March, 2026.- In a digital environment moving at the speed of a TikTok trend, Coolr has achieved what many consider impossible: growing over 20% annually while maintaining a human essence and elite creative standards. Leading this expansion is Olivia Blairman, the agency’s Managing Director, who has transformed the concept of “social media” from a simple add-on into the third fundamental pillar of modern marketing. For Blairman, success in 2026 isn’t about chasing every new platform; it’s about building teams that “live and breathe” the culture of communities like Reddit or TikTok, integrating strategy, production, and data analytics into a constant feedback loop. With recent global account wins like Starling Bank and Skyscanner, Coolr proves that authenticity is non-negotiable—it is the engine that allows brands to evolve without losing their voice to an audience, especially Gen Z, that spots forced content instantly.
In this exclusive interview with Roastbrief, Olivia Blairman breaks down how to manage talent in a hyper-growth phase without diluting agency values. From implementing integrated workflows that eliminate silos to her vision of creator marketing as an inseparable ally of social strategy, Blairman offers a masterclass in operational leadership. Discover why the future of brands depends on their ability to be active, organic participants in digital conversation, and how Coolr is betting on a model where operational rigor and creative ambition grow in perfect harmony to help brands win in the world’s most competitive arena: the user’s feed.
- As Managing Director, how do you scale the agency’s culture, creative standards, and operational rigor while integrating this volume of new talent so quickly?
Scaling culture and standards quickly is never straightforward, most leaders in scale-up businesses will recognise that. But it’s something I am very passionate about maintaining.
From early on, I knew that as we scaled, our culture would inevitably evolve. The priority was making sure the things that really matter didn’t get diluted. For us, that meant identifying non-negotiables: the Coolr values, best in class creative and the way we treat both our people and our clients.
Once those are clear, the key is embedding them into the systems of the business. That shows up in how we hire, how we onboard new talent and how we develop leaders across the agency. Culture can’t just live with a founder or the SLT alone, it has to be carried by the entire organisation.
Ultimately,we grow, the culture, creative ambition and operational disciplines should grow with it.
- How does that evolution change the way Coolr structures its teams, briefs its creatives, and measures success for clients?
Social is one of the only marketing channels where brands can connect with their audience every single day. It’s where a brand’s personality can truly come to life, through developing a distinctive tone of voice and building an ongoing relationship with their community.
Because of that, we approach social very differently from traditional marketing. Everything we do starts with a strategy and we take the time to really understand a brand, understanding its audience, the role social needs to play in driving growth, and the platforms where it can show up most effectively.
That strategic foundation shapes how we structure our teams and how we brief creative work. Our teams are built around each client, bringing together strategists, creatives, content specialists and client leads whose experience and interests align with the brand and its audience. It creates a level of ownership and investment that’s critical in an always-on environment.
It means we’re not just delivering social activity, we’re building teams that are genuinely invested in helping brands win on social.
- The Integrated Social Agency: Coolr is responding to demand for “broader, more integrated work” by building teams across strategy, creative, content, post-production, and client services.
How do you ensure these disciplines are genuinely integrated rather than operating as silos? What does your workflow look like from brief to execution? Yes
Everything we do runs on a cycle.
It begins with strategy, where we work to really understand the client’s brand, their audience and the role social can play in driving growth. From there, that strategic thinking feeds into the creativity, ensuring the ideas we produce are both culturally relevant and platform-native.
Once the creative direction is set, the wider team moves into implementation and activation, producing and delivering the content across the right social channels, often working with creators and communities to bring those ideas to life.
The final stage is data, measuring the good stuff. We analyse performance closely, looking at both cultural engagement and ultimately the commercial impact for the client.
But the key is that it doesn’t stop there, those insights feed straight back into strategy, allowing us to constantly refine the work and improve results over time. It’s cliche, but you have to continuously test and learn.
Crucially, those insights feed straight back into the next round of strategy and creative thinking. That constant feedback loop keeps the disciplines connected and allows us to continuously refine the work and improve results over time.
- 20% Growth Trajectory: Coolr is on track to deliver more than 20% growth this financial year, with new wins including Starling Bank, Müller, and Skyscanner.
What is the common thread across these new clients? What are they seeking from Coolr that they weren’t finding elsewhere, and how does that signal where the market is heading?
Our results speak for themselves, we know how to make brands win on social, we have consistently done it for years.
But what really connects the brands choosing to work with Coolr is that they’re looking for a partner with a genuine passion for social and a deep understanding of the space.
Social moves incredibly fast and success requires teams that live and breathe it. Understanding the culture, formats and behaviours that make content resonate with audiences.
That’s what we bring as an agency. Our teams are immersed in social everyday. Some love TikTok, others love Reddit, but everyone has a passion for a corner of the social world.
We often talk about social as the third pillar of modern marketing, sitting alongside creative and media. Social isn’t something that can just bolt on to the wider marketing plan and be bought in at the last minute, it requires specialism and a social-first mindset. That’s where we’re seeing strong demand for what we offer.
- The 2026 Social Landscape: With 17 new starters in the UK alone, you’re betting big on the trajectory of social and influencer marketing.
As Managing Director, how do you define and communicate that benchmark across a growing team? How do you ensure every piece of work, regardless of scale, meets that standard?
One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing is brands becoming much more thoughtful about how they show up in social spaces. The most successful brands aren’t trying to completely reinvent themselves, they’re evolving their presence in a way that stays true to their tone of voice.
Social should feel like an evolution of the brand, not a revolution. Audiences are quick to spot when something feels forced or inauthentic, let’s face it, no-one wants to be a “’silence, brand”.. Understanding where you have a natural role to play within communities has never been more important.
At the same time, the rise of influencer and creator marketing isn’t slowing down. The most effective strategies are those where social and creator partnerships work together. That combination is Coolr’s sweet spot and it’s something we expect to see continue growing into 2026 and beyond.
We’re also seeing a huge increase in brands wanting to connect with Gen Z audiences. Many of the briefs we receive are focused on reaching this group, because they are the purchasers of tomorrow.
Together, these shifts point to a future where social becomes even more central to how brands build relevance and long-term relationships with their audiences.
