Jun 16, 2020
Join your host Emma and her Clown Barbara talking all things Entrepreneurship. What does it mean to be an Entrepreneur? What has having Google as your main clients got to do with a small café called Brian’s? How can we disrupt the business world by not pitching and so much more…
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About Julie…
Across the Pond is one of the tiny number of creative agencies in the world founded by a woman.
The difference this makes, say employees, is palpable.
They describe the agency as uniquely open, fair and adaptive. Like CEO, Julie Cohen.
Eleven years ago, Julie spotted the potential of video for the tech industry. She founded Across the Pond as Google’s first in-house video agency in EMEA, helping to change Google’s approach to communications forever.
She’s since grown her business three times over, now with full-service offices in London, San Francisco and Singapore, and a new raft of global tech and innovation clients.
Remarkable in itself. More so, because she heads a company that is 70% women. And those women are leading projects that both impact and challenge a hugely male tech industry. (Current clients include Google, YouTube, Xiaomi and Expedia).
The agency remains close to Google. But is better defined by its independence.
Not least in Julie’s refusal to pitch; an industry-defying stance she took public last year in the agency’s press campaign No One Wins a Pitch and The Drum’s Pitch Perfect event.
For her, great work is only forged through equal, collaborative and paid partnerships.
She also respects her team too much to give away their expertise for free.
Instead, her employees enter the room as equals, speak as experts and pour their hearts into solving real-life business problems. Clients genuinely willing to collaborate are rewarded with 100% of the agency’s energy.
This insistence on equality is pervasive. This year, Julie has promoted women into CD, VP and Head of Culture roles. Across the Pond continues its involvement with the Creative Mentor Network, supporting young people from diverse backgrounds into the industry.
Now, as the agency pivots towards the huge potential of its APAC markets, Julie’s passion for understanding new cultures is key (one of the agency’s guiding principles is “Listen First. Listen Second”), this year helping to secure Xiaomi, Ecovacs Robotics and One Smart as partners. And propelling Across the Pond even further towards fulfilling its global potential.