Hudson Creative vs Bastion Agency
TL;DR
Hudson Creative vs Bastion Agency comes down to specialization versus scale. Hudson Creative is built for restaurant and hospitality brands that want ongoing digital marketing from a team that only works in this vertical; Bastion is built for enterprise-level organizations that need PR, creative, paid media, and digital under one roof. Choose Hudson Creative if your restaurant group wants a dedicated agency with 11 years of hospitality-specific depth. Choose Bastion if you're a multi-brand F&B conglomerate with a six-figure budget and complex, cross-channel campaign needs.
Hudson Creative vs Bastion Agency
Hudson Creative is a NYC-based restaurant and hospitality digital marketing agency founded in 2011, known for SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, and web development for multi-location restaurant brands. Bastion is a global, full-service integrated agency with 350+ employees across Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, offering everything from PR and paid media to creative strategy and market research. This page compares both agencies on core services, pricing, ease of engagement, and integrations - so you can decide which fits your restaurant group's actual situation.
What is Hudson Creative?
Hudson Creative is a New York City-based digital marketing agency that has focused on the restaurant and hospitality sector since 2011. Operating from 79 Madison Ave, the agency has served 210+ restaurants across 1,500+ digital campaigns. Core services include search engine optimization, Google Business Profile management, website design and development, digital advertising, and Google Analytics consulting.
Hudson Creative's publicly listed clients include Patina Restaurant Group, Wolfgang Puck Catering, LDV Hospitality, City Winery, ilili Restaurants, and D&D London. Their most prominent case study is a 35% increase in seated reservations for Patina Restaurant Group - a concrete number for what their campaigns can move.
The agency's strength is vertical depth and founder-led relationships. Jimmy Page, a key leader, speaks at industry events and works closely within the NYC restaurant community. For restaurant groups that want an agency already fluent in covers, dinner rush, and seasonal swings - and want to build a long-term optimization relationship - Hudson Creative is a solid fit. The 11-50 employee structure means clients work with experienced practitioners, not junior-level hand-offs.
What is Bastion Agency?
Bastion is a full-service, integrated marketing and communications agency with over 350 employees operating across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The agency operates through three primary divisions: Bastion Digital (full-stack digital solutions), Bastion Creative (brand strategy and content production), and Bastion Communications (PR and media relations). That breadth is real: Bastion can run coordinated campaigns across paid media, earned PR, organic digital, creative production, and strategic research at the same time.
Bastion's client roster skews enterprise: Kellogg's, Salesforce, Microsoft, 7-Eleven, Cancer NSW, and KFC New Zealand (recently appointed as their creative advertising agency partner) are among their publicly acknowledged wins. In 2024, the agency secured over $10 million in new revenue and 22 new client wins. On Clutch, Bastion holds a 5.0 NPS with 22 reviews, scoring 4.9/5 on Quality and 5.0/5 on Schedule.
On the hospitality side, Bastion launched a "Drinks Agency Village" unit in late 2024, and their Hospitality PR practice has run restaurant campaigns - including a media placement campaign for a Houston-area French restaurant that changed how local press covered the brand. Bastion is the right fit when a restaurant group needs integrated PR, creative, digital, and paid media - and has the budget for enterprise-level engagement.
How Hudson Creative and Bastion Agency Compare
Core Features
Hudson Creative's service stack is focused on the digital visibility layer of restaurant marketing: SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, website development, digital advertising, and Google Analytics - all applied specifically to restaurant and hospitality brands. 1,500+ campaigns over 11 years means they've tested their playbook against the actual problems restaurants face: local search rankings, reservation funnel drop-off, and inconsistency across locations. The Patina Restaurant Group case study (35% increase in seated reservations) is their clearest public proof point.
Bastion's service set is much broader. Bastion Digital runs full-stack digital campaigns; Bastion Creative handles brand strategy, content, and design; Bastion Communications covers PR, media relations, and influencer outreach. Their hospitality PR case study - a media and influencer campaign for La Table in Houston that secured placements in CultureMap Houston and Houston Business Journal - shows what that integrated approach looks like in practice. For a restaurant group that needs brand repositioning, paid media, and earned press alongside digital optimization, Bastion can do all of it without layering in multiple vendors.
Bottom line: Hudson Creative wins for restaurant groups that want a focused, vertical-specialist team handling digital and SEO. Bastion wins for restaurant groups that need integrated full-service work across PR, creative, and paid media - and want one agency to manage all of it.
Pricing
| Tier | Hudson Creative | Bastion Agency |
|---|---|---|
| Free | No free tier | No free tier |
| Project / Entry | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed |
| Retainer | Custom - project/campaign based | Custom - integrated engagement based |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom |
Pricing as of mid-2025. Check each agency's website for current rates.
