The Market Has Changed. Agency Models Haven’t.
The UK advertising market hit £42.6 billion in 2024, with digital spend accounting for more than 80% of budgets. Yet many independent agencies are struggling.
They’re caught between two extremes:
- Stay small and risk stagnation,
- Or sell majority control to PE or holding groups, and lose the very DNA that made them great.
That’s why partnerships like this matter.Because they show that there’s a third way: founder-first growth, powered by capital and infrastructure, not consolidation.
Why Woya Digital Fits the Unusual Thesis
When we first met Steve O’Brien and the team at Woya, one thing stood out immediately: their obsession with measurable outcomes.
They weren’t just chasing visibility metrics or vanity KPIs. They were engineering tangible, revenue-linked results for clients in finance, healthcare, and specialist sectors. That kind of discipline, paired with a culture of innovation and integrity, is exactly what defines an Unusual Group partner.
As Luke Tobin, CEO of The Unusual Group, explains:
“This isn’t about exits, it’s about endurance.
Woya is building an agency designed to thrive through the next decade of digital transformation, and that’s exactly the kind of founder-first growth we back.”
The Malta Move: More Than Geography
Woya’s new global headquarters in Malta isn’t just about location. It’s about leverage.
Strategically positioned between the UK and EU markets, Malta gives Woya a launchpad for international expansion while maintaining its strong UK foundation. It’s a tangible example of what we mean when we talk about scaling with infrastructure, not ego.
In today’s market, global reach without operational depth is fragility disguised as ambition. Woya’s move demonstrates the opposite: a commitment to structure, talent, and client service that scales sustainably.
Building Infrastructure for the Long Term
At The Unusual Group, we believe the future of agency growth won’t be driven by consolidation, but by compound infrastructure that embeds the systems, leadership, and technology that make scale repeatable.
That’s what we bring to every partnership. Not bureaucracy. Not control. Just the frameworks that multiply what’s already working.
For Woya, that means:
- Strengthened governance and strategic oversight at board level.
- Operational alignment with a proven eight-phase growth roadmap.
- Access to the peer intelligence of other founder-led agencies already scaling through The Unusual Method™.
The result? A business designed to scale internationally without losing what makes it special.
Client Impact: Stronger, Not Different
For Woya’s clients, this partnership changes nothing about the day-to-day, and everything about the future.
The same expert team. The same transparent communication. The same measurable results.
What changes is capacity.
With The Unusual Group’s infrastructure behind them, Woya can invest further in technology, expand into new regions, and future-proof their delivery for the next era of AI-driven marketing.
As Steve O’Brien, Woya’s CEO, puts it:
“Our mission remains the same: to deliver measurable outcomes for our clients.
This partnership just gives us a stronger platform to do it globally.”
The Bigger Picture: Redefining Growth for Independent Agencies
Woya’s story is more than an agency success. It’s a signal of where the industry is heading.
Independent agencies no longer need to choose between independence and impact.
The next generation of growth will come from founder-led businesses with capital and operational firepower, scaling on their terms, not someone else’s.
At The Unusual Group, that’s the movement we’re building.A collective of ambitious founders, united by the belief that creativity and control can co-exist, and that growth doesn’t have to come at the cost of culture.
Founder Insight: What Others Can Learn from Woya
Growth doesn’t come from adding more. It comes from building smarter.
The Woya partnership proves that when agencies prioritise infrastructure before exit, international expansion becomes inevitable, not risky.
Looking Ahead
This partnership is a blueprint for the kind of future we believe in: one where founder-led agencies scale globally, sustainably, and profitably, without compromise.
And while this announcement marks a milestone for Woya, it also marks progress for every founder rethinking what growth could look like.
FAQs
Read the full press release here.
If you’re an agency founder ready to explore what a founder-first partnership could mean for your next chapter, start the conversation with us.
