5 Minutes with… Sophie Nicholson

At only two years old, The Romans’ Amsterdam office is still pretty fresh yet it’s already doing local and global work that’s making waves. Additionally, it was recently ranked second in the FONK magazine Best Agencies 2025 in the medium-sized agency category. For the agency’s partner, Sophie Nicholson, it’s all thanks to the team’s “guts and grit” and entrepreneurial spirit.

Before joining The Romans, Sophie had 15 years of experience under her belt, bringing PR savvy to London and Sydney, working at agencies like Hill+Knowlton and One Green Bean.

At the Romans Amsterdam, Sophie’s cultivated a team that brings together “a beautiful blend of locally connected Dutchies and globally minded international experts”. The key to their approach as an office comes down to two things: working with the audience and their cultural worlds and really understanding where the audience is. Being channel agnostic is something the team excels at, according to Sophie, and it’s a mentality that’s much needed in a landscape that’s tough for brands to navigate. Budget scrutiny is the only certainty in uncertain times, Sophie notes, and over-delivering on value is now a client expectation.

LBB’s Zhenya Tsenzharyk speaks to Sophie about where the Amsterdam office sits within The Roman’s wider network, the need for “earned creativity”, plus the work for Ketel One vodka that drove “a massively disproportionate share of voice” with 10/10 vibes.

LBB> Sophie, you have 15+ years’ experience in the industry. Right now, times are tough culturally, and for consumers and brands alike. What do you see as the main challenges you’re helping clients face?

Sophie> In uncertain times, there’s only one certainty: budget scrutiny. We’re getting challenged by clients to help them punch above their weight to create disproportionate value for every euro they spend. So, for all budget levels, projects big and smaller, and work that’s both global and local, our focus is on delivering ideas that can travel and cut through to wherever brands’ audiences are. This means client partners are relying on us for channel agnostic concepts; ideas that are finely tuned into culture and conversation; and on-traditional media strategies to get them seen and talked about.

LBB> What’s distinctive about the role Amsterdam plays within The Romans’ global network? How has that shaped the work coming out of the office?

Sophie> The work in Amsterdam spans the niche and local to the broad and global, so our team is made up of a beautiful blend of locally connected Dutchies and globally minded international experts. That’s what makes us different in the market and it’s where our strength lies within the context of The Romans’ global footprint. The team is obsessed with culture, live and breathe what’s topical and trending, and is deeply rooted in the local scene. But we also come with extensive global experience and expertise and, having lived and worked internationally, have a fine-tuned approach to working collaboratively with clients and agency partners to deliver work that lands across markets.

LBB> You’ve spoken about the value of creative and cultural understanding in PR. Where do you think many agencies still fall short, and how does The Romans do things differently?

Sophie> I’d boil it down to two things.

Firstly, it’s about where the creative process starts. For us, it’s with the audience and their cultural worlds. Taking the brand and message out of the picture (briefly!) and building a deep understanding of what matters to the audience and the people and ideas shaping their opinions, passions and interests. What’s going on for them? What excites them? What are they bored of? What are they seeing? What are they saying? Too often PRs start with the product, message or service – which will rarely get you to the best ideas.

Secondly, it’s about understanding where the audience is finding their influence, and working back from there. Non-traditional, integrated, multi-channel strategies to be where the audience is and showing up there authentically. Sometimes it’s a challenge back to clients to scrutinise why they want to be in a particular title, or why they want to create a certain kind of content. Because what really matters — the point of cultural understanding and creativity that connects — is being where your audience already is.

LBB> The Amsterdam office was recently ranked second in the FONK magazine Best Agencies 2025 in the medium-sized agency category. What does this mean for the team and what they’ve been able to achieve?

Sophie> Every single person in our business is dedicated to being the best, and works with relentless energy to deliver for our clients. So the recognition from FONK for the graft they put in every day was huge. Levelling up the work in the market with our phenomenal Dutch team, and uniquely bringing global expertise to Amsterdam hasn’t been easy. But what’s hard is worth doing. The clients we’ve won and the work we’ve delivered, given our relatively new status in the market, has taken real guts and grit, and the team’s entrepreneurial spirit blows me away every day. We’ve consistently said yes and gone for every good opportunity with optimism and a sense of fun in the challenge. The ranking was a lovely moment to reflect and be proud that our almost ridiculous gusto is working!

LBB> How does having integrated teams change the way ideas are developed and executed for global brands?

Sophie> More and more, clients are challenging their agency partners, whatever the discipline, to think channel agnostic. Work needs to work harder and travel further than ever. So, ideas need to be earned-first: connected to what’s current, culturally attuned, and timely. Concepts that earn attention on billboards but also among opinion leaders. Points of view that can be delivered on Instagram or LinkedIn. Content that can be adapted from TikTok to experiential. What this means, perhaps an unsurprising opinion from me, is that earned needs to be involved at every stage of conceptualisation, delivery, and execution.

I have always believed that collaborating with integrated teams leads to better work. And, as the media continues to fragment, agencies need now to come together and understand one another more than ever before.

LBB> What types of briefs or challenges are increasingly being led out of Amsterdam? Why do clients trust the office with global work?

Sophie> Obviously, we’re getting a lot of work that relies on a deep connection to Dutch culture on the local side of the business. But on the global side, it’s hard-working strategies and inspiration-led creative work that can be adapted and plugged into markets in collaboration with local agency partners. We act as a European or global hub for several accounts, where strategies and ideas developed by us, with input from markets, are rolled out by local partners.

Why we’re trusted I think comes as much from our fantastic team, the results they deliver, and the relationships they build, as it does our operational structure. We have a global footprint and partners around the world, but we’re not a network behemoth. As an Amsterdam-based agency that’s globally-minded and locally connected, we offer the network, firepower, and tools of a global agency, with the care, creative flexibility, and nimbleness of a true independent.

LBB> Which recent piece of work best reflects the ambition and creative strength of the Amsterdam team right now?

Sophie> We loved the work we did with Ketel One last year. The concept to hero the Ketel One Espresso Martini was called After Dark, embedding the brand in coffee culture by turning key cities’ coolest coffee hotspots into after-hours Espresso Martini cocktail hang-outs. It was a good example of an idea that tapped into a broad social and cultural pillar, but was executed in markets to feel authentically local. We launched it in Madrid, and then it went to Barcelona, Amsterdam, and beyond. As well as the results far exceeding anyone’s expectations and driving a massively disproportionate share of voice, the vibes were 10/10. In fact, we got chucked out of our event because we had capacity issues. It all felt very us!

LBB> What excites you most about building the Amsterdam office at this stage of its growth? What’s next on the horizon?

Sophie> The first two years have been pretty incredible to be honest. We won our first client in our first week of business and we haven’t looked back. We have also learned a huge amount along the way… and when I say ‘we’, I mean mostly me! We’re now at what feels like a pivotal moment – bigger clients, bigger work, bigger team. There's so much to be excited about and, while I’ve always believed that we were the right agency in the right market at the right time, the whole team is feeling a renewed sense of confidence and energy as we head into the year ahead, because Q4 2025 was a lot of winning and a lot of hiring!

LBB> Looking ahead, how do you see the role of PR evolving as creativity, culture and reputation become more tightly intertwined?

Sophie> As I said before, integrated briefs now need to work harder than ever to drive disproportionate value for clients. And it’s PR’s business to understand what’s going to cut through to both promote and protect a brand’s image and reputation. This means big, impactful work needs to have earned creativity and executional know-how at its core. So I think PR will evolve to be more strategically embedded, more creatively leading, more exceptionally imperative. I’m excited!