How do you reinvent the traditional agency model?

Samppa Vilkuna is Founder & CEO of the creative company, Superson. He leads a small in-house team alongside more than 400 specialists worldwide.

In this episode, Samppa shares how he:

• Set up the business to be the Airbnb of the agency world - the world’s best creative agency without a single creative person
• Resources from a massive pool of freelancers, so there’s never a conflict of interest in having to sell his team’s skills to clients
• Hires freelancers based on skillset, location, and personal interests - so he can always provide the best possible team for clients
• Has processes to ensure newly formed teams rapidly become high-performing
• Creates a sense of belonging for freelancers so they feel part of the Superson community
• Truly collaborates with clients, co-creating work alongside them and eliminating the need to sell it in

Samppa used to work in-house. Frustrated by his suppliers, he set up his own agency with a flexible talent pool - so the team is always the best possible fit for clients’ needs.

How do you help 300 people understand their impact on the business?

Victoria Sugg is CEO of the creative comms agency, Emperor. She’s been leading a team of over 300 people across the UK and UAE for the past 3 years.

In this episode, Victoria shares how she:

• Regularly explains what’s happening with the business and its strategy, then translates this into what it means for everyone day-to-day
• Sits down with all new joiners to explain the history, culture, ambition, and their role in achieving it
• Maintains channels to stay connected to the team, understanding what they think and want from the business
• Has a Partner Board of diverse team members, acting as a bridge between the wider team and leadership
• Is hyper-transparent about business performance and how everyone can influence it
• Observes the five B Corp buckets - governance, clients, environment, community, people

With a strong background in new business, Victoria has a people-centred leadership style and encourages her team to be proactive, interested, and interesting.

How do you embed the idea of being extraordinary into every aspect of your business

Jon Lonsdale is CEO of the B2B marketing agency Publicis Pro, which he’s led for almost 25 years. Originally Octopus Group, they were acquired by Publicis in 2021.

In this episode, Jon shares how he:

• Reviewed everyone’s job specs to define what an extraordinary version of each role looks like
• Moved from using values to behaviours, to show the team what extraordinary looks like
• Has intentionally maintained key habits to drive culture, from their annual festival to their Monday morning meetings
• Runs a ‘Spotted’ competition each month, where people highlight the best campaigns they've seen outside of work
• Founded the agency with the mantra: "Let’s create the best job ever for the people who work for us"
• Navigated the Publicis acquisition so his team got the best of having an indie culture and being part of a larger group

Jon and his co-founders have led the business for nearly 25 years, maintaining consistency and a long-term approach to decisions.