Dream Teams: Running an Agency like Be The Fox Is a “Creative Endeavour” In Itself
Before Diana Ellis-Hill met Megan Price in 2007, she’d only ever worked at the BBC. Meg was a freelancer and they were working on the prestigious documentary series Horizon together. At first, they didn’t work on the same episodes together, “so initially we were just talking over the kettle and became friends,” says Diana.
“We had quite different industry experience,” says Meg, “Yet we were always interested in what the other had done and had a mutual respect for our differences.” Diana was an assistant producer specialising in factual programming, whereas Meg was a coordinator who was more into comedy and had been working at independent production companies and for brands, working on projects like setting up Marks & Spencer TV. Meg had a more holistic view of the industry than Diana. “She convinced me that there was an exciting big world out there full of possibility where brands could be commissioners, not just broadcasters,” says Diana.
“We were both ambitious to be our own bosses and start something exciting, so we decided to team up and offer our services to creative agencies as a filmmaking team. We gathered our little black book for TV production crew and found a niche at the beginning in editorial content for brands.”
The pair have known each other and worked together for 16 years, co-founded their own creative agency Be The Fox in 2013, based in Brighton on the south coast of England. And they will be celebrating 10 years in business this September.
Meg had noticed early on that Diana was constantly laughing and clearly enjoying her job. “This was probably because she was often given the best projects and this was probably because she was very good at what she did,” she says. “She liked to be the best, whether it was working at arguably the most renowned broadcaster in the world, or winning the sack race at the team sports day. I liked the honesty in her competitiveness. Absolutely she continues to have the same charisma and determination to be the best at what she does. And if you decide to take her on with a sack, she will win.”
Back then Meg was a production coordinator, but Diana could tell she was more suited to creative and directing – which she went on to do. “She always had a different perspective from the other BBC documentary-lifers like me,” says Diana. “Almost certainly from having commercial experience, which none of us had. Meg has always believed she could do anything she puts her mind to, that was obvious from the start, and it is still my main impression of her!”
Diana had been running the BBC’s first broadband website and Meg had been working in comedy and entertainment. This is when they saw a gap in the market that became their first collaborative side project: “In our spare time we decided to produce a live online magazine show for lesbians,” says Meg. “Turns out there wasn’t quite the audience we expected, 50 people tuned in. This was back in 2011 and we presumed that the technology just couldn’t keep up with our ahead-of-the-time idea. We quickly moved to creating a lesbian comedy series. It did a little better.”
On the more straight-laced side, the pair collaborated early on on a project for Karmarama and The New York Times about women in business. “We produced, filmed, and edited the whole thing between the two of us, so we had to quickly work out how we would work together and who did what best,” says Diana.
They’re a complementary duo in some pretty clear ways. Meg has a degree in economics and a master’s in creative writing. Diana has a degree in biology and a master’s in communication. Diana went into journalism and Meg went into entertainment. “We have a lot of diversity in our academic backgrounds which complement each other, but ultimately, we both went into film,” says Diana. “It's very obvious that we both love the science and the art of projects, rather than purely one or the other. Now we have a business together, Meg puts that head for numbers into our finances and my journalistic training means I'm in my comfort zone going out and meeting people to discover new opportunities. On projects I think Meg pushes the boundaries on creative thought and I tend to go for effectiveness in ideas, so we are a creative effectiveness duo! We both like to think creatively and look for opportunities to do new things. We also both like to laugh a lot!”
As a company boss, Meg admires Diana’s aptitude for big, strategic thinking. “She drinks up as much information as possible and is very good at bringing it all together into a pathway to move forward. I’m good at focusing on the task at hand, and channelling everyone’s energy to make things happen. Having these qualities make us a great team.”
Frustrations are rare for the Be The Fox co-founders. “We have a common goal and we know we both want to achieve the same thing, so usually we come to a quick agreement once we talk something through,” says Diana. Having worked together for 16 years, they understand each other's quirks and know how to accommodate them.
They also often divide and conquer, each taking ownership of different creative projects. “We pick the best person for the job and are happy to let them lead on it,” says Meg. “However, running a business is also a very creative endeavour – having a vision, bringing it to life, persevering. We do have differences of opinion on how to form the company, but we respect each other enough that these differences just mean much longer conversations to get to an answer.”
Both take personal inspiration from other creative business leaders. In particular, Diana and Meg are inspired by the co-founders of Joan Creative, Lisa Clunie and Jamie Robinson. “We absolutely love what they stand for and what they continue to achieve in our industry,” says Diana.
They’re clearly proud to have built a business that’s endured and succeeded for 10 years. “Although we started as a creative pair, we have evolved into co-founders of an agency,” says Diana. They are still working together creatively, not always on projects, but on how Be The Fox improves and grows. “I couldn’t do it without Meg, we take it in turns to take on any difficulties, especially when the other has a bigger workload!”
“I’m proud of how individual projects have built into a portfolio of great clients and a high functioning business,” says Meg. But there are projects that have been highlights so far. “It was amazing to do the creative for, and produce, the Bulldog Skincare TVCs,” says Meg. “Previously adam&eveDDB held the account, and of course they are the big guns.”
Diana adds, “We were up against some of the biggest players in the industry and we didn’t have huge resources to put into a pitch. Meg and I worked closely with our creative director and head of production to take their brand work to its next iteration. We obsessed over the insights and showed great ideas don’t have to come from big agencies. We felt like David and Goliath.”
Dri-Pak is another brand that Be The Fox has made an impact on. A 60-year-old cleaning product that had never done a marketing campaign before, it asked Be The Fox to build brand love and increase its soda crystal sales just as it was doubling their pack price. “There was a lot to do and a lot to prove to the board,” says Meg. “I personally have a passion for soda crystals (long story) and Diana wholeheartedly supported me in my enthusiasm, so that together we could get the whole team behind the challenge. Our creative team really took onboard the single-minded strategy, and parameters of media. The outcome was a feel-good campaign that got people to click through and convert. Sales did increase! And everyone was genuinely proud of helping a company that we believe in.”
She attributes these successes to a fruitful partnership with Diana. Collaboration only gets smoother after 16 years of working together, it seems. “You have a code that not only acts as a shorthand to getting things done, but means that you accept each other for who you are and will always have the other’s back. This is incredibly freeing. It means we can be totally honest about how we’re feeling or what we want to achieve, we can throw crazy ideas into the ring that with other people we might be worried to express, and most importantly, we can enjoy being ourselves and not waste time on worrying what we should be. We are 100% authentic.”
Before they each had children, Diana and Meg would socialise a lot more than now, but they make time for friendship as well as business partnership. “We make sure we have breakfasts together where we don’t talk about work,” says Diana. “Otherwise, if we are going on a big night out together you will usually find us dancing in a gay club in Brighton!” Meg adds: “Hitting a dance floor somewhere that’s too loud to remember responsibilities, just for a short while.”
“I’ve learnt so much from Diana. Mostly I’ve learnt that to keep wanting more isn’t a bad thing. It can be really fun,” says Meg. It’s mutual, of course. Looking to the future, Diana says: “I have learnt from Meg that we can achieve anything.”
