Words: Simeon de la Torre, founder of SIM7.

The new year has made me reflect on the work we do at SIM7 – not in terms of what we’ve produced, but in the difference it’s made. When you look past the campaigns, brand identities, content and messaging, a much clearer picture emerges of what a modern creative agency is really there to do.

It’s about creating impact. And to achieve that, you’ve got to get the positioning right.

That means doing the research. Asking the questions. Running surveys. Getting into the weeds of the data. Digging into audience psychology to understand perceptions, biases, motivations and the conversations already happening around a brand.

In 2025, we conducted deep audience research for two major business schools, uncovering insights that fundamentally shifted their approach to engaging professional women globally. One of these campaigns will launch in January 2026. In both cases, the work was about uncovering a truth the organisation could own.

Because when you really understand the audience, everything else becomes clearer. The proposition sharpens. The messaging focuses. The creative stops being subjective and starts being strategic.

Strategy built in partnership

As a brief diversion, it’s worth pointing out here that we’ve refined the discovery phase of our workflow in 2025. This isn’t a box-ticking exercise, it’s designed to understand both the brand and the people behind it. The strengths, tensions or opportunities that had been hiding in plain sight.

From there, we build the brief together. It’s a partnership-led approach that gives the work weight. We’re not guessing. We’re building on something everyone believes in.

From insight to proposition

Once the strategy is clear, our job is to distil it into something simple, compelling and usable.

Our close, long-standing partnership with Idox Geospatial is a sound example of this approach in practice. We’ve worked with the business since its inception, acting as embedded creative partners as the brand has grown.

Together, we’ve shaped their positioning, messaging, campaigns, sales materials and content – not as isolated projects, but as part of a consistent strategic framework. Over time, that clarity has helped Idox build a profile the industry is genuinely talking about.

They’ve gone from strength to strength this year. They’re attracting attention, winning work and drawing in talent. We’ve helped them secure a major tender, supported bottom-line growth, and created comms content that has helped attract some of the UK’s most talented geospatial specialists.

And we’re gearing up to do it all again later in 2026 with a major new campaign.

Craft beneath the work

Spoiler alert: great creative isn’t just about amazing design. It’s about judgement.

It’s the craft of messaging. The psychology of colour, form and layout. The emphasis of a headline. The order ideas are presented in. And just as importantly, what’s left out altogether.

This year, we’ve applied that thinking across campaigns, tenders, sales presentations and conferences. Clients often come to us with a clear ambition – this is what we want to do – and our role is to help them get there in a way that resonates with the people they need to reach.

Breadth, without dilution

Elsewhere in SIM7, our content-focused team has been working on the repositioning of an international content brand – redefining its proposition and messaging to drive awareness and, critically, sales. The early indicators show the work is having a direct commercial impact.

We’ve also partnered with Swoon, the design-led furniture brand known for its handcrafted statement pieces. For them, the focus wasn’t visual identity, but voice. We developed a distinctive tone and proposition that sets them apart: clear, confident messaging that customers respond to and teams can easily own. The result is a workforce that naturally acts as brand ambassadors, spreading the story in everyday conversations.

Alongside this, we welcomed several major new clients, including two of the UK’s largest housing associations – SNG and Notting Hill Genesis – and began working with ESCP, one of the world’s leading business schools, as they pursue ambitious strategic plans for the future.

Thinking globally

One of the most significant partnerships we began this year was with the British Council, the UK’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.

We kicked off our relationship by delivering five campaigns designed to make meaningful connections with audiences around the world. Work at that scale demands cultural sensitivity, strategic clarity and disciplined messaging.

In 2022–23, the British Council reached 600 million people across more than 100 countries.* Being trusted to contribute to that kind of global communication is both a responsibility and (if I’m honest) quite a privilege – and a reminder that when creative work is done properly, it doesn’t just promote. It connects.

Looking ahead

As I look back on the year, what stands out most isn’t the volume of work we’ve produced, but the clarity it’s helped create. For brands finding their voice. For organisations sharpening their positioning. For teams gaining confidence in how they communicate.

As I say – impact.

And it’s exactly what we’ll continue to focus on in the year ahead.