46. Adapt or die - Jon Williams, The Liberty Guild, on creative agencies and the joy of disruption

In this, the third episode in our MENA region series we get down to brass tacks.Partner Phil Gripton is joined by Nick Walsh, founder of Migrate, to explore in forensic detail how agencies can successfully enter and grow in the MENA market. After nearly 18 years leading network agencies across the Middle East, Nick now helps independents “land, expand, and thrive” there. He set up Migrate to de-risk market entry and provide leadership teams with a route map for sustainable growth.Together Phil and Nick unpack the mechanics of successful expansion: why many agencies stumble on setup; talent and positioning; how to pace investment; and why a phased “test and scale” model will usually outperform cookie-cutter global playbooks.They also explore the emerging indie ecosystem and new initiatives Nick is spearheading, e.g. creating an independent agency directory to make it easier for brands to find specialist partners as well as helping launch the Alliance of independent Agencies in the region.Whether you’re a founder, investor or agency leader weighing entry, expansion or acquisition, this conversation provides practical advice on getting MENA right from someone who’s lived and breathed agency growth in the region for almost two decades.Key themes include:The indie opportunity: Networks are still over-represented in the region (around 80 / 20) and independents under-indexed. So the latter have space to win.Foundations first: Get legal setup, licensing, procurement registration and banking right; build for MENA realities (payment terms, gratuities, processes).Invest with growth, not ahead of it: Phase hiring and overheads; target foundational clients; plan a realistic 3-to-5-year path.Positioning for the region: Don’t copy and paste your home market story and approachTalent and culture: Blend HQ “firepower” with local capability; avoid all-expat teams; hire for cultural fluency.

The MENA region offers growth on a scale hard to find elsewhere, but only for those willing to commit, adapt, and align with the region’s long-term vision.In this episode of Waypointers, partner Jim Houghton is joined by Mike Khouri, Founder & CEO of Tactical.Together they explore the realities of scaling an agency in one of the fastest-growing, but most nuanced, markets in the world and how Mike and his team have done the hard yard to become one of the region’s pre-eminent independent social agencies.From the role of AI and innovation, to the local nuances of key markets such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Mike discusses why agencies with a “fly in and fly out” attitude often fail. He explains why investing in truly understanding the region, or to use his words, “going deep on the terrain”, and long-term alignment with specific national visions are critical for lasting success.Whether you’re a founder, investor, or agency leader eyeing expansion, investment, or acquisition, this episode offers clear insights into what works, and what doesn’t, in MENA’s dynamic landscape.Key themes include:Why local depth matters: Global playbooks rarely succeed; agencies must invest on the ground, hire locally, and understand cultural nuance.Growth with discipline: Tactical simplified from 18 services down to 4, focusing on what truly delivers long-term results for clients.What buyers should look for: Investors should value sustained client success, team retention, and deep market integration.The regional dynamic: The UAE, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and beyond - each offers distinct opportunities, underpinned by ambitious national agendas like Saudi’s Vision 2030 and Dubai’s D33.

At a time when growth is hard to come by in traditional markets, the Gulf offers something rare: scale, ambition, excitement and clients hungry for transformation. In this episode of Waypointers, partner Jim Houghton sits down with colleague, MD Gary Whyte to explore the opportunity and discuss why it’s not always a straightforward play for agencies; missteps can easily happen for businesses that don’t do their homework.Gary shares practical lessons from working with independent agencies across Dubai and the wider GCC region including a highlight; taking fast-growing local agency Create Group on a journey that culminated in Gary and his team advising on their sale to Stagwell earlier this year.Whether you're considering acquisition, expansion or partnership, this episode offers valuable insights into navigating a market where growth is very much on the table, but local knowledge is key. This episode kicks off a new Waypoint series focused on the Middle East, offering advice for anyone looking to enter the market or take their existing operations further.

