10 Years On: Kirsty reflects on the journey to Mearns & Pike today

As we approach the launch of our new purpose tomorrow, we are sharing the thoughts of co-founder Kirsty Mearns on the journey so far for Mearns & Pike.

“We have taken risks, employed amazing people with different outlooks and experience, worked on some truly inspiring campaigns and created beautiful, lasting relationships with our clients and partners. Through everything we have listened to our hearts.”

When we started Mearns & Pike Ltd seven years ago we set out to do things differently. We didn’t want to follow the models of other agencies. We wanted to forge our own path based on what we believe is the right thing to do and guided by our purpose to Love What You Do.

Some people labelled us as a ‘lifestyle’ agency and questioned our growth plan and our virtual business model – but we believed that this was the right approach for us and would lead to success.

Seven years on we have achieved much more than we ever imagined we would. We have punched above our weight and outperformed many, much larger agencies. Our work has been recognised for its impact, winning seven prestigious industry awards and shortlisted more than 50 times. We have a client list that includes some of the biggest healthcare companies in the world as well as some smaller, exciting clients with huge potential. We’ve done all this whilst always staying true to our purpose to Love What You Do.

Our virtual model was embraced by clients even before COVID changed the world of work. We have colleagues working from around the world ensuring that talented people who have made life choices that make traditional agency working challenging can continue to thrive. And despite working tremendously hard, we’ve maintained a balance that has enabled us to achieve fulfilment in work and in life.

We have turned down work that doesn’t match our ethos, pulled out of pitches where the chemistry wasn’t there and on rare occasions politely walked away from client relationships that didn’t make us or our team feel good.

We have taken risks, employed amazing people with different outlooks and experience, worked on some truly inspiring campaigns and created beautiful, lasting relationships with our clients and partners that connect at a much greater depth than we have experienced before. Through everything we have listened to our hearts.

Following our hearts is what has led us to define the future direction for Mearns & Pike.

The question of what our future looks like was bugging us for a while. Many agency leaders in our position are by this point exploring a lucrative way out or at least ways to expand and continue to make more and more money. But those traditional measures of success aren’t what drives us and the idea of selling out, whether now or in the future just wasn’t something either of us could stomach.

We enlisted the support of Jon Bircher to challenge us and help us to imagine the future of Mearns & Pike. Together we embarked on a journey of reflection about where had come from, how we define our success and what we want our legacy to be.

This week, on our 10th anniversary of meeting, we will reveal our new Purpose and share what it means for our team, our clients and everyone we work with.

Watch this space...