Alongside our in-house team is a global network of the finest talent - handpicked freelancers, producers and creators who we can trust to jump in when we need that extra bit of firepower.
Impact
Makers
Brand is at the heart of absolutely everything we do. From defining who you are to designing how you show up - digitally, physically and virtually. Not for the sake of it. To make impact: on your audience, your market and your business.
Founded by brothers Ted and Olly Holden along with their late father Peter, our history dates back to the golden age of advertising. But today, Holdens is more than just a name - it's a mindset. A restless curiosity, a relentless pursuit of big ideas and a reverence for all things creative.
Ted Holden
Founder & Managing Director
Olly Holden
Founder & Production Director
Peter AKA The Beard
Founder
1947 - 2018
Good
is no longer
enough.
- Strategy first
- Creativity always
- Craft without compromise
We've been helping brands make impact since the advertising heydays. The channels and the methods might have changed. But the need for bloody good ideas hasn't.
We're brave, now more than ever. The machines may get you to good. What they can't do is get you to brilliant. That takes creativity, craft, judgement and taste - the things our humans have been perfecting for decades. And the things that will always be the difference between a brand that makes impact and one that just makes noise.
We're honest too, more honest than most. We'll tell you what your brand actually needs. So, if you want work that pushes the envelope and makes a genuine difference - we're the ones for you. If you want safe, average or good enough - we're not.
We live by
five values.
That shape every brief, brainstorm and big idea in our studio.
Curiosity
We ask why before we ask what. The best work starts with the best questions.
Collaboration
We work shoulder-to-shoulder with each other and our clients. No egos. No silos. Just shared ambition.
Creativity
Ideas are our currency. We chase the brave ones - the ones that make people stop and feel something.
Craft
Every pixel, every word and every decision is considered, refined and made to last.
Courage
We back bold ideas. We challenge the brief and push back when we feel the work deserves it.
The ones who make it all happen.
We're a tight-knit crew of thinkers, makers and doers. An eclectic mix of specialists united by restless curiosity and a reverence for all things creative. Most importantly, we never take ourselves too seriously - except when it comes to making seriously good work.
Stood on the
shoulders of giants.
Holdens was born from the vision of our late, great co-founder Peter Holden, better known as 'The Beard'. A proper old-school ad man, creative giant and true pioneer who believed that a brilliant idea, executed brilliantly, beats everything. And he was right.
He made his name in the 1970s at Royd's, now McCann, becoming the first Manchester ad man to pick up a Cannes Lions award and helping build what became the UK's biggest agency outside of London. Then he went and started his own.
Decades later, we're still independent, still ambitious and still chasing the same thing The Beard always chased: ideas that make people stop, think and feel something. We just have a few more ways to bring them to life now.
1947 - 2018
