The social media marketing and branded content agency has taken 40,000 square feet at 40 West 23^rd Street, which also houses Home Depot's Chelsea store. We should clarify they did some work for MySpace and Fox a few years ago, and also represent such biggies as Neutrogena, McDonald's and Colgate-Palmolive,

They were previously headquartered in 6,000 square feet in two buildings at 276 and 298 Fifth Avenue, near the Empire State Building. In the last eight months they've ramped up from 12 to 120 employees, Seth Berk, the company's vice president of business development, told The Observer. Needless to say, they were a bit cramped.

They looked for space in Soho, midtown and their existing neighborhood. "We saw a lot of availability in the corporate-type office spaces. We wanted an open loft that could allow for true collaboration," he said, hitting all the current buzzwords. "I guess it's the Bloomberg model."

They came upon space vacated by Marc Ecko, which The Observer reported last week is opening a new showroom and office on the far West Side.

Big Fuel, founded by former Viacom producer Avi Savar in 2004, currently has 125 employees and the company has experienced "stratospheric growth," expecting to hit 170 employees by the end of the year. If only MySpace could say the same thing.

lkusisto@observer.com