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I think agencies have always been drawn to us because we walk and talk like them – our team ’ s made up of the types of people they ’ d have within their businesses and , in fact , we do see ourselves as an extension of their team . We ’ re honest , we ’ re nice and we have a lot of fun doing what we do . Agencies buy into that .

What does Future Factory ’ s growth journey look like ?

Dan , Alex and I spent our first summer working from our living rooms . Thirteen years on and we ’ re about 75 people split across three locations : London , Manchester and Glasgow . In 2023 , we were acquired and are now part of the Ingenuity Group , whose mission is to connect the marketing world . So , it ’ s been quite the journey !

Our desire to help agencies grow is the same as it ’ s always been , and our business model is largely the same . That said , now that we ’ re part of a larger group , our clients have access to a whole range of new services that were previously unthinkable . We ’ re learning loads from our sister businesses and asking ourselves different kinds of questions as we look to enter our next stage of growth .

How have you ensured a cohesive team ?

A lot of companies didn ’ t return to the office after the pandemic . This was never an option for us . Instead , we have a hybrid way of working and we encourage the team to get into the office as much as possible . All those little face-to-face touchpoints , from having a chat in the kitchen to a brainstorming session with Post-Its , are so important when it comes to creating a sense of togetherness . It ’ s hard to feel like you ’ re one team when you ’ re not actually in the same place !

Emily , our Head of Culture , and her ‘ Vibes Team ’ do a wonderful job organising team outings so we can enjoy each other ’ s company and have a laugh outside of work . Our culture is quite unique – people always say they miss it when they leave and it ’ s something we want to protect .

In addition to the above , we ’ ve worked hard over the years to be better at comms with the team so that everyone ’ s on the same page about our goals as a business and how we ’ re performing . We ’ re making a conscious effort to be more transparent as we believe it ’ s the best way to be .

How does daring to be different help SMEs ?

Future Factory is an SME and we primarily work with other SMEs . Because we ’ re an SME , we understand all the highs and lows of growing a business from scratch and I think this empathy is key to our success . I love working with SMEs because of their hunger , their entrepreneurial spirit and their desire to do things differently . There ’ s less bureaucracy and less red tape , which means more energy and freedom to come up with new ideas and new ways of working . Daring to be different is their whole reason for being .

Your passion is education and learning – what ignited this passion ?

I hope this isn ’ t too cliché an answer but I ’ d have to say it was my parents . From a very early age , they instilled a love of learning in me and my older sister . My dad used to tell us that knowledge is power and that getting an education is something that could never be taken away from us , no matter what happened to us in life .

Yet even though having a formal education is important and I do believe that higher education should be free and available to everyone , I don ’ t think fancy degrees are a good measure of intelligence . They ’ re not the be-all and end-all . Instead , I ’ m much more interested in and excited by lived experience and all those wonderful things we learn simply by existing in this world and interacting with

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