George P Johnson refocuses agency to deliver against growth

L-R: John Farquhar-Smith, Fran Elliott, Mark Bannister &Lizzie Mildinhall

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Bankside-based agency George P Johnson (GPJ) has taken the forward-looking step to bring together its brand experience specialists from project management, digital, technical production and live event production into one integrated team. Fran Elliott has joined as the agency’s first head of integrated production to lead the charge.

Previously, UK Leadership board director at Momentum Worldwide, part of McCann World Group, Elliott will be supported by Mark Bannister, now head of technical production, John Farquhar-Smith, now head of live production, and Lizzie Mildinhall, now head of event operations.

The decision to bring together existing expert teams under one unified banner was designed to deliver agility, whilst maintaining the skills and knowledge to scale-up and down both locally and globally, dependent on clients’ needs.

The move follows four years of unprecedented double-digit growth, that saw the agency move to its new central London offices, diversify its client base and bring in a raft of new talent.

The increased focus on agency agility will enable GPJ to adapt to clients’ rapidly changing needs, shorter lead-times, financial pressures and the ability to deliver against consumers’ ever-increasing expectations. 

In order to roll-out the new structure, client groups and projects will gradually transition to accessing GPJ’s services via producer-led teams, supported by advisory client partners.

There will be further investment in the agency’s talent and culture team, who will deliver a future-focussed learning and development programme across the integrated production team and wider agency. This will create robust career pathways in all disciplines, while at the same time encouraging flexibility, should individuals be keen to pursue a more rounded Integrated producer skillset. 

Fran Elliott commented: “I am really excited about the opportunity to rethink how we pool talent across all our client briefs. Moving away from the more traditional, siloed ways of working is something I’ve been a long-time advocate of, so when the chance arose to build an integrated production offering with the backing of GPJ, I jumped at it.” 

Jason Megson, VP, managing director, GPJ UK & Nordics added: “We believe this operating model has the dual benefit of delivering clients great work faster, while supporting the creation of long and diverse careers for our world beating team.”

Molly Hookings
Author: Molly Hookings

Molly joined the editorial team in March 2019. She has several years’ experience working in broadcast and journalism, as well as marketing and PR. Past experience includes working for the BBC and independent publishing houses. If you have a story you think Molly might be interested in, please email: molly@eventindustrynews.com