Campaign A List 2025

Jonathan Emmins
Founder and global chief executive officer
Amplify

Are you bored of being asked questions about hybrid working?

Yep – we all know and have exhausted the pros and cons. We’re all grown-ups. We all work hard. We all learn from one another. We all get the job done. And we all need balance. Family and health must always come first.

Name one fact about you that would surprise people.

In 2004 I coordinated Alton Towers’ Guinness World Record for the most naked people on a rollercoaster, celebrating Nemesis Inferno’s birthday. I actually got this as a Trivial Pursuit question, asking what they were wearing. Answer: “Nothing.” For health and safety reasons, I know they wore shoes and socks.

What advice would you give to someone considering leaving adland?

First, maybe check you’re not just in the wrong part of adland? Amplify has a real team mix of both those deliberately found from non-adland to those from more traditional routes keen to re-apply their experience and skills elsewhere. If not, what a set of superpowers to apply elsewhere…

What do employees appreciate most about working at your company?

One another. We know we’re only as good as the talented individuals who choose to call Amplify home. And it is a choice. I’m genuinely inspired by all those around me seeing their superpowers in action – not just what they do, but the spirit in which they go about doing it.

What was the biggest professional challenge you tackled in 2024?

Balancing “independent” while “adulting”, getting the agency match fit for the next stage of Amplify’s global growth. Special shout-out to our new global chief financial officer, Hayley Finmore, who joined Amplify this year, as we continue to push forward focusing on the three c’s: creativity, culture and commercial.

What one thing will shape advertising/media in 2025?

With a bit of luck, culture and creativity will shape advertising and media, and vice versa. As a minimum, brands should be additive to culture, with “creating culture” all our North Star.