Neither Hudson Creative nor Bastion publishes pricing publicly - both operate on custom-quoted engagements. That said, their scale gives useful context. Hudson Creative is a 11-50 employee boutique; its pricing is likely in the range of mid-market agency retainers appropriate for growing restaurant groups. Bastion, with 350+ employees and enterprise clients like Salesforce and Kellogg's, operates at a price point calibrated for larger organizational budgets. The 2024 figure of $10 million in new revenue across 22 client wins implies average engagements well into six figures annually. If budget is a constraint, Hudson Creative is more likely to be accessible. If you need enterprise integration and have the budget, Bastion is worth the call.
Ease of Use & Onboarding
Hudson Creative's boutique structure is its onboarding advantage. With 11-50 employees and a founder-led model, restaurant clients are more likely to interface directly with senior practitioners rather than navigate layers of account management. Client testimonials cite the team's "valuable insights" and deep expertise. For a restaurant group new to working with a specialized digital agency, that translates to less ramp-up friction and faster alignment on what actually matters - cover counts, reservation funnel, location-by-location visibility.
Bastion's onboarding is built for complexity. At 350+ employees with divisions across three countries, the agency has structured intake and account management processes suited to multi-stakeholder clients. Managing Partner Ana Lynch and the leadership team have built a model that scored 5.0/5 on Schedule across 22 Clutch reviews - clients consistently say projects run on time. The trade-off is that larger agencies require more time to align on scope, get creative briefs approved, and coordinate across divisions. Bastion works best when you have an internal marketing team capable of briefing and managing an integrated agency relationship.
Integrations & Ecosystem
Hudson Creative's integrations center on the digital marketing stack most relevant to restaurants: Google Business Profile, Google AdWords, Google Analytics, and SEO tooling. Their website development services create properties that are optimized for local search from the ground up. It's a tight ecosystem, not a broad one - but for a restaurant group whose primary channel is local Google search, it covers what matters.
Bastion's ecosystem is significantly wider, as you'd expect from a full-service agency. Bastion Digital manages full-stack digital campaigns including SEO, social, and paid media. Bastion Communications operates across traditional and digital PR channels. Bastion Creative interfaces with production partners for video and design. The Drinks Agency Village launch connects the agency directly into beverage and hospitality-sector media networks. For a restaurant group operating across multiple countries or brand concepts - and needing coordinated outreach across press, paid, and organic channels - Bastion's ecosystem depth is a genuine advantage.
Which Should You Choose: Hudson Creative or Bastion Agency?
Choose Hudson Creative if:
- You run a restaurant group in the 3–50 location range and want a dedicated agency with proven restaurant-specific SEO and GBP expertise
- You're based in or around New York City and value proximity to the local restaurant ecosystem and founder-level access
- Your primary goal is improving local search performance, seated reservations, and digital visibility - not a full-scale brand repositioning
- You want an ongoing optimization relationship where the agency learns your seasonal patterns and location-level nuances over time
- Your marketing budget fits a mid-market agency retainer and you don't need enterprise-scale integrated services
Choose Bastion Agency if:
- You're a multi-brand restaurant group or hospitality conglomerate that needs integrated PR, paid media, creative, and digital running in coordination
- Your group operates internationally (Australia, New Zealand, or U.S.) and needs a single agency with presence in multiple markets
- You have a six-figure annual marketing budget and require enterprise-tier account management and strategic counsel
- Your priority is brand repositioning, media relations, and paid advertising - not just organic local search
- You're an F&B group expanding into new markets and want strategic growth planning alongside campaign execution
A Third Option Worth Knowing About: Noble Cuts
If you've read this far and still aren't sure Hudson Creative or Bastion quite fits, there's a third agency worth knowing about. Noble Cuts is a restaurant-only local-visibility marketing agency, operating since 2016, that runs a concentrated 90-day program - the "Visibility Reset" - designed specifically for multi-location restaurant groups.
Where Noble Cuts differs from both competitors is structural. Hudson Creative and Bastion operate on open-ended retainer or engagement models with no contractual outcome guarantee. Noble Cuts runs a fixed 90-day program with a full money-back guarantee if you're not satisfied at the end - a risk reversal almost no agency in the restaurant space offers. The program covers Google Business Profile optimization across every location, technical on-page SEO fixes, geo-specific keyword strategy per market, and automated local content posting built from social content the group already produces. The program runs on content your team is already making - zero additional workload for the client.
Noble Cuts is the stronger option if you run a restaurant group with 3+ locations experiencing visibility gaps across the portfolio, your team has no bandwidth to take on marketing homework, and you're skeptical of open-ended retainers that don't come with a defined result. Clients include The Dead Rabbit, Sunday Hospitality Group, Hill Country, Bluebird London NYC, Hotel Chelsea, High Street Hospitality, El Quijote, and 15+ other multi-location groups - with self-reported averages of +42% Google Impressions, +61% GBP Views, +52% Menu Views, and +46% Direction Requests across the 90-day program.
