Quiet Storm: Three decades of 'storm-starting' creativity

"If you don't feel slightly nervous, Trev's not doing his job," Haribo's Global CCO once remarked in a boardroom meeting. This sentiment perfectly encapsulates the ethos of Quiet Storm, an agency that has spent nearly three decades creating work that makes people feel something, even if that something occasionally includes discomfort.

Founded in 1995 by Trevor Robinson OBE, Quiet Storm emerged as the UK's first hybrid agency production company when Robinson and his creative partner wanted to direct their own work. They believed they knew how best to escalate their ideas, but at the time, no one in the UK was combining creative and production capabilities under one roof. This pioneering approach, ensuring nothing gets lost in translation from ideation to execution, remains central to their identity today.

Despite the seismic technological shifts that have reshaped marketing since the mid-90s, Quiet Storm's leadership maintains that the foundational principles of effective advertising haven't changed. At its core, it's still about moving people, connecting with them emotionally, and entertaining them. The big idea remains paramount.

The power of production integration

The agency's unique production capability has proven transformative for clients like Haribo, one of their longest-standing relationships. The now-iconic "Kids' Voices" campaign, which has run for over a decade across 23 countries, emerged from a process that required genuine creative bravery.

"The purity of the idea lay in its authenticity," explains the agency. "We had to record children first, completely unscripted, capturing spontaneous reactions like 'it tastes like clouds'. Anything scripted tended to sound cheesy and contrived." “This approach was integral to translating the idea on a global scale, as the authenticity of children’s reactions is uniquely nuanced in every country.”

Without their in-house production capability, this approach would have been significantly riskier. By creating a test film that brought the concept to life, Quiet Storm could demonstrate exactly how the unscripted approach would work, a crucial step in securing client buy-in for a campaign without a traditional script.

This integration of creative and production exemplifies what the agency calls "storm-starting creativity": bold ideas that punch above their weight, connecting with real people while delivering lasting business impact.

‍Breaking from category conventions

Perhaps nowhere is this approach more evident than in their work for On the Beach, which deliberately rejected the sanitised imagery that dominates travel advertising.

"The ad land version of a beach holiday is often removed from reality," the agency notes. "The clichéd images of perfect beaches, smiling families, and kids building sandcastles don't reflect how most people actually holiday."

Instead, Quiet Storm created a campaign showing British families "unapologetically enjoying their holiday in all its messy glory", from the smug satisfaction of clearing airport security to a cheeky kid pilfering his sister’s ice cream. This willingness to embrace polarisation required significant client trust.

"The most effective work often divides opinion, it makes people feel something," the agency explains. "We were fortunate that Zoe, CMO of On the Beach, shared that belief. She backed the idea wholeheartedly because she trusted the process, the creative truth, and ultimately, us."

This relationship with On the Beach's Zoe Harris spans over 20 years across multiple brands, a testament to the agency's client retention. Harris herself notes: "Working with Quiet Storm is as easy and collaborative post-pitch as during it. They partner with you, focus on delivering commercial results, resonate with your audience and fine-tune creative along the way."

The boutique advantage

At a time when holding companies continue to consolidate agency brands, Quiet Storm has deliberately maintained its independence and boutique scale. With a team of 30-40 people, they've struck what they believe is an optimal balance: "big enough to deliver work that competes with the best in the industry, yet small enough to stay agile, collaborative, and deeply connected."

This approach extends to client relationships, where marketers get direct access to senior, hands-on teams from day one. The agency believes this closeness builds trust quickly and ensures the work is both strategically sharp and creatively brave.

Their employee ownership model reinforces this culture, giving everyone a stake in the agency's success. This structure "fuels a culture where people care deeply about the work, about each other, and about the impact we create," while keeping the focus "where it should be: on people, partnership, and creativity that starts a storm."

Creativity as a force for change

Beyond commercial work, Quiet Storm has consistently leveraged creativity as a tool for social change. Over the years, they've created pro-bono campaigns for organisations including the Helen Bamber Foundation, Childline, Women's Equality Party and Crimestoppers.

Most notably, Trevor Robinson OBE founded Create Not Hate, a non-profit tackling the lack of diversity and inclusion in advertising. The initiative began when Robinson heard that a student from his old school had been stabbed, with the first project focusing on knife and gun crime. Students learned every aspect of the creative process, from writing to directing, with the resulting short film launching several creative careers.

Following the murder of George Floyd, Create Not Hate was relaunched to address racism and underrepresentation in the industry. Since then, over 500 people have participated in their programmes.

"For us, it's about making the industry better, fairer, and more open for the next generation, and helping people to understand that a more diverse industry always means more impactful work," the agency explains. "That belief in the power of creativity to change lives is part of Quiet Storm's DNA. As long as the agency exists, that commitment will remain."

Navigating the industry's crossroads

As marketing continues its technological transformation, Quiet Storm sees the industry at a critical juncture, balancing data, AI and automation with the enduring need for human connection.

"Technology can target what we buy and when we buy it, but if brands keep firing transactional ads at people without entertaining or inspiring them, it becomes soulless, it's just more noise in an already crowded world," they argue.

While embracing AI as "a brilliant tool to enhance and increase possibilities," the agency remains focused on creating standout ideas that make people feel something. Their approach to "compound creativity" centres on developing ideas designed to work across platforms and grow in effectiveness over time, ensuring brands maintain a consistent point of view wherever they appear.

This philosophy aligns with Trevor Robinson's original vision: "I don't mind if my creators want to win awards. I think that's great. But my main objective is to do things that work with real people. That real people will want to see it again and again, and want to talk about it."

Three decades after its founding, Quiet Storm continues to operate at the intersection of creativity, craft and cultural intelligence, still driven by the belief that creativity, "when fuelled by courage, craft, and human truth, can change everything."

For brands seeking transformative impact, the message is clear: sometimes the most effective approach is to embrace a little discomfort, trust the process, and let the storm begin.