TMW 2025: Powered Up And Performing Perfectly

During its second year as part of Accenture Song, TMW has now transitioned and is powering up its service offering and quickly reaping the rewards.

Utilising the full breadth of Accenture’s technology and AI capabilities, the agency has been strengthening its service capabilities under the guide of CEO Chris Mellish and Accenture Song MD, Tim Bonnet. 

As a result of its ongoing accelerated growth, the business made around 20 promotions at the start at the year including naming Steve Garside as chief growth officer; Karen Morris as chief client officer, and Phil Rhodes as executive creative director.

“Talent has always been both our calling card as an agency, and the fuel for our success. Brilliant people produce brilliant work and inspire our clients to trust us with more. Our success has been driven by nurturing talent, embracing fresh ideas and creating an environment where everyone can bring their full selves to work,” explained managing director, Emma Norman.

Meanwhile, behavioural science division Human Understanding Labs (HUL), led by director Simon Collister, continued to bring human-centric insights to the forefront of marketing strategies, while using its own blend of research, neuroscience, and technology. It operates with a community of more than 120 neuroscientists, behavioural experts, data scientists, social listening analysts, and technologists, helping it to research, design and deliver solutions for clients.

HUL also remains a key part of TMW’s consortium with Pablo on the UK Government framework. While consulting on various elements of government, among this work this year was a second campaign for HMRC to promote its app and outline how using it can make users feel more 'on it'.

Creative Salon on TMW’s 2025

Things are moving at speed at TMW as it evolves and grows at speed under the Accenture Song banner. Its recent move to bigger premises in Farringdon also offers it a new base to call its own while being closer to colleagues. 

And the year couldn’t have begun any better with the agency buoyed by being named as McDonald’s Customer Engagement Agency of Record for the UK & Ireland.

At the time it was the agency’s first pitch alongside Accenture Song and according to Chris Mellish, “it demonstrated the scale and potency that we have added to each other’s offerings. We now get the chance to realise that potential – working with an iconic brand that shares our ambition.“

Another follow up campaign was also developed for Suzuki as the brand continued to focus on its 'Good Different' platform

Featuring the sultry tones of Dusty Springfield’s ‘The Look of Love’, the ‘Finally The EV You’ve Been Waiting For’ spot targeted the nearly five million Brits who were unsure about switching to electric.

Promoting the railways of the UK has become another speciality this year with several campaigns released.

Those included the integrated campaign ‘Every Stop is a Story’ encouraging leisure travel across Govia Thameslink Railway’s network, focusing on Southern Railway and Thameslink. The two spots blended traditional storytelling, beautiful cinematography and cutting-edge virtual production technology.

And across the year, Rail Delivery Group (RDG), the membership organisation that works on behalf of the rail industry, released emotionally engaging campaigns as part of the rail industry’s national marketing strategy.

Launching ‘On the Train You Can', in July, the ads showcased how travelling by train is a way to reclaim quality time for what matters.

Discussing the work, Graeme Noble, chief creative officer at TMW, said: “In a world where almost everyone feels like they’re too busy, this campaign celebrates a simple truth: the train is one of the few places where you can stop, breathe, and just be. For some people, that might mean a rare moment to have a breather and catch up on some life admin, get lost in thought or, even better, take an opportunity for a proper face-to-face conversation with friends and family.”

Elsewhere, 'Do It London', was an awareness campaign and creative response aiming to end new HIV transmissions and address stigma in London. Running across audio, print, social and OOH, it was the first work created since the agency was appointed by the London HIV Prevention Programme at the beginning of the year.

In recognition of the strains such a busy workplace can create the leadership of TMW introduced an ‘Empathy Era’ lens to tackle rising mental health challenges in the workplace. It was led by developed by Siobhan Kinsman, HR business partner, and Dan Bowers, chief strategy officer.

“What people need now isn’t just excellence: it’s empathy. If leaders give direction but they don’t have compassion, then they’re not meeting the requirements of their teams,” outlined Bowers.

As well as the plethora of new work, there was the usual success in welcoming new clients - integrated accounts for global charitable foundation Wellcome, London HIV Prevention Programme, and customer engagement projects for major UK banks, and Gas Safe Register - and successfully defending existing ones - HMRC and The Cabinet Office.

Creative Salon says: TMW is positively thriving with many more high-level developments on the horizon. The embrace of AI tools and developing new service offices and models for working - both for marketers and internally - was inevitable through Accenture, a network that is opening doors for TMW at a constant pace.

The sky is absolutely the limit for TMW going into 2026 - and even that may not be high enough to contain an agency that is supercharged and ramping up for much much more to come.