RelationshipOps of the Week #39.
Branding & Creative Agency
Branding & Creative Agency
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“They (referrals) come from how you show up, how you solve problems, how you treat people, and having done the work in a way that people remember.”
“They (referrals) come from how you show up, how you solve problems, how you treat people, and having done the work in a way that people remember.”
Nicholas Platt.
Nicholas Platt has spent three decades creating award-winning work across two continents… fourteen years as Executive Creative Director at RAPP, leading creative for clients like Toyota, Apple, Sony, and Bank of America, with earlier stops at Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA, and Proximity.
In 2017, he left the big-agency world to prove an indie shop could be nimble, fast, and cost-efficient without sacrificing quality all under a simple mantra…
"Made with Love."
Today, Nicholas is the Founder and CEO of LO:LA (London : Los Angeles), an independent, award-winning branding and creative agency that helps companies find their "last true unfair advantage," a distinctive brand story, and turn it into work that moves people and drives growth, fusing big-agency thinking with boutique agility. The work has earned recognition across the Davey, Transform, and Communicator Awards.
In our conversation, Nicholas unpacks why referrals don't just come from asking, how he keeps relationships warm without ever forcing it, and the one thing he wishes he'd understood sooner about playing the long game.
Keep reading if that interests you…
Referrals don’t just come from asking.
Leonard Chin: What’s an instance when a relationship led to a big win or a really great opportunity for your business?
Nicholas Platt:
“When I founded LO:LA, some of the first real opportunities came from people I had worked with in my previous agency life. Some brought me into their current company. Some others introduced me to someone else who they thought would be a good fit.
But the important thing is that I wasn’t really asking for favors. They sought me out not because I had the biggest agency or the longest credentials deck, but because they knew how I worked. They had experienced the care, the thinking, the standards, and the product. So the relationship had already built trust before there was ever a new business conversation.
That was a big lesson for me. Referrals don’t just come from asking.
They come from how you show up, how you solve problems, how you treat people, and having done the work in a way that people remember.
Those early relationships gave LO:LA momentum. But more importantly, they gave me confidence that the thing I believed in, making great creative work more accessible, more personal, and more useful, had real value.”
Not to “touch base” for the sake of it.
Leonard Chin: What's your daily/weekly routine for maintaining relationships that help your business?
Nicholas Platt:
“Consistency is definitely the hard part. I try to make it part of my natural weekly rhythm rather than treating it like a separate sales activity.
That means staying in touch in a way that feels personal and low-pressure. Sharing work when it is relevant. Sending a thought or article that might be useful. Congratulating people when something good happens. Checking in without an ask. Making introductions when I can. And staying visible through LinkedIn and content, not just to promote LO:LA, but to keep putting our perspective out into the world.
I also try to keep a loose list of people I want to stay close to, past clients, collaborators, prospects, and people I genuinely like. So I’m not just relying on memory.
I’m not perfect at it, but I try to make sure the outreach is never forced. The goal is not to “touch base” for the sake of it. It’s to stay useful, visible, and human.”
They kept me resilient.
Leonard Chin: What tips would you give to your younger self around relationships and how they impact business?
Nicholas Platt:
“I would tell my younger self not to underestimate the long game. When you are younger, it is easy to think relationships are about opportunity, access, or opening doors. And yes, they can do all of those things. But the real value of relationships is much deeper than that. They help you stay resilient. They give you perspective. They remind you who you are when business gets tough.
Leaving the structure of a larger agency and building LO:LA from scratch is exciting, but it is also uncertain. In those early moments, the people who came back, made introductions, or simply said, “We believe in how you work,” gave me real confidence. It reminded me that I wasn’t just starting from zero. I had built trust over time.
I would also say: don’t only build relationships when you need something. That is when it is already too late. Build them by being authentic, doing good work, trusting your gut, and staying the course.
Your reputation is being built all the time, often in rooms you are not in, by people who remember how you made them feel and what it was like to work with you.
So be generous. Be consistent. Do the work properly. And don’t confuse staying busy with staying connected. The opportunities that matter most often come from people who believed in you before there was a brief on the table.”
Key Takeaways.
We’re glad to have Nicholas Platt with us on this week’s series, and here are the few key takeaways:
Trust precedes the pitch. Nicholas’ best early opportunities came from people who already knew how he worked, so the relationship did the selling before any new business conversation started. The "deck" was simply the reputation he'd built by doing the work properly.
Stay useful, not transactional. His maintenance routine works because it's woven into his natural weekly rhythm. Sharing relevant work, sending a useful thought, congratulating wins, making introductions. None of it bolted on as a separate sales activity with an ask attached.
Build before you need it. The deepest value of relationships isn't access or open doors. It's the resilience and confidence they give you when business gets hard. By the time you need them, it's already too late, because your reputation is being built in rooms you're not in.
That’s all for now.
