Inside Kinase - we reflect on life in digital Ad Land

In a series of interviews, we caught up with senior members of the Kinase team on all things digital marketing.

Knowledge Creation

At the heart of these conversations was Kinase’s emphasis on real investment in training, and its culture of knowledge sharing and learning. Liz Su, biddable senior account manager puts it like this: “I think it’s realising that training is never over - you have to be willing to learn new things. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been doing the job. There are always new things to learn and you have to be patient and take the time to learn. You also have to be patient with yourself if you find that you don’t get things immediately.”

“Kinase training is fantastic! This is something that has been a key point for our recruitment. I think we have a unique approach to how we do PPC. Everyone in the agency is trained to a high standard through our Kinase Academy programme,” says James Monaghan, Client Services Director. “We also, at our best, have a culture that encourages people to test, to try out new things. And we really care about the clients.” Saskia Woodhouse sums up the impact on her team: “Having trust with clients is essential, but trusting team members is equally important when you need to delegate. I love that I’ve watched team members grow from trainee to Account manager over the last three years, and become experts in areas where I’m not!”

“We’ve always tried to foster a culture of ‘no stupid questions’,” says Toby Wells, Account Director. “There are no stupid questions - just stupid mistakes because you didn’t ask the questions!”

AI First

The pace of change of digital and the potentials of AI is of course top of mind for everyone. “AI-based tools are getting better and better, and you can use them for so many things. We were generating images for use in PMax campaigns this week and it’s so much better than it was even a few months ago. We made some great images for Haynes with people fixing different cars and motorbikes,” reflects Nat McDermott, Account Director. “Maybe that doesn’t take as long as in the old days when it was all manual - but there are lots of other things to do in the day that maybe we didn’t have to do before. I am thinking of constant experimentation - trying out different things to find out the best approach. Clients are paying us for our time and expertise and maybe running tests to really understand a new feature, or how new features work with the existing features, is a better use of that time and expertise than poring over spreadsheets.”

“We’ve recently been experimenting with VEO 2 & 3, and it’s insane what they can produce,” says Saskia Woodhouse, Senior Account Manager. “It’s definitely disrupting the industry because now anyone with an idea can create a video - I’m excited to continue experimenting with it. Beyond bringing an idea to life.”

A crucial corollary to the AI revolution is data - data for AI to optimise to, and to give you an edge against competitors. “Now a lot of the difference is in enabling the client to integrate their business data, their first-party data, into the black box of optimisation. That’s where the competitive edge is,” argues James Monaghan. “It sounds like our role is more limited, but it’s actually wider, because there’s so many more areas of the client’s business that we need to work with.

Elevator Pitches for Digital Ad Land

What keeps us on our toes, what keeps us coming back?

“If I was persuading someone to join us,” says Toby Wells, who was named a Campaign Face to Watch in 2025, “I’d say that our industry touches everything – and, because of that, marketing can be a key to any lock. If you love solving problems, understanding both businesses and people, and being creative, this is an industry that has it all.”

It’s about team collaboration, for Liz Su. “We have high standards to match the high standards of the clients. But we’ve developed ways to keep the standard up and that’s through close collaboration. Nothing is ever just on one person.”

James puts it succinctly: “An agency helps you focus on what’s going to move the dial.”

Read the full series of face to face interviews here.