Rebecca Vickery, Managing Director, Brave Spark (MSQ)
“As Brave Spark have been on a serious growth trajectory, we’ve continued to evolve our agency proposition. Co:definery helped us think deeply about the implications of proposition refinements (from operationally, to the client and employee experience) as well as providing a fresh, impartial point of view with a wealth of wider industry knowledge”
Jeremy Hine, CEO, MullenLowe
“Always a pleasure working with Co:definery – true partnership but you must be on your game, in a good way. Robin is very collaborative, but challenges and will push and probe to make you clarify your thinking. The solutions we implemented after working with him resulted in improved focus and efficiency, and ultimately an enhanced financial performance”
Colin Kennedy, CEO, Redwood BBDO
“Equal parts curious and sagacious – what makes Robin such a marketing mensch is the fact that, above all, he remains such a keen student of our industry. Endlessly fascinated by its quirks, boundlessly positive about its possibilities – he is both an agent of change and a force for good. As consultant, Robin helped Redwood to better articulate our agency offer; as coach, he helped me to better understand my own personal vision; and as a trusted confidant, he helped me better connect these two halves together”
Paul Phedon, CEO, Gung Ho
“Working with Co:definery has been transformative for Gung Ho. Their objective and structured approach provided us with valuable external insight and importantly a POV, balancing creativity and commercial acumen. The process was collaborative and detailed, but more importantly, it delivered real focus. Gung Ho 2.0 is being implemented, allowing us to elevate our agency to the next level and setting us up for sustainable growth and success”
Nik Selman, Co-Founder, Formidable
“Working with Co:definery has been a game changer for us. Clear outcomes and processes agreed from the start. Consultancy built on tried and tested principles, delivered with no nonsense or unnecessary jargon. The results have been transformative – we now have a platform for everything, from how we speak and sell, to how we engage the market. New prospects get us immediately, current clients are impressed and we’re building more solid relationships”
Ian Henderson, CEO, AML
“We’ve always been fans of Co:definery’s approach to building agencies. They helped us define our ‘Market of One’ as ‘simple ideas for a complicated world’ – insight, innovation and impact for clients in complex sectors. That positioning was central to the value of AML when we recently joined the Selbey Anderson group, taking us to our next stage of growth”
Stephen Maher, Chair/CEO, MBAstack (MSQ)
“Co:definery are masters of definition – of crystallising agency positionings to ensure they differentiate and resonate and compete. They added enormous value to our redefinition post-merger through their questioning and exacting, yet always charming and engaging, approach to solving business challenges”
Chris Skinner, President, UM EMEA, UM Worldwide
“Co:definery helped us define our purpose and bring the senior leadership teams together. It was highly productive and energetic; moving at pace in a process which was collaborative and engaging. Robin provided a new perspective and was a fantastic facilitator – making space for a divers range and personalities to have a voice and bring ideas to the table. We look forward to working with Co:definery on future projects”
Sheryl Marjoram, CEO, McCann London
“Co:definery is behavioural science in motion. If you’re brave enough to be nudged; if you can see the need for the industry or your team to be nudged, then you’ll get it. If you don’t, you won’t. The process is beautiful and challenging. Butting up against the elephant in the room, asking it to move over. If you can’t face into the fact that your proposition isn’t unique and your business model doesn’t need help: don’t call them. If you’re open, and curious and full of wonder as to what we can learn about agency growth, then call them asap”
Steve Smith, Founder & Chair, Ear to the Ground

“Ear to the Ground had been working on our proposition and how we express what makes us different. We knew that Co:definery would give us a structured perspective on what was working well and where we should improve. This outside view focused our minds and attention and was exactly what we needed”

consulting agency
Mark Pytlik, Global CEO, Stink Studios

“Stink Studios offers a broad variety of services across our global network. Client needs are ever-evolving, and we wanted to ensure that we’re showing up in today’s global market with as much clarity as possible. It can be difficult to read the label from inside the jar, so we hired Co:definery to provide an external viewpoint on how we express our unique value. The process of working with them felt both creative and commercially driven, and we’ve come out of it with some useful insights that we’re excited to put into action”

consulting agency
Jim Moffatt, CEO Europe & Asia Pacific, Engine

“The Agency Transformation Roadmap process was incredibly useful for Engine, giving us a meaningful new focus and energy. By serving up independent, considered and rigorous insights, it sparked frank debate about our future strategy. That impartiality helped us get elephants out of the corner, creating a space of openness and trust where everyone felt comfortable to reimagine or reinvent, without feeling protective of the status quo. I would recommend it highly”

