Inspiring Futures - Lessons from the Worlds of Marketing and Advertising Kelsey Hodgkin- CEO and Partner- Special US
5 Things I learned from talking to Kelsey Hodgkin- CEO-Special US
In my conversation for the Inspiring Futures podcasts that spans London, Buenos Aires, and Los Angeles, Kelsey Hodgkin — CEO and Partner at Special U.S. — maps out how a strategist becomes a leader without losing her strategic soul.
Founded in 2007 in Auckland, New Zealand, Special Group began in an old cinema and is now an independent global network with offices in Auckland, Wellington, Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, New York, and London.
Below are the 5 things I learned from our conversation.
1. Working in Turmoil Teaches Resourcefulness
Working in Buenos Aires during Argentina’s economic turmoil taught Hodgkin a counterintuitive truth: when money becomes meaningless, creative output becomes everything.
“It’s sort of this two-year experience of what it’s like to actually live somewhere where money and capitalism isn't the driving force. It’s much more about the creative output. You have to be really resourceful.”
2. She Reframes Strategy as Living Beyond The Brief-Writing Machine
While some agencies treat strategy as a creative-brief factory, Hodgkin articulates a more ambitious vision.
“Strategy at its best is either upstream — really understanding the commercial side of the business — or downstream in the media complexity… being able to turn a big idea into an even bigger idea.”
3. She Named the Real Challenge: ‘
Our clients are in a "washing machine"
Instead of complaining about client chaos, Hodgkin sees opportunity in the turbulence.
“The unpredictability, the uncertainty… having strategists that can really understand that commercial reality… being able to be in there with them every day.”
4. She Makes The Case For Agencies As Counter-Culture
At a time when agencies increasingly mirror their corporate clients, Hodgkin argues for resistance.
“The job of agencies is to be countercultural — questioning of the mainstream and contrarian… if it becomes part of the machine it’s trying to change, then it’s less valuable in being able to change.”
5. She Redefines Leadership As Creative Curation
Hodgkin sees the planner’s superpower — pattern recognition, empathy, orchestration — as the foundation for modern leadership.
“As a planner, my strength was more curation than creation — helping greatness happen through others. That’s what leading an agency is.”
In a challenged ad agency world, Hodgkin offers a roadmap: be resourceful, stay close to the chaos, protect creativity from corporatization, and lead by shaping the conditions for others to do their best work.