BigSmall
London
Website: BigSmall
Founder: Ben Cleaver, Tom Evans
Year founded: 2018
UK headcount: 3
Office: London
It’s a gnarly time with AI, which raises the big question of why do the work we do?
Profile
BigSmall was set up to give clients everything they need in one lean, neatly packaged process. It started as a 12-week programme divided into weekly phases – six weeks to get small followed by six weeks to get big – but that has since seen co-founders and cousins, Tom and Ben, launch it as an official agency.
BigSmall has, exactly like its signature programme, gone from small to big over the past eight years. What started as a two-person presentation team has grown to a collective of 30-ish experts they call the ‘brains trust’, who come it at specific points during the programme.
The sharp focus on doing work in sprints has put some big names on the books, from Paramount and Amazon to private equity company Blackstone and WaterAid. Ben remembers one of their first pitches fondly – two Brits staying in a bunkbed in New York, before going on to win a major pitch in the Rockerfeller Center against some big US agencies.
That passion and enthusiasm for the work has carried them to where they are now, and clients clearly appreciate the access they have to the creative and strategic expertise that they bring. This now includes MullenLowe’s former chief growth officer, Lucy Taylor, who joined as a third partner in 2025. This trio are completely embedded in the business and hold all the client relationships between them.
The model that has served them so well is not likely to change any time soon. BigSmall plans on remaining a lean agency machine, but they will look to bolster the ‘Brains Trust’ with different backgrounds and types of strategies. AI may have a role to play somewhere, but it certainly won’t be able to replicate the heart of the agency.
“We really give a shit – we’re in the room, there’s no B team,” says Ben.
The plans are in place to kickstart that next stage of growth. Now, it’s time for BigSmall to put its own brand at the centre of the business and tell its story to the rest of the industry.