Small Spark Theory: A Marginal Gains Approach To New Business And Marketing

Finally – an episode dedicated to AI! Not the big “future of our industry” debate, but a practical look at the contractual and IP implications of our growing use of AI tools in agency life. While the larger networked agencies may already have policies in place, for many smaller independents — or those who rely heavily […]

Welcome to the 100th episode of Small Spark Theory! You may have spotted that earlier this summer, Emily Penny and Joel Stein released the Fully Saturated  UK Design Agency Positioning Audit. Packed full of insights, analysis and examples of agencies that really manage to cut through the noise, it’s the first audit of its kind. […]

I’m always fascinated with innovations in the space that exists between agencies and their potentail clients, whether that’s new marketing channels (hello podcasting!) or services that are designed to make the process of agency selection or client aquisiition more effective.  So I was delighted to be introduced to Pete Sayburn, co-founder of StudioSpace, a brand […]

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 […] The post EP94: Empowering your people to drive growth | Zoe Tuffs | Times Ten appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 post EP93: Managing sales and marketing as you scale | Alisha Lyndon | Momentum ITSMA appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP92: How to Scale Fast | Stephen Kenwright appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP91: An agency M&A update | David Blois | M&A Advisory appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP90: Unlocking the power of agency newsletters | Jamie Woodbridge | The Inbox Club appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP89: Agency lessons from an ultra-runner | Clair Heaviside | Serotonin appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP88: Beyond creativity – the commercial skills you need to succeed | Tim Perry appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP87: Why we need to stop ‘doing’ new business | Lucy Mann appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 agencies deciding to bring creative resource in-house.  In this episode I speak to designer, […] The post EP86: In-house creative teams. An agency threat or opportunity? | Emma Sexton appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP85: Changing perception | Steve Garside | TMW appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP84: Reposition, rename, rebrand | Rachel Cook | ThreeTenSeven appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP83: Winning proposals | Joe Ardeeser | Smart Pricing Table appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.

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 […] The post EP82: How to improve performance and reduce stress | David Meikle | HTBAG appeared first on Gunpowder Consulting.