‘One of the best kept secrets in the industry’: Simon Langley on what brought him to Edge from Wunderman Thompson
What would inspire someone to leave the national chief creative officer role at an agency network in the middle of a pandemic? Simon Langley says Edge has “all the tools in place to become a really exciting creative agency”, and his decision to make the change was driven by the opportunity the pandemic has created for Edge to take on the industry. Here, Langley, founding partner Fergus Stoddart and partner Richard Parker speak to Mumbrella’s Zoe Wilkinson about the future of Edge.
“I think there’s never been a better opportunity or time to join an independent. I think the pandemic has obviously changed a lot of things, it’s reset how we all work, how we think,” says Simon Langley.
Making the move from Wunderman Thompson to the smaller, independent agency Edge was something that he considered throughout the pandemic, and the impact COVID-19 had on the industry was certainly playing on Langley’s mind. But, above all, it was the opportunity COVID presented to independent agencies.
“I’d been at Wunderman Thompson, or JWT-slash-Wunderman Thompson, for six-and-a-half years by the time I’d left, and I really enjoyed it and [have] still got fantastic friendships in there, and did some really great work, and built a great team. But I think I was looking for a new challenge,” he says.
“For me, it’s all about culture and helping build something and having, I think, a real challenge. And I guess also when you’re in a smaller agency… you’re more connected to the day-to-day.