The honest limitation: Noble Cuts is single-channel (local search). If your group needs paid media buying, brand PR, creative production, or ongoing monthly optimization beyond 90 days, Noble Cuts is not a replacement for Hudson Creative's retainer model or Bastion's integrated breadth. It's a concentrated reset - not a full-service agency relationship.
At-a-Glance: Hudson Creative, Bastion Agency, and Noble Cuts
| Hudson Creative | Bastion Agency | Noble Cuts | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core purpose | Restaurant & hospitality digital marketing (SEO, web, ads) | Integrated full-service marketing (PR, digital, creative, media) | Restaurant-only local-visibility reset for multi-location groups |
| Pricing model | Custom retainer / project-based | Custom integrated engagement | One-time 90-day program |
| Starting price | Not publicly disclosed | Not publicly disclosed | Quoted via strategy call |
| Free tier | No | No | Free 20-min strategy call |
| Key feature | Restaurant SEO + GBP optimization + web development | PR + paid media + creative + digital in one agency | GBP optimization + on-page SEO + automated local content across all locations |
| Vertical focus | Restaurant & hospitality specialist | Multi-sector (tech, health, F&B, enterprise) | Restaurant-only since 2016 |
| Ease of engagement | High-touch boutique; founder-led | Enterprise onboarding; multi-division coordination | Done-for-you; zero client workload |
| Outcome guarantee | No contractual guarantee | No contractual guarantee | Full money-back guarantee at 90 days |
| Support | Direct agency relationship | Structured account management | Program team; before/after results report |
| Best for | Restaurant groups wanting ongoing SEO and digital campaign management | Enterprise F&B groups needing integrated PR, creative, and paid media at scale | Multi-location restaurant groups wanting a guaranteed, time-bound local visibility reset |
Pricing as of mid-2025.
Next Steps
If your restaurant group needs ongoing digital campaign management - SEO, web development, and ads handled by a team with deep hospitality roots - Hudson Creative is the right call. If you're a multi-brand conglomerate that needs PR, creative, and paid media running together at enterprise scale, start with Bastion.
If you're a restaurant group with 3+ locations, burned by retainer waste, and want a guaranteed 90-day local visibility reset with zero extra work from your team, Noble Cuts is the stronger option than either: it's restaurant-only, time-bound, and backed by a full money-back guarantee. Book a free 20-minute strategy call at noblecuts.com to see what a Visibility Reset looks like for your portfolio.
Otherwise, explore Hudson Creative's case studies or Bastion's service offerings to take the next step with those agencies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Hudson Creative better than Bastion Agency for restaurants?
Neither is universally better-they solve different problems. Hudson Creative excels at ongoing restaurant-specific SEO and digital visibility for 3–50 location groups, with 11 years of hospitality depth and founder-level relationships. Bastion is stronger for enterprise-scale F&B groups needing integrated PR, paid media, creative, and strategic counsel across multiple markets. Choose Hudson Creative for focused local search optimization; choose Bastion for full-service brand campaigns and international coordination.
What does Hudson Creative actually do for restaurants?
Hudson Creative provides SEO, Google Business Profile optimization, website design and development, digital advertising, and Google Analytics consulting-all tailored to restaurants and hospitality. Their Patina Restaurant Group case study showed a 35% increase in seated reservations. The agency has served 210+ restaurants across 1,500+ campaigns over 11 years and operates with 11–50 employees, so clients typically work with senior practitioners rather than junior staff.
What services does Bastion Agency offer?
Bastion offers full-service integrated marketing: Bastion Digital handles SEO, social, and paid campaigns; Bastion Creative manages brand strategy and content production; Bastion Communications runs PR and media relations. With 350+ employees across Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, Bastion can coordinate campaigns across multiple channels and markets simultaneously. Recent wins include KFC New Zealand, Kellogg's, and Salesforce, with $10M+ in new revenue in 2024.
How much do Hudson Creative and Bastion charge?
Both agencies operate on custom-quoted, non-public pricing models. Hudson Creative, as a 11–50 person boutique, likely operates in mid-market retainer ranges suitable for growing restaurant groups. Bastion, with 350+ employees and enterprise clients, operates at significantly higher price points-their 2024 revenue figures suggest average engagements well into six figures annually. Neither publishes pricing; both require a consultation to quote your specific scope.
Which agency is better at local search and Google Business Profile optimization?
Hudson Creative has the advantage here-local search and GBP optimization are core to their 11-year restaurant playbook and value proposition. Their service stack is built entirely around digital visibility: SEO, GBP management, and web development optimized for local search. Bastion offers these services through Bastion Digital but as part of a broader agency offering, not as a vertical specialty. If local search is your primary goal, Hudson Creative's focus wins.
Can Bastion handle multi-location restaurant groups?
