Meet Roleplay: putting strategy and design on equal footing, for real

London-based branding agency Roleplay launched in January 2025 with a clear ambition: to put strategy and design on equal footing. Co-founders Hugo Ross and Ed Little, friends and former colleagues, work through a philosophy they call Strategic Maximalism. A single-minded strategy that creates rich, immersive design. For Little, a strategist by trade, a decade in London agencies has meant watching strategy framed as the warm-up before the real work, or the important groundwork before the colouring in. With Northern Pasta Co., Spice Dept. and Jin Jin on the books, Roleplay is hard-launching with a new site. Together, we discuss the rules worth breaking, lessons from their time at Mother Design, Otherway, Bulletproof, Koto and Regular Practice, and why a strategy should never feel like a dictatorship. TBI: Hugo and Ed, how are you both? HR: Great thanks. We’ve been working hard this year to keep the (agency) ship steady and are grateful to be juggling some challenging new projects with lots of exciting summer plans.