About us

Forty years of being proved right, eventually, by us.

An independent agency, in the sense that nobody has offered to buy us since 2018.

Work here
Bighead: the corporate video, 1997 · 1:30, sound on

Who we are

A diverse collective of makers, thinkers and doers, united by curiosity.

Two founders, three heads of department who report mainly to themselves, and Barry.

Independent, founder-led, and entirely unaccountable to anyone except Perry and Dilla, who disagree with each other in every meeting and agree on absolutely everything over dinner afterwards.

How we work

The Bighead Infinity Operating System.

A proprietary way of working, refined over forty years, that guarantees nothing is ever finished and everything is always in progress.

01

The Infinity List

Every problem is written on a list. Every list points to another list, which points back to the first. Nothing is ever solved. It is simply recoded, in a different colour, by a different person, at a later date.

02

The management team

Perfect in every respect, unless you dislike being gaslit, underpaid and undervalued. In return we ask only that you are available all day, every day, and grateful for the opportunity.

03

A day with the Ultimate Bighead

  1. 10:00Arrives. Steals everyone's ideas before his coat is off.
  2. 10:05Talks all morning. Does not listen. Calls this alignment.
  3. 12:00Goes home for a cycle.
  4. 17:00Returns, refreshed, as the bar opens.

Our history

Nine moments that made us. Four of them were lunches.

1987

Founded

Perry and Dilla open the agency above a Pret with one client, two chairs and an extremely large brass plaque. Malcom joins on day two and predicts the agency's death. It is his first framework.

1991

First big client

Won at lunch. Lost at a different lunch. Still in the credentials deck.

1994

First award

We founded the awards in March and won them in November. A tradition was born, and a revenue line.

2003

The rebrand

We spent four hundred thousand pounds making our logo lowercase. The case study ran for eleven years.

2009

The campaign

The one Perry still talks about. You have not seen it. He will describe it.

2011

DJ Dan has the idea

One idea. It has been presented at every pitch since. Productivity across the creative department is unchanged.

2016

Barry arrives

The last structural change to the business. Everything that works, works because of this.

2019

Global expansion

We opened an office in Dubai. It is a slide. It has been a slide for seven years and performs extremely well.

2024

The AI pivot

We announced we had been doing AI all along. Nobody asked for evidence, which was fortunate.

Why us

Four reasons, three of which are the same reason.

Other agencies will tell you they listen. We have found that listening is where most briefs go wrong.

01

We do not listen

Listening invites input. Input invites rounds. Rounds invite doubt. We have removed all three.

A feature
02

Senior attendance

Every one of our senior people will attend your pitch, and none of them will attend anything after it.

Guaranteed once
03

Conviction

One idea, held firmly, defended loudly, long past the point of usefulness.

Included
04

Legacy

Forty years of experience, concentrated in five senior people. Only Dilla has written any of it down, and she is not sharing.

Non-transferable

We were shortlisted for Agency of the Year. By us. We did not win, as a gesture of humility, and we have mentioned that gesture in every deck since.

Our policies

We take all of this extremely seriously, in writing.

Each policy is reviewed annually by the person who wrote it, who is satisfied with it.

01

Sustainability

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What we published

Committed to net zero across our operations and supply chain, with science-based targets and transparent annual reporting.

What happens

There are reusable cups in the kitchen. Nobody uses them. Perry flew to Cannes, Lisbon, Dubai and back to Cannes last year, and we offset the lot by printing fewer copies of the deck, which we also did for cost reasons.

Our annual report is one slide and the number on it is green.

Target

Net zero by 2050, by which time this will be someone else's problem, which is the strategy.

02

Diversity, equity and inclusion

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What we published

We are committed to building a workforce that reflects the audiences we serve, at every level of the business.

What happens

Our leadership team represents a broad spectrum of men aged forty-eight to fifty-six, and Dilla, all of whom met at the right members' clubs. We have a DEI slide. It is slide forty-one. We have never reached slide forty-one.

Our pay gap report was completed, reviewed, and described internally as "not the right moment to publish". That was four years ago. It remains not the right moment.

Ellie raised this at the all-hands. Ellie was thanked for her passion and asked to take it offline, where it has remained.

Progress

We have hired a consultant to tell us what we already know, and then not to tell anyone else.

03

Working from home

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What we published

A flexible hybrid framework built on trust, autonomy and outcomes rather than hours.

What happens

You may work from home on any day Dilla is also not in. Dilla does not announce which days those are, and the policy is therefore best described as a game.

Trust is absolute, subject to the green dot, which is checked. Outcomes are what matter, as measured by who was visibly present when Dilla walked past.

Exceptions

Partners work from home permanently and call it client-facing. Barry has not been allowed home since 2016 because the server is in the kitchen.

04

Modern slavery statement

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What we published

We have a zero tolerance approach to forced labour and expect the same standards throughout our supply chain.

What happens

Our statement is a genuine commitment, which is why we took it from a rival agency's website in 2019. We changed the name in four places out of five. The fifth is still live on our site and we have decided it adds credibility.

We have never audited a supplier. We have, however, run six unpaid internships, which we describe as exposure, and one of which built the website you are reading.

Review

Reviewed annually by Marty, who has confirmed each year that it remains the same document.

Full policy documents are available on request. The request goes to Barry, who has not been given access to the folder.

Accreditations

Certified, affiliated, and listed.

Every badge below was obtained by paying for it, which is how badges work, and we would encourage you not to look into it further.

Member, a body we foundedSignatory, pledge with no measurementCarbon conscious, self-declaredBest places to work, entered onceAccredited by the accreditor we sponsor

Questions

Things people ask us, usually in the lift.

01

What is Bighead?

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Bighead is a parody marketing agency. The website, services, fees, awards and case studies are satire about agency life. The team photos are of real people, which explains a great deal.

02

Is Bighead a real agency?

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No. Bighead is not a real agency and does not take on client work. It is a parody, so please do not send it a brief, a budget or your best idea.

03

Who founded Bighead?

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According to Bighead, Perry and Dilla founded the agency in 1987, above a Pret, with one client, two chairs and an extremely large brass plaque.

04

Who works at Bighead?

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Six people: Perry and Dilla, the founders; DJ Dan, executive creative director; Marty, director of communications; Malcom, global head of strategy; and Barry, who runs IT and missed photo day.

05

How does Bighead work?

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Through the Bighead Infinity Operating System, in which every problem goes on a list that points to another list, so nothing is ever solved, only recoded.

06

How do I contact Bighead?

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Use the contact form on the site. Marty will reply. Not before 11am.

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