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"The bigger you are, the smaller you need to go," explains Ben Cleaver, co-founder of BigSmall. In an industry obsessed with complexity, this counterintuitive philosophy has helped the three-partner consultancy land clients like Amazon, Paramount, and WaterAid without the traditional agency trappings.
Founded by Cleaver and his cousin Tom after leaving big agency jobs, BigSmall emerged from a shared frustration with the status quo, where strategy documents gather dust, silos prevent cohesion, and marketing becomes disconnected from the business core. Their solution? A 12-week programme designed to galvanise an entire organisation around one simple powerful idea - ‘the point’.
"We didn't necessarily feel like being an agency would help us," Cleaver reflects on their early days. "We had it in our heads that agency probably meant quite a lot of waste, a lot of ego, a lot of focus on process."
For nearly a year, they operated without a name until a client's press release request forced their hand. The moniker "BigSmall" emerged partly from their model and partly from the physical contrast between the 6'5" Cleaver and his shorter cousin, a visual metaphor that perfectly encapsulated their approach.
Transformation in 12-weeks
At the heart of BigSmall's offering is their structured programme - six weeks to "go small" followed by six weeks to "go big."
"The first six weeks - Going small - are about strategy done in a way that feels simple, exciting and accessible to everyone across the organisation," Cleaver explains. "No complicated brand onions or models. It's the why, what, how of the business wrapped up in an idea - we call that the point - that can act as the shorthand for the strategy."
The second six weeks - Going BIG is all about moving from words to actions as one team.
“Clients often talk about wanting a big idea, but it’s so much easier to go big when you have focus,” says Matt Edwards, BigSmall’s Managing Partner. “Otherwise you’re just guessing, which leads to a huge amount of wasted work and frustration on both sides.”
Edwards, previously CEO of top-ten UK agency WCRS, was surprised BigSmall’s model resonated so rapidly: “We knew there was a market for a new agency model, but we kind of expected the clients we’d attract would be smaller, start-up companies outside of the marketing industry bubble. To pick up global briefs from the likes of Virgin, Amazon, Wise, Paramount and WaterAid has been beyond our initial expectations.
The work BigSmall delivers in the go big phase ranges from innovating new products to engaging people internally to creating new visual identities and comms campaigns. “Every client will have a different priority, but we’re always starting the go big phase from a place where everyone is aligned and knows where we’re headed,” Edwards explains.
"You ultimately want to see that the organisation is off and running and ready to act on the strategy,” adds Cleaver. “People might understand it, but beyond that they need to believe they can act on it, and ultimately own it," says Cleaver. This isn't merely about marketing execution but about going big in action across everything the company does.
The results speak for themselves. For WaterAid, BigSmall developed "Change starts with water", a central idea that repositioned the charity from building water pumps to influencing global systems and placing water at the foundation of all positive change. The concept now unites diverse stakeholders from field workers in Malawi to the World Health Organisation, government officials and corporate partners like H&M and AB InBev.
The Brains Trust model: Senior talent without the overhead
Perhaps most surprising about BigSmall is its structure, just three partners supported by a "Brains Trust" of cultural trend experts, creative writers, designers, illustrators, and change consultants - many with client side experience.
This structure reflects their core values, summarised in Tom's mantra: "Be yourself, it's easier." By eliminating unnecessary layers and focusing solely on the work, BigSmall creates an environment where specialists can deploy their "superpowers" without distraction. This deliberately lean approach has allowed them to work with global brands without the traditional agency infrastructure.
AI and the future of brand clarity
When asked about industry trends, Cleaver points to AI as reinforcing rather than diminishing their approach. "You see it having the capability of freeing up the model of creating brands," he observes. "We're speaking to clients now and there's more talk about creating flexible creative teams both inside and outside the organisation."
Rather than threatening their business, this evolution only strengthens the need for clarity at the centre. "The CMO becomes the chief clarity officer,” Cleaver explains. “The one that sets the vision that is really clear on the point, making sure everyone in that flexible team working with AI is coming from that single point."
The future: People and work on repeat
Unlike many agency founders, Cleaver and his partners aren't building to sell. "We're not driven by the idea of building something to sell. We're not driven by the need to grow from three to 40 people," he explains, noting that they've all experienced that trajectory before.
"It’s just about people and the work on repeat and keeping the fire burning from being interested in new categories and working with good people to help them get to the point."
For brands drowning in complexity and struggling to align diverse stakeholders around a unified vision, that clarity might be exactly what they need.
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