01. Building the Business Behind the Creative Work
Independent culture-led creative agency
Helping a founder-led agency build the commercial, operational and leadership foundations needed to grow — and navigate significant change.
The challenge
1
Over several years, the agency grew from an ambitious independent business into an established culture-led agency delivering major work for global brands.
As the work, team and ambitions grew, the infrastructure behind the creativity needed to evolve too. That meant better commercial visibility, stronger operations, clearer leadership and greater discipline around pipeline, profitability and resourcing.
Later, changing market conditions created a very different challenge: how to adapt the shape and cost base of the business while protecting its relationships, reputation and creative strengths.
What I did
2
I worked across almost every part of the business, initially in executive leadership and later in an advisory capacity.
I built and strengthened commercial forecasting, P&L and cashflow management, pricing and profitability, pipeline and new business, organisational structure, recruitment, operations and leadership processes.
As conditions changed, I developed different trading scenarios, supported restructuring and helped leadership make difficult decisions with a clearer understanding of their commercial consequences.
What changed
3
The business developed stronger commercial visibility, more robust operational foundations and a much clearer relationship between creative ambition and commercial reality.
The experience also shaped a principle that now runs through much of my consultancy work: creative businesses need enough structure to become stronger, but not so much that they lose what made them brilliant in the first place.
Testimonial
4
“Sue combines commercial rigour with a genuine understanding of creative businesses. She gets under the skin of a business quickly, challenges our thinking and has helped us navigate everything from growth and major opportunities to some incredibly difficult decisions. She doesn't advise from the sidelines — she helps make things happen.”
let’s talk.
You don’t need a polished brief.
If you’re building something, changing something or have a sense the business needs tightening, simplifying or moving forward, send me a note, or book a call.