London, June 2nd, 2020

Born in Brooklyn, Huge is one of the world’s most successful digital design and marketing agencies with more than 1,200 designers, strategists, and technologists operating throughout its offices in North and South America, Europe, and Asia.

The agency specializes in helping businesses respond to rapidly changing consumer demands and transform to be successful in the 21st century economy. It’s known for successfully harmonizing user needs and business goals to create industry-changing digital experiences for its clients.

Wayne Deakin is the Executive Creative Director of EMEA at Huge, working from the London office. In an interview with TIA, he described the work at the agency and the elements that differentiate the agency from others. He also reflected on his past experiences and looked at the projects so far developed.

In your opinion, what makes London a great place?

London is one of the great cities of the world. From a digital point of view is one of the epicenters of the world and work is quite progressive. I worked in Germany, Australia, Singapore and London, which has been a very progressive location. It’s a great location for talent as it attracts a lot of it. We have up to 20 nationalities in the office.

What’s the biggest challenge you find when growing business in EMEA?

Huge London is part of a big network. We don’t work just with UK clients but also for global clients either based here or in Europe or from other parts of the world that want to be able to get their product in the market of Europe.

Europe is my focus. London is one of the most competitive landscape for agencies in the world. It’s always difficult, you want to stay on top and find the right talent. Clients expect a certain level of work from you. We are in London but half of our clients are in other parts of the world. We work across many regions around the world. You come to London for the talent and clients expect different level of thinking.

How’s the team holding together since the epidemic started in China?

Really good actually. The nice thing from my point of view is that we are a people-focused agency. Our culture has been tested with this. We have launched two global websites with this pandemic. The work is still great, the people are still connected every day and do different activities form cultural and social point of view.

In your opinion, what makes Huge stand out?

Every person will tell you why their agency is different from the rest. If you ask clients is because we have a different mindset and approach. We always put the user first before it became trendy. Now everybody caught up with that. We have been doing that for 20 years.

We want to win with a great solution based on data and creativity. We are a digital agency and our proposition is about elevating the human experience. Now the bridge between the physical and the digital channels has become closer. We want to do design on a human level.

How’s been your path like to be where you are today?

I started in traditional advertising and got bored. I launched several big brands and won awards with them. I moved to digital and one of the first experiences was working with Microsoft products. I worked a lot with Samsung as well. Most recently with Nike, Starbucks and Rolls Royce.

I enjoyed a lot working with Tommy Hilfiger in the digital world as it helped them reinvent the business. Now more recently working with Harry Potter and the Wizarding World was very cool. We launched the new fan experience, a new digital ecosystem for everything digital linked to Harry Potter. Some of the work with Google has been every cool.

When at the office, what’s a regular day like on Wayne Deakin’ shoes?

I am working from home now and its quite nice. Normally in the office everyone wants a piece of you and ask for things. My regular day now it’s really good. I can really concentrate on the bits that I need to do. My main task is mentoring and helping to lead the team in the different disciplines. I spend time working with the team looking at ideas and a lot of the day also interacting with clients, helping them see where we are going. All days are different, even in this COVID world. I have never been a person sitting in the glass office, I like to be at the trenches.

What were your personal motivations to volunteer time and ideas to help BIMA and British Digital Companies?

I have been a member for BIMA for a while. Pushing for British creative is important as well as looking at the next generation of talent and helping them. I am at the creative council on BIMA to push innovation and craft in Britain. It’s about creating a landscape to bring innovation and create great work. I am giving my time to young talent and the next generation. You have to be involved with organizations like BIMA to do that and give a back.

How can you guarantee to develop creative and innovative projects?

There’s no guarantee to anything in life. But if you have really good insights and then act on those insights on a creative way you can guarantee that it will be great work. You can have great ideas but you also need great craft to connect those ideas. It all has to work.

Is there a question you wish people would ask you more often?

I have been doing this for 20 years but I don’t have the answers to everything. The one question I always ask people is how can we get this better. I would also like people to say more I trust you and then push harder.

Can you share a fun fact that people would be surprised to learn about you?

Before I got into this industry I was a professional surfer. But I didn’t make any money.

Thanks Wayne!

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