38 people.One floor.
Strategy, creative, social, media and production at the same long tables, in a converted print works off Clerkenwell Road. Independent since 2014.
Independent since 2014.
Margot Hale and Dario Conti left a network agency in 2014 with one client, a borrowed room above a print works and a rule: the people who pitch the work make the work.
Twelve years on there are 38 of us on one floor of Coldbath Works, still independent, with strategy, creative, social, media and production at the same long tables. Most clients stay past year three, and most add a second service within a year.
Who you'll work with.
Four leads, and the same senior team from the first call to launch week.
01Margot HaleFounder, chief strategy officer · since 2014Ran strategy for global sportswear and beauty accounts at a network agency for twelve years. Reads every brief that comes in, and writes the one page we both sign.
02Dario ContiFounder, executive creative director · since 2014Trained as a photographer in Milan, then wrote and directed campaigns in London and Amsterdam. Still on set for every hero shoot.
03Ama OwusuHead of social & creators · since 2017Built our creator casting practice, from call sheets to usage rights. Runs the always-on teams for six of our clients.
04Graham PikeMedia director · since 2019Fifteen years planning and buying media, the last five against sales rather than reach. Will tell you when a channel has stopped working.
All 38 of us, by discipline
- 6Strategy
- 10Creative
- 8Social & creators
- 6Media
- 5Production
- 3Operations
How we work.
The people in the pitch make the work.
No hand-offs. The strategist and creative pair you meet in week one present the launch in week twelve.
One number, agreed in week two.
Every engagement is measured against a single business result we sign off together, written on the first page of the brief.
Ideas shown as work, not decks.
Routes arrive as films and posters, then get tested with real people before they get expensive.
A Friday note you can forward.
Every week: what shipped, what it did and what we are changing, written so a finance director can read it in two minutes.
A day on the floor.
Everything is made in house: the shoot, the edit, the sound and the media plan, within a few metres of each other.
Start
a brief/
Meet the people who would make your work. Send a brief and Margot Hale will set up a first call within a working day.
- TodayYou send the briefFive questions, about two minutes. No deck needed.
- Day 1A strategist callsQuestions about the launch, the audience and the number.
- Week 1One page, signedA short workshop, then the brief we both agree to.
- Week 3First routes, as workTwo ideas shown as films and posters, not slides.
