GOOD CEOs: Issue 14

How do you get big
without becoming shit?
 

It’s one of the most frustrating questions faced by creative agency bosses – and there’s a familiar story behind it. A lean young company gets famous, gets acquired, then faces a total cultural disintegration - that starts right at the moment of its operational integration.

 
Voilà!
You’re now bigger
and shitter
 

Natalie Graeme is one CEO who has faced this problem and come out on top. As co-founder of Uncommon Creative Studio alongside Nils Leonard and Lucy Jameson, she has – since 2018 – helped build one of the most audacious agencies in the world.

Three years ago, Uncommon entered into a deal with French holding company Havas, and has managed to preserve the talent, culture and verve that has clients queueing up to work with them.

We sat down earlier this month to talk about why she’s the queen of ‘no’, the changing habits of clients, and why Uncommon isn’t an agency – but a studio.
 

Ollie Scott: What is the one piece of work that you are most personally proud of?

Natalie Graeme: I would pick British Airways. The partnership we have with them is so deep, and when we first started working with them in 2021, it was the thing that made us feel like we’d really arrived. The work engages every part of the studio, and speaks to how we wanted to build Uncommon from the start. They’re wonderful people and we love working closely with them.

OS: Was there a clear commercial goal to the partnership? I imagine you were up against massive integrated agencies at the time. What was their brief?

NG: We were coming out of COVID at that point. The airline industry had taken a massive battering. They needed a partner to help them negotiate that. They needed a partner who understood the relationship between advertising, customer experience, and every small way that they interact with the world. Someone who could help them recognise opportunities as the industry pulled itself out of a tailspin (no pun intended).

 
“They needed a partner
who understood the relationship
between advertising, customer
experience, and every small way
that they interact with the world”
 

OS: I loved the out-of-office posters that were part of the Take Your Holiday Seriously campaign. It was such a simple idea – how did you convince the client to go with it?

NG: That's the magic trick, isn't it? Simple doesn’t often mean easy. We are very deliberate in who we choose to work with – clients who feel ambition, who are at a moment of change, and who want to do brilliant work. In terms of the ideas, sometimes a penny just drops and everyone goes ‘well it’s obviously that’. But it’s usually not as simple as that. But we find that a brand having confidence in itself is essential.

OS: I love it. Let’s head from that point to now in 2026. What’s the most recent thing you’ve done that’s made you feel similarly proud?

NG: I love our work for skincare brand, The Ordinary. I guess that's easy for me to say now we've won a Grand Prix for the Periodic Fable work. But I think that speaks to how we work strategically, right? Getting to the truth of the brand, and bringing it to life in a way that cuts through beyond category.

OS: Now for my third (and very different) question. Uncommon has been fiercely independent for much of its life. Then three years ago you sold 51% to Havas. What was behind that decision?

NG: When you start a company, there’s a fantasy for where it might go. Uncommon had been growing brilliantly, but we wanted to go further and faster. And we knew the best place to do that was in the US. Sure, you can run projects from London, but it flipped into us needing to have a crew over there and wanting to build a business over there that felt truly American. We decided that the backing of a big group would de-risk that move.

OS: From what I’m reading, the plan is working, right?

NG: It's a bit of a gamble opening in the States. And there are many companies that try to do it that – sadly – have struggled. We haven’t gotten it 100 percent right. But we are the fastest growing studio over there. And we managed to make it happen without betting the whole house.

 
“What made us special and
successful needed to be written
down and considered with every
detail… that sort of stuff is how
a deal shows up for your team
in their day-to-day”
 

OS: Aside from allowing the US expansion to happen with greater safety and ease, did the deal with Havas change things for the agency in the day-to-day?

NG: It doesn't feel like anything's changed. And that isn’t a surprise, because it’s how we designed the deal. Most of us have been involved in a studio or agency that has been part of an acquisition. There’s an accepted way to do these agreements, and we didn’t want that. We knew Havas was right, because they are highly entrepreneurial, supportive. They know what they’ve gotten themselves into with us. They want to give us the freedom to crack on.

OS: What would you say to an agency founder who’s considering doing a deal with a holding company? How do you make use of that scale and finance, without allowing your culture to get crushed?

NG: When it comes to the structure of the deal, we were clear on the things that made us special and successful. They need to be written down and considered with every detail. Right down to which IT provider you use. It sounds quite ridiculous, but that sort of stuff is how a deal shows up for your team in their day-to-day. So it's literally in the small details as much as it is in the larger parts. They serve as a daily reminder that we are in charge of our own destiny – and that is critical.

