5 Years of UNKNOWN: “It’s Not Who You Know, It’s Who You Don’t”

As the creative recruitment agency celebrates its fifth birthday, founder Ollie Scott sits down with LBB’s Lily Paskin to reveal the agency’s winning non-traditional approach 

Five years ago, Ollie Scott believed that the industry was caught in a loop. The same people, the same jobs and, ultimately, the same results. Repetition led to stagnation, and brands were finding it harder to differentiate themselves. 

The solution? UNKNOWN, a creative recruitment agency designed to disrupt the traditional model. Ollie’s vision was clear: Can we be more imaginative about where people can go? Can we be more commercially objective in our hiring? Can a fresh approach to talent lead to greater diversity and significant commercial growth?

Since 2019, UNKNOWN has championed diverse hiring practices by collaborating with over 500 agencies and brands such as, SkyScanner, Nike, Apple, and adam&eveDDB, to name a few. Challenging the status-quo, Ollie’s non-traditional approach, which includes encouraging his team to think like “therapists and journalists” rather than “traditional recruiters”, aims to make talent feel uniquely seen and heard. 

Imagining new possibilities for talent and the growth they can bring to brands and businesses, UNKNOWN has established itself as not just a recruitment agency, but a consultative partner for clients who are in the business of shaking things up. 

(above, the UNKNOWN London team)

LBB> Congratulations on five years of UNKNOWN! How has the company and team evolved since its inception?

Ollie> Thanks! Five years ago, UNKNOWN was just me, an idea about how the industry could evolve and a credit card with a £13K limit. 

The creative commercial world ablaze.

Everyone had started eating each other's lunch. 

Brands in-housing. 

Adland eating branding. 

Branding eating consultancy. 

Consultancy eating everything. 

I saw this and, quite naively, launched with six words. 

Same people. Same places. Same work. 

My proposition of 'differentiation’ made sense to a lot of agencies and got me in lots of briefing rooms. But in the early days, UNKNOWN was seen as a little too abstract to consider for a major appointment. 

Fast forward five years and we’ve moved into a much more consultative place with our clients. We’ve got insight into every agency, consultancy and brand, from the ground up. 

LBB> So, you won lots of new clients by positioning yourself as ‘anti-traditional recruitment and search businesses’?

Ollie> Yes, but it’s much more than positioning. 

It’s how we do absolutely everything. My main purpose with this business is to make talent feel uniquely seen, heard, and to provide disproportionate growth to the careers and businesses we serve by thinking differently about talent, and always give more than we take from this world. 

I love the saying: "Does the promise of your brand live up to the actions of your business?"... I say I love it. It probably haunts me more than anything. 

From the way we hire ourselves. 

To the way we take briefs. 

To the way we contact talent, take calls, write messages. 

It’s in everything.

LBB> You guys take pride in instigating ‘unexpected’ connections between creative people and businesses. But how do you know that a new connection will be a success - what are the signs you’re looking for?

Ollie> I’m glad you asked this question. Because in the early days, I think people thought we were adding differentiation for the hell of it. 

We spend most of our time in ‘diagnosis’ mode. Asking questions like: What are you selling now? What do you want to sell more of? Where are your clients spending their money elsewhere?

Once we have a commercial understanding of your goals, a sense of your capabilities, a clear idea of what your clients need to see, we can start to get creative about where this person might be sitting. And the growth they can bring to your business. 

The same thing happens on the talent front. 

We don’t ask people, “Where do you want to work?”

Because agencies and brands are transient. They’re made up of people that get bored, lonely or pissed off. And they move on. 

More than anything, is this business actually going to trust, empower and support you to get your best work done?

We ask questions like: What drains you? What energises you? What would you delete from your job? What would you double down on? 

We focus on where they want to grow. Or as my coach says… Go to where the hockey puck is going. 

By getting a true understanding of where this person is going to make a major impact means they’ll trust us when we suggest a totally different type of business than they originally had in mind. 

LBB> A lot has changed in the creative industry over the last five years! How do you stay ahead of industry trends and ensure UNKNOWN remains innovative in the creative recruitment space?

Ollie> It’s safe to say we’ve more data than any agency on what talent wants.

It’s almost impossible to not know what talent wants with that much information, and wouldn't that be a waste if we kept it to ourselves?

The bit that we do differently is find places to share what we’re learning and create a public conversation. 

We ask deep questions that uncover human truths. 

Write about them in a way that resonates with our talent. 

Nudge the conversation along. 

And, if we can get them to appear on our podcast, untalented, then even better! 

(above, Yan Elliott & Sam Winward on the untalented podcast)

LBB> And how has the way companies recruit creative people changed in that time, if it has? Are there any new or different skills businesses are looking for today that weren’t a priority in 2019?

Ollie> Agencies in particular have it hard at the moment. 

Their clients are asking for such a wide variety of specialist knowledge because the role of a CMO has changed so much. 

Budgets have been on the decline for most of the last 12 years.

So, they’re sort of stuck between hiring talent that understands the traditional approach vs being in the future at the same time. 

For a long time, people within agencies have been protected from having to really care about the commercials of creativity. 

Idea was king. And that’s all that really mattered. But these days, you’re up against great ideas and phenomenal commercial talkers. So, having a bold and brave idea isn’t going to be enough if you can’t present the commercial return in a compelling and confident way. 

It’s why we tell everyone to get very good at one thing, but also develop a skill around something that’s happening in the future. 

Get good at using AI. 

Geek out on influencer marketing. 

Understand how the financials work. 

Be a specialist and a passionist (made up word). 

Whatever it is that shows that you’re evolving from wherever you stand and figuring out the future.

LBB> What has been your proudest achievement as a company?

Ollie> There are the big things like placing 200+ C level people in five years. 

Or raising €1.5M for Special Olympics Ireland with a pro bono creative campaign. 

But the thing that makes me proud is every time I get a message from a human that I don’t know on LinkedIn usually saying they either met someone or read something and felt heard or seen. 

(above, people operations partner at UNKNOWN, Hannah Wright, and founder, Ollie Scott)

LBB> What are your future plans and goals for UNKNOWN?

Ollie> I set out to build a company of happy, healthy, high performing humans that make a disproportionately massive impact on this industry and… we’re having a lot of fun. Within the next five years I want UNKNOWN to be the recruitment company of record for the top twenty most creative companies in the world, whoever they may be - and have played a critical role in getting them there. 

We have two big things coming before this. 

One is our US launch. 

And the other is a new consultancy product that I’m staying very quiet on for now.