When the Underdog Became the Giant
- Effective New Creative Solutions
- Nov 13
- 3 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
A Business & Beyond Story
Most people underestimate small agencies.Especially the ones rooted in community, not corporate gloss.The ones without big budgets, fancy office floors, or high-profile clients. But Memphis has always been a city where quiet brilliance transforms into undeniable impact.
This is the story of Naquila Shannon, a founder who saw the future long before the industry did.
📍 The Beginning: A Tiny Memphis Office With a Massive Vision
Naquila launched Connect901 Creative out of a small studio in Cooper-Young.
Her mission?
To connect local influencers with local brands in ways that felt authentic, community-centered, and culturally aligned.
At the time, most agencies didn’t take influencer partnerships seriously. They saw it as “cute content,” not a strategic asset.
But Naquila was paying attention.
She saw the data early:
The influencer marketing industry was already valued at $21.1 billion in 2023.
More than 80% of marketers reported they were allocating a budget to influencer partnerships.
And the influencer platform market was projected to grow from $23.59 billion in 2025 to $70.86 billion by 2032, at a CAGR of 17%.
These weren’t trends.These were signals.Clear indicators that influence was shifting from Hollywood → to neighborhoods. From celebrity → to community voices.
And in a city like Memphis — where authenticity matters more than aesthetics — Naquila understood exactly where the opportunity lived.
📉 The Disruption: When “Big” Didn’t Mean “Better”
By late 2022 and early 2023, the industry exploded.
Agencies everywhere raced into influencer marketing without cultural context or local grounding.Brands were getting flooded with proposals from agencies that…
Didn’t understand Memphis audiences,
Mismatched influencers to brands,
Overvalued follower counts,
Undervalued community trust, and
Delivered low conversion rates.
Campaigns looked good on paper but failed in performance.
Meanwhile, Naquila was mapping something entirely different: community credibility.
She knew:→ who Midtown listened to.→ which micro-influencers Orange Mound trusted.→ who shaped trends in South Memphis.→ which voices had actual influence versus performative following.
Her competitive intelligence was cultural — not corporate.
While big agencies pushed formulaic campaigns, Connect901 Creative delivered resonance.
And that was the difference.
📈 The Rise: From Underdog to Memphis Powerhouse
In just 18 months, something remarkable happened: Naquila became the strategist everyone in Memphis was talking about.
Brands across the city began saying:“We tried the big agencies — no one understands Memphis like you do.”“We don’t just want followers. We want community connection.”“We need campaigns with real conversion, not cute content.”
Her agency grew because she stayed ahead,and she stayed ahead because she stayed aware.
Her signature offerings became industry gold:
Hyper-local influencer mapping
Culturally informed campaign strategy
Community-centered messaging
Authenticity-based brand partnerships
Alignment > aesthetics
Connect901 Creative didn’t just survive the industry shift —they became the example for how to do influencer marketing right.
The underdog became the giant —not by scaling, but by listening.
💡 The Leadership Lesson💡
Staying Ahead Is Not About Competing — It’s About Perceiving
Naquila’s rise offers a truth many leaders overlook:
Competitive intelligence is not about “watching competitors.”
It’s about understanding why humans do what they do.
It’s about cultural fluency, not corporate overproduction.
It’s about alignment, not acceleration.
The Memphis market didn’t reward the biggest agency.It rewarded the most conscious one.
New Season Reflection
New seasons represent initiation.The planting of vision.The quiet clarity before the breakthrough.
Let this story be your reminder:
Every giant was once an underdog with intention.
And every leader evolves when they choose insight over reaction.
This is your season to move ahead with clarity, not competition.
🌟 Business & Beyond Mastermind 🌟
If Naquila’s story resonates with you…If you feel the shift happening around you…If you're entering a new season of leadership, alignment, or expansion…
Business & Beyond Mastermind is your next container.
✨ A space for deep strategy
✨ A community for real leadership growth
✨ A circle where intuition and intelligence meet
✨ A room where underdogs become giants — on purpose
This is your invitation to lead with clarity, courage, and conscious intelligence.
Disclaimer: The characters, business names, and events in this case study are fictional. No real individuals or entities are represented or implied. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual businesses is coincidental.
