John Plato left school at fifteen and spent ten years as a diesel mechanic. In 2007 — at the kitchen table of a Linwood townhouse, with $3,500 in the bank and the GFC underway — he and his wife Lisa started an agency. Nearly twenty years later Plato is the South Island's largest full-service agency, and John is turning the derelict New City Hotel on Colombo Street into a 1,600sqm home for it.

This one goes deep on the commercial side of running an agency, and the honest parts most people leave out. John explains why Plato sets business strategy rather than just marketing — he sits on four of his clients' boards — and why the piece most agencies miss isn't creating demand, it's making sure the business can actually deliver on it.

He's also straight about the mistakes. Growing from 55 to 87 staff in six months during the COVID boom and making no more money at the bigger size. Five years of no holidays, living at the office. The six-month question he now asks his business partners: are we a better business than we were six months ago?

Plus: why he's never once looked at a qualification when hiring, what he'd tell a business two years in, and what's going inside the new HQ — gym, wellness centre with saunas and ice baths, a hidden whiskey room and a rooftop bar.

Find Plato Website: https://platocreative.co.nz LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/platocreative Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/platocreative Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/platocreative

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.