The Academy

A decade after it was founded by Mitch Kaye and Dan Glover, The Academy has firmly established itself as one of the UK’s most ambitious, creative, and commercially-successful communications agencies. Built on the principle of combining strategic intelligence with creative excellence, the agency continues to deliver work that doesn’t just make headlines, but shapes culture and drives business success.

In 2024, The Academy’s momentum was undeniable, with a 7% year-on-year revenue increase, taking fee income to just shy of £7m with a 20% profit margin and a team of 57. The independent consumer-focused agency has a client retention rate of 98% and added Burger King, Tinder, Ubisoft, and Fred Olsen Cruise Lines to a blue-chip client list that already included Amazon, Disney+, Mastercard, Morrisons, Heathrow, and Zurich. Its approach to new business is as strategic as its client work: prioritising like-minded, ambitious brands, and winning 80% of the pitches it pursues.

The Academy’s campaigns in 2024 set the standard for integrated creativity that delivers both fame and fortune for brands. Its work for Amazon celebrated partnerships and innovation, from turning school walls into inspiration boards to launching a Prime Day ‘Hype House’ and Amazon’s first-ever Black Friday chat show with Rylan Clark. Its ‘Bundles of Joy’ campaign for Burger King — offering free Whoppers to new mums — drove national conversation, while its data-led ‘Burger King Unwrapped’ report became a full-scale advertising campaign. For Marie Curie, the agency transformed music requests at end-of-life care into an emotional campaign, featuring a playlist and an Edith Bowman-hosted podcast.

The agency is known for activating big creative ideas at scale, from staging a live re-creation of Sir Ian McGeechan’s famous ‘Be Special’ rugby speech for Fuller’s London Pride, to cooking the world’s first biofuel breakfast at Heathrow to highlight sustainable aviation fuel. For Zurich, the agency’s ‘About Time’ campaign leveraged music to raise awareness of cancer waiting times, generating national headlines while launching the brand’s Accelerate product.

Beyond its work, The Academy has redefined what high-performance independent agency culture should look like. Its unique “column structure” ensures teams stay small, agile, and creative, with revenue caps per team to maintain quality and work-life balance. Homegrown talent is at the heart of its leadership pipeline, with two long-serving employees launching new Entertainment and Sport divisions in 2024. Staff benefits are best-in-class, including 30 days’ holiday, private healthcare, £50 monthly fitness funds, and on-the-spot £1,000 bonuses. A hybrid model ensures flexibility, with Mondays and Fridays fully remote.— MPS