Mark Boyd

Gravity Road was founded in 2011 by Mark Boyd and Mark Eaves. They sought to start in a different place and to build a different type of creative company. One that was more interested in what people wanted to spend time with that with telling people things.
The output of the agency is varied: from a comedy show for Channel 4, a publishing platform for Bacardi with Jamie Oliver, to the most shared film of last year for Sainsbury’s. The team includes more diverse mix of backgrounds including a national magazine editor, a team of journalists, a Head of Marketing and Development Producer from the BBC and a former artist and coder in residence from CALTEC. These skillsets allow Gravity Road to approach a brief from a very different starting point and to include distribution thinking upfront.
Clients include Mondelez and Cadbury, Sainsbury’s, Virgin, Pandora and YouTube and AOL. Recent awards include: Cannes Lions, D&AD, Webbys, BAFTA, Big Award
In 2015 Gravity Road has been awarded Ad Age’s International Small Agency of the Year and Campaign’s Leading Independent Agency.

Headed the content team that led the development of new work at BBH.

Worked on clients including Diageo (Johnnie Walker), Unilever (OMO), Audi, Barclays, BA and Britivic.

Pioneered new content opportunities for brands beyond traditional advertising. These have included projects as diverse as games, books, events and social networks through to TV programmes and channels like The Audi Channel.

Projects ran globally bringing new ideas, new ways of working and new business models into play.

Laterally, the focus has been on developing unbranded IP and exporting the strategic and creative disciplines of advertising to other areas of the entertainment business.

Joined content startup at TBWA which became Stream MSI. Developed the business's early content activity. Worked on a range of brands including Nissan, Times, Virgin One, ING, before being poached to BBH

Joined to build and manage all content for young adult customers for launch and manage in market. Managed a cross functional team, from business architects and engineers through to writers, marketeers and designers to source, develop and deliver all content.
Brilliant year. Arrived as one of the first 100 employees and left a year later when the company had grown to 2000 employees and 1500 consultants. Key lessons in marketing and how not to run a company.

After a dubious Ones to Watch mention, met Jonathan Durden and then Tess Alps. Changes in broadcast regulations were allowing new opportunities for brands to engage viewers in different ways. Spent three happy years doing sponsorship deals and creative credits for properties like Friends, Frasier and ITV dramas. Did early ad funded programming projects for Equitable life and other brands including Mars, Gillette and Sainsburys, including a year spent on one of the first but ultimately ill-fated AFP projects for ITV primetime.