“How big can we get before we get boring?” Nigel Bogle, my partner at BBH, used to repeat this question often. It’s one of the big existential questions about creative agencies. Success feeds growth. Growth kills success. An agency can avoid this fate if they… 1. Constantly elevate their creative beliefs 2. Pay heed to their creative people 3. Love the work they make This last one might be the most important. For a business, a true love of the product you’re providing is the defining factor between success and failure. Without a passion for what you’re producing, you can still run a business. But you’ll never inspire greatness. #agency #passion #growth #businessofcreativity
I saw you on stage once at Cannes with Dan Wieden talking about how your first clients set the tone creatively for both shops. Believe it was Levi’s and The Indendent? I’ve also seen a lot of hot shops get boring when that one massive telecom or retail or QSR/fast casual or car account moves in with the big 💰, the agency doubles in size and the focus on the work shifts.
Hmmm. May I be a bit of a contrarian, here? While I’m all for loving what you do, I’ve seen when it gets in the way of doing the right thing for the client and/or for the product/market. Agencies are pretty full of themselves, generally, and I’ve seen “diva” behavior absolutely scuttle a client relationship and produce some terrible results simply because the agency/creative director didn’t “love” the execution or overall direction of a campaign. I think loving the work involves loving excellent results, which isn’t just an industry award where other creatives validate how much they love the work too.
Passion is important in everything you do Anything without passion is like body without a soul
Weirdly, this could apply to restaurants, comic book series, bands, fashion houses and basically anything that has creative skill at the core. Once the parasites start running the show it's all over.
Sir John Hegarty Nigel Bogle’s question really gets to the heart of the tension between growth and creativity in agencies. It’s a balancing act that many businesses face: how to scale without losing the spark that made them special in the first place. Your points are spot-on. Constantly elevating creative beliefs ensures that the agency remains at the cutting edge of innovation. Paying heed to the creative people means fostering an environment where they can thrive and stay motivated. And truly loving the work is what drives genuine passion, which can inspire greatness and keep the work fresh and impactful. Growth can indeed be a double-edged sword. It can dilute focus and potentially lead to complacency if not managed carefully. But with a deep, unwavering commitment to the work and the creative process, agencies can navigate this challenge and continue to inspire.
I’ve asked the same question in almost every agency I interview at “I’ve seen success kill more agencies than hard times. What’s your plan for success? How do you maintain who you are if you double in size overnight?” I have yet to hear a clear answer.
Often businesses, and agencies, pursue revenue and a sale to get rich as a strategy. It’s an outcome. If one focuses on what makes you great, build a reputation and an impressive portfolio of clients paying a premium as a result then the rest will/may happen. Have somebody practical to watch cash flow and the bottom line. Let the creative forces focus on precisely that.
BBH was one of the very few places I worked where Simon Sinek "why" drove everything. The few BBH failures I can remember were when "growth" trumped the "why". BBH had undoubtedly an extraordinary creative culture but it had also the best strategic thinkers I have ever met. This symbiosis is what made BBH unique. It drove the "why", it drove the success and the growth.
Senior/Lead Creative Writer A-CD
1moOh so true - which is why it felt exciting to work at BBH. Opportunities were also open to everyone who worked there. It was always just about the best idea - it didn't matter who wrote the idea - it could have been anyone from a CD to a placement team. And CDs didn't work on the clients they were CDing for to ensure the best work came through. For example, everyone including CDs would work to the CD on Lynx - who only CDd on it. It was the same for all the other brands. The work that was picked was usually the best. There was a healthy and respectful competitive spirit. People were encouraged to speak their minds. And younger creatives loved working there because they got real opportunities to make work, learn from some of the best and nicest people in the industry and grow etc. ✨️