July, 2026.- Evan Levy spent nearly three decades at Fitzco, ultimately serving as CEO. He experienced a wild arc: from scrappy independent to growing agency under Interpublic and McCann, and back to scrappy independent again. The opportunities, education, and relationships that come with riding that kind of rollercoaster cannot be planned for or replicated. But when the ride pulled into the private equity station, he had to make a hard decision. It was the right time to hop off.
Now Levy has joined Ammunition in a newly created role: Chief Client Partnership Officer. The energy, camaraderie, and ambition at Ammunition remind him of how he felt at the very beginning of his Fitzco run. It is a palpable, DNA-shared belief that they have the culture, expertise, and entrepreneurial gumption to become a global, independent agency brand.
In this interview, Levy discusses what this role exists to fill: not because anything is broken—Ammunition had 100% client retention in 2025, and 75% of business is retainer-based—but because this role exists to throw gas on that fire. His first 90 days will be focused on listening—internally and to clients—to understand how they are helping clients grow and how they can provide more value tomorrow than they do today.
Levy also explains how he measures the health of a client relationship before the numbers say it is in trouble. If you are waiting for sagging numbers before you know you have a wobbly client relationship, you are late. The warning signs already exist inside your walls. Someone on the team knows the work could be better. That the client’s reaction on the last few calls has felt off. Every post-mortem he has ever been a part of, they knew before the client said a word. Measuring relationship health comes down to a range of rational and emotional variables: keeping promises, anticipating needs, attention to detail.
One of the best clients Levy worked with had what she called the Shiny Penny test. If she started feeling like she was no longer the agency’s shiny new penny, they were in trouble. Such a simple but universally understood way of saying: never stop listening to and impressing me, and I will never have a reason to look around.
1. From Fitzco CEO to Ammunition: You spent nearly three decades at Fitzco, ultimately serving as CEO. Now you’ve chosen to help build Ammunition. What does a younger, growing independent agency offer that a more established agency couldn’t, and what will you miss most about your former agency?
My life at Fitzco exposed me to a wild, nearly 30-year arc: from a scrappy independent to a growing agency under Interpublic and McCann, and back to scrappy independent again. The opportunities, education, and relationships that come with riding that kind of rollercoaster can’t be planned for or replicated. But when the ride pulled into the private equity station, I had to make a hard decision between starting over on a very different ride or hopping off. It was the right time for the latter.
The energy, camaraderie, and ambition at Ammunition are reminiscent of how I felt at the very beginning of my Fitzco run. It’s a palpable, DNA-shared belief that we have the culture, expertise, and entrepreneurial gumption to become a global, independent agency brand. Jeremy Heilpern, Ammunition’s CEO and Founder, has proven the case already over nearly 10 years. He’s extended our reach to Europe. He’s investing in leadership and expertise ahead of growth. And it genuinely feels like we’re just getting started.
The hardest part of leaving Fitzco was disconnecting emotionally. You don’t spend 28 years invested in and caring about a place and suddenly switch that off, even if the decision to leave is yours. So parting with those people – leaving an amazing West Midtown former-slaughterhouse office that I was so invested in building out – none of it was easy. I’ll always root for them. Unless we see them on a pitch. Then it’s go-time.
2. The Newly Created Role: Chief Client Partnership Officer is a new role at Ammunition. What specific need did you identify in the agency’s client relationships that this role exists to fill, and what’s your top priority in the first 90 days?
This role is a proactive investment consistent with growth ambitions – both our clients’ and ours. The good news is that nothing is broken. We had 100% client retention in 2025, and 75% of business is retainer-based, so relationships are healthy. This role exists to throw gas on that fire, in terms of how our Client Partnership thinks and works, and how the whole agency thinks and works. That’s how we’ll be indispensable to our clients in more ways and across more business challenges than they expect.
My first 90 days will be largely focused on listening – internally and to our clients – to get a clear understanding of how we’re helping our clients grow and how we can provide more value tomorrow than we do today. From that, hone in on recommendations that aren’t just baby steps. All that, and switching my brain from Office 365 to Google Workspace, which may be more challenging than the rest combined.
3. Relationship Health vs. Transactional Success: Your role is focused on the “health and depth” of client relationships, not just winning new business. How do you measure the health of a client relationship before the numbers tell you it’s in trouble?
I love that Ammunition calls this function Client Partnership rather than Account Service or Management. It’s not semantics; it’s a purposeful choice that sends a different signal about what we expect and why clients should choose us.
If you’re waiting for sagging numbers and literal signals before you know you have a wobbly client relationship, you’re late. Ten times out of ten, the warning signs already exist inside your walls. Someone on the team knows the work could be better. That the client’s reaction on the last few calls has felt off. That asking for more time is a mistake. That they weren’t blind to the typos in the deck. You know you’re presenting something that isn’t quite on strategy. That the results are softer than they should be. That the insights weren’t insightful enough. Every post-mortem I’ve ever been a part of, we knew before the client said a word.
