Gellan Watt FRSA

Chair/CEO/NED/Advisor | Top 10 Agency Founder (Exit) | Award-Winning Strategy + Creative | High Growth | Troubleshooter | M&A

Helping business and brands grow, monetise and transform - increasing their value and impact. Rebooting. Reviving. Rethinking.

Award-winning Agency CEO/Founder, Creative Director and Brand Strategist.  

NED for agencies, startups, high growth businesses and turnarounds. M&A advisory. Creative Chair for the Alliance of Independent Agencies. Creator of Bravo the Agency Transformation Programme. 

My clients have included leaders, challengers and startups: Apple, Amazon, Barbour, Beckham, BMW, CAT, Jaja, John Lewis, Marshall, Pfizer, Pinterest, Princess, uSwitch, Superdrug, Westfield, and many more. 

|| 2003 - 2016 || Founded my first agency which went on to become a UK Top Ten Agency, (10x) Most Recommend Agency and UK Agency of the Year. Named Agency CEO of the Year. 

Merged and grew the Group with my partners, as Group MD and Chief Creative Officer, to c. £60m revenue, selling in 2016. 

Became UK Office for AMIN Worldwide (Indie Agency Network), of which I was a board director for EMEA and Global, winning global work from agency networks. 

Invested in/launched agencies in Saudi Arabia, USA and Netherlands (exit). 

|| 2016 - Ongoing || Turnarounds and Growth Advisor, Chair, NED and/or investor in disruptive high growth tech startups including Extratime, Grapevine, Jaja Finance, Nabypay, PayDashboard, Norvana. 

Creative Chair of Alliance of Independent Agencies. Co-Founded Film Punks. Sat on two PLC boards, Chief Commercial Officer at FWD/lastminute.com, and been part of multiple fundraises. 

Repositioned numerous UK/USA Agency Businesses. Reorganised boards for high growth. M&A Advisory for those that want to maximise their exit (I will get you more money).

Created the BRAVO High Growth Agency Transformation Programme (I run four a year) in the UK and USA. 

|| 2025 || Co-founder of Common Thread Group - acquiring Ideas+Outcomes (Logic+Magic/FKC London), Pull, Notepad Studio, ThreeSixty Brands, and Ideally. 

Rogue thinker. Big on impact. Mentor. Helper. Human. Neurodiverse and Proud. Speaker on Agency Growth, Brand, Neurodiversity and Wellbeing. 

2 x MBA. Chartered Designer. RSA Fellow. Film Executive Producer. Script-writer. In Recovery - my greatest achievement.

Over 100 Creative and Agency Awards. Marketing Power 100. Top 15 Faces in Media. Top 100 Global Growth Marketers. Top Ten Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch.

Investor (ex Brand + Marketing Director)

Reimagining the credit card experience. Brands include Jaja Vanta, Asda Money, Bank of Ireland Credit Card and The AA Credit Card. 

And this. This is the greatest achievement and pleasure of my career. Finding and working with great talent.  

Not in a I opened the door kinda way. But in a wow kinda way. I worked with some amazing people. We worked hard together. Achieve impossible things. 

And smashed thru the glass ceiling that usually hangs about a regional agency. Not me. We. 

I loved working with Chloe. And I love that’s she’s gone on to smash it, like so many people do that knocked my door. 

It was my pleasure Chloe Adams - thanks for the hard work ❤️💪🙏

Gellan Watt

Chair/CEO | Global Creative + Brand | NED | Agency Transformation | Top 10 Agency Founder (exit)

⚡️Senior Brand Creative (Copywriter) at Gymshark // 🧠 Brand Storyteller & Marketing Specialist // ⛑️ Mental Health First Aider // 🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ advocate

This email changed my life - and I had no idea at the time.

Over 12 years ago, I sent a completely random, speculative 'please just give me a shot' email to an advertising agency. No experience. No degree. No idea what a copywriter was. No clue what I even really wanted.

I just loved ads.
I loved words.
And something in me went,
'Send it. What’s the worst that can happen?'

You get ignored?
You get a ‘no’?
Your ego stings for 10 minutes?
Fine.

But you could also get the thing that blows your whole life open.

Gellan Watt took a chance on that hungry, clueless, slightly chaotic kid 12 years ago - and I will never stop being grateful to him for that.

And spoiler:
I didn’t fuck it up.

If you need a sign to take a risk today:
This is it.

#copywriting #career #advertising

This one may sneak this mega change in job role into the real world. I won’t let her. 