Nick Adams, Owner & CEO, Sense
“The pandemic was an opportunity to really focus on where Sense can excel. Co:definery took us out of our respective comfort zones – covering a lot of ground, aligning us and giving us clear guardrails around the decisions we needed to take. So rather than rushing in and risking months of going round in circles, they quickly focused us on our business needs, not just everyone feeling ‘heard'”
Colin Cather, Co-Owner, Bottle PR
“From start to finish, Co:definery helped us to get our heads-on-straight. The process is deliberate and methodical – but with the flexibility to move with the energy and the debate. Their expertise was in steering us to our own expertise, and Robin’s style – a challenging-coach – is perfectly weighted between patience and keeping momentum towards a clearly-defined outcome. He’s a good laugh, too – which really matters when the brows get furrowed”
Tom Gladstone, Co-Founder, The Space Between
“We debated long and hard about bringing in external guidance to develop our agency proposition. In reality, we wouldn’t have had a prayer without Robin’s unique expertise. He brings invaluable context from the wider marketing industry, is able to synthesise disparate information and opinions on the spot, and hones in on opportunity areas that might otherwise get missed. Our journey to date with Co:definery has been an absolute pleasure”
Grant MacLennan, Founder, Neu

“Co:definery’s Narrative Development process has unlocked why Neu exists. We broke down our aspirations and strategy, and then rebuilt them piece by piece. Now we really know who we’re for and why they need us. And while I was worried that differentiation required us to go niche, Robin helped us work through that. I’m really pleased with where we’ve go to”

brand consulting
Robert Ffitch, Chief Commercial Development Officer, Europe at Hearst UK

“It’s been a great pleasure working with Co:definery. I always thought you could never teach an old dog new tricks, but I have learned so much from this process. It’s unlocked our capabilities and created huge confidence in the group. Your help in getting iCrossing to the very exciting place we have arrived at, has been invaluable. Thank you”

brand consulting
Matt Scaysbrook, Director, WeTeachCRO

“As an investment in our future, we chose to work with Co:definery because in every conversation we had with Robin, he taught us things we didn’t know. The blend of process and facilitation ensured that we got the end-result we wanted without stifling the team debate necessary to get us to the best outcome. We’re now able to tell our story consistently and coherently – something we’ve never had before. I’ve told anyone that will listen that we should have done this years ago!”

Keith Hatter, Group CEO, PlanetK2

“Co:definery’s value-based selling work has been nothing short of transformational. It’s been a gorgeous recipe of expertise and structure, blended with the essence of who we are. Robin’s skill in combining these things and then his support in helping us deploy them has been superb – measured both by how we are able to use what we’ve learned, as well as the results it’s delivered. It’s not magic, though if you take it seriously and match Robin’s skill and effort, you’ll be forgiven for thinking that it is”

Fred Moore, COO, Matter of Form

“I just wanted to say how much the team enjoyed and valued the Agency Transformation Roadmap process. Making change is difficult and people often don’t really like it. It was through the collective diagnostic and solutioning exercises that we achieved internal buy-in and enthusiasm from the senior team. They are now psyched and geared up to make these changes. You and the Curve guys did a fabulous job”

consulting services
Paul Button, CEO, Mediablaze

“We didn’t want to become ‘just another digital agency’, so our brief was simple; make our heritage shine through in our positioning and give us a more concise story that highlights the power of our combined service proposition. Co:definery challenged our perception in what we thought ‘made us different’. The result was greater clarity and belief in what we do – with an impactful agency position that made it easy for us to communicate to clients, with 100% confidence”

