We are an advertising agency. We are an ideas business. We do many things. We create broadcast for the likes of Nokia, NSPCC and Legal & General. Online activations for Linkedin. Facebook apps for Unilever. Outdoor for Kiss FM. And retail spaces for Electrolux and Sky. But above all, what we do is believe in media agnosticism; we are religiously media agnostic. We believe that the business problem needs to be defined before the right channel is agreed. And while the channels we work in are many and varied, our job is always the same: to make interesting stuff happen in the real world.
We were launched in 2000 by 3 partners, Tim Doust, Frazer Gibney and Drew Saunders, who are still active in the agency every day. Their desire was to create an agency to offer an alternative to big cumbersome agency groups - agile, creative and entrepreneurial - to allow them to do the right thing for clients rather than what was right for the agency group’s bottom line.
Like everyone, we try to do our bit for the environment. But there is another way to make the world a better place. It’s a big world and there is always space for more interesting things in it: Brighter, funnier, friendlier, zippier things, things that are better designed, more inspiring or more engaging. So in a nutshell, that’s what we do. We make interesting stuff happen in the real world.
To make interesting stuff happen, we aim to be 10 minutes ahead in everything we do. If you want to have a really successful idea, aim for one that is 10 minutes ahead of its time, not light years ahead. Think of iTunes. Apple were the first to combine the hardware and software offer. Both existed. But together they revolutionised. The truth is, real eureka moments lie just ahead of the curve. It’s our job to get our clients’ brands there first. Being a tad ahead in a crowded category is effectively being way out in front.
We are religiously media agnostic. We don’t do above the line, below it or through it. These feel like outdated demarcations to us. Inferno create engagement. Engagement is now the only true measure of success. So let’s define the business problem intelligently. And then the strategy. And finally the right channel, or channels.