The Immortal Life of Agencies

Just over a year ago, Common Interest burst onto the scene with the acquisition of former Coke and Airbnb CMO Jonathan Mildenhall’s fabled branding agency, TwentyFirstCenturyBrand. It was one hell of an entrance into the global agency space. Today’s guest is Anthony Freedman, Common Interest’s CEO and Founder. Together we unpack how he’s building a new kind of holding company.  Of course, we’...

DESCRIPTION For all the talk in agencies about change, transformation and - kill me now - ‘agility’, what exactly do these words mean in practice? And is blundering through ‘change’ causing more harm than good?  To shine a light on all this, today’s guest is Neil Perkin - the founder of Only Dead Fish, a consultancy sitting at the intersection of digital strategy, transformation and agility....

More and more ‘mini-networks’ are seeking to beat the holding companies at their own game. These often PE-backed groups of agencies can play the agile indie card, and they can also club together to service global clients. Unsurprisingly, each group claims its own point of difference vs the traditional holding company model.  Meet The People is one such emerging network. And our guest today is...

Having touched on the omnipresent topic that is AI in pretty much every episode, this time we dive right in. Our guest is Chris Johnson, Founder and CEO of the AI consultancy, TomorrowToday.  And wow, does he give value for money. While much of the industry discourse around AI centres on creative tools and ideation speed, Chris is focused on commercial application.  Our conversation star...

When it comes to advertising agencies, they don’t come much more prestigious than Omnicom’s DDB. Whenever any of us needs a quote of substance, Bill Bernbach - the B in DDB - is always a rich source of wisdom.  So what a treat to sit down with their global CEO, Alex Lubar, to find out what makes DDB successful. Alex speaks to what he sees as the two driving forces of agency culture - momentum...

In seven short years, Uncommon Creative Studio has gone from launch to the very top of the advertising world. Alongside the reputation, the awards and of course the work, their deal with Havas now gives them the scale to go truly global.  So how can a newly minted agency achieve so much success so quickly? To find out, we sat down with one of Uncommon’s founders, Natalie Graeme.  Startin...

Sue Unerman is the Chief Transformation Officer of EssenceMediacomX. And having spent 34 years with Mediacom in its various incarnations, it’s fair to say that ‘transformation’ is a subject that Sue knows a thing or two about.  Unpacking her personal journey across five decades (sorry, Sue!), this far-reaching conversation explores how to build an agency career amidst constant change and incr...

Our guest today is the wonderful Harjot Singh - Global Chief Strategy Officer at McCann & McCann Worldgroup. This is a rich and personal conversation about the impact of people being different in our industry.  Harjot has a real way with words and he shares some lovely thoughts, not least on the critical difference between discipline and dogma when it comes to great work. He also beautifu...

This episode features Katie Lee - former CEO of Lucky Generals and now Chief Operating Officer of Wavemaker, the WPP media agency. Together, we explore the differences between healthy and unhealthy growth. As a case in point, Katie shares her experience of how agencies often confuse growth with strategy, which in turn leads to unhelpful - and unhealthy - places. So if you recognise her definition...

Ruth Mortimer is the Global President of Advertising Week, so it’s fair to say that she has an unusually broad perspective on our industry, on clients and of course on agencies.  In this episode, you can really feel her breadth of knowledge - as well as her passion for creativity - as she compares and contrasts different markets. In particular, Ruth unpacks what’s holding back the UK market,...

Today’s episode is powerful. It's a conversation with Rob Campbell, Chief Strategy Officer at Colenso BBDO in Auckland. The topic is diversity in agencies - and how those of us with privilege can and should be doing more. Rob brings humanity and curiosity to his experience of diversity from beyond the shiny Western boardrooms of Soho and Madison Avenue, openly discussing what he got wrong in livin...

How clear are you on what clients REALLY want from agencies? And what if you could ask someone with a unique perspective on how agencies do great work?  Our guest on this episode is David Meikle. The classic ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’, he was previously an agency leader, working for Grey and latterly running Ogilvy in Russia, and now he’s a search consultant. David’s also a compassionate, in...

In this episode, Robin chats with Michael Farmer - Chairman and CEO of Michael Farmer and Co. and an influential author on agency transformation. They discuss the commercial challenges and opportunities facing agencies and explore the need for a radical change in the business model.  Michael highlights the stagnation in client growth, the impact of AI on agency profitability and the historica...

In this episode, Robin is joined by acclaimed advertising guru Rory Sutherland. Known for his innovative thinking, particularly in applying principles of behavioural economics to advertising and consumer behaviour, he and Robin explore the barriers to innovation in modern agencies.  From accidental innovations like Viagra, to the value of inefficiency, as well as the alignment of briefs to or...

In this episode, Robin is joined by author, thinker and Genius Steals Co-Founder, Faris Yakob. Famed for his ‘digital nomad’ lifestyle as much as his insights, a LOT of agency people ask him about how to go freelance.  So he and Robin explore why agency life sucks for a lot of people and what agency leaders can do to avoid great talent choosing to be independent consultants instead.  Unp...