Jon Waring, Founder, 3Sixty

“I noticed a number of great agencies whose positioning and marketing stood out. When I say ‘stood out’, I mean ‘bloody hell, why can’t ours be that good?’ So I did a bit of asking around and one name kept cropping up – Robin Bonn. A quick phone call later (actually not that quick) and we got Robin in to discuss our positioning and so much more. I can’t recommend him enough, he’s smart, decent, fun and deeply knowledgeable about the agency business. We’ve found that having an external frame of reference invaluable and 3Sixty is a better business now and continues to improve as a result”

agency growth consultant
Chris Lumsden, Partner, Good

“Co:definery helped Good understand the business we’re in, who it appeals to and how we add value. With his objectivity and deep understanding of the agency world, Rob was able to guide us into the right areas, avoiding the pitfalls and biases that have plagued us in the past. The impact’s been immediate. We’re more confident about the expertise we offer; particularly during the new-business process – we have a renewed courage to walk away when the opportunity doesn’t work for us”

agency growth consultant
Henry Chappell, Founder, Pitch Marketing Group

“Yesterday we presented our new proposition and full brand narrative to the whole agency. It felt real and robust and was very positively received. A lot of them told me afterwards that they felt inspired by the vision. So I just wanted to say a sincere thank you for the role you’ve played in getting us to this point. I greatly appreciate it”

Ete Davies, MD, AnalogFolk

“Co:definery helped us translate our business mission into a clear narrative for our entire customer experience. Disarming, intuitive and direct, Robin immediately understood how the wider business and organisational context was affecting our decision-making and why we were struggling. We continue to apply his advice and recommendations”

Steve Wheen, Founder, distillery

“Talking to potential clients at Cannes Lions, I realised that we needed to be much clearer about what distillery is. So we asked Co:definery to help us finally work out who we are. We’re now more confident in saying ‘no’, our content is flying and the standard of people wanting to work with us is higher than it’s ever been”

Sarah Jennings, CEO, Oban International

“Co:definery worked with us on our positioning and how we communicate it consistently to the outside world. Robin is a clear thinker, knows his stuff and used great analogies to help us all cut to the chase. The small tweaks we’ve made have had a significant impact. He’s also great to work with and generous with his time and thoughts – which always helps”

Andy Budd, Founder & CEO, Clearleft

“As someone with a bit of distance from Clearleft, Robin gave us a fresh perspective on our creds, helping us see the wood amongst the trees. He quickly honed in on strengths we were underplaying, as well as irrelevancies which we dropped. The output was a much tighter explanation of our offering, that hit all the right notes, so we were super happy with the results”

Hugh Robertson, Founder, RPM

“With a wealth of experience and expertise, coupled with laser sharp observations, Co:definery provided RPM with a rare combination of coach and counsel, telling us what we needed to know, not just what we wanted to hear. We got smart, actionable plans, which gave us a competitive edge. Very much time well spent – unless you’re a competitor of ours, in which case, nothing worked…”

Tom Crossley, Global COO, Green Park Content

“Co:definery helped us with knotty internal projects exploring purpose, positioning and proposition development. As they can (and do) take up huge amounts of time, effort and energy, thankfully the whole process was quick, efficient, and enjoyable. Robin cut through the crap, helped us focus and most importantly we’re very happy with the results”

Andrew Watts, Founding Partner, KHWS

“Co:definery have been instrumental in helping KHWS find standout in our market – we now have a unique value proposition and can express it with real confidence. So we’ve ditched the obsequious agency mindset and now focus solely on finding clients where we can add most value”

Phil Goodman, CEO, Brandwidth

“Robin was instrumental in helping us make sense of our proposition. Not only was he a pleasure to work with, the results of the work are proving to be very effective with clients and prospects”

Catherine Jenkins, Partner, MAXX

“MAXX spent years trying and failing to find our ‘niche’ and we felt poorer because of it. Co:definery finally changed that, helping us uncover the specialisation that had existed within us all along. Now we have the antidote to being too broad and can stand proudly behind a clear proposition, with the focus we’ve been missing”

