommerce, automation, analytics, SEO and paid media.

DOPE Tirana developed into a multidisciplinary agency operation serving brands, institutions and major projects across Albania while remaining connected to the broader DOPE network. The portfolio included work across tourism, beauty, real estate, telecoms, finance and public-sector communication. Documented campaigns included the TEA tourism app, which generated 40,786 downloads in its first three months and more than 20 million Google impressions, and Durrës Yachts & Marina, which delivered more than 22 million impressions and 1.4K qualified Facebook leads.

I built and led the Tirana operation, working across agency strategy, new business, client relationships, creative direction, digital communication, team leadership and operations. My responsibility was to translate client business objectives into integrated communication solutions while coordinating teams across strategy, content, media and technology and connecting the local office with the wider DOPE Studio network.

DOPE Studio moved from having an Athens base to having an established operation in Tirana with its own team, clients and market presence. More importantly, the agency model was adapted rather than simply replicated, giving the local operation the autonomy to respond to the Albanian market while retaining access to a broader network of creative, media and technology capabilities.

Building DOPE Tirana reinforced that expanding an agency is an exercise in translation, not duplication. The brand, principles and capabilities can remain consistent, but the way they are applied has to respond to local clients, talent, culture and commercial realities. A network gives an office access to scale and expertise; the local team gives that network relevance. The important question is knowing what should remain the same and what should not.