FCB London: Best Year Ever

FCB London can look back on 2024 with huge satisfaction. Every box on their scorecard for the past twelve months has a big tick in it, from excellent creative work to new business success, from impressive margins to building a strong culture of collaboration.

The agency's leadership team has really got into its rhythm and the results are clear. So we asked CEO Katy Wright, CSO Owen Lee, CCO, and CSO Ben Jaffé to tell us about FCB's year.

Katy Wright, CEO, Owen Lee, CCO, and Ben Jaffé, CSO, on the agency's 2024

What have been the major highlights for your business in 2024?

Katy: We took a brave step together with the team at Andrex to help the UK face its “social constipation” head on. The entire agency is enormously proud of this work – some of the team will regularly tell people it’s the best work they’ve ever done, and I’d have to agree it’s up there. 

Ben: Challenging the taboo around poo is a big job, but our “Get Comfortable” platform led Andrex to become the only UK toilet paper brand to grow in volume and drive category value growth in 2024. Rather than creative for creativity’s sake, we showed a responsibility to society and Andrex’s shareholders, demonstrating how bravery can pay off when it comes to rebrands. Being “Brave Together” can really make an impact on the bottom line (pardon the pun) – proving that purpose and profit can go hand in hand. 

What is your proudest achievement from the last 12 months? 

Katy / Owen / Ben: We talk a lot about “The Power of We”, and we’ve seen this really come to fruition in 2024. We’re really proud of how our teams have come together to deliver record-breaking business results, delivering 25 per cent growth, winning four new clients such as Kellanova and Perfetti Van Melle, and beating our targets in what can only be described as a “challenging” year at best. 

What are you most looking forward to next year? 

Katy: I’ll let Ben and Owen talk more about the work that’s currently in the hopper – but Tyler (Turnbull) talks about his ambition for FCB to be the agency that stands up for creativity at a time when it’s being devalued. That’s always been our ambition – proving our philosophy that creativity is an economic multiplier and how it can be the growth driver clients are looking for in this ever-changing market.   

Owen and Ben: On that note, in 2025 we’re focusing on “the work, the work, the work”. We’re excited about launching a body of work that cracks the code to global advertising, in maintaining edge and positive standout, while connecting with people across borders, irrespective of geography, culture, and language. We’re looking forward to taking some fantastic brands to new heights. 

What do you feel have been the greatest industry challenges for agencies this year and why?

Ben: The economic climate has had a huge impact on the business, as budgets and resources have been squeezed, and there’s an ever-greater expectation for senior people to be across every bit of business. To be profitable in this climate, we have to be bigger and bolder – both with the work we create and the business we go after. 

Owen: The rise of AI has been a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity. Ideas always come first, so we see these tools as a partner to enhance human creativity and get to solutions faster.

Has the addition of any AI solution made the profound impact on your business that was expected? If so – what?

Owen and Ben: AI has completely transformed the way we work. All the strategists and creatives are incorporating our bespoke platforms as well as publicly-available tools in their day-to-day, which has revolutionised the way we research, create, and craft, enriching our strategic rigour and giving us more time for creative ideation – the stuff the machine can’t do… yet.  

What one change would you most like to see change in the ad industry next year? 

Owen: I’d like to see people become more tolerant for the vulnerable act of creativity. People have been so quick to judge this year, jumping to pile on when things didn’t quote go to planned, but love or hate a particular campaign, we should show the work – and the people who created it – more respect.  

Katy: Just stop being bamboozled. It’s a distraction. We need to do what we do best which is create bloody great work.  

Creative Salon on FCB London's 2024

FCB London’s year began with the hiring of Kyle Harman-Turner as creative partner and executive creative director, bringing a wealth of experience from his 17 years at Mother. Expanding its creative department continued with the return of Ben Edwards and Guy Hobbs as executive creative directors who first teamed up eight years ago at FCB before moving to work for BBH and Wonderhood Studios. 

The year also brought new business success in the form of Perfetti Van Melle and Kellanova, which will see FCB take creative leadership for brands from Pringles to Trident. The wins helped propel the agency to its best-ever business performance, something that will stand it in very good stead if the planned merger between Omnicom and FCB's parent IPG leads to any consolidation.

Mindful of the power of creativity to do good, FCB launched ‘AdVocab’ in partnership with D&AD. The free-to-use tool is designed to help industry newcomers understand the highly technical language used in everyday work.

But more than anything, FCB's 2024 was about creative ambition. And perhaps the best example of this push for creative excellence came with the agency's work for Andrex. The brand platform ‘Get Comfortable’ encouraged the nation to challenge its toileting taboos and at the heart of the work is the truth that too many Brits are held back by their embarrassment and prudery about going to the toilet.

The film ‘Post Poo Euphoria’ showed an office worker exiting a toilet cubicle and giving nod to the Andrex puppy in the distance. He danced his way through the toilets, toilet roll in hand, owning the act of getting ‘comfortable’.

FCB's work for Skoda also hit creative highs. Bumble bees starred in the "Honeyed Love" campaign to launch the new Kodiaq SUV. The 60-second ad was shown globally and featured a bumble bee buzzing its way into a vehicle and inadvertently being driven along on a family road trip - all the while its sweetheart follows alongside the car.

Back to Andrex, and a print and out of home (OOH) campaign to support the England football team during the European Championships this summer, just as they were about to take on Spain in the final. ‘Squeaky bum time’ helped break down the taboos around toileting with two different ads: one a full-page letter to then-England manager Gareth Southgate, written on toilet paper, about how a great England team is a lot like a great poo, followed by a poster campaign across London and Manchester.

An OOH campaign for Kleenex for this cold and flu season saw a ‘scrunch to release’ promotion of the tissue giant’s new scented tissues. The work highlighted the unique capsule-burst technology, releasing a menthol and eucalyptus scent, therefore giving consumers all the more reason to ‘Grab Kleenex’.

The agency's work for Intuit QuickBooks included bringing West Ham football fans together though a pie and mash activation and a Christmas campaign that celebrated the role of accountants in a business as the 'hero behind heroes'.

Creative Salon says… The leadership trio of Wright, Jaffe and Lee really hit its stride this year as the agency motored ahead creatively and on the new business front.

When an agency has its best ever year, you might expect them to slow down a little the following year. But we certainly don't expect that from FCB; this is an agency to watch in 2025.