The system

How I turn creative departments around

The Creative Turnaround System, step by step, and the five ways we can work together.

Approach

The Creative Turnaround

A set of repeatable principles, actions and behaviours learned from my time at some of the most legendary creative studios in the world, then refined and developed into a repeatable system at my own agency. It builds Commitment, Structure, Expertise and ensures I leave you with a legacy of great work and a team shaped to take on the world.

The problem is rarely your creative people themselves. The infrastructure around them, and how they are being creatively led, is often the most significant factor.

Step 1

Commitment

Vision, mission and values

First I understand your company culture, and get to know the processes and approach that define your agency and your creative department. Then we get to work.

We need to define creativity and its role within your organisation. It’s different for every agency. What’s important is to understand what it means to you. This gives us our first principles as creative leaders: the mission, vision and values that drive first-principle decision-making.

Weeks 1–3

Step 2

Structure

Raise the floor to raise the roof

Put the scaffolding in place: the basics, the processes and the permissions creatives need to achieve the mission and their own personal transformations. Structure brings predictability and repeatability, creating a safe space, so creatives can trust the process and pour their energy into the work. It’s often the biggest blocker.

Weeks 3–8

Step 3

Expertise

Find, grow and back the talent

This work starts almost from day one, meeting the teams and understanding their capabilities, and kicks off in earnest once the tactical plan is in place. We work with the existing talent, helping them be the best versions of themselves and do work they never thought they could do. Importantly, we also identify team members who would be happiest deployed elsewhere. We identify which weaknesses are the result of legacy systems and learned behaviour, and which can become superpowers. Find the spark and fan it into a blaze. The underdog has always been my favourite story.

Months 2–5

Step 4

Hand over

Leadership that lasts

A renewed creative energy, culture and leadership. Success has many parents. I’m happy to leave you with the results of our work together and watch it fly.

Months 5–6

Miss one pillar and the work falters

The pillars only work together. When one is missing, departments fail in predictable ways.¹

What’s missing	How it fails	What it looks like
Commitment without structure	Endless revisions and death spiralling	Decisions get made but no one is sure why
Commitment without expertise	Looks right at first, but falls apart under scrutiny	Creative work cosplaying as ideas
Structure without commitment	Effortlessly wrong	The engine is purring, but no one has a map
Structure without expertise	Confidently wrong	The wrong thing is fiercely defended and reinforced
Expertise without commitment	Immaculately crafted nothings	Lipstick, is that your pig?
Expertise without structure	Exquisite work on the wrong brief at the wrong time	Hand-crafted arrows that never see a bow

Where it comes from

I learned it from great creative directors and colleagues, among them John Hunt, my mentor Robyn Putter and Tay Guan Hin in Singapore, and used it to launch my own agency, which the business press described as a start-up on steroids, the likes of which the industry had never seen. Most recently, in 2026, I transformed an agency from creatively unranked to a top 5 ranked creative agency and the continent’s fastest-growing creative agency by revenue.

I’ve systemised this approach, adding coaching and course work from one of advertising’s most celebrated creative directors and the client-side insight I gained as Partner and Global Chief Creative Officer at Brunswick Group in London.

Failure modes from Law, N., Oteh, N., Droga, D. and Bellin, J. (2026). Applied creativity—and how to lead it. Accenture Song, p. 14, adapted. ↩

Ways to work together

Five ways to engage me, from creative audit to interim CCO

Each one builds commitment, structure and expertise. I make sure we don’t get stuck in endless navel-gazing, with a system designed to sharpen the insights and move straight to results, faster.

2–4 weeks

Creative Diagnostic

An outside read, delivered to the CEO

A clear-eyed view of how strong your three pillars are, what’s holding the creative department back, and what to fix first.

IListen
- Interviews with leadership, creatives and clients
- How the market sees the agency
IIAudit
- Commitment: vision, mission, values and what really gets rewarded
- Structure: process, approvals and who owns creative decisions
- Expertise: the work against the best in the market, the talent map and creative leadership
IIIPlan
- A prioritised turnaround roadmap
- Quick wins and people decisions

For independent founders and network CEOs who want an outside read

3–6 months

Turnaround Programme

The Creative Turnaround, installed

The full transformation, led alongside your leadership team. This is the model behind my most recent turnaround.

ICommitment
- A vision, mission and values that give creativity its place
- A first principle for every decision
- Clarity on which behaviours get rewarded
IIStructure
- Brilliant basics, process and clear decision ownership
- Protected time and space to explore
- Tentpole projects to define the agency
IIIExpertise
- Talent nurtured, trained and backed
- Senior creative hires from my network
- Pitch leadership, award-ready work and an effectiveness strategy

For independent agencies and network offices ready to change

3–6 month cycles

Interim or Embedded CCO / ECD

A creative leader in the building, now

When the department needs leadership immediately, I run it day to day while we find and set up the permanent leader.

ILead
- Set the mission and model the culture
- Day-to-day creative leadership, pitches and key clients
IIRebuild
- Structure, process and standards
- Talent, hiring and crit culture
IIIHand over
- Successor search and onboarding
- A department that runs without me

For network offices, holding groups and independents between leaders

3–12 weeks, per pitch or account

Pitch & Growth Acceleration

Win the accounts that change the agency

A focused intervention on the pitches and key accounts that move top-line revenue. I lead the creative, sharpen the strategy and the story, and get the team ready to win in the room. Built on winning BMW, AB InBev and a FTSE 100-listed bank in my agency’s first year.

IQualify
- Which pitches to chase, and which to walk away from
- Brief interrogation and a clear win strategy
IICreate
- Creative leadership on the idea and the work
- Senior creative firepower from my network when it’s needed
IIIWin and grow
- Story, rehearsal and presentation coaching, and in the room on the day
- Growth plans to expand key accounts after the win

For independent founders and network leaders facing a must-win pitch

Monthly or quarterly

Strategic Creative Advisory

Visible creative leadership at the top

A senior creative voice for the CEO, CMO or board when positioning, reputation or a big moment is on the line. Built on my years as Partner and Chief Creative Officer at Brunswick Group in London.

For example
- Corporate positioning and narrative
- Crisis and critical-moment creative
- Agency roster review, briefing and pitch management
- Creative benchmarking and team evaluations
- Creative leadership mentoring

For CEOs, CMOs and boards

Every engagement can be shaped to the situation. Fees are agreed per engagement after a first conversation.

Looking for a turnaround?

Book a call

Meme: a police officer with arms folded. If I say turn around, don't sing the next line.