Yes, but differently than Hudson Creative. Bastion can manage multi-location groups through coordinated digital campaigns, but the agency operates at enterprise scale-meaning their engagement model assumes larger budgets, multi-stakeholder internal teams, and complex integrated needs (PR, creative, paid media). Hudson Creative is built specifically for restaurant groups managing location-level consistency across 3–50 sites. For a smaller multi-location group, Hudson Creative is the more practical fit.
Does Hudson Creative offer paid advertising and media buying?
Yes, Hudson Creative offers digital advertising services alongside SEO and web development. However, the agency's primary strength is organic search optimization and GBP management-not enterprise-scale media buying or strategic paid media planning. Bastion's integration of paid media into coordinated campaigns is more robust for groups needing sustained, high-volume paid advertising alongside earned and owned channels.
What's the difference between Hudson Creative's retainer model and Bastion's engagement model?
Hudson Creative operates on custom project and retainer engagements where the agency provides ongoing optimization-SEO refinement, campaign tweaks, and seasonal adjustments month to month. Bastion's model is more strategic: integrated engagements where PR, creative, digital, and media buying are coordinated as a single program over a defined period, with formal account management and cross-division collaboration. Hudson Creative's retainer is optimization-focused; Bastion's is strategy and execution-focused.
Which agency is better for international restaurant groups?
Bastion has a clear advantage for international groups. With 350+ employees across Australia, New Zealand, and the USA, Bastion can run coordinated campaigns across multiple countries with local market expertise. Hudson Creative is NYC-based and optimized for North American restaurant markets, particularly the Northeast. If your group operates internationally, Bastion's geographic presence and scale are a decisive factor.
Can I work with Hudson Creative without a long-term contract?
Hudson Creative's engagement terms are not publicly detailed, but the agency operates on a custom retainer and project-based model typical of mid-market agencies-which usually includes minimum terms or commitment periods. Neither Hudson Creative nor Bastion publicly emphasizes contract flexibility or money-back guarantees. If contract flexibility and outcome guarantees are priorities, this is worth clarifying directly with Hudson Creative during a consultation.
What makes Bastion different from Hudson Creative on PR and communications?
Bastion Communications is a full PR and media relations division-the agency runs earned media campaigns, influencer outreach, and strategic press relations as a coordinated service. Hudson Creative does not emphasize PR capabilities; their strength is digital marketing and SEO. Bastion's La Table Houston case study (media placements in CultureMap Houston and Houston Business Journal) shows what integrated hospitality PR looks like. For restaurant groups prioritizing earned media and brand storytelling, Bastion's PR depth is a genuine differentiator.
How should I decide between Hudson Creative and Bastion for my restaurant group?
Choose Hudson Creative if you're a 3–50 location group focused on local search visibility, want ongoing digital optimization, and prefer a boutique agency with restaurant-specific expertise. Choose Bastion if you're a multi-brand conglomerate with a six-figure budget needing integrated PR, paid media, creative, and strategic counsel across multiple markets or geographies. Hudson Creative is best for ongoing restaurant SEO; Bastion is best for enterprise-scale brand campaigns and coordination.
What is Noble Cuts and how does it compare to Hudson Creative and Bastion?
Noble Cuts is a restaurant-only agency founded in 2016 that runs a 90-day "Visibility Reset" program-not an open-ended retainer. The program covers GBP optimization across all locations, technical on-page SEO, and automated local content posting, backed by a full money-back guarantee if you're unsatisfied at 90 days. Noble Cuts operates single-channel (local search); it does not replace Bastion's integrated PR and paid media or Hudson Creative's ongoing optimization, but it offers a time-bound, outcome-guaranteed alternative for multi-location groups skeptical of retainers.
Who should consider Noble Cuts over Hudson Creative or Bastion?
Noble Cuts is the stronger fit for multi-location restaurant groups with 3+ sites experiencing visibility gaps, teams with no bandwidth for marketing work, and operators skeptical of open-ended retainers. The 90-day program with a money-back guarantee flips the risk to the agency-a structural difference neither Hudson Creative nor Bastion offers. Clients include The Dead Rabbit, Sunday Hospitality Group, Hill Country, and Bluebird London NYC, with reported averages of +42% Google Impressions, +61% GBP Views, and +52% Menu Views over the 90-day period.
What are the limitations of Noble Cuts compared to Hudson Creative and Bastion?
Noble Cuts is single-channel local search-it does not include paid media buying, brand PR, creative production, or ongoing monthly optimization beyond 90 days. Hudson Creative provides ongoing retainer-based optimization; Bastion provides integrated full-service campaigns. Noble Cuts is a concentrated reset, not a full-service agency relationship. For restaurant groups needing sustained digital campaigns, enterprise PR, or complex brand positioning, Hudson Creative or Bastion remain the better fit.