Agencies in the performance marketing sector are arguably having to face up to change faster than other parts of marketing services. When the platforms you’ve built your career and businesses around over the last 20 years are suddenly transforming, you have to reinvent yourself or face oblivion.For this Waypointers episode (link) partner Phil Gripton talks to someone who was there at the dawn of performance, Joe Procter, co-founder of Open Partners. Open Partners was founded around the concept of “agency of next”,  which Joe explains as “preparing clients for a future that hasn’t happened yet, so that they can adapt to that future faster than their competitors can.”How quickly this change is happening in performance is plain for all to see. Google’s share of search dropped below 90% for the first time in 15 years, driven by the fast-growing trend to use AI for search. A recent Gartner report predicted that within three years, 50 % of organic traffic from google will have disappeared. Fundamentally if performance agencies don’t prepare for that future, they face an extinction event.There is no one silver bullet that allows a business to successfully face up to seismic change, especially change that is driven by external forces. But Joe’s approach provides a strong blueprint for any agency leadership team who is looking to prepare for an uncertain future. 

Private equity grabs most of the headlines in our sector, but without the range of facilities your bank has to offer, you might find it hard to grow your agency effectively.Exactly quite how significant that contribution can be comes to life in this latest Waypointers episode (link), where partner Matt Lacey talks to Frazer Barrs, Head of Media, within Barclays Corporate.If you thought you knew what your bank can do for your scaled business, you’re in for a few surprises.Frazer’s appearance on Waypointers comes as Barclays is approaching 40 years supporting businesses across media, marketing and creative industries, although Frazer is keen to point out he’s only been in role for around fifteen of those years!What listeners will immediately notice is Frazer’s infectious passion for the sector. Our industry can at times be really hard on itself but Frazer reminds us that the wider creative sector is rooting for our part of the market to do well. In his words, “advertising is the fuel that powers the industry” and if we’re having a tough time, then that means less available budget to commission and make great content across the board – film, TV, radio, gaming and so on.Barclays’ four decades of support and commitment to the sector means the bank has seen it grow and navigate a number of cyclical downturns, coming back stronger each time, resilient and able to reinvent itself.  Frazer does a great job of reminding listeners why ours is a great industry and why Barclays is committed to it.

A successful agency founder needs conviction and vision. Sam Fenton-Elstone, the CEO and founding partner of ‘Anything is Possible’ has both in abundance.In this episode of Waypointers, Sam gives our listeners an up-close and personal insight into the journey he’s been on so far, and where he and his team are taking ‘Anything is Possible’.If you’ve not yet worked it out from the name of his agency, Sam is on a no-holds barred growth mission. He’s taken his learnings from some of the big industry roles he’s held at iCrossing and then VCCP and created something compelling and new at his seven-year-old agency.The kind of culture needed for the pace of growth Sam is targeting, requires people who are “possibilists”, supporting Sam as “Possiblist-in-Chief.” The agency now has plenty of data on what to look for when recruiting and they’ve nailed the people bit of the equation. In the same way, they’ve also worked out the kind of client that allows them to deliver on their vision.The results speak for themselves – 90 people, 40% YoY growth and in some cases extraordinary five-year client contracts, as well as the pursuit of growth in places that are in some instances off the beaten track. The agency really does live up to its name!Waypoint partner, Phil Gripton quizzes Sam on the nitty gritty of how he’s delivered exceptional growth; how he’s succeeded where much of the performance industry he operates within has struggled, and what the agency’s next chapter looks like.

Driving agency growth depends on a strong leadership team and that includes having a CFO who is deeply embedded within the business. Or at least that’s the way it should be. Despite this being a role that is central to agency success, conversations about what makes for a good CFO, including skillset and behaviour, gets relatively little airtime in our industry press. Ironically that changes when things go wrong, and then the CFO becomes a useful scapegoat, sometimes even finding themselves in the glare of negative publicity defending company performance and where the numbers “went wrong”.In this episode of Waypointers, we shine a light on the value that a strong CFO can bring to any ambitious agency. Adrian Talbot, CFO at the global marketing business Miroma, is a highly experienced practitioner who believes in getting involved with every aspect of the business.In this conversation with Waypoint partner, Matt Lacey, Adrian talks about how he’s adapted the CFO role in his image, making it a very “human centred” one. That has meant getting involved in parts of the business where a CFO might often find themselves “warned away” from or where they’d simply not think to look. In the same way that creatives might traditionally have been kept away from clients for fear of what they might say or do, CFOs may have to contend with similar attitudes.But by building firm ties across the agencies he’s worked at over the years, with leadership teams, staff and clients, Adrian has carved out a much more holistic CFO role.