Rufus Leonard

Rufus Leonard is an independent agency that builds category-defining service brands through design and technology

By Rufus Leonard

We act as the catalyst for service brands with the desire to be foremost, standard-setting, and first choice. Our services help brands define their unique promise then – crucially – deliver it across how they think, look and speak, how they interact with customers, how they harness innovations, and how they rally their people.

We’ve been helping service brands retain, regain or define their categories for over 30 years, including British Gas, BBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Pinsent Masons, British Red Cross, The Gym Group, The Student Hotel, and London Business School.

We work by defining your unique promise and making sure you can deliver it across:

Brand strategy and design: how you think, look and speak
Experience design: how you interact with customers
Technology and data: how you harness innovation
Organisational engagement: how you rally your people

Introduction to our people

Laurence Parkes, CEO

As CEO, Laurence spearheads the agency’s strategic and business ambition, engineering a meaningful difference to people through our clients and, in turn, helping unleash the full potential of the digital economy.

A regular industry voice, Laurence’s specialist subjects include business transformation, lean principles, data-driven decision-making, brand and communications strategy, product, service and experience design, CRM, and brand experience. Laurence has collected many accolades throughout his career including a Gold Digital Experience Award, Gold Cannes Cyber Lion, and Gold IPA Effectiveness Awards.

Prior to being named CEO, Laurence was Rufus Leonard’s first Chief Strategy Officer. He was also responsible for creating bespoke and rewarding digital experiences for clients including Reckitt Benckiser, the AA and Stagecoach.

Neil Svensen, Co-founder & Chair

Neil co-founded Rufus Leonard 30 years ago, with the ambition to create a brand-led digital experience agency. In that time, the agency has grown to over 100 people and has helped brands deliver a number of firsts in their industries, including allowing people to check their bank balance in the comfort of their own home (Lloyds, 1998). As Chair, Neil is a personal contact for our clients and channels his boundless creativity into the work happening across the studio. It’s this creativity that has helped establish some of the country’s biggest brands and their digital presence, from Lloyds Banking Group to British Gas, London Stock Exchange Group and the V&A.

Darrel Worthington, Co-founder & Chief Experience Officer

Darrel co-founded Rufus Leonard in 1989 and, as Chief Experience Officer, plays a key role in the planning and directing of the Brand Experience teams, who help businesses create extraordinary experiences for their colleagues and their customers across all touchpoints. He also oversees the creative team, which has expertise in a number of areas including: research; content; UX; UI and testing, helping the agency deliver large scale, principally digital, service design solutions.

Alessandra Cabra, Client Services Director

Alessandra is responsible for growing Rufus’ client business and fostering exceptional client service, across organic business development and overarching client growth strategies. Since joining Rufus Leonard in 2015, Alessandra has led a portfolio of clients that includes London Business School, Lloyd’s Register, The Gym Group, British Red Cross and Stagecoach. She was promoted to Rufus’ strategic board in July 2019. Alessandra was also recently appointed as new co-chair of BIMA Client Services Council.

Sandro Petterle, Technology Director

Sandro has been successfully delivering complex innovative digital experiences for over 22 years. As Technology Director at Rufus Leonard, he takes the lead across clients, harnessing technology to create extraordinary experiences that will improve your customers’ lives in meaningful ways. His ability to deliver efficiently robust, innovative cross-platform solutions has been critical to clients like Stagecoach, The Gym Group, Lloyd’s Register, The Share Centre, and London Business School. He is also a major contributor to Rufus being recognised as a top 10 design and build agency in Econsultancy’s Top 100 Digital Agencies Report.