Measuring the health of a client relationship comes down to a range of rational and emotional variables. Are we keeping our promises? Are we anticipating their needs? Is our attention to detail on point? All this comes down to a culture of unvarnished honesty within your agency. Of course, you can and should ask clients the same questions, and the good ones will deliver. But whether they do or not, I believe in regular, internal reviews of the great, good, bad, and ugly. In the words of our Atlanta neighbor Andre 3000, “I know you’d like to think your shit don’t stank, but lean a little closer, see roses really smell like poo-poo-ooh.” That kind of honesty is what surfaces the cracks long before anyone else notices them.
One of the best, long-term clients I’ve worked with had what she called the Shiny Penny test. If she started feeling like she was no longer the agency’s shiny new penny, then we were in trouble. I loved that – such a simple, but universally understood way of saying “never stop listening to and impressing me, and I’ll never have a reason to look around.”
The shortest-term partnerships – or the breakdown of partnerships in general – usually come down to misalignment. That may be between the client and agency. But just as often, it’s within the client team or within the agency team. Addressing those elephants in the room for what they are, early and often, is the only way.
4. Scaling Across Two Continents: Ammunition operates in North America and Europe. How does client partnership leadership differ when you’re managing relationships across markets and cultures, and what’s the biggest risk of misalignment?
In principle, client partnership should feel very similar across markets and cultures, because no matter those differences, the principles around what it means to be deeply passionate and knowledgeable about the clients’ businesses – not just the tasks on the to-do list – transcend culture or geography. There may be nuance differences in how we show up or engage based on norms. When we talk about Ammunition with clients, no matter where we are, we’re clear on what we want to be (a partner) and what we don’t want to be (a vendor). It’ll be important as we grow to stay true to that intention, no matter the market.
In the spirit of that consistency, our leadership team will be quite purposeful in ensuring that, however and wherever you engage with Ammunition, our culture, systems, and processes feel the same. We’re not building two agencies. There will be the “Ammunition way,” which will allow for some bend, but never break, in light of varying paces and styles of different markets. But establishing that single standard is a priority for us.
5. $100MM in Billings and Trusted Partner: You led Fitzco through significant growth while becoming a trusted partner to clients. What’s your philosophy on earning trust with a new client in the first 60 days, and what’s the most common mistake agencies make in that window?
My philosophy for all things client-related is to look at every touchpoint during those first 60 days (and beyond) through their eyes, ears, heads, and hearts. They’ve likely just pulled the trigger on one of the most important and largest purchase decisions they’ll make – for reasons both rational and emotional. You have one first chance to reinforce their decision in all the ways that matter. And it can be hard, no doubt. You may not be fully staffed yet. The agreement terms may still be in flux. You may be learning and executing on urgent deliverables in parallel. It can feel like the dog that caught the car for both sides. But it’s the agency’s responsibility to absorb those uncertainties with grace. And to remember that in most cases, the agency’s work is only part of the client’s work. So your onboarding needs and wants must be tight, thorough, and collaborative. If you’re winging it, you’re losing it.
Beyond the literal process of onboarding, the trust will come with doing what we said we’d do, being honest early and often, ensuring there are no big surprises, delivering the results that, together, we’ve planned for – the same things anyone would want in any relationship. It really comes down to, to quote words painted on Ammunition’s lobby wall, giving a shit.
Have I been part of screw-ups on this front? Of course – we all have. We’re human. We can think we’re doing the right thing and realize the other party doesn’t. We can be stubborn. Our delivery could sound too aggressive, too timid, or too flippant. And honestly, this is where the personal connection part matters so very much. We have to be in the same room as often as possible. We can’t rely solely on email or Google Meet to develop connections with our clients – that’s when the partnership becomes transactional. It works until it doesn’t. Wait until it doesn’t, and the damage is done.
6. “Growth. No Matter What.”: Ammunition’s tagline is “Growth. No Matter What.” What does that mean to you as a client partnership leader, and how do you ensure that the pursuit of growth doesn’t come at the expense of the client relationship?
At its core, it’s about never being satisfied and seeing Ammunition’s mission as an always-on pursuit. The most meaningful value I’ve lived with over my career is the belief that I/we haven’t done our best work yet. If you hold that principle at the core of your work and career, growth is an inevitable byproduct.
“No matter what” means we’ll always do the right thing, always do what we say we’ll do, always work hard to know our clients’ businesses as well as they do, and therefore clearly see the next opportunity to be a partner who adds value.
Jeremy assured me that “no matter what” absolutely doesn’t mean I have to do anything that will end with me in an orange jumpsuit. It’s still early, but I believe him.
