Building an innovation practice from scratch
FutureBrand is a global brand agency within the Interpublic network. In 2013 I joined the London team to co-found a product and service innovation Lab: a new capability that had to prove brand agencies could do digital innovation work, win its own clients, and pay its own way.
We built the team, the operating model and the commercial offer from scratch, running multidisciplinary delivery across strategy, design and experimentation, and competing for pitches against pureplay digital agencies. I carried full profit-and-loss responsibility for the practice, which grew to $2.3M.
During the first six months, the team developed a hydration prototype that attracted interest from Nestlé in North America. We later created a connected-machine loyalty concept for Nespresso, showing how a digitally connected coffee machine could link consumption to rewards, brought to life as a concept film presented to the Nespresso CMO in Lausanne.
The Lab established digital product and service innovation as a standing capability inside FutureBrand, with its own clients, its own revenue and a $2.3M P&L.
The profit-and-loss the Lab grew to, as a standing innovation practice with its own clients and revenue.
My role: Co-founder, Digital Strategy Director, P&L owner