New Agency Bold White Space Launches with Senior Industry Backing for the New World

The agency has been founded by former ENGINE MHP managing director, Mike Robb, and Nick Ford-Young, former managing director of brand strategy and content agency Studio Black Tomato. The business will be chaired by Simon Sherwood, former chairman and global CEO of BBH. This fusion of skills and experience underpins the agency’s belief in where the industry must go to meet the needs of the next generation of client across paid, earned and owned media.

Bold White Space will leverage technology, data and creativity combined to drive better, faster and more efficient results as clients seek more for less in the years ahead. The agency is in the process of appointing a chief technology officer to lead the company’s data analytics, artificial intelligence and automation capabilities. By bringing together the most advanced technology in the world with a unique strategic and creative methodology, Bold White Space will deliver outstanding work, streamline processes and increase transparency, ensuring maximum value for clients.

Mike Robb, co-founder and managing director at Bold White Space, said: “The world is suddenly a different place, where we live amidst the biggest economic shock since the Second World War. We strongly believed the marketing and communications industry was unfit for the next generation of business before this crisis, and we believe it more than ever now. The businesses of tomorrow need a more targeted, versatile and efficient model than exists in the market today. But for this to become a reality we believed a new agency was required, built from the ground-up with the culture, structure and blend of technology required to create a model that delivers for that next generation. We will be that agency.”

The business has raised significant six-figure investment, including the backing of senior names from the technology, advertising and strategic communications worlds.

Mike Nicholson, who previously led planning at MullenLowe, VCCP, Ogilvy Action and Diageo, is the agency’s strategy lead, with creative overseen by Adam Griffin, ex-Leo Burnett, JWT and an award-winning creative for many of the UK’s top agencies. Katie Sogorski and Rachel Mason provide senior PR and communications experience, having worked for agencies including M&C Saatchi PR, freuds and Porter Novelli.

In addition, the agency has established an advisory panel made up of six senior executives from across the industry, including John Veichmanis, former CMO at Farfetch; Natasha Ighodaro, former digital strategy director at JWT; Mark Davies, former managing director of corporate affairs at Betfair; Zaza Biddu, former VP at H+K; and Mark Hemingway, former head of communications at HSBC.

The agency launches with four clients across four different industries including healthcare, energy and financial services.

The agency has developed its own strategic communications methodology. Called 'Whole World Brand View', this unique model is based on the premise that only by making the constant loop of 14 specific consideration areas unite can truly effective strategy, creative, content, and communications be delivered.

This approach not only drives outstanding work: it ensures the most efficient communications programme possible. By being able to analyse and pinpoint ROI across all these areas, the agency focuses creativity and spend more effectively, maximising value for a client.

Nick Ford-Young, co-founder and director at Bold White Space, said: “Brands in the new world must be more relevant and visible than ever before; and need to achieve this whilst extracting more value than ever before. We know that technology and creativity together hold the answer to the challenges our clients are facing, where the winners of the future will be reactive, light-footed and able to quickly adapt along many unknown paths. We exist to ensure our clients boldly own their territory, communicating with meaning and impact, and I am excited about the significant advantage this agency can create for our clients in the years ahead.”

Simon Sherwood, chairman of Bold White Space, added: "Exceptional strategy and creative should not just be available to the world’s biggest brands. Technology and a new way of thinking means that what was once exclusive to those with bottomless budgets is now accessible to ambitious brands looking to accelerate growth and market position. I’m delighted to be a part of this exciting story.”