Grace Francis, Jamie Mancini and Katy Collins have opened the indie creative shop Wonderful Things, the trio shared exclusively with Campaign US.
The agency will focus on building physical and digital brand experiences. Visitors can engage with new technologies in physical pop-ups, while digital worlds will try to replicate real spaces – similar to the Iran Prison Project, an interactive browser-based experience that uses witness testimony, original illustrations, voice acting, and AI to visualize the stories of political prisoners in Iran, which Francis and Mancini worked on at WongDoody.
Wonderful Things is open to experimenting with different technologies to create these experiences, although Francis noted that generative AI will allow the small team to create variations of the same experience at scale.
“I’m particularly interested in blending new technical and physical spaces for sports, entertainment and fast-moving consumer goods brands,” Francis said. “The ability to put things into the world that leave an emotional resonance feels like the only work I want to do.”
One of the agency’s first projects is developing an experience for a game studio that’s releasing a title that serves as a bedtime story. Wonderful Things is also starting briefs for a sports brand and a women’s charity focused on language, and is in early talks with an entertainment brand. Francis declined to name those clients.
“I always say yes to every phone call because interesting things happen in different areas, but sports, entertainment, art, food and drink are interesting because they are very sensory experiences,” Francis said.
Francis, Mancini and Collins are the sole employees of Wonderful Things. Francis brings creative talent, Mancini brings communications experience and Collins shares his expertise. As founders, both own a stake in the company.
Until they start hiring employees, they will rely on freelance talent for various projects for now. When Wonderful Things opens its doors to more employees, it will look for those with expertise in innovation, Francis said.
The agency is based in the UK but will operate worldwide.
“We make it a point to be remote,” Francis said. “We love to borrow other people’s offices and camp out with clients… but because we are borderless, we don’t know when we’ll be in Paris, Cologne, London, New York and, let’s be honest, sometimes Dayton, Ohio.”
Francis said the trio started their own agency because there were few focused on creating experiences that blend the physical and the digital.
“We just wanted to do this on our own terms,” they said. “It’s a great privilege to be able to take on the work we want and say no to a client who might not be a good fit.”
Francis and Mancini were previously with WongDoody, the former as Global Chief Creative and Design Officer from March 2022 to June 2024 and the latter as Executive Creative Director and Global PR Brand Lead from September 2022 to June 2024. The duo also worked together at Accenture Song (then Karmarama) as Chief Experience Officer and Creative Director, respectively.
Collins has spent the last four years at Forged and the Studio of Art & Commerce. She also worked alongside Francis as Production Manager for Experiences and Events at Droga5 from September 2018 to August 2020.
This story first appeared on Campaign US.
