Amplify Founder Says “Good Idea Doesn’t Need to Cost a Fortune,” Common Interest Now Officemate.

Four months after Common Interest acquired a 51% stake in his agency, Amplify founder and global CEO Jonathan Emmins says the new-age holdco has moved into Amplify’s London offices to form a “collective”, and he’s already felt the impact of a “peer to peer network” made up of “phenomenal talent”.

The creative and brand experience agency “didn’t need to” accept the acquisition deal, which will see Common Interest purchase the remaining 49% of Amplify over the next five years. As founder, Jonathan made the decision because he knew Amplify could get “better and better” as a result. “We've done so well in our own right, but bigger global systems and processes [meant] that we could lean into a global footprint.”

He also believed in, and wanted to learn from, former Havas AUNZ chair Anthony Freedman, who set up Common Interest in late 2023 to act as a holding company that builds brands in popular culture.

“He's built the agencies, he's done that, and we were chatting along the way equally, while he was building that out from an acorn of an idea. It got to a point that in the last year, we were like, okay, let's join forces,” the London-based Jonathan tells LBB in an interview during a visit to Sydney.

“We like Anthony and the way he thinks, the vision and ambition, and the way he does business, not just the business he does. There's a likemindedness there. He's had the warts and all of us and still wanted us to come in.

“I want to work with phenomenal talent. All the other agency leaders, as well as Anthony, are amazing. Actually, Common Interest outside of the agency leaders is four people at the moment, so it's very much a peer to peer network. We have a seat at the table to guide and make those decisions.

“We bought into Anthony's vision. We're all making those decisions together and adding value. That is the major reason for doing it.”

Amplify’s global leadership team became partners and equity holders in Common Interest. The group also includes brand consultancy 21st Century Brand, cultural intelligence platform CultureLab, design studio Otherway, youth agency SEED, creative B2B and B2E (business to employee) Wonder, and the newest addition, Baby Teeth – a creative company promising to exist at the crossroads of entertainment, talent, and brands and run by the well-respected Lynsey Atkin, Chris Watling and Rebecca Lewis.

Both Common Interest and Baby Teeth started out with different names, Jonathan says, while adding of Anthony, “We've always wanted to be the slight antithesis of the industry, and cut our own path. But we’re very much like minds.”