LDC Top 50 2025
Tom Craig, Aaron Dicks, Mikey Emery and Liam Wade
Directors
Impression
Aaron Dicks and Tom Craig started digital agency Impression in 2012 shortly after graduating. “As marketers, we were tired of working with digital agencies that over-promised and under-delivered – so we decided to create our own,” says Tom.
They built up a client base outside of their day jobs and in 2014, opened their first office in Nottingham alongside directors Liam Wade and Mikey Emery. Together they’ve grown Impression into a 120-strong, B Corp-certified agency with clients including Clarins and Specsavers. “We aim to triple turnover in the next few years. Few agencies have reached that size and remained independent. We believe we can,” says Mikey.
We aim to triple turnover in the next few years. Few agencies have reached that size and remained independent. We believe we can.”
Q&A
What sets your culture apart?
Tom: We’ve created the kind of company that we’d want to work for. Our culture is collaborative, inclusive and transparent, from salary bands to progression. We invest heavily into DEI and training; we have a staff-led benefits group and a 4.8 Glassdoor rating. Our employee retention is over 93 per cent. Agencies are notorious for overworking their employees, but we actively monitor work-life balance and introduced a 4.5-day work week a couple of years ago. People really appreciate that Friday afternoon downtime. As an agency with billable hours, that’s meant learning to work smarter, primarily through the use of tech and AI.
How did you navigate the Covid-19 crisis?
Mikey: It was one of our most strategic successes. Rather than take government funding or furlough staff, we proactively supported clients. We called our clients, assessed who was at risk of cutting spend, and offered tailored fees while continuing our services. In the meantime, we doubled down on our own marketing. The result was winning major clients like Topps Tiles and seeing a surge in new business. Our headcount grew from 50 to 80 within a year and we came out stronger, with a more global client base.
How do the four of you work together as co-directors?
Tom: Many solo founders say running a business is lonely. We’ve never had that. In our time working together, we’ve never had an argument, which is bonkers! We owe a lot of that to the team we’ve built, including our management team, and their teams. We block out half a day each month as non-negotiable time to meet, and we really respect each other’s opinions. We never take professional conversations personally: we can thrash things out in the office then go out for a beer together.
