How VAGRANTS Is Building an “Antidote to Bloated Agency Systems”

At creative production shop VAGRANTS, newly hired executive creative director Jen Perry is ‘building the creative practice she wished existed when she was in-house’. Already working with the studio’s existing clients, as well as pitching new ones, she tells LBB that the vision is to create “a small, high-functioning group of strategic, ‘hyphenate’ creatives who can plug into in-house creative teams or marketing teams” and make people’s lives easier.

“Less of the clunky processes and layers that slow things down," she says. "Just smart, kind, experienced people who each wear multiple hats, creating excellent work quickly. We are building a creative offering that feels like the antidote to bloated agency systems for both clients and staff. We want to feel like an extension of our clients’ teams, not an outside vendor.”

The creative shop will collaborate with both VAGRANTS and external production partners as necessary, and is being built on a foundation of ‘radical transparency’. “It means we’re not going to bullshit people,” explains Jen. “Too many clients have been burned by overpromising and under-delivering, and too many creatives have been burned by politics and opacity.

"Radical transparency means we’re honest with our clients, with each other, with ourselves. Transparency is how you build trust, and trust is how you make work that actually works.”

Jen has prior experience building out creative teams, adding capabilities like video production, editing, copywriting and UX/UI design to the likes of Argus, Constant Contact, and Gupta. From these previous tests, she’s learnt the value of overcommunication and education when getting teams on board with potentially daunting expansions, even running internal workshops to teach teams about the frameworks of larger creative shops.

“The goal is really helping my teams feel informed, inspired and excited about what’s possible. Any creative team will succeed if it’s both inspired and pushed to think bigger, and supported and cared for as humans. Regularly checking in with team members in one-on-one meetings is key. The truth is, some people might not want to be part of the growth and change, and that’s just a reality – change is hard. But it can also be really exciting if you embrace it and roll with it through the ‘messy middle’.

Change isn’t something Jen has shied away from in her own career. Having started out as creative assistant to Lowe Worldwide ECD Dean Hacohen, she spent 15 years in the traditional agency world at network agencies like Lowe, Deutsch, BBDO, Arnold and Hill Holliday. “Agency life was my bootcamp,” she says. “I learned how to concept fast, think big, and sell ideas under pressure.”

Burnt out from the late nights, politics and ever-present threat of layoffs, Jen then went client-side for four years, which changed her way of thinking about marketers, brands, and the agency/client relationship. In 2022, she returned to agency life, bringing deepened marketing and business understanding from ‘life on the other side’ to a growing agency.

Since then, she’s applied these varied experiences to different models, from a small 30-person shop to a media agency with a growing creative arm, and now a production company in VAGRANTS.

“What I carried over from my agency years were high standards, conceptual thinking, a love of craft, and a bias toward bold, fun, sometimes weird ideas,” says Jen. “But I left behind the ego, the fear, and the extreme burnout. I wanted to build teams where people could still do award-level work, but in an environment that didn’t destroy them in the process.

“After trying so many different kinds of roles and seeing how different businesses run, I’ve become much more business-minded,” she adds. “Some of the things that I used to get upset about as a creative feel almost quaint now. I’ll always be a creative at heart, but what I get the most excited about is building a creative business, and creating the right conditions for creative – and creative people – to thrive.”

Part of this involves playing to people’s strengths, giving them opportunities that fit with their interests and skill sets while also being careful not to overwhelm them during business transitions. “Sometimes people say they want change, until they’re face-to-face with the reality of all the other changes that inevitably come along with it,” she explains. “I’ve learned to take more time to feel things out, instead of ‘coming in hot’ trying to change too many things at once.”

Jen first worked with VAGRANTS while client-side in 2018, working on her first project running from concept to execution with the new team that she had hired. With a chip on her shoulder from not being promoted at her previous agency role, and a point to prove about in-house creativity, she partnered with her future employer on recommendation from an agency producer friend.

“I didn't have a lot of time or a big budget. But we had a fun idea that we needed to be executed to the highest level possible,” says Jen. “I needed someone who understood humour and got what we were up against.

“The work turned out great. Everyone was collaborative, funny and kind. That shoot built a level of trust that’s rare in this business. I pushed to bring VAGRANTS in for our next campaign, this one with a bigger budget – an ‘80s montage theme, complete with an amazing music track from Duotone that we locked before the shoot. My in-house team was growing, our chief marketing officer was new, and we wanted to prove what internal creative could really do with the right partners. It rained for half the shoot, but the vibe stayed high and once again, the work turned out great.”

After rejoining the agency world, Jen turned to VAGRANTS again for a project short-notice. “[EP and head of production] Jill [Shaw] and Dustin [Devlin, founder and creative director] worked with me to iron out a production budget and craft the work to fit the budget, ensuring we weren’t promising a new client something we couldn’t deliver,” she shares. “Against all odds, we pulled off the shoot, the client was thrilled, and the work won an Emmy.

“I’ve worked with VAGRANTS as a client, a collaborator, and now as part of the team,” she continues. “That’s what makes this place and these people special to me. It’s proof that real creative partnership doesn’t come from contracts or pitches, it comes from shared values, mutual respect, refusing to let the work fail, and remembering to have fun in the process.”

Now two months into her time as ECD at the creative production shop, Jen is already bringing about change in her quest to develop her perfect creative practice -- for herself, VAGRANTS and potential external partners.

“Right now, we’re building the foundation by repositioning the brand, defining our creative processes, building systems that make creativity easier, working on VAGRANTS’ brand marketing, and planning for some upcoming creative projects,” she says.

“What I’m proudest of is the excitement and alignment that’s happening and the fun people are having. Even though change is scary and we’re stepping into the unknown, we’re having fun doing it, and people are embracing it. I’ll take that as a sign we’re doing something right.”