Bringing a dash of Italian zest to London’s stony skyline, Dude London – the indie agency behind a number of 2023’s most talked-about campaigns – is now a well-established name on the UK scene.
Founded just a decade ago in Italy’s thriving cultural capital Milan, Dude rapidly established itself as one of the most high-profile independent agencies in the country. It wasn’t long before it began to consider overseas expansion as it looked to flex its creative muscle and diversify into other territories.
London’s undeniable prominence within the global advertising market makes it a hotspot for international agencies looking to expand and so Dude made the bold but well-founded decision to set course for the UK capital as its first international outpost.
Acting as a global gateway, the multicultural, cosmopolitan society provides a highly-fertile breeding ground for any agency. However, this also makes it fiercely competitive – in 2017, over 25,000 separate agencies were already operating on the UK market.
Becoming Dude: London
The move to London would be a tough ask for any agency, but especially one with no previous experience of the fiercely competitive British advertising scene.
Following a tough first year – during which managing director Francesca Spitali was essentially thrown to the wolves to learn all she could about the hectic British agency scene – the Dude team revelled in this adversity and quickly established itself on British soil.
“It was extremely exciting, but it was very, very tough,” begins Spitali. “I had about four meetings every day with different stakeholders, but we understood that London was the right place for us and that we could do something great.”
“Even though the customer is a little different here [compared to Italy], it’s easier to get the right kind of opportunities and understand the market,” she continues.
“On top of this multicultural aspect, it’s the easy access to open conversations on any topic, how every meeting that you can have here feels inspiring – you can clearly feel that you are in London. In our own industry – and probably many others, you can feel that the conversations you’re having are simply at a higher level in respect to other European countries.”
Subscribe to Marketing Beat for free
Sign up here to get the latest agency-related news sent straight to your inbox each morning
A very Latin flavour
Dude’s ability to tap into London’s extensively multicultural employment market has enabled it to develop a uniquely broad palette of ideas and ways of working.
Its uniquely Italian heritage offers an entirely new perspective on the UK market, allowing it the freedom for distinctly out-the-box thinking that established British agencies may not have the perspective to engage in.
“In Italy, the relationships are warmer, both with clients and within the agency itself, which sometimes even leads to friendship with clients – and that’s something that we didn’t want to lose,” explains executive creative director, Curro Piqueras.
“We have a very friendly working relationship with Trainline for example, which happens when you’re able to break the barrier between client and agency. That is something that we’ve definitely imported from Italy.”
The ability to see things differently and approach its work with an external viewpoint certainly stands Dude in good stead for appealing to the diversity of the UK market – something which is further cemented by its small, but rapidly growing London team which is contains close to a dozen different nationalities.
Interestingly, client lead Hamish Day highlights the direct, matter-of-factness of his continental colleagues as a very useful tool for breaking through the often rigid British formalities that sometimes still pervade agency-client meetings.
“Everyone’s bringing their own story, and that is contributing to the culture we have here,” he explains.
“Things like being more direct, for example, actually help creativity. You realise how much you hide behind turns of phrases or being a bit vague – and that’s something I’ve learned which has definitely made me better in my job and has ultimately helped us drive the product.”
Colourfully continental
It is precisely Dude’s outside-the-box thinking that allowed it to come up with probably one of 2023’s most unique advertising campaigns.
Developed for sustainable sex toy brand Love Not War, the creative encourages women to ‘break up with their showerheads’ and instead use more ‘eco-friendly’ masturbation alternatives.
The campaign itself was built around the insight that around 121 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water is wasted each year by people using their showerheads more rigorously than the manufacturer perhaps intended.
“When we start to work on a project, there are many ideas and many insights and some insights stick in your mind and you can’t forget about them,” Day continues.
“During our initial chemistry meeting with Love Not War, the water waste insight that eventually became the core of our campaign came to mind and instantly made the client smile. The chemistry was perfect and we started work the next day.”
While the agency is clearly very adept at creating highly innovative works on a shoestring budget, it has also proved more than capable in helping established UK brands expand into emerging markets – most notably with travel booking platform Trainline.
Already firmly established across the British marketplace, Trainline is looking to cement itself more broadly across western Europe in markets such as France, Spain and Italy – and with its obvious continental contacts, Dude was seen as ideal for the part.
“Because we have that core team here that always has the ambition, client knowledge and overall relationship and background with the client, we’re able to tap into the right local expert and our wider network.
“Particularly with Trainline, as a large international brand – we see the value in making sure that they’re locally relevant, and because of that we’ve had to work and learn how we can tap into that local culture.”
Newly-moved in to its Bethnal Green offices, Dude London is now a bona fide agency in its own right, and not simply an outpost for the Milan mothership. Its work for Love Not War, Trainline and other clients including Blizzard’s Diablo IV is clearly getting noticed and the agency’s success is likely to act as a blueprint for other continental advertising firms looking to gain a foothold in the hyper-competitive UK market.
While establishing a third Dude office may not be on the cards any time soon, the rapid expansion of its London team signifies interesting, and inevitably busy, times ahead.