If you're open to sharing your experiences in one of our future articles… or know of someone who is, feel free to drop me an email here.
Author.
Leonard Chin
Follow me on LinkedIn.
Nicholas Platt.
Nicholas Platt has spent three decades creating award-winning work across two continents… fourteen years as Executive Creative Director at RAPP, leading creative for clients like Toyota, Apple, Sony, and Bank of America, with earlier stops at Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA, and Proximity.
In 2017, he left the big-agency world to prove an indie shop could be nimble, fast, and cost-efficient without sacrificing quality all under a simple mantra…
"Made with Love."
Today, Nicholas is the Founder and CEO of LO:LA (London : Los Angeles), an independent, award-winning branding and creative agency that helps companies find their "last true unfair advantage," a distinctive brand story, and turn it into work that moves people and drives growth, fusing big-agency thinking with boutique agility. The work has earned recognition across the Davey, Transform, and Communicator Awards.
In our conversation, Nicholas unpacks why referrals don't just come from asking, how he keeps relationships warm without ever forcing it, and the one thing he wishes he'd understood sooner about playing the long game.
Keep reading if that interests you…
Referrals don’t just come from asking.
Leonard Chin: What’s an instance when a relationship led to a big win or a really great opportunity for your business?
Nicholas Platt:
“When I founded LO:LA, some of the first real opportunities came from people I had worked with in my previous agency life. Some brought me into their current company. Some others introduced me to someone else who they thought would be a good fit.
But the important thing is that I wasn’t really asking for favors. They sought me out not because I had the biggest agency or the longest credentials deck, but because they knew how I worked. They had experienced the care, the thinking, the standards, and the product. So the relationship had already built trust before there was ever a new business conversation.
That was a big lesson for me. Referrals don’t just come from asking.
They come from how you show up, how you solve problems, how you treat people, and having done the work in a way that people remember.
Those early relationships gave LO:LA momentum. But more importantly, they gave me confidence that the thing I believed in, making great creative work more accessible, more personal, and more useful, had real value.”
Not to “touch base” for the sake of it.
Leonard Chin: What's your daily/weekly routine for maintaining relationships that help your business?
Nicholas Platt:
“Consistency is definitely the hard part. I try to make it part of my natural weekly rhythm rather than treating it like a separate sales activity.
That means staying in touch in a way that feels personal and low-pressure. Sharing work when it is relevant. Sending a thought or article that might be useful. Congratulating people when something good happens. Checking in without an ask. Making introductions when I can. And staying visible through LinkedIn and content, not just to promote LO:LA, but to keep putting our perspective out into the world.
I also try to keep a loose list of people I want to stay close to, past clients, collaborators, prospects, and people I genuinely like. So I’m not just relying on memory.
I’m not perfect at it, but I try to make sure the outreach is never forced. The goal is not to “touch base” for the sake of it. It’s to stay useful, visible, and human.”
They kept me resilient.
Leonard Chin: What tips would you give to your younger self around relationships and how they impact business?
Nicholas Platt:
“I would tell my younger self not to underestimate the long game. When you are younger, it is easy to think relationships are about opportunity, access, or opening doors. And yes, they can do all of those things. But the real value of relationships is much deeper than that. They help you stay resilient. They give you perspective. They remind you who you are when business gets tough.
Leaving the structure of a larger agency and building LO:LA from scratch is exciting, but it is also uncertain. In those early moments, the people who came back, made introductions, or simply said, “We believe in how you work,” gave me real confidence. It reminded me that I wasn’t just starting from zero. I had built trust over time.
I would also say: don’t only build relationships when you need something. That is when it is already too late. Build them by being authentic, doing good work, trusting your gut, and staying the course.
Your reputation is being built all the time, often in rooms you are not in, by people who remember how you made them feel and what it was like to work with you.
So be generous. Be consistent. Do the work properly. And don’t confuse staying busy with staying connected. The opportunities that matter most often come from people who believed in you before there was a brief on the table.”
Key Takeaways.
We’re glad to have Nicholas Platt with us on this week’s series, and here are the few key takeaways:
Trust precedes the pitch. Nicholas’ best early opportunities came from people who already knew how he worked, so the relationship did the selling before any new business conversation started. The "deck" was simply the reputation he'd built by doing the work properly.
Stay useful, not transactional. His maintenance routine works because it's woven into his natural weekly rhythm. Sharing relevant work, sending a useful thought, congratulating wins, making introductions. None of it bolted on as a separate sales activity with an ask attached.
Build before you need it. The deepest value of relationships isn't access or open doors. It's the resilience and confidence they give you when business gets hard. By the time you need them, it's already too late, because your reputation is being built in rooms you're not in.
That’s all for now.
If you're open to sharing your experiences in one of our future articles… or know of someone who is, feel free to drop me an email here.
Author.
Leonard Chin
Follow me on LinkedIn.