What makes Open Partners one of the best workplaces in the UK? A view from the Client Leadership team

In 2026, Open Partners has been recognised by both The Sunday Times and Great Place to Work as one of the best workplaces in the UK within the Marketing and Advertising sector.

Below, Client Partner Bryony Clapperton shares her perspective on life at OP, along with a look into her role and the wider Client Leadership team.

Think you’d make a great addition to the Client Leadership team? We’re always on the lookout for ambitious and experienced people to join our fast-growing agency. View our open vacancies here.

You’re a Client Partner at Open Partners. Can you share a bit about your role within the agency?

Definitely! I sit within the Client Leadership team, and as Client Partner, my overarching role is to ensure we deliver rapid, profitable, incremental growth for our clients.  From the outset, get underneath the skin of our clients’ businesses to understand their ways of working, their growth ambitions, and what outcomes matter most to them so I can align this with our internal team’s activity and deliver against those objectives.

For others in agencyland, the Client Partner role is effectively an Account Director role. But Open Partners is a people-first business, and we treat our clients as the partners they are, sharing their goals and growing alongside them. So within the walls of Open Partners, Client Partner is a title that truly reflects how we work.

What clients do you currently work with at Open Partners? Do you have a specific industry specialism?

Prior to Open Partners, I spent many years still working on the media agency side but with e-commerce and retail clients, which I really loved. Now I do have a bit more variation and am able to work with complex businesses that keep me challenged and are really rewarding to work with.

My current portfolio includes Taylor Wimpey, a national housebuilding brand, along with MPM products, a premium pet food business with multiple brands like Reveal and Applaws. Within my team’s portfolio there’s also some financial services clients like Stanhope Insurance along with some retail clients. It’s really quite varied!

As a Client Partner with a broad portfolio, what does a typical week look like for you?

No week is the same! That’s one thing I love about it. I tend to get out in front of clients as much as possible to ensure I am building that essential relationship with them and that we’re always aligned. At Open Partners, we’re big advocates of face-to-face meetings with clients, whether that’s monthly reporting meetings, quarterly business reviews,  half-year planning, annual planning, and of course entertaining. So week on week, things can look quite different.

Last week was a good example. I was down in London for a Media Evolution day with one client’s leadership team, and this was followed up by a lovely dinner, then by Friday I was back in Manchester for a chemistry session and pitch. Though different types of client interactions, all are essential in building up that strong relationship and rapport.

What do you think is the most critical part of the Client Partner role?

Any client-facing role will require the ability to build strong relationships, be a strong communicator, be skilled in operational excellence, etc. But at Open Partners the client leadership role goes one step further, we’re responsible for integrated strategy and delivery.

We are a fully integrated agency, with Media, Data, and Creative services all under one roof, so it’s incredibly important the Client Leadership team can talk to and deliver on each of those three disciplines and the depth of services that sit under them. We deliver through the Open Partners Operating System (OP:OS), which houses our three disciplines and 9 products (Signals, Measurement, Insights, Search, Social, Multimedia, Brand, Content, and Ads), all designed to work together to unlock incremental client growth. It’s essential that I understand the breadth of those products and solutions, how they work together, and how each can address specific client challenges and help achieve their business and marketing goals.

So for me, the most critical part really is understanding our business model and how to apply it against client challenges. That’s how we solve problems and unlock growth opportunities for our clients.

The digital landscape has been changing at breakneck speed, especially with the rise of AI and automation. How are you navigating that as a Client Partner, and is it hard to keep up?

I think there is always a requirement for people in any client facing role to constantly evolve alongside the digital landscape, and the pace of that has definitely increased over the last couple of years. But at Open Partners, we actively embrace change and are equipped for it, as that’s what being The Agency of Next is all about.

Despite how fast we move, I am actually finding that aspect of the job easier than in previous roles, mainly because there’s a big emphasis on knowledge sharing and communication especially from our partners and media owners. Whether it’s a platform update, a change in best practice, or a new product or solution we’ve developed, we’re all given the training and tools we need to really understand what these changes mean for our clients, what we’re doing as a business to prepare them,  and how we can apply those solutions to support them in growth.

Working within an integrated agency also helps a lot with this. As Client Partner, I work with clients across our three core disciplines, so I get constant exposure to the latest strategic thinking across those disciplines, how they fit into the current digital landscape, and how they work together to deliver profitable results for our clients. I’ve also never been closer to media owners and partners than I have been since joining Open Partners, it really helps me feel completely immersed in the industry.

Open Partners has been recognised as one of the best places to work in the UK, what do you think sets us apart?

The thing I love about working here and for my role specifically is just how much we are empowered to learn and develop. We have everything at our disposal when it comes to training, whether it’s best practice in AI, training on specific tools, and also the training we can access through our media partners. We’re actively encouraged to expand our knowledge and are actually given time to do that in the working week, which benefits the business and our careers. It also means we can own our development and progression.

The level of trust and autonomy we have is another big one for me. We have complete flexibility with where we work, so I think that is a huge satisfaction factor for a lot of our people. Some days I just need to get my head down and work from home. Other days I love going into the office for face to face time with my team. It’s nice to have that choice and to feel trusted to do your job in a way that works for you.

Another big thing I think it’s the level of transparency, clarity, and direction we get from our founders. They keep the entire business up to date with where we are and where we’re going, and the direction of travel is always super clear. Everyone at every level knows what our ambitions are, and that our leaders will listen to our input, ideas, and feedback. I think it’s quite rare that anyone, regardless of seniority, can feel they can help shape a business and make a meaningful contribution.

The benefits are also a big one for a lot of people. I personally love my gym membership and get lots of use out of that, but there are a lot of wider ones that just help people stay happy and healthy in their jobs. There’s a big focus on wellbeing and the business really cares about that. I’ve only been in the business 18 months and the benefits package has just continued to evolve, making sure everyone has that flexibility and support to do their jobs as best they can. I think we all really appreciate that effort.

What are some of the highlights of your career journey with Open Partners so far?

Oh there’s a few I could name, but one that immediately comes to mind was from my earlier days at Open Partners.

Last year I attended my first Annual All Hands, which is a day when the whole business gets together to celebrate the year just gone and set the strategic vision for the year ahead. I had only just passed my probation, so hadn’t been in the business long, but I actually won an award for leadership and mentoring. I was genuinely shocked because I was so new, and couldn’t believe that someone who had just joined would be recognised and awarded like that. It felt really nice to be recognised for my work by the founders and leadership team.

What inspires and motivates you as a Client Partner?

Definitely the people in the business. There are so many talented people at Open Partners that are incredibly experienced, having come from various agencies and often networks where they’ve worked across some of the world’s biggest brands. I genuinely think Open Partners is a curation of some of the best talent in our industry, so working alongside people who are all experienced and passionate about delivering great results for clients really motivates me to do the same alongside them. There is a high performance culture, but it’s not forced, everyone just wants to do great work and we’re always striving for better.

From a team perspective there’s also that comradery element that keeps us all inspired. Across the Client Leadership team and the wider business, we share learnings, wins, case studies, new processes and tools. There’s so much collaboration and we all feel empowered to contribute and do our best work.

We also socialise quite a lot as a team, along with clients and media owners, so there’s plenty of opportunity to celebrate our achievements with a spicy marg and help us build strong bonds with one another. It’s so important to really feel part of the team you’re in and the culture here really facilitates that.