The Beyond Collective has recently joined the Worldwide Partners (WPI) global network of independent agencies. The Beyond Collective is an independent group of specialist marketing agencies, which include Above+Beyond, Yonder Media, Frontier and Collective Studios. The independent agency group is headquartered in London’s bustling and eclectic Bermondsey district.
A Collective That’s Greater Than the Sum of its Parts
From strategy and design through to creative campaigns, integrated production, and media planning and buying, The Beyond Collective builds bespoke expert teams to achieve clients’ brand and business objectives. Clients can access their talent through The Beyond Collective, or through one of their specialist companies:
- Above+Beyond - an integrated creative agency
- Yonder Media - a media planning and buying agency
- Frontier - a strategy, design, and innovation agency
- Collective Studios - an integrated production and design agency
"We are home to creative entrepreneurs from the worlds of film, music, brand, media, PR, design, production and advertising, working collaboratively and independently on a diverse range of client business challenges,” says Zaid Al-Zaidy, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of The Beyond Collective.
Growth Agents for the Audience Age
The Beyond Collective agencies are unified around the common goal of helping clients grow their brands in the Age of the Audience. “Audiences have never been more in control, more empowered, more fragmented and more disengaged,” says Chief Marketing Officer Oli Richards. “It’s harder than ever to get people to hear, care or do.”
The Beyond Collective is focused on cutting through the generic clutter with better strategies, using technology to reach audiences in new and interesting ways, and developing creative that taps into something people genuinely care about. “Shared interests provide us with brilliant creative fodder and help us to turn audiences into customers, which is why we’re all here,” Oli adds.
Tapping into the shared interests of audiences is what drove the idea for a recent campaign for client Subway. During the World Cup, Above+Beyond hijacked hundreds of substitutions as part of a Twitter promotion that gave away free subs. Codes for free subs only appeared as long as the substitution was taking place, so influencers and content creators had to race to beat the clock to win. Not only did this campaign generate a great deal of online buzz, but Subway was able to remain top of mind for fans during the game without the astronomical costs of an official sponsor.
Veganism is another shared interest that the independent agency group leveraged for Subway. For Earth Day, they created the world’s first plant-based grime track to highlight the benefits of a plant-based diet to younger consumers. Working with vegan grime legend P Money and vegan producers Star.One, “Vegang” features sound emissions from Subway’s plant-based menu using PlantWave technology that detects electrical variations on leaves.
Leading the Rebel Alliance
There is a shift happening in the advertising industry–clients are turning their backs on the old-order holding companies in favor of global independent networks–and The Beyond Collective is proud to be one of the agencies helping to lead this trend.
"For a new breed of global innovators and scale-up businesses, effectiveness is much more important. They recognise that local knowledge and insight, agility and neutrality in media trading, and creativity are the drivers that will accelerate their brand growth,” Zaid shared in a recent Campaign Magazine article. Clients today need agencies like The Beyond Collective that are innovators and disruptors in their own sectors, which makes them able to help growth businesses disrupt the market leaders in their categories.
"Media indies have come together in a "rebel alliance" to offer clients a new way to scale internationally, without the silos and frictions apparent in the conventional holding company model. And it's a model that is starting to gain traction," Zaid added in Campaign.
The Perfect Home for An Eclectic Creative Business
The Beyond Collective calls London home, and the reason can be summed up with a famous quote from Dr. Johnson, creator of the world’s first dictionary, which is as true now as it was in 1700: “Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
London offers something for everyone and is a constant source of creative inspiration for the agency group’s employees, particularly the Bermondsey district, which houses some of London’s best-known craft breweries, best food market, best indie shops, and is right next to the River Thames.
Here Because They Want to Be, Not Because They Have to Be
While The Beyond Collective has only been part of WPI for a short time, they can already see the transformational impact the network will have on their business in several ways. First is the ability to offer their clients more – more capabilities, more scale, and more best-in-class independent talent from around the world.
Yet scale isn’t the only benefit. The Beyond Collective is eager to learn and connect with others who are in the same shoes. “WPI’s philosophy closely matches ours - a group of people who are all here because they want to be, not because they have to be,” Zaid shared. “We’re hungry for growth and success but we aren’t global giants answering to shareholders. We all answer to our clients. If they win, we win.”
"The Beyond Collective models the exact premise that WPI was founded on - that collaboration drives growth for clients and agencies,” says John Harris, President and CEO of Worldwide Partners. “We are thrilled to welcome them to our thriving, outward-minded independent community of agencies that are all helping to drive each other forward.”
Learn more about The Beyond Collective and follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.