Building a multi award-winning agency: An interview with Founder Alex Willcocks
Roughly a 7 minute read by Alex
Casually bagging two of Prolific North’s most coveted awards? No big deal… Actually, let’s scrap the modesty for a moment. It’s a very big deal.
Engage was named Independent Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year at the Prolific North Champions Awards last week. A huge moment for the team, and a defining one in our 18-year journey.
These awards reflect more than commercial success. In a month where we also picked up recognition for our team culture and wellbeing at the UK Company Culture Awards, they speak to the strength of what we’re building at Engage: an agency that delivers: for its people, clients, and community.
So, with four shiny new trophies on the shelf and the champagne now well out of our system, we sat down with Founder and Managing Director, Alex, to reflect on what these latest wins say about where we’ve come from, where we’re heading, and why now really is our moment.
So Alex, congratulations! You attended the Prolific North awards ceremony; what was your reaction when our name was announced on stage, twice?
I’d say euphoria and genuine surprise, in equal measure.
We knew we had a good shot. We’d had a brilliant year and submitted what we felt was a strong entry. But winning both awards? I don’t think anyone expected that. After the first win, we were already buzzing. But we assumed that was it. So when the second one was announced, we were completely blown away.
Seeing our name up on the big screen, experiencing the team’s reaction - both at the event and back in the studio - it was a really special moment. A huge validation of everything we’ve been working so hard on.
Why do you think Engage stood out to the judges this year?
I think it’s down to the momentum we’ve built across the business.
We’re newly employee owned and have just delivered the best-performing year in our history.
With major retainers renewed, big-name new wins, and outstanding results for our clients, it’s been a year of real momentum, both commercially and creatively. There’s serious substance behind the story.
We’ve never stopped investing in our culture, even during tougher times. Our internal initiatives, like the Elympics, which has now raised over £77,000 for our charity partners, show we’re serious about purpose as well as performance.
And with a newly refreshed internal purpose team helping to steer that side of the business, we’re committed to using our platform as a force for good.
This combination of people, purpose and performance is rare. And I think that hollistic narrative really resonated with the judges.
Was there a particular moment in the past year where you thought, “we’re really on to something here”?
Probably around Christmas. Employee ownership had bedded in, and we were starting to see real, measurable impact. Forecasts were strong. Team energy was high. I looked back at the previous few months, then forward to where we were headed, and thought, something is shifting here.
It felt like the message we had been sharing about employee ownership was starting to land. People were buying in. They cared more. They were stepping up, spotting opportunities and going that bit further. That shift was showing up not just in performance, but in how the team talked about Engage and the role they play in shaping it.
It gave me confidence that the structure was working. More importantly, it showed that the belief behind it was being embraced. It felt like we’d unlocked something.
You’ve previously talked about how becoming employee owned wasn’t just a structural change but a mindset shift. How do you think that shift contributed to these wins?
It’s subtle, but powerful.
When people own something, they care more. There’s a bit more attention to detail and a stronger sense of accountability. You can feel that running through the business in the way people are supporting each other and stepping up.
They’re looking at their peers and asking themselves, “Could I go a bit further?” That’s exactly the kind of behaviour you want in a high-performing team.
It’s also changed how people talk about Engage. There’s more pride, and more advocacy, both internally and externally. Clients can feel it too. It’s not “them” and “us,” it’s “ours.” And that mindset is feeding directly into our performance.
How do our values around people, purpose, and performance show up in our client work?
People are the foundation. We look after our team and that attracts the best talent, which means we can deliver great work.
Purpose adds depth. Whether it’s our pro bono work for causes like Great Ormond Street Hospital, our Elympics initiative, or the way we interact with clients, it’s clear we’re trying to do more than tick boxes. That authenticity builds stronger relationships.
When we say we’re using business as a force for good, we mean it. Clients see that, and they want to be part of it. It brings more affinity, more trust, and more care from both sides.
And performance? That’s always the end game. We obsess over results because when our clients grow, we grow. That cycle keeps us moving forward.
We also picked up two UK Company Culture Awards. What do those wins say about the internal side of the agency?
Culture doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t just switch it on.
It takes years of thought, care and consistency. How we treat each other. How we work. How we make space for fun. How we balance ambition with wellbeing.
The fact we’ve been able to win two culture awards and deliver our best financial year says a lot. It shows you don’t have to sacrifice one for the other. In fact, strong culture drives performance. It’s not a nice-to-have. It’s a core business driver.
Finally, what’s next for Engage?
Right now, it’s all about protecting the momentum.
We’re still early in our employee ownership journey. While it’s tempting to jump straight to “what’s next,” the truth is, what we’re doing is working. So the focus is on nurturing it, not over-engineering it.
That said, we’ve got a new website launching soon, and that’s a big moment for us. It’s been five years since we developed our last one. This gives us a chance to really shout about what makes Engage different. Our people, our work, our culture, our ownership model. We want people to get all that before they’ve even met us.
People. Purpose. Performance. We lead on all these fronts. Ready to see what that looks like for your business? Let’s talk.