London/Dubai – 7 July 2025: LADbible co-founder Arian Kalantari is launching Plus1 Assembly, a global innovation agency designed for brands that want to lead culture, not follow it.
United by a shared sense of deep frustration with the legacy agency model, the new agency’s co-founders have designed Plus1 to be the agency they all wished existed: agile, adaptive and engineered for results.
While most agencies are still built around old structures that leave them fragmented and backfooted, Plus1 has a new operating model that helps brands grow by combining creative firepower, real-time intelligence to get ahead of culture and AI-powered systems to deliver measurable commercial impact.
All projects run in clearly defined sprints, each focused on actionable insights, instead of rigid retainers that tie clients into out-dated strategies.
The new agency has secured a £5m backing from Simba Investments and launches with clients including sports, tech, and gaming company Rezzil; sports media company The Stomping Ground; and AI-powered tech consulting and delivery company CodeBlaze. It has also acquired Layfe, a strategic AI consultancy, which will help further power its work shaping and building tomorrow’s leading brands.
Plus1 Assembly is led by four co-founders with deep industry credentials:
● Arian Kalantari, Co-founder – former Co-founder of LADbible, one of the world’s biggest youth media networks and part of global digital entertainment business LBG Media.
● Jax Davey, Co-founder and CEO – former CEO of Nuevo, a creative agency known for promoting industry standards on purpose, sustainability and innovation.
● Lee Humphreys, Co-founder –former CEO of HH Global Creative + Digital, where he scaled global brand operations across FMCG, retail and tech.
● Jake Brocklesby Co-founder – is Founder and CEO of Simba Investments, a venture capital firm with $170m+ assets under management.
The Plus1 offering is built around three specialist hubs:
● Halo: A live cultural intelligence system that cuts through the chaos of Reddit threads, Twitch streams, TikTok trends and conversation. It doesn’t just track where culture is going, it tells brands when to act, and how.
● Layfe: An AI consultancy that powers business growth through intelligent AI and automation systems. With deep expertise in business transformation, Layfe sits at the intersection of strategy and technology.
● Rise: An insight-led investment arm backing early-stage companies with capital, infrastructure, and access to Plus1’s network. Rise doesn’t just invest – it builds.
Plus1 clients can engage with any or all these hubs depending on their goals; and can expect workflows and automations designed to enable quality at pace and scale.
Curated squads of talent are assembled for each client according to the particular business challenge being addressed – and designed to deliver the best outcome.
Clients also benefit from built-in accountability and focus on sustainable growth. Individually set up Halo Programmes provide clients with access to their own insights and KPIs that will positively impact brand value.
To support its launch, Plus1 Assembly has created a social film about how the unreality of the AI-powered world in which we now live creates significant opportunities for brands with substance, value and authenticity to grow in faster, newer, smarter ways. It is also running a sticker ‘drop’ campaign around London poking fun at outdated marketing thinking and tactics.
“The market needs a new type of business. For too long, agencies have been built around old structures and misaligned incentives and chase culture from behind,” says Arian Kalantari, Plus1 Assembly Co-founder. “Jax has the vision for what will work now. So, I’ve joined with him to help define a new world where technology meets creativity, all underpinned by a commercial model that shares success with our clients. We’re not doing everything; we’re doing what works.”
“In the old world, if you believed social media was the key to growth you’d hire a social media agency. But with AI reshaping how people search and new platforms changing brand discovery, markets are shifting fast and many of the old ways of doing things no longer make sense,” adds Jax Davey, Plus1 Assembly Co-founder and CEO. “Today, we’re in a place where strategy needs to evolve. Despite this, a lot of brands are locked into a rigid model built for yesterday. Plus1 is different. We bring in the right capabilities at the right time. We stay fluid and responsive to what our clients actually need in a world that’s changing fast.”
