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Fly Your Own Flag

There’s something I’ve noticed lately, and I say this with nothing but respect for the people doing the work, agency creatives are peacocking hard. It’s constant with the award wins, the jury invites, the case studies, and the same campaign reposted across your circles timelines. I get it, you’re proud, as you should be. But it’s almost always done in service of the agency rather than yourself, and that’s where I think we’re getting it wrong.

I understand the loyalty and I admire it to an extent, but I think it’s a wasted opportunity. Agencies are shrinking, holding companies are consolidating, teams are being cut, clients are pulling spend, and the game is shifting faster than anyone wants to admit. Amid all of this, creatives continue to fly the agency flag like it means something permanent. The truth is, it doesn’t, not to them anyway. They will let you go when it suits them, they’ll restructure, reorganise, and reassign. The only person who doesn’t really benefit from your public allegiance is you.

This isn’t an attack, it’s frustration mixed with a bit of sadness. I love advertising, I always have, but I’ve always struggled with the way the industry treats its people. That’s one of the reasons I chose a different path. I had to put distance between myself and an industry that often burns the very talent it relies on. Even now, I find myself drawn to it, not for the industry, but for the work and its people, for you, for the brilliant, hilarious, sharp, emotionally intelligent humans that make this business better.

But here’s the problem, the industry has gotten smaller, not just in size but in spirit. It doesn’t feel like the creative playground it used to be, the energy has shifted, and the opportunities feel narrower. So in the kindest way possible, I want to offer a bit of advice, not because you’re doing it wrong, but because you deserve more than what you’ve been given.

Start thinking about yourself, not your department, the agency, or the holding company. Think about you, your voice, your point of view, and your experience. For too long you’ve been an advert for the company you work for, it’s time to become the poster for yourself.

You don’t need to be promoting your own work every week, you don’t need to become an influencer or sell a course. Just start showing us what you care about, share the work that moved you, the ads that fuel your passion, the campaigns you wish you’d made. Talk about your process, share your taste, teach someone how to craft a line, how to build a deck, or how to navigate feedback from a client who doesn’t get it.

You’re a better storyteller than you think. Whether you’re a writer or an art director, you already know how to engage people, you understand tone, rhythm, aesthetic, and timing. Use that, make us laugh, make us think, tell us the stories from the pitch room, from the late nights, from the edits that almost didn’t land. And yes, give us the saucy ones from the agency Christmas parties while you’re at it, that’s part of the lore.

Creatives are full of commentary, and the world needs more of it. Your feed doesn’t have to be polished or strategic, it just has to be yours. There’s a lot of talk about personal brands, but that’s just another way of saying own voice. You have a perspective, let us see it.

Think of your LinkedIn like a tactical campaign. The cleverest, boldest, most relevant post that will stop our doom scroll. That’s all this is, a place to connect, to remind us who you are, not just who you work for.

I know this platform isn’t your favourite. Most people only come here to repost their agency’s latest flex or to flick the switch to open to work when another merger leaves them behind. But this place matters, it’s worth investing in before you need it, and it’s worth showing up on as yourself, not just your agency’s echo.

So if no one’s told you this lately, let me. You are not a job title, you are not a line item in the awards submission deck. You are the reason the work exists, start acting like it. We need more of you, not less.

You’ve been flying someone else’s flag long enough, time to fly your own.

Your Product Agency Is a Dev Shop

A lot of tech companies position themselves as digital product agencies. They claim to deliver end-to-end product solutions, but look a little closer, and they’re just shipping code.

I’m calling bullshit on this practice.

Real product agencies balance design, development, and business strategy to create products that solve problems, deliver value, and drive outcomes. Overstaffing developers, under-resourcing design, and neglecting strategic conversations isn’t building products. It’s a production line disguised as a product team.

Balance Your Team
A team stacked with developers and thin on designers is built to execute, not to create cohesive products. Effective teams bring together designers, developers, and business strategists, all equally involved from concept to launch. When design is under-resourced, it becomes surface-level. Designers are brought in to make things look good instead of influencing key product decisions.

The absence of strategic input causes the work to drift. Developers end up building features without understanding the underlying business goals, and design becomes a cosmetic layer rather than a strategic element. Structuring projects to keep design and business as present as development maintains alignment with the product vision. Each function shapes the final outcome, not just completing their assigned tasks.

A workforce dominated by developers without strategic input is structured for output, not impact.

