The Sidekick Group launches to provide authentic human connections

The Sidekick group – a collective of specialist agencies comprising Sidekick, Kreate, Many Makers and The Sampling Project has launched.

Bound by a passion for creating authentic human connections, the group operates across four core disciplines: brand experience, brand and video content, digital activation and retail. It will inherit some of the world’s best-loved brands, including Amazon, M&S, Deliveroo, Sipsmith and EE.

The Sidekick group is led by Duncan McCaslin (pictured left), MD of Kreate, and Oliver Burgoyne (pictured right), MD of Many Makers, acting respectively as the collective’s MD of Brand Experience and MD of Brand Content.

Of the launch, McCaslin says: “Uniting our respective strategy, creative and activation teams will deeply strengthen our offering and allow us to deliver a specialised, yet comprehensive solution for the clients we work with.”

“Together, we’ll help brands balance their digital footprint with human-first engagements – pushing boundaries to creatively solve our clients’ problems, whilst remaining true to our ethos of connecting with audiences on a personal level.”

Burgoyne adds: “The Sidekick group is born from the belief that there’s no such thing as customers anymore, only people. Expectations are changing, meaning traditional marketing tactics are outdated and no longer fit for purpose.”

“We’ll strive to engage differently, providing an experience-driven proposition that people will love whilst unlocking results our clients will love too.”

The namesake of the wider Sidekick group, the Sidekick agency will act as the strategic arm of the business. It will unify the collective’s cross-discipline expertise to deliver integrated solutions.

Meanwhile, Kreate, a global experiential agency, will contribute real-world activations to the group’s offering – with specialisms in live events, staffing and brand experience.

Extending the group’s human-centric approach, Kreate will also pioneer a new omni-channel retail service that disrupts the traditional field sales model and delivers an enriched customer journey in partnership with both retailer and brand.

This expansion sees the appointment of a broader senior leadership team for Kreate; former Apple and Samsung executive Richard Boxley assumes the post of Kreate’s Commercial Director, whilst Neville Close, former Business Director, becomes Operations Director for the retail team.

Many Makers, a video and brand content agency, brings with it a full production studio and in-house creative team. It will connect its digital storytelling capabilities with the wider group and deliver talent across various specialisms, including social media, video production, digital design and AR/VR content.

And The Sampling Project, a unique data-driven product sampling agency, joins the group to deliver highly targeted and results-driven sampling campaigns through an expert blend of science and creativity. It will be led by Director Ben Lock, former Business Director at HeyHuman.

This merge of talent will allow the Sidekick group to become truly collaborative and increasingly strategic across its respective disciplines.

The group’s board of directors will be composed of McCaslin, Burgoyne and Close, alongside Stephen Bradley, Operations Director at Kreate, and William Howe, Creative Director at Many Makers.

The existing agency teams will join forces at Sidekick’s Shoreditch HQ, forming a 40+ strong collective with no redundancies. These numbers continue to grow as the group introduces new roles across account management, design and production.