Emma Hodgkinson, my colleague and friend, Chief Strategy Officer. 

What a badass. 

👏

Agency Chair/CEO/NED | Global Brand + Creative | Agency Transformation | Co-Founder Common Thread Group | Top 10 Agency Founder (exit) | Investor | M&A

That’s not for LinkedIn. Bore off. 

Some days are harder than others. I’ve had crazy little sleep for days. Some medication. All good. Not moaning. 

When I peeled myself out of bed, no 5am run, meditation or hr floating above the floor using the force. I did write a gratitude list. There’s a lot ok there. I had a really special weekend. 

The one thing I do daily. 

And I am so so so grateful. 

Wow it’s been a complicated year. In so many unseen ways. And the curve balls keep coming. Big stuff. Not just for me. Those around me. 

But man, I’m glad to be alive. My best today will be slightly below my normal best. That’s okay. 

If that’s you too. Forget about it. It’s one day. Do your best. 

Let’s go.

Growing Brands Worldwide | Ideas+Outcomes, Pull London, Notepad, Ideally, ThreeSixty Brands, Film Punks | Chair/CEO | Agency + Board Advisor | NED | Top 10 Creative Agency + UK Agency of The Year Founder (exit)

Still so touched by this. Best message I've ever had on LinkedIn. Thanks Chloe Adams, you reminded me of who I am and what matters most to me. Helping people. 

:)

The best advertising isn't always an ad. Here’s work for Barbour.  

When they briefed me and the team at my old agency on a digital/social campaign... I had an idea. Let's start this the other way around. 

They want to open up new audiences. Create new fans. Get people talking. Instead of a new content campaign. Or a set of ads. Or a shoot. Basically instead of the usual, I wanted to make invent a new product.

A mad picnic rug. Multi-function. A towel. A rug. A ponco. A wine cooler. My team grabbed the idea and we pitched it. You could have knocked me over when Barbour said yes. Let's put it into production.

They made 250. We ran a competition, that was a MASSIVE hit. We made one film. A few social assets, and then got people to tell us where they'd use it and why they should have one... what is it we say now... "it broke the internet".... well, it got insane results. Won an award. 

And won a whole load of new fans of the Barbour brand. Exclusive. Unexpected. Genius. Scarce. Low cost. Massive results.

This ad... was a product. Brilliantly bonkers. And the team bought it to life so wonderfully. 

Barbour's Rather Handy Picnic Rug. Enjoy. :)

Lovely.

PS Turn those captions off.


.

When I came into Adland if you told me JWT and DDB won’t exist by the time you leave adland I’d have said you’re having a laugh. 

It’s sad. The power and meaning of these brands has been totally lost. 

By whom? 

Networks.
Which. Right now.
Don’t work.

Can I have the brand please? 
Reboot by an indie. 
Wouldn’t that be wild.

Creativity isn’t more. 
It’s less. 

Make them love it. 
And they’ll buy it.

My happy little face when I’m going to my other home. Bournemouth. Sea dip. Here I come.

12 Steps mean anything to you? It’s late. I can’t sleep. I’ve had a really good day today - I’m pondering the work week. Thinking about some seriously heavy stuff that some people I love are going thru. I’m adhd. My mind is storming.  I don’t fight it. I role with it. 

I’m an also addict. I’ve said it hear hundreds of time. Not brave. Honest. All good. I am in recovery. 12 step is my flavour. 

There are others. 

One of the reasons people back away from 12 step at first is the use of the word god. We say it a spiritual programme. But it’s has religious’s roots. And, yeah - we use the word God. A lot. Err. I’m cool with it. But I get it. You get over it (it could be the word cat, or boss, or send help - it just means a higher power better than myself - for me, it’s love itwldf and the miracle of life) and work around it if organised religion is not your thing. 

Anyway.

I just asked ChatGPT are the steps an algorithm. 

Great chat. Not totally it said. But it a ‘structured behavioural algorithm’. And religions are ‘systems’. Then what followed was a 12 step allgorithm. 

Love it. For some people this would actually work. AI. It’s mad. We’re mad. It will take all of our jobs, unless you run a remote beach bar or hand out ice creams from a cooler box. Who too I don’t know. We’ll all be unemployed. 

Anyway. Enjoy. 