James Simpson, Managing Director, Harvest Digital

“Rob brought clarity to our discussions and lead the team to a solution that feels very collaborative. Everyone feels like they own the outcome, which is a huge talent. He’s well connected, very professional and simplifies complex processes. Very happy to recommend”

Will Shaw, Director – Service Design, Globant

“Working with Rob changed how I think about new biz. His mentoring and development approach helped shift my understanding of how to deal with new biz in an agency environment and has improved my client relationships”

Marco Scognamiglio, Global CEO, RAPP

“I found Robin to be very professional in the execution of his work. He worked hard and always supported his team. I am very happy to recommend him”

Matt Boffey, Managing Director, LSU

“Co:definery brought fresh rigour to our new-business strategy. Since then, not only has LSU grown, but our revenue is now spread far more sustainably across our key clients. Their understanding of client needs helped us really sharpen our product/market fit”

Justin Cooke, CEO, Possible (WPP)

“Robin is the consummate new-business professional. Well-connected, experienced, hard-working and a great way with people”

Conor McNicholas, CEO, AllTogetherNow (WPP)

“Robin has a real knack for demystifying new business. Because he knows what works so well, he cuts to the chase on what makes the biggest difference for us”

Anthony Martin, CEO, BAMM

“I really enjoyed working with Co:definery. Developing an agency story is notoriously difficult, but Robin brought a clear perspective on what clients are looking for and how we could stand out. He challenged us to find the edge of our comfort zone, which definitely took us further”

Matt McNeany, CEO, Code Worldwide (Omnicom)

“Lovely bloke, knows new-business inside-out, gets stuff done”

Sean King, CEO, Seven C3

“Rob is the one of best newbiz guys I’ve ever worked with. We clicked from our first meeting. He’s smart, hard-working and delivers results”

Pete Grech, CEO, BRND WGN

“Every CEO needs a wake-up call once in a while. Robin made me realise we were jumping into Biz Dev blind – now we’re focused on what really matters and running with a new sense of confidence and momentum. I’d definitely recommend Co:definery”

Kelly Wright, Founder, Wild Things (Lucky Generals)

“As a start-up, working with Co:definery was exactly what I needed. Quick, collaborative and tangible, I now have a plan for scaling new-business as we grow”

Kevin Allen, former Chief Growth Officer, Interpublic

“Robin is a rare find, a true business development pro, who understands both the emotional intelligence required to connect and win with clients, but also the military like precision required to create and deploy complete growth programs”

Tom Rutter, Founder, Muster (WPP)

“Co:definery have made Muster’s new-business efforts uniquely ‘us’. Initially, we were a bit nervous it might descend into navel-gazing. But we were challenged and guided to tear down the agency into its component parts and put it back together again. Now we’re all focused, with agreed actions and a clear route forward”

Richard Robinson, Partner, Oystercatchers

“Robin is unusual in that as well as being a genuine new-business professional, he’s also proven himself across a range of disciplines. All of which makes him very much the modern new-business practitioner”

Neil Collard, Managing Director, E3 Media

“Working with Co:definery helped e3 to cut through the chaff to focus on what we’re good at and what excites us. Developing this into a clear proposition has given us focus and purpose, allowing us to get clients on board and differentiate ourselves”

Pete Fergusson, Owner & CEO, Nemorin Creative

“I had the pleasure of working closely with Co:definery to analyse our ​sales proposition. The care, attention to detail and personal interest in our business was both flattering and highly effective”

Alex Swann, MD, Lesniak Swann

“We now have complete focus on New Business. By working backwards from what we’re trying to do and making sure every decision reflects what’s unique about us, we’re now not only doing much less, but we’re also far clearer on how everything we say and do helps us standout”

Niall Blatcher, Co-Founder, FBH

“Robin successfully catalysed our thinking and helped us to develop a more focused positioning for the agency and clearer new-business strategy. His experience and ability to moderate a group of three strong-willed and divergent opinions was impressive”