The Immortal Life of Agencies

Grey London's President: Making a promise to the market - Conrad Persons

Mar 25, 2025

36:44

From President to Presidency, Conrad shares his journey - from chasing Barack Obama around Virginia, to taking the reins at Grey London.

He describes the importance of balancing intuition with evidence - an essential skill when balancing change with heritage at Grey over the last 12 months.

We dive into value propositions and what makes them succeed, particularly how they become insular and indulgent if they lack jeopardy or anything meaningful for clients to buy into.

Conrad also explores the stagnation of the agency business model, strongly advocating for a change in how agencies show-up for clients; to better assert value by redefining what it is we mean when we talk about creativity.

HIGHLIGHTS:

[02:09] Chasing Barack Obama around rural Virginia

[07:06] How to make make better decisions

[11:50] Why vision really matters

[15:17] Acting on hunches

[20:32] What ‘Famously Effective’ really means for Grey

[25:14] Making agency propositions feel real

[27:39] The problem with agency pricing

[29:13] AI and demonstrating value

[33:06] The impact of creativity on business

MORE ABOUT CONRAD:

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/conrad-persons