START

Input:
- Unmanageable behaviour
- Loss of control
- Desire for change

STEP 1: Acknowledge
IF control == false:
    accept_powerlessness = true
Output: honest_baseline

STEP 2: Consider Higher Power
open_to_guidance = true
Output: willingness_to_receive_help

STEP 3: Commit
IF open_to_guidance:
    commit_to_process = true
Output: decision_to_proceed

STEP 4: Inventory
inventory = scan(behaviours, fears, patterns)
Output: full_internal_dataset

STEP 5: Confess
share(inventory, trusted_person)
Output: accountability

STEP 6: Prepare for Change
ready_for_change = evaluate(defects)

STEP 7: Request Change
invoke_change(defects)
Output: behavioural_reset

STEP 8: List Harms
harms_list = identify_people_harmed()

STEP 9: Make Amends
FOR person IN harms_list:
    IF making_amends_will_not_harm:
        make_amends(person)
Output: repaired_relationships

STEP 10: Ongoing Inventory
DAILY:
    IF wrong:
        admit()
        correct()
Output: continuous_error_correction

STEP 11: Daily Practice
DAILY:
    meditate()
    reflect()
    request_guidance()
Output: stability_and_clarity

STEP 12: Service and Integration
share_process_with_others()
practice_principles_daily()
Output: sustained_transformation

LOOP back to:
- Step 10 (error checking)
- Step 11 (maintenance)
- Step 12 (reinforcement)

END CONDITION:
None. This is a perpetual maintenance algorithm.

Yeah. New work by Butternut box. The Truth… reversed. Simple message. Dod owners will roll their eyes at the voice they make when they say it. That had me smiling. 

I quite like it. 

What I really like is this business and brand - very much, it will be fascinating to see if the creative outperforms the weight of media. 

I’d love to get my hands on that brand identity. Make it a powerhouse and leap out of the billboard. And a bigger dog. 

That yellow dressing gown grabbed my eyeballs for too long. 

That’s my only reservation for the work. Nice to see this in the wild. 

Good luck to one of my favorite brands.

I'm having a reflective moment. Brands that I've worked with that changed my life, and brands that I touched where my team and I did the same. 

Everyone always talks about the bights and biggest brands when you get asked "if you could work with any brands who would it be?"

For me - never a brand leader. Always a startup or challenger. I remember many moons ago, Stephen Fitzpatrick and colleagues from an unknown energy startup (OVO) asked my agency to pitch some ideas. I loved what they stood for. Simplicity and clarity in an untrustworthy industry. Two products. With a choice of buying greener energy.

We pitched around a kitchen table. I loved it. The idea we sat down and discussed was reflective of their purpose. Making pricing fairer. Their offer Simple. Clear and concise.The brand idea and campaign...

Ovo. Cheaper. Greener. Simpler.

Honest. Human. Uncomplicated. We suggested bringing their customers closer to their business - perhaps a board where a customer panel help make decisions and guide the business towards their vision of a customer centric business. Bold ideas. Beyond comms. Actions. Promises. Behaviours...

It's there, behaviours - that brands are really built. Words are only words, until you give them meaning. 

We were one of four agencies I think. I hadn't even left the car park, when they said, hey, just so you know, you won the pitch. We want to work with you. And this was their high growth launch platform. Creating powerful connections with their customers. 

People. That wanted a better deal.

They've gone on to do great things. I'm proud of the platform we created. Working with Sarah Keegan and Jessica Craker too. Some fabulous people. 

That bought challenging ideas for their challenger business. And it did great too. 

I loved being part of their origins. They're smashing it today. It was people like them, believing in real brand ideas, not just words, that took my agency into the Top 10 UK Creative Agencies. 

Brilliant people. Steven - frankly, brilliant. Born to disrupt. Unreasonable in all the best ways... relentlessly committed to change, no matter what. 

Startups and challengers must have a purpose. And an enemy. And a total focus on customer pain. That's how the best win bigger. 

Great work Ovo. And thank you.

I’ll put this even more simply. 

This business model was the brand. When they carried stock, sped up and became “normal” they were sunk. 

We were prepared to wait for something special. 

It’s like TKMaxx. Th search is the price you pay for prices you pay. 

The madness is the brand. The business model itself. 

We all think we know better. Whereas we usually just make things more mediocre. And ruin them.

Breaking down the numbers behind unforgettable brands | Co-owner and CFO @ Traction | Columnist @ Marketing Week | Fractional Startup CFO | Financial Advisor

£372m revenue. 1.3 million customers.
And within a year it was gone.
That was Made

The idea was simple: great design without the markup. And with a sharp founding team behind it, everything pointed in the right direction.