OS: I've heard from a lot of people that you're the queen of ‘no’. That you know how to say that word (politely), but also exactly when to say it. What’s the best example of your no-ness?

NG: I'd love to know who said I was the queen of ‘no’! I wonder if I said ‘yes’, to them? I think it comes down to client partnerships. Sometimes the worst thing you can do is win a pitch.

OS: Interesting, what do you mean?

NG: When we first started, there was a really massive brand that got in touch. Our whole studio consisted of four people. We were beating ourselves up trying to answer this pitch. We were getting it all wrong. To the extent that our account manager, who’d just joined, turned around and said: ‘what are you doing? This is all awful!’. We all just looked at each other, and said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. We shouldn’t do this.” It was clearly a commercial game changer for us at that moment. But the work it would have led us to create, and the sort of team it would have required us to build, would have taken us in a direction we couldn’t fathom. So, we said ‘no’. Two weeks later, we won two pitches that set us on the journey to where we are now.

OS: Sometimes a big client can do real damage to an agency business. Years ago, I saw a UK supermarket that would switch its agency every few years. Each new firm would have to rush to recruit talent. It would mean sacrificing values, by bringing in people who aren’t culturally aligned. Then it would usually involve creating work the agency wasn’t proud of.

NG: Yes, I’ve seen that.

OS: When there’s a brand that big, but also that rigid in the way they work, how do you tame that beast?

NG: I think things have changed. I'm not sure that clients really feel as able to dictate how something should work these days. The reality is it will show up in the output. The answer is to consciously decide not to just win stuff at all costs. What are we giving up? What are we changing as a result? A client should never force you to give up what makes you brilliant.

 
“Who said I was
the queen of ‘no’!
I wonder if I said
‘yes’ to them”
 

OS: What do you think has changed the most about how clients approach and work with agencies now?

NG: There's a huge merging of marketing and customer experience. The client responsibility is far more all-encompassing. So they have really tricky roles. In many cases they have so many responsibilities and that can be quite a burden. But ultimately I think it's hugely exciting – it means there might be one person responsible for all the different places where a brand might show up. If we are true partners to them, we can really help them understand how every single moment of every single touch point there is an opportunity – whether that’s retail, advertising, or a call centre.

OS: What else?

NG: The other thing that's changed is clients are a lot clearer as to what they want. Of our revenue last year, 94% of it came direct. So clients came knowing that they wanted to speak to Uncommon. And about 66% of that was non-competitive.

OS: If there was ever a stat that proved the value of building brand for an agency! Let’s talk about how to internationalise. What would be your advice on how to go global?

NG: Ultimately it's about removing fear. It's critical during a scaling process to not feel any sort of fear. That’s a really easy thing to say, and a hard thing to do, but I don't think anyone makes any good business decisions out of fear. And in a state of fear, your instincts are really silenced. But if you’re scaling, you’re at one to ten million in profit, you ask a simple question: ‘what would triple it?’. If you have a clear answer to that, great – go for it. If you can identify what’s stopping you, then change it – even if the move feels uncomfortable. And if you don’t want to tiple it, maybe you’re not the right person to lead the growth.

 
“I wouldn't start an agency,
I'd start a studio. I would make
sure we had editorial, creators,
experiences, design, the ability
to actually make”
 

OS: If you were starting an agency today, what would be different versus in 2018, when Uncommon began?

NG: Well, I wouldn't start an agency, I'd start a studio. I don't think I'd change anything massively, but I think there's more tools available to us these days. And I think certainly with the advent of creators, I would make sure we devised a creative studio that had editorial, creators, experiences, design, the ability to actually make.

OS: What are your three predictions for the creative economy? 

NG: I think there'll probably be a bifurcation in agencies that just produce advertising at scale and those who can really shift business fortunes through creativity. And by the way, the latter can also produce content at scale. So that'd be my first thing is a bifurcation in the types of agencies that you'll see in the market.

OS: Thank you, and number two?

NG: Experiences took a hammering during covid. But we’re already seeing the rise of the experience company again, I think.

OS: And finally, three?

NG: And then the third one would be finally the death knell for time materials. Our system for valuing ideas. It's not something I've ever been massive fan of. We've always tried lots of different models for how our expertise and our partnerships are valued with clients. I don't think AI essentially means that it's going to become incredibly hard to benchmark rates against each other, because all rates will be a blend of talent plus tech. It will now mean a more transparent and open conversation with procurement teams about how best to value what it is we do for our brand partners.
 

See you in a fortnight!

Ollie