Samm Lloyd is founder of IPOS, a Stockport-based creative agency that collaborates with brands such as ASICS, Schuh, Under Armour and New Balance.
Founded in 2005, the agency launched a major restructure last year following the acquisition of content creator management agency Field Mangement.
The team is now structured around four pillars that map the complete customer journey from strategy and idea generation, through to activation: IGNITE, CREATE, ENGAGE and ACTIVATE.
As a busy founder, Samm Lloyd shares a recent week in his life…
Monday
I’m often in the office on Mondays, catching up with the team and preparing for client meetings and campaigns for the week ahead.
On the fourth Monday of every month we host a themed lunch for the whole agency, where everyone brings a dish they’ve cooked or sourced, and today’s theme was ‘build your butty’, where we made a selection of epic sandwiches using our favourite ingredients. We have a lot of foodies at IPOS – myself included – so it’s a nice way for us to share that passion and get together as a team.
After lunch this week we held our weekly content planning session, where we prepared all the outbound communications for IPOS, from social media content to client newsletters and events.
Monday ended with me picking my boys up for school, then it was straight into helping them with their homework before cooking and eating a family tea together.
Tuesday
The day started with our ‘How are we doing?’ meeting with the full IPOS team. I began the session with an update on the business performance – I’m a firm believer in openness and transparency, so that everyone in the business is invested in our continued growth. We then discussed our priorities for the upcoming month and next quarter, as well as an opportunity for people to ask questions and share updates.
Next, I recorded the first full episode of our new podcast – IPOS Unplugged – alongside Tim Nash, our retail expert who heads up the IGNITE division of IPOS. We discussed the topic “Is physical retail dead?” and recorded some video content to promote the launch.
In the afternoon we hosted the first IPOS Live event of the year – a monthly virtual roundtable attended by clients and open to the public – where we tackle a different theme impacting retailers. This month, we discussed connected thinking for 2025, sharing insights on how brands can engage audiences at every touchpoint, from impactful physical activations and digital campaigns, to creating content fuelled experiences. I was joined by Tim and Izzy Field, our content creation expert and Head of IPOS ENGAGE, who shared some real-world examples of how brands are reimagining the retail experience.
Wednesday
I was in the office on Wednesday and spent the morning preparing for meetings with some clients based in Amsterdam at the end of the week. I also hosted a client meeting with Under Armour over lunch, discussing their business goals and our plans for 2025.
Next, I caught up with Izzy on all things IPOS ENGAGE, which is our service that brings brands and content creators together. It’s approaching the first anniversary since we acquired Field Management, the content creator management agency that Izzy founded. It’s been an incredible 12 months and I’m so proud of the campaigns we’ve worked on so far. Izzy and the team recently launched a Creator Hub, matching content creators with brands, so we discussed how it’s going and next steps for our growing roster of creators.
Wednesday evening is always a logistical challenge and this one was no different! I collected the boys from school then got them to football training – they’re both football mad so it’s always a fun evening!
Thursday
It was an early start this morning and I met Tim at the airport for our flight to Amsterdam. We had an afternoon planning session with our client, Stanley 1913, to discuss 2025 and look ahead to 2026.
We first collaborated with Stanley last year on an in-store activation with Harrods, where they launched three new colourways of their iconic Quencher cups. They’re always a great brand to work with and the meeting was full of energising ideas for the next 18 months.
There was just enough time to meet with another Amsterdam-based client for a drink before we headed back to the airport for our flight home.
Friday
Friday was a bonus day, as we’d planned to stay in Amsterdam overnight but the bad weather meant we had to leave early. I made the most of the extra time by getting ahead with some work on upcoming campaigns and preparing for the next episode of IPOS Unplugged.
I also spent some time researching the latest brand collaborations and recent retail experiences to share with clients, colleagues and social media followers. From Valentino’s incredible cinema takeover in Abu Dhabi to Miu Miu’s celebration of the year of the snake, I love getting inspiration from brands that are doing things differently when it comes to retail.
And now I’m about to sign off for another week; looking forward to spending a weekend of football matches with the boys and plenty of family time.