The model worked. People bought £1,000 sofas online with 6 to 12 week waits.
No warehouses. No middlemen. Lower prices.
A pure made-to-order engine that took them to a £775m IPO 

By 2021, Made looked unstoppable:
→ Revenue: £371.9m (+50% YoY)
→ Avg Order Value: +8%
→ Deferred revenue: £56m (future demand locked in)
→ Gross margin: 46.3%
→ Loss before tax: £31.4m
→ Net cash: £107m

So what really happened?

1️⃣ A model that made sense
→ The factory-direct, made-to-order model cut prices and lifted margins
→ 150+ designer collabs kept the brand desirable
→ Showrooms created emotional connection, not operational drag

2️⃣ A go-to-market machine
→ Digital-first from day one, long before the category understood social. 
→ Expanded into fashion and lifestyle creators for broader discovery
→ First UK brand to run Pinterest Idea Ads with Paid Partnership
→ £15 UGC incentives created 20,000+ customer images, lifting AOV by 16%

3️⃣ The unravelling
And then… discipline slipped.
→ IPO at the top of the cycle split leadership
→ The Trouva acquisition stretched focus and delivered little
→ Worst of all: Made abandoned its capital-light model and held £63m of inventory

When demand dropped, liquidity vanished.
Sixteen months after IPO, Made collapsed - sold out of administration to Next for £3.4m.

Made changed how a generation bought furniture.
But it walked away from the system that made it work - and paid the ultimate price.

The brand is now part of the Next portfolio.
But will it ever reach the scale its founders once imagined?

--
I’m John - a CFO who loves brand and co-owner of Traction . Follow for insights on how - and why - brand building belongs on the balance sheet.

Never a truer word. Lovely thinking from Pull London  - the health, beauty, fashion and new luxury specialist brand agency.

Some exciting wins to announce soon.

This weekend. I did a bit of this. 

To contemplate life. The future. Next year. Me. Family. Plans. Dreams. Ambitions. My energy levels. Being 50. What I want that year to be. How I want it to be. And feel. What I want to do. How I want to do it. 

Sometimes you have to stop. Think. Process. 

Someone reminded me who I am last week in a very simple but wonderful LinkedIn post. I had almost forgotten. Scary thought. 

Life can take you away from yourself sometimes. You have to remember you strengths. Powers. Abilities. And experience. 

As well as weaknesses, challenges and things you just don’t want to do. 

At low or stressful points you can get stuck on the latter. 

Take a break. I recommend it.

When speak to most businesses and ask what makes them special, most say, our people. 

But mostly, it’s not true. 

That said, in the best businesses I’ve ever met, the few or fastest growing it is. 

These people are fired up. They care about what they’re doing. They want it. They get it. They go after it. They push themselves and each other. 

They find a way, and that way is good. Sooooo good it turns the company and the experience for its customers into something special. 

It’s an energy. It’s shared. And it’s rare. 

I’ve experienced it only a few times. It’s transient. And it can come and go. Because that’s life, and it’s okay. But in classy businesses it comes back. 

Because that energy has its own life. And it connects people. In the business. Outside of it. It’s like a gravitational pull that drive you to the top. 

Great people make the difference. Always

I’m a grateful member of a 12 step
Fellowship. Addict and alcoholic in recovery. 👋

There’s something we say, that applies in business and brand as it does in recovery and life. 

If there’s something you want that you’ve never had.
You’ll have to do something you’ve never done. 

If you want exponential or fast growth, it won’t be based on repetition or what you’ve always done. It will come from change.

Calling BS on independent agencies can't do what network agencies do. When my first agency was the UK office for AMIN Worldwide (I since introduced the mighty Strategiq into the role)... we had the chance to pitch for some work for the mighty Caterpillar Inc. 

Launching their most sustainable heavy machinery, in multiple markets worldwide. Wow.

No way would we get it - against incumbent agency giants including Ogilvy et al. That's what I was told. 

Uh, huh? Watch me, I said.

Working with AMIN agencies the mighty Simantel and BG CO-CREATIVE STRATEGY, we led the creative charge from the UK.

We created a new concept for the whole of CAT to get behind, suggested a new internal team or department. The Sustainable Power team. A cross business group of people that would put their name to new initiatives. Crossing departmental barriers. Brining people together. 

Connecting them. Connection is everything.

The product launched globally under simple, translatable but utterly compelling idea. The product was available for testing by typical users. Becoming fact and proof that the product lives up to the launch platform.

50% FUEL. 100% POWER.

How simple. Built on the baked in truth about Caterpillar, that they are the power people. Entering the world of reducing fuel consumption, at the pile. Easy to translate. Gutsy. Everything that was needed.

