[Interview] Emma Ellis, MD, Landor London studio

In this interview, the new Managing Director Emma Ellis shares her vision for strengthening Landor London’s role as a global hub

As Landor London enters a new chapter under new leadership, the agency is positioning itself at the intersection of brand, creativity, technology and business transformation.

In this interview, the new Managing Director Emma Ellis shares her vision for strengthening Landor London’s role as a global hub, the growing importance of brand in the AI era, and how creativity, strategic rigour and commercial impact will shape the agency’s next phase of growth.

As you take the helm of Landor London, what opportunities do you see for the agency as one of Landor’s key global hubs?

Brand and design have never been more important as businesses navigate rapid technological change and the rise of the agentic era. At Landor, our role is to help clients stay ahead by delivering brand solutions that drive growth, differentiation and long-term resilience.

Landor London brings together world-class strategists, creatives and experience designers across consumer and corporate branding, supported by a leading brand performance practice that helps clients make smarter, evidence-based decisions.

As one of the world’s most influential creative and commercial centres, London offers access to an exceptional and diverse talent pool spanning design, technology, linguistics, architecture, film, sound and strategy. That breadth of expertise enables us to create compelling brand solutions that help clients navigate change and unlock business value.

What are your priorities for Landor London’s next phase of growth?

My priorities are centred on clients, people and performance. First, I want to deepen client partnerships and help organisations unlock the full power of their brands by connecting them with the best talent, expertise and insights across our network.

Landor’s breadth of experience across sectors, markets and client challenges gives us a unique perspective. At times of significant change—whether driven by technology, business transformation or evolving workforce expectations—brand becomes a critical growth lever. Our role is to help clients recognise and maximise that opportunity.

Within the London studio, the focus will be on creating an environment where people can do their best work, bringing together creativity, strategic rigour and commercial thinking to deliver exceptional outcomes.

We will also continue to embrace technology and AI, including platforms such as WPP Open, to enhance efficiency, effectiveness and innovation. Ultimately, the goal is to build a business positioned for long-term growth while delivering world-class work for clients across global, regional and local markets.

What sets Landor apart in today’s competitive brand design market?

What sets Landor apart is the breadth of expertise we bring together through the lens of brand. We don’t see branding as simply a communications or visual identity exercise; we help clients solve business challenges by connecting strategy, design, experience, governance and measurement to tangible business outcomes.

That’s especially important in a world where decisions are increasingly shaped by algorithms as well as people. Brands need to be more distinctive, consistent and emotionally resonant than ever before.

As part of WPP Brand & Design, we can tap into specialist capabilities across sonic branding, motion, experience and innovation, bringing together the right expertise around each client challenge. Combined with our ability to create multi-sensory brand experiences, this blend of creativity, strategic rigour and commercial understanding helps deliver stronger brand performance and business impact.

How does being part of WPP’s Brand & Design group shape your leadership of the studio?

Being part of WPP Brand & Design is a huge advantage because it gives us access to an exceptional depth of expertise across brand, design, experience, innovation and technology.

What’s particularly exciting is the ability to bring that expertise together in more fluid and collaborative ways around the client’s challenge. Increasingly, clients are looking for joined-up thinking, faster collaboration and partners who can help simplify complexity.

The collective model allows us to connect the right people and capabilities around a brief while still preserving the specialist craft and culture that makes each business distinctive.

That balance between integration and specialist excellence feels especially important as clients navigate increasingly complex brand and business challenges in an AI-driven market.

How do you balance creativity with commercial impact when building brand strategies?

Creativity and commercial impact should never be in opposition. The strongest brand work is both creatively compelling and commercially meaningful.

Brand and creativity has a critical role to play in driving growth, differentiation, emotional connection and long-term value, so it’s important that creative decisions are grounded in clear business objectives and measurable outcomes.

The balance comes from connecting strategic rigor with creative excellence and making sure brand work is designed to perform in the real world, not just look good in a presentation.

What role will AI and emerging technologies play in the future of branding and design?

AI and emerging technologies are transforming how brands are built, experienced and chosen. As algorithms play a greater role in decision-making, brands must be designed not only for people but also for machine-led environments, making distinctiveness and consistency more important than ever.

At the same time, AI and data are unlocking new opportunities for insight, agility and scale, helping brands better understand behaviour and accelerate impact. Yet while technology will continue to evolve, human judgement, creativity and emotional intelligence remain irreplaceable. The strongest brands will combine intelligent systems with powerful creative thinking and genuine human connection.

What sectors are currently driving the strongest demand for brand transformation?

We’re seeing growing demand from organisations navigating rapid change. For example, this might be a corporate brand or professional services business adopting new technology, or consumer brands navigating rapidly evolving customer expectations.

More broadly, many businesses are re-evaluating how brand contributes to long-term business performance rather than simply short-term visibility. That shift is creating greater demand for more strategically connected brand transformation work.

There’s also increasing interest in how brands can remain distinctive, resilient, and drive human connection and emotion in increasingly automated environments. This is shaping conversations across multiple sectors.

What would success look like for you in this new role over the next few years?

Success would mean continuing to strengthen Landor London’s position as one of the network’s most important global studios and making sure, we’re delivering work that creates measurable value for clients.

I’d like us to continue building deep, long-term client partnerships, producing outstanding creative work and attracting exceptional talent to the business.

It’s also important that we continue evolving how we work, embracing new technologies and strengthening collaboration across WPP Brand & Design and the wider WPP network.

Ultimately, success is about building a business that combines creativity, strategic excellence and commercial impact in a way that helps clients grow and keeps Landor at the forefront of the industry.

If we are not flying the flag for how brand can be the single most important business lever, we are not only failing ourselves but the industry as a whole.

Additional thoughts?

This is a really interesting moment for the industry because brand is back at the centre of business strategy.

After years where many organisations focused heavily on short-term optimisation, there’s growing recognition that strong brands are critical to long-term growth, differentiation and resilience — particularly in increasingly automated markets where businesses risk becoming invisible without clear distinction.

That creates a real opportunity for consultancies that can connect strategy, creativity, technology and experience in a way that delivers both emotional connection and measurable business impact. That’s what makes this moment so exciting for Landor.

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