Traction is an interactive advertising agency based in San Francisco. Their clients includes Alibaba.com

Alibaba.com

Alibaba Group is a privately owned Hangzhou, China-based family of Internet-based businesses that includes online marketplaces that facilitate business-to-business international and domestic China trade, retail and payment platforms, a shopping search engine, and data-centric cloud computing...

, Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

, Bank of America

Bank of America

Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...

, Cabot Creamery

Cabot Creamery

The Cabot Creamery Cooperative is an American dairy agricultural marketing cooperative, wholly owned by the Agri-Mark Cooperative.Originally started as Cabot Farmers Cooperative Creamery in 1919 by farmers in Cabot, Vermont, it was taken over by the Agri-Mark Cooperative in 1992...

, California Bank and Trust, Camelbak

CamelBak

CamelBak Products, LLC is an outdoors equipment company known primarily for its hydration products, such as hydration packs and water bottles. CamelBak is also a supplier of hydration packs, protective gear, and other products to the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies around the world.The...

, Intuit, Intel, Livescribe

Livescribe

The Livescribe paper-based computing platform consists of a digital pen, digital paper, software applications, and developer tools.Central to the Livescribe platform is the smartpen, a ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder...

, Meebo

Meebo

Meebo is a social platform connecting users with their friends across the web. It began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program which supported multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and...

, Robert Half International

Robert Half International

Robert Half International , based in Menlo Park, California, is an American staffing firm, and a member of the S&P 500. Founded in 1948, Robert Half International is the world's first and largest accounting and finance staffing firm, with over 400 locations worldwide...

, Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com

Salesforce.com is an enterprise cloud computing company headquartered in San Francisco that distributes business software on a subscription basis. Salesforce.com hosts the applications off-site...

, SAP

SAP AG

SAP AG is a German software corporation that makes enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations. Headquartered in Walldorf, Baden-Württemberg, with regional offices around the world, SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software...

, and Shutterfly

Shutterfly

Shutterfly is an Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service. Shutterfly's flagship product is its photo book line. It is based in Redwood City, California.-Features:...

, Walmart, ZoneAlarm.

History

The agency was founded in 2001 as Traction Corporation by Adam Kleinberg, Paul Giese, Theo Fanning and Michele Turner. The founding partners had previously worked together at Think New Ideas, a new media pioneer with heavy investments from Omnicom. Michele Turner left the company in 2009.

In 2006, Traction Corporation started a creative staffing agency called SubTraction. In 2009, Traction acquired 8 Speed Multimedia, a provider of dynamic media.

Awards and recognition

In 2008, Traction was selected by Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems

Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...

 to be featured in an original documentary series “Designing Minds” showcasing creative leaders of the design industry with a view into the creative forces behind the shows, ads, and products people use everyday. In 2009 Traction was awarded Interactive Agency of the Year by BtoB Magazine and ranked 1,399 in the Inc. 5000. Traction was named #51 on the list of "Fastest Growing Companies in the Bay Area". That same year, iMediaConnection named Traction a "Social Media Agency To Watch". In 2010, Traction was named runner-up “Top Interactive Agency of the Year” by BtoB Magazine. Also in 2010, Traction moved up the Inc. 5000 to #1217. In 2011, Traction was named again runner-up “Top Interactive Agency of the Year” by BtoB Magazine. The Traction blog was among the “5 agency blogs you should be reading,” by iMediaConnection.

Notable campaigns

• “Never miss a word.” Livescribe
  Livescribe
  The Livescribe paper-based computing platform consists of a digital pen, digital paper, software applications, and developer tools.Central to the Livescribe platform is the smartpen, a ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder...
  
   - Traction introduced the Livescribe Smartpen to the college market.
• “Real or Fake?” Adobe Systems
  Adobe Systems
  Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
  
   - One of Adobe’s most successful social media campaigns was developed by Traction geared toward driving engagement to their new CS products. This campaign has been featured in a number of articles including being featured as a case study by Facebook.
• “Find it. Make it. Sell it.” Alibaba.com
  Alibaba.com
  Alibaba Group is a privately owned Hangzhou, China-based family of Internet-based businesses that includes online marketplaces that facilitate business-to-business international and domestic China trade, retail and payment platforms, a shopping search engine, and data-centric cloud computing...
  
  - Traction launched a $30 million campaign for China’s largest online retailer Alibaba.com to the U.S.