We won it.

Because we didn't just focus on the story we would tell, but how we would bring people together internally - laucning with a simple inarguable platform, anchored in truth. And it was a wildly successful launch.

Independent agencies don't win global work? PAH! My Bournemouth based Top Ten UK Creative Agency was lead agency on three global and mutli-geo accounts. 

Independnent agencies do the best work. Because we focus on impact and outcomes. Not celebrity. 

To survive, our work has to work.

That's where the networks are coming unstuck. Old businesses, approaching things in old ways. 

That's why I am so proud to be associated with the Alliance of Independent Agencies. Renamed and branded them too. To best represent the best independent agencies in the world.

They are right here. In the UK.

That's why as well as doing award-winning work for brands, I also consult with numerous Independent Agencies on growth and updating their business models. 

And to put my money where my mouth is, this year I acquired five agencies with my business partner Darren Low to create a CX Supergroup. We're doing killer work for brilliant brands, that want work... that really works. 

It's what us Independents do best.


.

Reflective day… here’s the question I get asked the most… how do we drive growth? 

Doing something different. 
Doing something better. 
Doing it so well for yourself that others can’t do anything but believe you can do it for them. 
Getting the right advice. 
Listening to it. 
Committing to it. 
Acting on it. 
Now. Not later. What use is waiting.  
Staying consistent. 
Not giving up. 
Not slipping back into old ways, fears and processes. 
Repeat.

I’m a Rolex guy. Hang in there. I’m not being a wanker. 

I was born on a counsel estate. My dad and mum worked like crazy to provide for us. Encouraged us to eork hard, educate and strive. 

When I was a kid I remember a day I saw a guy getting out of a Mercedes. Wearing a Rolex. And flip flops. Or the equivalent of the time. 

He was to me, exactly who I wanted to be. Relaxed. Stealth wealth. Those icons became stamped on my pschye. 

Fast forward and I’m 12 years old working on a market. Fixing watch. Straps. Battery changes. Services. I loved it. I fell in love with watches. A Rolex was placed in front of me one day. For a polish. Wow. That’s what it was. A Rolex. 

A lifelong love affair began. When I merged my first agency and released some cash. It was a Rolex. And Merc. And I drove it in flip flops. True story. I thought I’d made it. (Side notes The night I got it, I said to my mate watch me drive just using the cameras. Hit is wall ffs). 

Turns out of course destination fallacy is a thing - and no amount of trinkets will ever really define you. Or make you truly happy. Joy. Yes. Not happiness. But. It was a good day. 

I don’t look at other watches. Really ie always been Rolex. A slight adoration of Vacheron. Blame Brad Pitt. But they’re all so expensive now. There was a tag F1 when I went travelling. Nice. But. 

Then. I found these by HILLI Watch Company, a new watch from startup by Roberto Campolucci-Bordi. He’s a brilliant designer. 

These are incredible sports watches. And they’re on pre order now. And the price. Go take a look. Get one the media is going to be all over these guys. Where it first. 

First 100 customers get 20% off - there’s not too many of those spots left. I’ll be sharing more about this brand soon. 

And you’ll see me wearing one. 

That Miami Turquise and Pink. Wow. 

10/10. The build and detail is insane.

This is the work of two of the greatest people I ever worked with. 

Greta guys. Great dancers. 

I love this.

Creative Director at GAIN Creative Studios

Earlier today a friend had a memory pop up on her phone. It was of me and Lewis Bullock, in a moment in our lives where maybe things were a little simpler. But it made me smile, and I thought, do you know what, I reckon there's a chance it might make a few of you do too.

After posting about it on my Insta stories, I actually had a message that said, "Should bring it back tbh, world's gone to tits since you stopped." There may be a direct correlation.

And it seems fitting in a world where everyone is obsessed with creating new content, that this (with Lewis' permission of course, this is career crippling sorta stuff) is a moment to dust off some old content. Some shot in 4:3, 17-year-old content. In fact, I think the first few might even be a 3pg file (remember those?).

So 'The Art of Dancing by Lewis and Luke' is officially back. I'll drop a video from the vault on here every day in the run up to Christmas. See it as a festive reminder from the past to say it's ok to have a laugh, and maybe, just maybe, it's socially acceptable to dance like nobody's watching. I'll let you decide. And who knows, let's see if by posting these the world can un-tits-itself-up.

December 1st. A throwback to Tesco Express, Moordown, 2009.

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