Uncommon New York Welcomes Lindsay Cole as First President

Uncommon Creative Studio has announced the appointment of Lindsay Cole as president of its growing New York studio. Lindsay will drive the business forward in service of Uncommon’s ambition to be on the receiving end of the most important and influential briefs of our time–across advertising, design, experience, entertainment and beyond.

Lindsay joins from Droga5 where she spent the last decade overseeing a wide range of client business including award-winning, category-defining campaigns for brands like Prudential and Hennessy and most recently leading the account management department, all while serving as a vocal champion of agency culture.

Uncommon co-founder Natalie Graeme said, “Finding a business leader of Lindsay’s calibre is one thing, but finding a leader who understands the power of creativity is rare. Lindsay has been around reference point work. She truly understands how to breed a culture of creativity and we can’t wait to welcome her to lead the growth of our New York studio.”

The New York studio, which is now close to thirty people, has already seen tremendous success on the new business front with wins including Beats, Harry’s, Peacock, and SiriusXM to name a few. The momentum has contributed to Uncommon’s best ever performance globally–with revenue up 78% and 25+ new clients total in the past year. And the studio’s reputation continues to build: in April, Uncommon was included among Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies across all industries globally; #1 in Advertising.

“Instantly, I knew Uncommon was different,” said Lindsay. “There is an unmatched sense of ambition and drive to push the boundaries of what’s possible and to create meaningful, positive impact and change at a time when businesses, brands and the world need it most. I could not be more excited to join the team in New York and to help build on this amazing foundation to fuel the next chapter of US growth.”

Creatively, Uncommon New York has experienced a metamorphosis from transplanted British hotshop to New York powerhouse, recognised for command of culture and next level craft.

It began with a reimagined brand platform and identity for SiriusXM in late 2023, bringing to life the audio entertainment service’s origin story with a new identity grounded in SiriusXM’s rich history, which solidifies its connection to the service’s purpose, bringing subscribers closer to the artists, newsmakers, and personalities they love.

In early 2024, SiriusXM launched “Closer”–a two-pronged brand campaign showcasing how the audio entertainment service brings listeners closer to what moves them throughout their lives. The campaign is led by a powerful and emotive film, “A Life in Sound,” from Emmy Award-winning director Kim Gehrig which launched during the Oscars, and “SuperFan,” breath-taking out-of-home shot by celebrity fashion photographer Gabriel Moses, featuring real fans enjoying what they love across hip-hop, country and sports. Then there was “the most heavy-metal holiday sweater the world has ever seen” during the holidays–an iconic garment designed to bring metalheads closer to the music they love, all year round.

There’s a fragrant love story for men’s grooming brand Harry’s, and a photo documentary shot by acclaimed British photographer Misan Harriman which captures the morning rituals of 100 people, ages one through to 100, as they sit down for breakfast on an important day of their lives for Quaker Oats.

Sometimes though, the brands Uncommon believes we need don’t actually exist, so the studio ignites ‘maker’ mode to create them. For New York Fashion Week, they dreamt up Ratboot–an ode to all things classic, gritty, real and raw New York–to make Uncommon’s presence in the US known. And to everyone’s surprise, the boots went viral, earning more eyes than the Super Bowl with 147M views–all without a single dollar spent on media. That’s 40% more than Kim Kardashian’s most viewed, and 5x more than the average number of Likes Taylor Swift gets on her reels, making it the studio’s most famous work to date.

Seven years in, the global studio continues to make awarded and stand-out work, winning Gold at this year’s Cannes and driving cultural conversation on behalf of its clients.