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.

How do you drive people through the intensity of agency life while still offering strong support?

Rebecca Hull is Managing Director at manifesto, part of the publicly listed TPXimpact, where she’s led a team of 100 people for 4 years.

In this episode, Rebecca shares how she:

• Organises the business around conscious leadership and helping people operate 'above the line'
• Uses their manifesto to guide day-to-day behaviour
• Empowers people to come together around high-value moments, fostering internal communities
• Invests in leadership coaching, creating a ripple effect throughout the teams
• Has navigated much of her career as a single parent, giving her deep empathy for people's personal circumstances
• Applies her lived experiences of working brand-side to agency leadership

Rebecca was tasked with merging three businesses into one just one week into her role. She shares her empathy-led, programmatic approach to the integration - and discusses much more.

How do you rapidly scale a profitable agency in just two years?

Vicky Hope is Co-Founder & CEO at LOOP Agencies. In only two years, they’ve grown to 15 people and are on track to double in size over the next year.

In this episode, Vicky shares how she:

• Used half their original funding to pre-book a Christmas party for a team that didn’t yet exist - giving them something to aim for
• Resigned a disrespectful client in the early days, even though that client was funding the business
• Encourages brilliant work by challenging everyone to be bored with the status quo and excited by tackling hard problems
• Awards spot bonuses privately to acknowledge the small, behind-the-scenes actions that go above and beyond
• Transitioned to an employee-owned business model (EOT) after just two years
• Is already building the next level of leadership to enable succession planning, creating an exit path for herself and her co-founder

Vicky embeds the mantra "It won’t fail because of me" throughout the business, ensuring everyone understands their role in the company’s success.

How do you scale an agency in an industry you’ve never worked in?

Anant Sharma is CEO & Founder at Matter of Form, a design consultancy that works primarily with luxury brands. Over the past 15 years, he’s grown the business to a $10m turnover.

In this episode, Anant shares how he:

• Evolved from being a busy fool with a growth-at-all-costs mentality to fostering a safe, calm culture for his team
• Runs a ‘Know Your Client’ initiative to ensure his team is always aligned with clients’ business goals
• Bought a Design Thinking School so his team could double down on L&D and contribute to teaching
• Invests in business support roles, allowing him to focus on what matters most
• Offers executive coaching to all senior team members
• Uses self-deprecation to encourage everyone to be their true selves

Anant aspires for Matter of Form to be a place where people can transform, allowing them to buy into the company and making it a memorable, important part of their career journey.

How do you launch and scale a business with an average employee age of 24?

Alex Bodini is Co-Founder & Group CEO at Spin, a creative-first social agency. Over 9 years, he's grown the business to 75 people.

In this episode, Alex shares how he:

• Uses the High Challenge, High Support framework to drive supportive performance growth
• Takes on the role of 'Chief Repeating Officer' when introducing new concepts to the business
• Has invested in a 'professionalising the business' initiative for the past 2 years, bringing in senior talent to shape structures and processes
• Shifted the business from being a stepping-stone employer to a destination employer
• Focuses on creating enough headroom for all their talent to continue growing
• Acquired other agencies and worked to integrate their operations and cultures

Alex uses the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) to guide everything they do, from setting Rocks to running Level 10 Meetings, and assessing the team regularly with the People Analyser.

How can you make a genuine and positive difference to the entire sector you operate within?

Sam Gregory is co-CEO of the PR agency Tangerine, leading a team of 110 people. She took over the business in 2011 and has overseen significant growth since then.

In this episode, Sam shares how she:

• Puts entrepreneurial spirit and courageous thinking at the heart of everything they do
• Embeds a culture of bold, brave, and creative work aligned with clients' business objectives
• Prioritises a clear vision and overarching business plan as her number one focus
• Maintains full transparency internally with their business plans, decision-making and financials
• Strongly believes in the benefits of their Employee Ownership model
• Actively recruits apprentices to access raw young talent and keep the business at the cutting edge

Sam is dedicated to creating a workplace where everyone feels genuinely valued. And it’s working - last year, Tangerine was featured in Campaign’s Top 100 Best Places to Work.