Integrate Workflows
Strict handoffs between design and development don’t lead to cohesive products. They create disconnected features. Design and development are not separate stages but intertwined practices that need to work together from start to finish.

When designers hand off screens without context and developers build based on assumptions, the result is a fragmented product. Features function in isolation instead of forming a seamless experience. Maintaining alignment throughout the project prevents these gaps. Designers and developers should collaborate continuously, discussing technical feasibility, iterating on interactions, and addressing potential issues as a team.

Strictly following handoffs creates silos. Connecting the work across stages is what builds a cohesive product.

Set Your Standards
Debating frameworks and file structures is not progress. It’s friction. Standards establish a common ground, preventing projects from going in different directions based on personal preferences. If the organisation uses specific frameworks, that should be defined upfront, not argued over.

Assign leads to define standards for file structure, component naming, and documentation. Make sure guidelines are communicated clearly and include criteria for exceptions. Updates should be driven by proven solutions, not personal whims.

Arguing over frameworks rather than solving client problems is a sign of internal misalignment.

Understand the Problem
Diving straight into execution without clearly defining the problem is a common mistake. Effective projects begin with a structured approach to uncovering what truly needs to be solved. This involves running workshops or design sprints where business leads, designers, and developers work alongside the client to unpack the challenge, capture pain points, and align on specific outcomes.

These sessions do more than set expectations. They surface hidden complexities, highlight conflicting priorities, and clarify what success looks like for both the client and the team. Dedicating time to this phase prevents rushed estimates and misaligned efforts later on.

A shared understanding of the problem is not just a step in the process. It’s the foundation that keeps the work focused, purposeful, and strategically aligned.

Manage the Scope
When deadlines loom and budgets tighten, development teams often start slicing features to stay on track. What begins as minor adjustments can quickly turn into wholesale descoping, with entire sections of the product being cut to meet timelines. The result is a butchered product that no longer resembles the original vision.

Scope management is not about cramming everything in or cutting corners at the last minute. It’s about making deliberate decisions that protect both the budget and the product’s integrity. Planning in sprints allows issues to be identified early and adjustments made without gutting the work.

When changes are unavoidable, clearly communicate how adjustments will impact cost, timing, and deliverables. It’s not about saving face; it’s about maintaining the integrity of the product without turning it into a shell of what was promised.

Build Reusable Assets
Starting every project from scratch is a waste of resources. Product-focused teams invest in reusable assets like design systems, code libraries, and templates that provide consistency and reduce effort.

Asset development should be treated as an ongoing practice, not a one-time task. Assign leads to maintain and update these resources as living documents. Reusable assets streamline the work, reduce churn, and provide a solid foundation for future projects.

Insisting on starting fresh every time is not innovation. It’s inefficiency.

Build Client Relationships
Treating client interaction as a distraction rather than an opportunity is a missed chance to gain insight. Casual conversations build trust, uncover deeper needs, and strengthen working relationships. Discouraging engagement with clients means losing valuable context.

Not every interaction needs to be a meeting. Casual chats over a drink, a check-in email, or a short call can reveal crucial information that formal meetings might miss. Viewing client relationships as a line item on the budget misses the bigger picture.

Focusing solely on tasks while ignoring client connections is not product work. It’s order-taking.

Culture Isn’t a Performance Metric
A culture measured by attendance at social events or who posts the most emojis on Slack is performative, not authentic. Real culture emerges through how people work together, communicate, and resolve conflicts. It’s built on shared values, not forced interactions.

Inclusive cultures allow people to participate or not without fear of judgment. No one should feel pressured to attend social events to maintain good standing in the team.

Culture isn’t a checkbox to tick. It’s the environment shaped by how people work, not by how many quizzes they join.

Beyond Build
When the work ends the moment a product ships, opportunities for impact are missed. Taking responsibility for the go-to-market phase is not an afterthought. It is a critical extension of product work.

Creating landing pages, demo videos, messaging frameworks, and sales collateral ensures the product reaches its audience effectively. Staying involved post-launch allows for tracking user feedback, monitoring performance, and iterating to improve outcomes.

Dropping out after handoff isn’t product work. It’s project work that misses the long-term value.

Some agencies claim to build products, but their practices tell a different story. Structures centered around developers without strategic input, workflows based on handoffs instead of collaboration, and a focus on task completion rather than outcomes are easy to spot. Real product work is about alignment across design, development, and business strategy. It’s about creating meaningful connections between teams, clients, and the final product.

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