Against a backdrop of news disproportionately full of business headlines, this month felt like the perfect opportunity to bring a client perspective to this podcast. And who better to guide us through todays challenging landscape than John Gleason. Having worked at Proctor and Gamble for 20 years before setting up his strategic consultancy, A Better […]
One of the most exciting developments I’ve spotted so far in 2025 has to be the launch of the Department of Creative Affairs (DCA). So, I was delighted that DCA’s founder, Amar Chohan, was able to join me for a chat here on Small Spark Theory. In this episode, Amar shares his career journey—from aspiring […]
Can you believe we’re already in February? In this episode, we’re diving deep into one of the most crucial (yet often overlooked) aspects of agency sales and marketing—measurement. If you’ve ever struggled with tracking the success of your marketing efforts or found yourself making gut-based decisions about new business opportunities, this episode is for you. […]
Kicking off our 2025 line-up, we catch up with previous guest Jim Hawker. Since discussing client development with us back in 2019 (see EP28), Jim has gone on to sell Threepipe, the agency he co-founded 20 years earlier. He finally exited the agency last year to focus on a variety of new ventures as a fractional […]
As we wrap up 2024 with this final episode, I’ve been reflecting on the many conversations I’ve had with agencies throughout the year, as well as the recurring themes shared by our amazing podcast guests. It’s been a challenging year for many, which makes this the perfect moment to focus on an invaluable asset every […]
As we discussed in episode 92 with Stephen Kenwright, a solid sales and marketing strategy is crucial for agency growth. However, realising that growth brings its own set of challenges. Having experienced rapid growth through acquisition while leading agency sales and marketing, I’m well aware of the pitfalls of maintaining brand consistency while keeping momentum […]
The thing with marginal gains is that it feels small. And we could be forgiven for thinking that applying this approach to agency growth is simply about tinkering around the edges, making small improvements and seeing small incremental results. I know it has a far bigger sales and marketing role to play, but wanted to […]
It’s been 6 years since Tony Walford from Green Square joined me on Small Spark Theory to discuss the practicalities of selling an agency. To say a lot has happened since then would be an understatement. Aside from the obvious economic rollercoaster and acceleration in technology, we’ve seen a seismic change to the way many […]
Of all of the marketing tools available to agencies, I’d wager that one of the most effective, yet most overlooked, is the humble email newsletter. Which of course, makes it the perfect candidate for marginal gains and the perfect topic for this podcast. And this month, I have the perfect guest in the shape of […]
Small Spark Theory has always been about a mindset. When I started this podcast back in 2017 I wanted to harness the marginal gains thinking that was and still is, so prevalent in elite sport and apply it to an altogether different kind of winning – agency new business. So when I heard Serotonin Co-Founder […]
Early on in my agency career I often used to hear the expression ‘great creative work will sell itself’, and its close cousin ‘do great work and the clients will come’. Of course we know that in reality, certainly for the majority, these things are rarely true, but I’m still surprised by the number of […]
Over the recent months, I have observed how agencies have been experiencing the impact of economic uncertainty – including the stalling of client decision-making, frozen budgets, disappearing pipelines, and everything in between. In their recent BenchPress report, The Wow Company described last year as ‘brutal’ for agencies, and as 2024 adds more political uncertainty, there is […]
Over recent episodes we’ve referenced many of the macro issues facing brands, which have in turn slowed down or stalled new business opportunities for agencies. But there’s an elephant in the room that we’ve yet to address; the growing trend of clients deciding to bring creative resource in-house. In this episode I speak to designer, […]
Have you ever felt that your agency is pigeonholed by clients and prospects as being a specialist in just one thing, where in reality you have so much more to offer? Of course being seen as a specialist of any kind is a generally a good thing – we have many episodes where we have […]
Here we are at the beginning of 2024 and it feels fitting for our first episode of the year to celebrate change. Last Summer, 40 year old agency Thompson Brand Partners rebranded as ThreeTenSeven – the final iteration of the agency’s repositioning following a management buy-out in 2019. At a time when we have seen […]
