Twenty Years On

Back in 2005, if you’d told me Peekaboo would still be here twenty years later, I’d probably have smiled politely, nodded, and then gone straight back to worrying about how I was going to pay next month’s bills.

When you’re starting an agency, twenty years feels like an eternity. You’re not thinking about anniversaries, milestones or where you’ll be in two decades’ time. You’re focused on winning work, looking after clients and making sure there’s enough money left at the end of the month to do it all again.

Like many small agencies, Peekaboo started with a fairly simple goal. Do great work for good people, and build something that was enjoyable to be a part of. There was no grand masterplan, no five-year growth strategy and certainly no expectation that I’d be sitting here writing a twenty-year anniversary blog post.

Thankfully, that simple approach seems to have served us well.

Over the last twenty years we’ve worked with hundreds of clients, launched more websites than I could ever count, and created brands that are still going strong today. Some of our clients have been with us for well over a decade and many have become genuine friends along the way. That’s something I’ll never take for granted.

The Journey So Far

Looking back, it’s easy to focus on the highlights. The reality is that no twenty-year journey is ever quite that neat.

We’ve experienced growth, periods of uncertainty and moments where we’ve had to adapt quickly to the winds of political and economic change. There was the 2008 recession, a global pandemic and enough changes in technology to make me feel considerably older than I’d like. Some of the websites we built in those early years would probably give our current team nightmares, but that’s all part of progression.

One thing I’ve learnt is that agency life has a habit of keeping you humble. Just when you think you’ve got things figured out, the script flips. The challenge isn’t trying to predict everything that’s coming next. It’s being willing to keep learning when it arrives.

That feels particularly relevant today. As AI continues to reshape our industry, we’re embracing the opportunities it creates whilst recognising that creativity, relationships, trust and understanding people remain at the heart of what we do. If anything, the more technology evolves, the more valuable those human qualities become.

Building The Team

What started as a small creative studio has grown into a multidisciplinary agency with expertise spanning branding, design, and development. The depth of talent we have in our team today is something I’m incredibly grateful for.

Following Covid, we completed a couple of acquisitions, including Pepper Creative. While business mergers and client growth are often discussed as the primary measures of success, for us, the biggest impact was the people. Welcoming talented individuals into the agency brought fresh ideas, new skills, and different perspectives that have helped shape the Peekaboo of today.

Alongside that expansion, we’ve continued investing in new talent, including welcoming our newest apprentice, Aisha, this month. Seeing the team continue to evolve is one of the most rewarding parts of our story so far.

The Next Chapter

Reaching twenty years also felt like the right moment to take a fresh look at how we present ourselves. Which ultimately led to the necessity of a rebrand, to better reflect the agency we’ve become and where we’re heading next. We’ve covered the full story behind that in a separate blog post, so I won’t repeat it all here.

We’ve got a stronger team than ever, exciting projects ahead and plenty of ideas about where Peekaboo can go next. Twenty years feels like a good moment to take stock, but it certainly doesn’t feel like a finish line.