Founded in 2009—a pivotal moment when social and digital media were becoming mainstream, ...Gasp! emerged from its founders' frustration with the tactics-first, question-free approach that dominated agency culture. Today, they're on a mission to elevate marketing's status in the corporate hierarchy through a blend of strategic rigour and creative flair.
"We set up the agency to be a real marketing agency rather than a tactical specialist," explains Giles Edwards, one of ...Gasp!'s founding partners. This philosophy manifests in their agency mantra: "Creatively Memorable & Boringly Effective™"—a balance that has attracted clients ranging from international law firms, niche B2B companies and mass-market B2C brands.
The diagnosis dilemma
At the heart of ...Gasp!'s approach lies a commitment to diagnosis—a phase they consider non-negotiable. "We will never ever approach any project without honing in on diagnosis and strategy," Connolly emphasises. "Sometimes we don't even get into tactics. The client goes off and does that themselves, and we're happy either way because the strategic foundations are set."
This diagnostic-led methodology stands in stark contrast to the industry's tendency to leap straight to execution. Research suggests this is a widespread issue—a recent study found that 75% of UK marketers lack formal training, creating a knowledge gap that often leads to tactical decisions without strategic foundations.
"There's only so many times you can ask 'why are we doing this?' before you grow frustrated," Edwards reflects on his experience before founding ...Gasp!. "The focus on understanding the market, the competition, the people you're ultimately trying to convert on behalf of your clients, and the context of how you're trying to advise your client how to win is so imperative—and yet so often ignored."
This commitment to fundamentals has positioned ...Gasp! differently from competitors. Rather than maintaining expensive in-house creative teams that might deliver work that doesn't quite hit the mark, they operate with a core team of strategic experts who partner with specialist creatives as needed.
"We tap into their expertise as and when we need it," Sophie Edwards, founding partner and managing director explains. "This means we haven't got exaggerated overheads. We're far more agile, and we know the creatives we’re working with are at the top of their game so the client will always get quality work."
Finding creativity in unexpected places
Perhaps most intriguing about ...Gasp! is their client roster—not always the household consumer brands you might expect, but rather what Edwards describes as "weird spaces, niche businesses."
…Gasp! built a marketing function from the ground up for CSS McLays—a well-established B2B company that had never viewed marketing as a growth catalyst. Three years on, the partnership is still going strong, with marketing now embedded as a key strategic driver within the business.
"Coca-Cola don't need us. Nike don't need us," he states matter-of-factly. "A B2B adhesive seller needs us. Law firms need us."
This specialisation in the seemingly mundane has led to some of their most innovative work. For Addleshaw Goddard, an international law firm, they created the campaign, "Almost Right is 100% Wrong" that transformed how the firm's matchmaking service was perceived—winning 14 awards including Marketing Week's Marketing Team of the Year (beating multinational beverage company Diageo in the process).
The age-old advantage
In an industry often criticised for exploiting junior talent, ...Gasp! takes a different approach. "The average age of our agency is more than 10 years older than the average age of a WPP agency," Edwards reveals, referencing a recent campaign highlighting this distinction.
"We don't have that disparity that you see in other agencies where someone senior will win the work and someone junior will execute it," Edwards continues. "We are a senior team."
This experience-led model extends to their training philosophy. Every team member completes at least one Mini MBA program with Marketing Week and Mark Ritson—a commitment to professional development that has created a common language not just within the agency but with their clients too.
"At the moment, 75% of our clients have done similar training to us," Connolly explains. "We're talking the same language as them, and it just makes for productive relationships and more effective work."
Putting marketing back in the boardroom
Perhaps ...Gasp!'s most ambitious goal is restoring marketing's strategic importance at the highest levels of business. "One of our broader initiatives is to put marketing back in the boardroom," Connolly states, "to be seen at that top level as the levers you pull to generate future sales."
This mission extends beyond client work. The agency has published award-winning books on marketing effectiveness, runs a successful podcast called "Call to Action®" that has amassed over half a million listeners, and recently partnered with market research company System1, brand tracking company Tracksuit and The Marketing Meetup to launch "The Chutes™"—an initiative that celebrates "work that works" through objective customer measures.
"We're at the forefront of marketing effectiveness in ways that almost every other agency isn't," Edwards claims, pointing to these industry contributions as evidence of their commitment to raising standards.
Looking ahead: growth through principle
As they look to the future, ...Gasp! plans to grow their headcount over the next 12-18 months—not by compromising their principles, but by scaling what already works.
"We're really comfortable with our processes, with the way that we manage the agency, with the work that we're doing," Sophie Edwards, explains. "We've gone through a few different iterations of ...Gasp!, we've got through COVID, and now we're in a place where we're doing brilliant work, with brilliant clients, managed by a brilliant team. So, let's just take that mould and make it bigger."
As marketing continues its struggle for confidence and boardroom credibility, ...Gasp! offers a compelling vision of what's possible when strategic rigour meets creative ambition—proving that being "not very good at being subservient" might be exactly what the industry needs."
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