December 2023 marks seven years of Small Spark Theory. Mindblowing then that’s it’s taken this long for a dedicated episode on the topic of proposals – such a crucial element of the new business process but a perennial pain point all the same. Joe Ardeeser was so determined to find a better solution for turning […]
Regular listeners to this podcast will know that we spend a lot of time here talking about relationships. Of course there is much to say in our industry about creativity and marketing and technology innovation, but fundamentally, as agencies we are service businesses and so the process of attracting, winning and retaining clients has as […]
I have met many agencies over the years who have had ideas for spinning out their own products. The outcomes have been varied. From those who have successfully launched and created additional revenue streams, to those who have continued to scale and ultimately sell their product business. For many though, the constant pull of client […]
How much of your agency revenue comes from overseas clients? Did you know that the US is the largest recipient of UK exports, receiving £3.9bn worth of advertising and market research services, – a value that has more than tripled since 2020? In this episode I chat to Kat Thay, co-founder of K&C and co-president of the Austin […]
Understanding how clients are buying agency services is fundamental to how we shape our new business and marketing strategies and processes. In recent episodes we’ve heard perspectives from procurement expert Tina Fegent and lead generation expert Alex Sibille, so it feels only fitting to add an intermediary point of view into the mix. Dominic Glenn […]
Winning new clients has never been straightforward. But after the upheaval of the last few years, last year in particular we saw an added complication – resource. And of course that scarcity of talent naturally increased salary expectations, meaning that profit margins on new and existing projects were being squeezed even further. For this episode […]
I feel as though we’ve been skirting around the edges of a beast of a topic for some time on this podcast, namely emergent technology and its impact on agencies. Of course, no single episode is going to unpick the labyrinth of challenges and opportunities for our clients, and in turn the agency community, but […]
In recent episodes, we’ve talked a lot about change and uncertainty, the persistent undercurrents unsettling our new business efforts and impacting our client relationships. So, it seems a perfect time to speak to someone who has an unrivalled perspective of the agency and client dynamic – Tina Fegent. From becoming one of the first marketing […]
When I saw the title of Matt Watkinson’s new book, Mastering Uncertainty, earlier this year I jumped at the chance to interview him on the podcast. Matt runs LA based agency Methodical. His first book, The 10 Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences had already been recommended on here by Nick Phipps back in episode 22 […]
The recent acquisition of new business agency Future Factory by their leading competitor Ingenuity has been headline news in the new biz community. For me it was the perfect opportunity for a long overdue catch up with co-founder Alex Sibille. In this episode we discuss the expanded new business and marketing services offered by this […]
Any regular listeners to this podcast will know that I love agencies. I have a deep fascination for the dynamics of what are often small businesses, almost always servicing larger organisations and adapting to the continually shifting sands of markets, consumer behaviour, the economy, competitors – and of course, technology. In this episode I discuss […]
How do you feel about the year ahead? Confident? Concerned? Uncertain? Wherever you are on this spectrum, one thing we must be, is ready. I particularly like the work that Steve Parks does at Convivio because he focuses heavily on the macro issues facing clients and prospects and encourages agency leaders to use this insight […]
Whichever way we cut it, 2022 has been A LOT. The last few years have seen so much change; for individuals, businesses and our industry. Many of us are still adapting. Whether we are recalibrating, reinventing, surviving or thriving, we’re doing it all against a backdrop of relentless economic and political turmoil and uncertainty. So […]
It’s been a little while since we had a client perspective on this podcast, and given the current economic wobbles, now feels like an excellent time to remedy this. So I’m delighted to share this conversation with Gareth Turner. Having enjoyed a stellar marketing career with brands such as Johns Smith’s, Bulmers and Lurpak, Gareth was […]
It’s been a while since we talked about new business talent on this podcast. But after a bumpy couple of years, it seems like the right time to shine a spotlight on the superstars in our industry who willingly show up every day to seek out new clients for their agencies. I wrote about the challenges […]
