About me

I'm a creative leader, founder, and strategist with a proven record for helping global brands to connect with their audience, differentiate amongst competitors and drive real impact. Over the past two decades, I've owned and run two successful agencies leading blended teams of talented people to craft award-winning digital and branding experiences for global brands.

As the Founder of Open Water, I built the agency from the ground up, growing it into a respected branding agency with clients including Moët Hennessy, HSBC, La Caixa Bank, and Visit Kent. For nearly a decade, we served as the lead brand and marketing agency for HSBC and Global Payments, delivering digital and brand strategies that shaped their customer and employee engagement. Our work earned annual recognition from The Drum Awards, placing us in the Top 5 in the UK for customer service, best value, and brand strategy, as well as winners for Brand Advertising.

Following a successful merger with Wonderful I have helped lead as Creative Director and co-owner to create transformative digital experiences for brands like Getty Images, Wahl, RS Components, Lotus Biscuits, and GE Healthcare. Focused on digital branding, marketing, and transformation, our work has been recognized with awards including Wirehive 100's Top 30 Agency, the Computing Digital Leaders Award for Digital Transformation, the Agency Awards UX Agency of the Year and our work published in The Fundamentals of Typography (Bloomsbury). As well as delivering word class work, we have built the agency on a strong ethos of positive change and impact. Supporting social initiatives, prioritising team wellbeing and achieving BCorp certification to align our impact to the triple bottom line of people, planet, profit.

Beyond my agency leadership, I'm actively engaged in the creative business community, I mentor BA and MA Graphic Design students at UCA Epsom, and have had the privilege of judging at the Creativepool Awards. Around this I serve as a trustee for the Wonderful Foundation and Emmanuel Church Cliffe Woods, in governmental roles to help give back and build community.

I believe in the power of wonder—strategies that engage people on a deeper level, capturing attention through creativity, curiosity, and innovation.

I believe that the most powerful brands don't just sell—they connect, inspire, and transform experiences for real people. Always looking for the next challenge, I'm open to collaborations, speaking engagements, and exploring new challenges that push the boundaries of brand and digital innovation.

Philip's achievements

Judging

Philip Hansen has sat on the Creativepool Annual jury.

Annual 2025 Judge The Cutting Room Floor

Annual 2022 Judge Branding

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