We recently talked to Drew Smith, Founding Partner and Creative Director of Lumen Group, who told Popsop about why he ended up in Milan and founded his own branding company there, why being sustainable meant being profitable, and about the relationship with Russia and Lumen’s Moscow-based partner agency Mildberry.

Nils Leonard told Popsop about why Grey chooses ‘long’ ideas, not ‘big’ ideas,  why he thinks the award shows have become better, about how social media agency The Social Partners complements Grey’s more ‘traditional’ services, and why advertising will always be about selling something.

We talked with the executives of LPK company, which claims to be the world’s largest employee-owned brand design agency with offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Richard Cleveland and Samuel Charlier told Popsop about how that employee ownership scheme works, what the European offices are up to and why clients consider LPK a «happy brand».

Research, being a vital initial part of any brand activities, is becoming more sophisticated in terms of techniques and methods year by year. In the interview to Popsop, a Director at River Research, Zoe Best, who heads up the agency’s Innovation offer, explains which new innovative techniques have come into play recently, shares her vision on what’s a real value of the research for a brand, and  how her relatively small independent agency manages to work globally providing a boutique service.

Biles Inc. is rare sort of a small creative business that breaks stereotypes about the size, having proved that it does not really matter when it comes to winning big clients. «Small agency —big difference» — that’s what they stand for. Anthony Biles, the founder and Principal, told Popsop about why he decided to launch his own business, why not having a central London office is a plus point, and explained why he thinks boutique is the best format of running a design agency.

While for some, Identica is sort of perpetuated as ‘the empire of Michael Peters’, which created the famous Russian Standard Vodka, the company nowadays has evolved to become a dynamic and diverse growing structure with rich multidisciplinary offer and refined positioning as guru of brand icons. Richard Morris, Managing Director of Identica, tells about what the agency is strategically up to, explains what is a brand icon and how his team manages to ‘create, evolve and restore’ them and why they closed down the Moscow office 3 years ago.

Having been set 8 years ago in London by our today’s interviewee Nick Dormon, Echo is made up of an eclectic mix of people, backgrounds, insights and experience which best matches the challenges faced by brand-owners — there isn’t a one size fits all approach. Echo’s fresh, but intelligent approach combined with uncompromised values influenced the likes of Unilever and Molson Coors to choose Echo as their creative partner on some significant and long-term projects.

In the interview to Popsop Nick shares his insight on the importance of graphics and structural design as one entity, explains why ‘madness, magic and meaning’ are the core Echo’s values, and argues on the shift from designing for stand-out to meaningful branding.

Our today’s interviewee is Hugh Robertson, Founding Partner and CEO of the London-based marketing agency RPM , Board Director at the MAA, successful businessmen, and simply a very bright and optimistic person. Hugh told Popsop about what a young person needed to start a business, how the role of ATL vs BTL marketing had changed over years, and what had kept him busy and inspired through his entire 19-year career in marketing.