Adam Morrison, Ben Tan and Saunby & Chiappe launch new agency 2050 London

Adam Morrison, Ben Tan and Saunby & Chiappe launched the new agency 2050 London, which believes that  challenging ideas are the way to create real change for the future. Driven by the power of optimism and the philosophy ‘ideas change things’, the agency seeks to build brands that are ready to create culture change and brand fame through challenging ideas. They believe the year 2050 won’t turn out how it is being foreseen by doomsters, if forward-thinking marketing leaders respond to reinvent the future. Founded by MD Adam Morrison, strategist Ben Tan and award-winning creative duo Matthew Saunby and Adam Chiappe, the four are ready to change things in what looks set to be a challenging future.

2050 Founder Adam Morrison comments:

“We chose the name 2050 because of what this date can mean to our world. It’s become a deadline for great change. A calling for all to embrace necessary innovation and creativity. The Edelman trust barometer in 2019 showed that big businesses and brands have more power, capital and consumer trust to create change than world leaders.’’

Morrison’s early career saw him work in leading creative agencies including Leo Burnett and AMVBBDO working on large accounts including SAAB Miller, JandJ, Gillette, and Mercedes-Benz. His desire to learn from different cultures and start-ups took him to Australia and Africa, including a spell at Host/Havas where he managed Lion Nathan’s XXXX Gold, Toohey’s, Hotels.com and Pizza Hut among others. Before setting up 2050, he was with Saatchi and Saatchi London where he looked after the insurance company brand, Direct Line.

2050 launches with a number of clients including global money transfer service Azimo, Manchester-based mental health charity Moodswings, The Lands – a conservation safari lodge in the Okavango Delta and the UK’s largest group tackling climate change, The Climate Coalition. This announcement comes shortly after the release of 2050’s first major European brand campaign for Azimo, ‘The Journey. Hard work deserves more.’

Morrison continues:

“As a new agency, you want to do things differently, have a point of view and be a brand. Of course, a key benefit is we’ll put the A-team on projects, while being agile with budgets. But initially, we’re being selective. It’s important we start to build our culture by working with brands who share future facing values. People interested in creating culture change through off-beat creativity and execution. Accelerated growth comes if ideas can change everything from internal culture, product innovation and are then invested in with epic, awe-inspiring, entertaining ads. Together, if we aim for ideas that do this – that really seek to change things – then a brand’s fame will rise and survive the demands of future generations.’’

Driving the creative side of 2050, the team is helmed by award-winning ECDs Matthew Saunby and Adam Chiappe. The northern pair were famously hand-picked from St Martins art school by Sir John Hegarty and went on to produce some of the industry’s biggest ads at BBH such as Levi’s ‘Twisted’, Lynx ‘Rituals’ and Audi’s ‘Hendrix’. They have since gone on to do spells at Grey London and TBWA before working at AMVBBDO. After this point they also went on to create further category changing work on Nissan, EE, Direct Line, Rekorderlig Cider, Co-op and Camden Town Brewery. They have won countless prestigious awards including Gold Cannes Lions, Gold Clios, British Arrows (BTAA’s) and D&AD pencils.

Executive Creative Directors Saunby & Chiappe comment:

“When we jammed ideas with Adam about the values and brand of the agency, we realised we had to give it a go. More and more people are thinking earlier in life about the world we’ll pass on to future generations. Therefore, as creatives, having the chance to work with inspiring brands who want to create meaningful culture change is beyond exciting. We know that to get cut-through and build fame in an incredibly over-crowded media space, brands need irreverent, seemingly crazy ideas to change things. As Adam says it’s this kind of challenger mind-set that will accelerate growth for brands in 2020 and beyond.”

Fourth partner, Ben Tan, has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands with blue chip agencies of all disciplines. He led global strategy for HSBC and Mondelez with JWT; directed planning on Volkswagen Group, Lloyds and Economist and Virgin Holidays as Head of Strategy at Proximity London and helped launch Google Chrome with digital agency Glue London. He has previous experience launching start-ups as EPD with BBD Perfect Storm where his pitch wins included the likes of Investec Private Bank, Vitality, Emirates Skywards and Fruit Shoot. His awards include MMA, IDM and Mondelez Marketing Effectiveness awards.

Ben Tan Comments:

“We’d all got to a place where we wanted to do ‘good work that does some good’… But without getting caught up in the ‘higher purpose’ bandwagon and pretending a widget brand is an NGO. No one buys it any more, if they ever did. Self-consciously woke ads prompt incredulity. It takes authenticity to land a message. We make brands famous on their own merits. That means creating culture. And by creating culture we can make a positive difference. Now we just need to find clients who are up for building that future.”