Silhouette of the VCCP Bear

Our Vision

At VCCP we pride ourselves on creating innovative and exciting advertising that transforms the fortunes of brands.

At VCCP, our challenger attitude transforms the fortunes of our clients. For example, we helped O2 become market leaders within three years of launching. And once we started working with easyJet, their share price flew up from £4 to £14. 

We have a motto: It only works if it all works, which is why we involve ourselves in far more than just advertising. With a thorough understanding of each client’s business, we can challenge what’s around it, and then transform it.

Of course, it’s not all about business. We love to be lauded with creative awards and are proud of our ever-increasing haul. Time and time again, we’ve seen a direct link between our award-winning work and the upturn in the fortunes of clients who ran it. So here’s another little motto: Good work works. 

Be On Time Be on time
Be Honest Be honest
Be Approachable Be approachable
Be Happy Be happy
Be Clear Be clear
Be Agile Be agile
Be Lean Be lean
Be Proud Be proud
Be Responsible Be responsible
Be Unprecious Be unprecious

Founding Partners

Illustration of Charles Vallance

Charles Vallance Chairman & Founding Partner

Charles is a brand strategist who began his advertising apprenticeship at Burkitt’s, working subsequently at BBH and WCRS. In 2002 he decided to start working for himself and, along with his three partners (Rooney Carruthers, Adrian Coleman and Ian Priest), set up VCCP. Their founding client was O2, to whom they are eternally grateful. Over the last two decades, Charles has worked on and, in some cases, helped launch a diverse range of brands including O2, ING, Hiscox, easyJet, Canon, Cadbury, Domino’s, Dyson, Nationwide, and Vitality.

Outside of work Charles doggedly pursues a variety of sports including cricket, tennis, football, golf, shooting and snooker, all at a consistently low standard. Charles is a Trustee for both The Change Foundation and The Fred Foundation and is co-author of a book called The Branded Gentry.

Illustration of Adrian Coleman

Adrian Coleman Group CEO & Founding Partner

Adrian started out as a client with Esso Petroleum before moving to the agency side. In 1986 Adrian began work at the below-the-line agency IMP and he then moved to Chime-owned HHCL in 1993. During his seven-year stint at HHCL the agency was named Agency of the Decade. In 2000 he moved to Chime-owned AMD, becoming its Chief Executive.

On the 24th January 2002 Adrian co-founded VCCP around Charles Vallance’s kitchen table where Vallance, Coleman, Carruthers and Priest were united by their desire to un-do the bad habits of big agencies. VCCP is now 16 years old and has grown from an agency of four to over 1100 people.

Adrian is Co CEO of Chime Communications and is a member of the Marketing Society.

Partnership management

Illustration of Michael Sugden

Michael Sugden CEO

Michael joined VCCP on its first day of business in 2002, becoming Managing Director in 2006, CEO in 2012 and VCCP Partnership CEO in 2018. Michael is also responsible for VCCP New York. In recent years VCCP has built itself a reputation for business transformation as evidenced by O2, comparethemarket.com, EasyJet, Nationwide and Cadbury.

Michael started his career at Claydon Heeley before moving to HHCL. During his career he’s been privileged to work on brands such as O2, Google, Microsoft, Telefonica, T-Mobile, Unilever, Coca-Cola, Formula E and Macmillan among others. The proudest part of his career is being part of the team that has built VCCP from an idea to a 1,000-strong agency in 8 offices around the world.

Michael is also a Director for the charity Health Improvement Project Zanzibar and the start up Different Dog. Outside of work & family Michael has raced motorbikes across the Sahara, raced on foot to the magnetic North Pole and led expeditions across the Himalaya, Andes and Tanami desert.

Illustration of Darren Bailes

Darren Bailes Global CCO

Darren started his career at WCRS creating award-winning work for Speedo, funny work for Butterkist, and launched Sega Dreamcast across Europe. He then moved to DDB London. But not for long. Next was a seven-year stint at Mother. Pimm’s, ITV Digital, PG Tips, Schweppes, Magic FM and Yellow Pages were all hits.
 
In 2008 Darren moved to be the creative lead of VCCP with the desire to create more famous and much loved advertising that populated culture.
 
VCCP’s comparethemarket.com launched in 2009 and is still the nation’s favourite campaign. He encouraged everyone to ‘be more dog’ for O2. Nationwide Building Society lets the nation speak about the issues that matter most with our ‘Spoken word’ work. And more recently he’s put Cadbury back in the nations hearts with ‘there’s a glass & a half in everyone’. The Cadbury work is rolling out around the world to great effect. 

Illustration of Maggie Frost

Maggie Frost Group CFO

Maggie qualified at KPMG whilst working on advertising clients. She left KPMG to join a privately owned agency called Clark & Taylor Plc as its Finance Director where she stayed for eight years until the agency was sold to AMV/BBDO. Following that, Maggie joined Chime as Finance Director of its advertising and marketing services division, AMS. She then moved to VCCP in 2006 as joint Finance Director when the company had 200 employees.

In July 2012 Maggie became Group CFO and now oversees all things Financial, HR, Legal, Facilities and IT as well as overseeing the finances of VCCP’s International offices.

Maggie is a Fellow of the IPA and is Honorary Treasurer of the IPA. She spends any spare time playing Candy Crush much to the disgust of her 6 year old daughter!

