Companies that adopt an agile operating model operate their business five to 10 times faster than their peers, McKinsey’s survey found.
In fact, highly successful agile transformations typically delivered about 30% gains in aspects like operational performance efficiency, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.
Simply said, businesses with an agile operating model enjoy better organizational effectiveness and faster financial outcomes.
In the 57th episode of the DesignRush Podcast, our host Vianca Meyer talked to Andy Willers, a prominent creative professional in the U.K. and globally, to discuss agility tactics crucial for businesses to scale and secure major clients.
Listen to the full episode to get more insights on:
- The role agility plays in scalability and driving business growth
- The key strategies you can leverage to acquire big clients
- The importance of adopting trends
Who Is Andy Willers?
Andy is the Co-Founder of Favoured, a full-service marketing, creative, and branding agency. With over two decades of industry experience, he has worked with top brands like Rolex and the BBC, while his agency has landed major clients like Durex and Teapigs. His expertise spans across various sectors helping businesses grow through data-driven marketing strategies.
Favoured has grown bigger with over 30 employees and serving more than 50 clients. However, the agency still maintains a "founder mindset."
Andy believes that it's important for founders to retain the mindset they had when they initially started the business and hustled for their first clients.
“I think always having that kind of founder, agile-led mindset is going to help at every stage of an agency's growth,” he says.
Andy shares that Favoured has experienced many ups and downs, like many other agencies.
But instead of being dragged down by the COVID-19 pandemic, it became pivotal in its growth as the company shifted from working out of an office to operating remotely, ultimately embracing an agility model.
“It's all about capitalizing on those lucky moments and making sure that you focus on not losing the positives that you had.
So for us, as we've grown, we've really focused on the more ‘boring’ side. How can we optimize our processes? How can we make sure we maintain growth?
All that kind of stuff, as well as thinking agile and sort of not being too bogged down in doing things the way you think you're meant to do them,” he adds.
I agree with Andy that having an agile mindset is key at every stage of agency growth. Optimizing your internal processes can help your agency scale efficiently just like it helped Favoured handle larger clients like Durex and Teapigs.
Additional statistics support the fact that agility can drive business growth as GoRemotely found that 98% of companies have become more successful because of it.
Building Client Trust through Consistent Quality Work
Favoured has worked with other notable clients such as MTV, Avon, and Veet, and Andy shares how the agency manages to land big clients like them.
“Having a reputation of delivering good work will mean that people will be prepared to recommend you because, ultimately, if they make a recommendation, it's almost like their reputation is on the line as well.
So, it's really important that you work hard, you deliver great executions, and you build trust in people because that will help you sort of follow their career trajectory and move into the right places,” he says.
Sometimes it's just luck. But most of the time, making sure that you're always going the extra mile is key to landing bigger clients through referrals — which is how Favoured managed to get Teapigs as a client.
Previously, DesignRush spoke to Stratabeat CEO Tom Shapiro who shared how to get a million-dollar marketing contract. Watch the video to learn more:
Andy also highlights that having a level of being established in the industry certainly helps with conversations when it comes to larger brands.
“It's not like you're gonna start an agency tomorrow and you're gonna win a massive FMCG brand — unless you're offering something niche,” he adds.
The McKinsey study also found that companies focusing on specialized offerings or markets are more likely to outperform their competitors in terms of growth.
Favoured is a great example of this, building a team around app marketing and the full-funnel approach needed for acquiring and retaining users.
“Structuring a team around app-specific stuff has been great and it's been fantastic for growth because we've now become a semi go-to app-specific marketing agency,” Andy says.
Favoured demonstrates that agencies that embrace specialization and seek out unique opportunities can maintain a competitive edge and foster long-term growth.
In a previous podcast, DesignRush spoke to Warm Robots founder and CEO Goldie Chan who reveals proven ways for agencies to drive success. Watch the video to learn more:
Focusing only on major platforms like Google and Meta can limit an agency’s growth potential. Diversifying across platforms, especially emerging ones, can open up new avenues for success.
"Five years ago, TikTok wasn’t a thing. And now, TikTok's a thing. And actually, it’s eating up a lot of the media budgets [...] So I think being open to realizing that you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in the Meta basket is really important," Andy says.
By adopting this mindset, Favoured was able to carve out a unique space in the competitive digital marketing landscape.
Andy suggests that agencies willing to explore and adopt new platforms are better positioned to seize new opportunities and scale effectively.
“I think the agility side of recognizing change is a key part of potentially building your revenue streams,” he adds.
Adapting to Industry Shifts
Staying agile and quickly integrating new technologies and trends can be the key to agency success.
“If you don't move with the times, you're very quickly, potentially forgotten or overtaken by someone who's willing to adopt a new piece of technology or think about something differently,” Andy explains.
He also believes that AI is revolutionizing marketing processes, so agencies should adopt this trend to drive better results.
“Pandora's box has been opened, and it's not getting closed. And I don't think it's going away. So I do believe that there is an opportunity right now for people to understand how to use AI in the right context of how it is going to shape marketing going forward,” he says.
Listen to the full episode with Andy Willers over on Spotify:
Additionally, newer platforms like TikTok are not only trends but represent a shift in how consumers engage with brands.
Favoured adopted TikTok when it wasn’t as popular as it is now to win Durex as a client, offering a new service that larger agencies weren’t equipped to handle.
“When you're trying to approach bigger brands, it's about realizing where you fit in their entire marketing matrix. We are a full-service performance marketing agency, but it's not like I'm going to Durex and going, ‘Can we do all of your digital marketing, please?’
Because ultimately, they're such a large company. They'll have many different agencies handling different elements of their marketing executions and all that kind of stuff. So, you have to see where the opportunity is and you have to see where you can fit,” Andy explains.
For Durex, they launched the brand’s first TikTok campaign which generated £500,000 in sales through their eCommerce store and boosted ROAS on existing channels by 25%.
“We were coming to them with an interesting proposition that none of their current agencies had really thought about or could handle at that time.
And we got that tiny little piece of the pie to try and do an execution for them, which otherwise we wouldn't really have got a look in.
So, I think it's also about spotting the right niche opportunities in the larger makeup of those companies' marketing requirements ahead; on an emerging platform. And ultimately, that got us in the door,” he adds.
Businesses that want to adopt a more efficient operation to increase revenue should consider adopting an agility model.
Andy’s advice is a great reminder that agencies that stay agile, embrace change, and adopt trends are more likely to succeed.
