Imagination: Where creative ambition meets flawless delivery

"If you've got a name like Imagination, you really need to live up to it," explains Richard Hannah, managing director at Imagination. The agency's name serves as both a benchmark and a daily challenge. "That is what drives our culture of creativity and innovation, and it doesn’t just originate from our creatives, it's evident across technology, production, account management and strategy, all parts of the business really."

Imagination stands apart not merely through its longevity, but through its unwavering commitment to its founding principle: harnessing the transformative power of human imagination. This Experience  Design Agency has evolved from theatrical roots into a global creative force that consistently delivers what its name promises - imaginative solutions that help brands engage audiences and leverage key moments.

The agency's journey to becoming an experience design pioneer reflects broader shifts in marketing communications, where experiences have moved from occasional brand activations to essential components of effective campaigns. Yet through these industry transformations, Imagination's core vision, conceived in a Soho cocktail bar in the 1960s, remains steadfast.

Creative innovation with technical mastery

What distinguishes Imagination in the crowded agency landscape is not merely creative originality, but the technical capability to realise ambitious brand moments. Hannah identifies three core territories that separate the agency from competitors: creative innovation, quality of service, and technological expertise.

"Having great ideas is one thing. Being able to execute them with precision is a completely different ball game," Hannah observes. "That's where a lot of agencies fall short, they have the ambition and ideas, but may lack the depth and range of experience to execute.”

This execution capability was dramatically demonstrated when Imagination helped Jaguar launch its F-Pace vehicle in 2018 with a world record-breaking loop stunt in Shanghai. Using a production vehicle with limited modifications, the event required both creative daring and meticulous technical planning.

“For a client to hand their brand over to us at that moment is monumental. For them to trust us enough to make sure it's a success on a live launch, in front of the world's media, that level of relationship is what it's really about,” Hannah explains.

This technical sophistication extends to innovative applications of technology, as demonstrated in Visa's "Masters of Movement" activation at the World Cup. The experience tracked fans' football movements through kinetic vests, transforming their gameplay into digital art that was minted as NFTs in collaboration with Crypto.com.

"The Masters of Movement campaign and activation embodies the spirit of Imagination. At the heart of it was a really original creative idea. Then we had the technical ability to execute that," Hannah explains. "The integration of those skills and the ability to deliver them flawlessly is truly what sets us apart."

‍Scaling to clients’ needs

Imagination has built its reputation on spectacular brand moments, the latest of which being Visa's "Live at le Louvre" event, where the team orchestrated an iconic concert within the UNESCO World Heritage site - a feat few would dare attempt. But brand building is not just about the iconic, it’s also about the many smaller touch points as Hannah notes “as with many agencies what you often see are the tentpole moments, but behind that is a huge volume of smaller experiences we create for clients - we work at every level of brief and budget and each project is given the same amount of care, attention and talent”. 

"Working in a UNESCO World Heritage site like the Louvre required a lot of care. There is possibly no building on the planet as sensitive as the Louvre," Hannah notes. The project required measuring vibrations near priceless artworks and protecting centuries-old architectural elements, while delivering a contemporary brand experience from Visa.

Building relationships through shared ambition

Key to Imagination's approach is a commitment to client relationships built on trust, respect and shared ambition. 

"It starts with the foundation of trust and respect," Hannah explains. "You have to listen... really try to put yourself in [client’s] shoes as much as possible." However, he emphasises the importance of pushing back when the team believes strongly in a creative direction, noting that these robust conversations can lead to better brand outcomes.

Such a level of client centricity has secured client relationships spanning decades. The agency's ability to deliver consistently high-quality outcomes has resulted in an impressive Net Promoter Score of 81 across more than 60 projects of varying scales in 2024.

Looking forward: Human experiences in an AI world

As marketing communications evolve, Imagination sees significant opportunity in what Hannah describes as "the humanisation of communications." With audiences increasingly sceptical of traditional advertising, experiences offer brands authentic ways to connect with consumers seeking human interaction.

"As AI takes over communications and advertising, brand is going to suffer because we’re going to see a gradual homogenisation of messaging and creative techniques," Hannah predicts. "Can you imagine how our feeds are going to look in five years' time? Everything's going to look the same, everything's going to sound the same...people are going to tune out of it, naturally - indeed they already are."

This context positions experiential marketing as increasingly vital for brand differentiation. While AI may automate much of digital advertising, Hannah notes that "you can't automate live experiences. You can certainly augment them with AI and make them more personalised or more creative, but you can't beat the authenticity of real-world human interactions and that authenticity is increasingly the battleground for brand marketers.”

For marketers seeking to effect meaningful change, whether brand building, launching products, or revitalising their connection with audiences, Imagination offers a rare combination of strategic insight, creative originality and scalable delivery. As Hannah puts it: "When you work with Imagination, you know you're going to get a quality outcome, and that's why clients have stuck with us for 10, 20, 30, even 40 years."