Illustration of Michael Lee

Michael Lee Chief Strategy Officer

Michael joined VCCP in 2003 as its 26th employee after a varied previous life working in the music industry and for The Football Association. He was lead strategist for some of VCCP’s most famous award-winning government advertising for the Department of Health (Sexual Health) and Home Office (anti-binge drinking), and carved an outstanding new business record including pitch wins for Hiscox Insurance, Hyundai and easyJet. He was appointed Head of Planning in 2008 and helped VCCP secure its first ever Agency of the Year title in 2009, for Marketing magazine.

In October 2012, after a brief stint at AMV BBDO, he was lured back to VCCP as our Executive Planning Director, with strategic responsibility across the entire VCCP Partnership. Michael works across a number of accounts including Canon, TfL and easyJet, playing a key role in easyJet’s commercial transformation which led to the Marketing Society awarding easyJet a record 5 prizes including Brand of the Year and Long-Term Marketing Excellence.

He has a degree in Social and Political Sciences from Cambridge University.

Illustration of David Boscawen

David Boscawen Group Managing Director

David started out in advertising at Young and Rubicam, working on accounts such as Heinz Baked Beans, British Gas, Smirnoff, Royal Navy & Royal Marines Recruitment and Legal and General. After seven years he went to McCann-Erickson where he became a Managing Partner of the London office for nine years and won and ran clients such as Esso, Bacardi, Coca-Cola and the Irish Tourist Board, as well as working on Nestle, CGU and Bacardi.

He then joined Lowe worldwide for five years, where he was the Global Business Director on Nokia and Electrolux before joining VCCP, where he is the Group Managing Director. He is married and has three teenage children.

David went to the University of Durham where he studied Greek & Roman Civilisation, Russian Studies and Anthropology.

Illustration of Stephanie Brimacombe

Stephanie Brimacombe Global Chief Growth Officer & CEO Europe

Stephanie began her career in Marketing and PR specialising in the luxury travel and property industry. After 6 years she left her position as business director at travel PR agency Mason Rose to focus full-time on the marketing consultancy she co-founded in 2009, Cicada Marketing. Later in 2010 Stephanie raced to the North Pole, becoming the fastest woman ever to do so while raising £50,000 for Mencap.
 
It was on this trip that she met Michael Sugden and Andrew Peake, CEO and MD of VCCP. Stephanie joined the global independent advertising network in late 2010 as Marketing and New Business Director and is now CEO of Europe and Global CMO. In her dual role Stephanie is accountable for all things new business, marketing and PR across VCCP’s eight global offices and driving growth for its client list that includes founding client o2, Google, Cadbury, LinkedIn, TfL and its most recent win, White Claw, among many other household names. In addition to her role at VCCP, Stephanie is also the Managing Director of VCCP’s parent company, Chime.
 
Stephanie has been a board member of The Marketing Society since 2016 and recently joined the board of trustees for The Prince’s Countryside Fund; the only UK-wide charity that empowers family farms and rural communities to ensure their future, which was founded by HRH The Prince of Wales.
Illustration of Jo Parker

Jo Parker ​Group COO & Group CEO, VCCP Business

Jo started off training as a speech therapist but was introduced to the world of marketing and decided that was where her heart was. Following a couple of client roles, she moved agency side and after a few years joined a start-up which she was instrumental in building until sold to Chime when she became its’ CEO.

Jo is Group CEO of VCCP Business which includes a collective of four award winning  agencies and one of the fastest growing parts of the Group. She also works closely with and advises a broad base of clients in the UK and internationally. She is Group COO of parent company Chime and has chaired and led the Group’s youth board, its’ women’s network, Grapevine, and most recently its’ sustainability strategy.

A Trustee of Park Theatre in London, Jo is a member of the Women in Business board for the DofE and a member of WACL.

Illustration of Julian Douglas

Julian Douglas Vice-Chairman

Julian Douglas (or Dougie as he is better known) is the International CEO and Vice Chairman of VCCP Group. He joined VCCP London in 2008 having previously worked at WCRS, BBH, TBWA and Grey London (twice). With over twenty years’ experience he has created some of the world’s most successful campaigns for brands including Audi, Lynx, O2, Domino’s and Nationwide.
 
He has led VCCP’s expansion into Asia, opening VCCP Singapore in 2018 and earlier this year, VCCP Shanghai. Last year VCCP Singapore was crowned as Campaign’s Agency of the Year in only its second year of trading.
 
Dougie is the President-elect of the IPA. He sits on the Facebook’s UK Diversity Council, the Chair of Black Representation in Marketing and is an active mentor through the NABS 100 Club. Committed to making the industry more inclusive, Dougie helped to launch the iList, an industry wide initiative to celebrate champions and role models and originated Advertising Unlocked, the annual joint industry open-day welcoming thousands of young people into the industry from right across the UK.
 
A firm believer in lifelong learning, he holds a BA and MA from Jesus College, Oxford, an MBA from Warwick Business School and completed a course in business sustainability at Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership. Outside of advertising, he is a Founder of Lucky Voice, the UK’s premier chain of karaoke bars and online karaoke and also founded Parent Pool, a social enterprise on a mission to transform the childcare market through collaborative parenting.
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