AKQA CEO: The 21st century ad man

In this instalment of our video series, My CEO Secret, we talk to Ajaz Ahmed, one of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs in the digital creative space. He is the founder and CEO of the agency AKQA, well-known in the advertising world.

Ahmed is the son of first-generation immigrants to the UK. His state school careers adviser asked him if he might want to follow in his father’s footsteps and work in a factory, he recalls.

Instead, he trod his own path and started AKQA. As founder and leader, he has put diversity at the forefront of his mission, as he explains in this video. He describes it as a party to which people of all backgrounds must not only be invited but feel able to dance and choose the music on the playlist.

Ahmed dropped out of university to found AKQA in 1994 (the company’s name is based on his initials). He was 21 at the time.

He saw very early the internet’s potential not just for research or buying things, but as a place where brands could be playful and creative to achieve impact with customers.

His teams have worked in areas including app design, animated website experiences, online radio, even games console design – in essence, designing digital experiences – for which it has picked up industry recognition, including more than 600 Cannes Lions awards in the past decade.

It has worked with high profile clients like BMW, Nike and Virgin.

It was acquired by the WPP advertising group in 2012 in a deal that valued the company at close to $500m. Ahmed remains at the helm and today AKQA employs 5,500 people and has 50 studios globally.

You can watch other videos from our My CEO Secret series here.