CB Hot Suit Takes: Lee Simpson, Co-founder/CEO, Tightknit Studio
CB Hot Suit Takes is our new Q&A series for extremely busy CEOs and senior leaders across the industry ~ covering careers, creativity, challenges and the song that sums it all up. Next in the hot seat is Lee Simpson, Co-founder and CEO, Tightknit Studio.
1. What made you get into advertising?
I came back home to Birmingham after 12 months backpacking and stumbled into a contract role in the new business department at McCann Birmingham. I walked into a building of 250 people doing everything from media buying to PR to TV campaigns. The agency wasn’t far from where I grew up, but it was a world I never knew existed. I walked in wide-eyed and completely clueless, but quickly knew I had to learn it to be able to sell it. Dean Lovett (CEO of McCann UK Regions, COO McCann UK) then gave me a permanent role in account management, which felt like a huge stroke of luck at the time.
The industry took me to Grey London, AMV BBDO then over to Melbourne and Sydney. A long way from growing up in a single parent family in Birmingham. But having studied Sociology at university without really knowing where it would take me, perhaps it was always meant to be.
2. Which piece of work are you most proud of, and why?
I’ll pick one of the pieces my Co-founder and I worked on (along with many other talented folk) – Meet Graham for Transport Accident Commission. To work on the pitch for TAC right through to Graham was satisfying. A globally-recognised idea with a high degree of difficulty that still feels fresh today.
3. What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role right now?
Challenge can be a good thing. We are tackling challenges in FMCG, property, fintech, sports entertainment, and edtech. We even had to get our heads around UK national infrastructure projects for a client. Those challenges are what keeps things interesting.
A harder challenge is one we all share – pitching. To be fair, the pitches we’ve been involved with at Tightknit have been well run. But there’s the time, the cost and the emotional investment. Even knowing when to say yes or no to them is a challenge in itself.
4. What’s the most recent thing you’ve learned – professionally or personally?
That despite all the change in the industry, what we do is more valuable than ever. Being comfortable with complexity, finding elegant strategic solutions, making creative leaps and representing the thinking in front of organisations.
Technology can make us more effective and efficient at doing that. But we should also keep investing in our human training data. Learning from the conversation with a stranger on a bus or the factory worker who mutters something enlightening. The learning never really stops.
5. What song best sums up your career so far?
‘Can’t Stop’ Red Hot Chili Peppers
Read Paul Binikos’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Pete Bosilkovski’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Alana Stocks’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Jake Ford’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Vanessa West’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Vivienne Collins’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Dan Adams’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Marijana Simunovic’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Paul Den’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Remy Brassac’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Priya Patel’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Rosie Brown’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Andrew Siwka’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Nicole Miranda’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Sean Cummins’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Justine Leong’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Alex McManus’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Ben Walker’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Lucy Houldsworth’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Tom Ootes’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Suzie Shaw’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Jamie Scott’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Meredith Cranmer’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read James Mackinnon’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Sophie Lander’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Alex Carr’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Danielle Moeller’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Jarrick Lay’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Georgina Powell’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Paul McMillan’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Celia Wallace’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Jules Hall’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Jen Sharpe’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Jaimes Leggett’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Hanne Haugen’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Adam Brami’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Matilda Hobba’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read John Marshall’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Gayle While’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Adrian Mills’ Hot Suit Takes here
Read Chiquita King’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Tim Evans Hot Suit Takes here
Read Sheryl Marjoram’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Ben Lilley’s Hot Suit Takes here
Read Lisa Sutton Gardner’s Hot Suit Takes here