ARK Agency
London
Website: ARK Agency
Founders: Mat Goff & Mike Wilton
Year founded: 2024
UK headcount: <50
Offices: London
We’ve got to find better ways to monetise creative thinking.
Profile
Ark Agency is less than a year old but it has been travelling at speed since making its debut in June 2024.
Co-founded by former Adam & Eve/DDB chief executive Mat Goff, and ex-Anomaly managing director Mike Wilton – who first met six years ago – Ark's pioneering approach to creative thinking, talent and capability has been a big hit so far. The agency has won 10/10 pitches against established agencies, doubled its headcount and is operating in over a dozen markets around the world.
Much of this success has come down to taking a “deliberately progressive” approach to what an agency should look like today, which has involved eschewing traditional legacy structures and the ‘scale game,’ and finding better ways to monetise creativity.
Practically speaking, there has been a focus on three key disciplines – creative thinking, creative making and creative partnership – and charging in a way that reflects the changing times and creates greater value for clients.
Ark’s progressive model has won favour with some established brands already, including Huel, Magners Cider and Swedish coffee brand Lofbergs, which Ark helped launch into the UK. Gearing up for the next stage of growth, the creative shop has just made its first three senior leadership hires to drive creative output and global expansion.
With decades of experience between them, Mat and Mike have been working to create an “agency of belonging,” hence the name Ark. One of the most rewarding things so far, they say, has been seeing inherently creative people flourish at Ark in ways they were not able to do at previous agencies due to outdated approaches to creating communications.
“The challenge for bigger agencies is that they start to create departments and swim lanes, which limits the creative thinking that these incredibly talented people have to offer. Then clients suffer as a result.”
As Ark approaches the end of its first full year of trading, the focus is on finding the perfect blend of opportunities, talent, energy and momentum to fill the Ark and ensure it can continue to swim outside the lanes.