Global brand communications group, Manifest has added creative industry stalwart Rowena Vithlani to head its UK leadership team as the agency ramps up its growth ambitions. Having held senior roles at BBH, AKQA, AnalogFolk, R/GA and most recently Managing Partner at Uncommon, Vithlani’s appointment as UK Managing Director reflects Manifest’s continued push into branding, advertising and digital marketing as part of its ‘unified’ creative offering. Manifest was founded in London, where Vithlani will be based, and alongside its second UK studio in Manchester, the agency has established teams in New York, Los Angeles, Stockholm and Melbourne, operating a 24-hour creative cycle for clients as varied as Diageo, WWF and SC Johnson.
Rowena Vithlani commented:
“Manifest is carving a unique path; creating groundbreaking work across the creative spectrum and doing it in a way that reinvents how agencies operate. From technological innovation to corporate responsibility, this is a business that I believe represents the agency model of the future — and it’s a huge opportunity to be leading the charge in the UK.”
Vithlani will become the operational lead in the UK and joins its regional leadership team alongside Manifest’s agency principals in the USA, Nordics and Australia. Longstanding UK Managing Partner Ali Maynard James will support Vithlani in a new growth-focused role, overseeing the agency’s multi-brand clients, strategic partnerships and venture projects. Creative Director, Daisy Shepherd and Associate Director Emma Seddon complete the new look UK Executive Committee.
As a ‘unified’ agency, Manifest delivers brand consultancy, creative and campaign delivery work across the whole marketing spectrum, and the UK business aims to contribute £10m in annual revenues to the independent group by 2030.
“Manifest is approaching its fifteenth anniversary this autumn, and it’s been a wild ride,” says Manifest Founder and Global Chief Executive Officer, Alex Myers. “We’ve gone from a kitchen table to a global operation in that time, and as we look towards the next chapter we want to continue our growth both creatively and commercially. Rowena’s appointment is a huge part of that continued evolution in our UK business.”
The group cut its teeth delivering this holistic approach with fast growth businesses like BrewDog, and more recently the agency’s group-wide expansion has been fuelled by a rising desire from global brands to consolidate their creative support and build more single-minded brand propositions, according to Myers:
“We believe that by definition a campaign needs to be ‘for’ something, not just ‘about’ something. That’s how you build significance in culture, and at first it was only fast growth brands coming to us asking for that,” he says. “Since COVID, we’ve seen an increasing appetite from mainstream global brands to build that genuine cultural connection — the landscape has shifted. That’s where a lot of our growth in the UK is coming from. The ‘disrupted’ brands are now moving quickly to evolve.”
Founded in 2009, Manifest has won awards across the globe for its work with an eclectic portfolio of brands including BrewDog, Samsung, Sony PlayStation, Pernod Ricard, NBC Universal and WWF. In March 2023, the group became the first international creative agency to achieve B-Corp certification, while in 2020 the agency achieved full Blueprint status for its commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The group is a finalist at this year’s Campaign Global Agency of the Year Awards, in the Best Consultancy category, having picked up Silver in the Best Independent Agency category at Campaign’s UK Agency of the Year Awards earlier this year.
Vithlani added:
“This business is all about the work; it wouldn’t have got to where it is today if it wasn’t. But more than any other agency I’ve met, Manifest is committed to producing that work in the right way. The ambition to not just build brands that change the world, but be one ourselves, is palpable. This isn’t an agency driven by shareholders, spreadsheets or egos; it’s driven by a real collective passion to build something different. And it’s that collective philosophy that makes this role so different and exciting.”