Amplify Partners with New Specialist Consultancy ‘Problem Child’

Left - right: Jonathan Emmins, Beckie Stanton, Carmen Walker

Amplify, the global creative agency specialising in experience, entertainment and culture, is a majority shareholder in new female-founded special projects collective Problem Child, co-founded by former Frasers Group CMO Beckie Stanion.

Problem Child will specialise in tackling the briefs brands have been struggling to solve, as well as briefs that have not yet been articulated, It will offer consultancy or the ability to execute with a bespoke team of experts or agencies. 

“Whether it’s re-energising a brand, planning a disruptive launch, unlocking a tricky audience or creating a meaningful collaboration, Problem Child plans to deliver strategic roadmaps and end-to-end solutions for the most challenging briefs,” explains Beckie, who will act as CEO for Problem Child working alongside partnerships director and co-founder Carmen Walker.

Amplify has taken a majority stake in Problem Child, and although the two will operate as distinct independent businesses, they will collaborate on relevant opportunities. Problem Child is already working both independently and collaboratively with Amplify on a select number of clients and with high-profile talent from music, sport and entertainment, across a number of problems ranging from evolving propositions to talent direction and from launch strategies to one-off collaborations. 

Beckie and Carmen bring wide experience of client-side challenges, with the pair having met during their time at Frasers Group. Beckie’s 20+ year career in marketing and communications has seen her work with some of the world’s most revered sports properties and talent, most notably UEFA, The FA, The NFL, Chelsea F.C. Women’s, the England Team and luxury brands LVMH and Tiffany & Co. Following agency-side experience as board director at Mission UK, she spent the last four years as CMO at Fraser Group. There, she spearheaded the company through a transitional phase taking on a bold repositioning, first with Sports Direct, before an expanded role leading brand and marketing strategies. She led an in-house team of over 100 people and multiple agencies across Luxury, Sport and Premium covering FLANNELS, Sports Direct, USC, House of Fraser and Frasers. 

Carmen previously led as group head of talent and PR at Frasers Group. With over 13 years of experience in PR and talent relations, she brings expertise in global partnerships and new-gen marketing, and has spearheaded landmark projects like Beyonce’s RENAISSANCE x FLANNELS debut, the Kano x CP Company collab, and BoohooMan’s ‘Face of’ series with Burna Boy.  

Jonathan Emmins, founder and global CEO at Amplify, said, “During her time at Mission and latterly Frasers Group, I had huge amounts of respect for Beckie, based on how she transformed the businesses she worked on and the culture and expertise in the teams she built. Problem Child brings together the best of that, built around a flexible and agile response model, pulling together expert teams based on the brief rather than fitting an existing team to the brief and leaning into Amplify when it makes sense. Beckie and Carmen are true experts at solving real business problems creatively. Ultimately they will be strengthening Amplify’s growing collective of audience-first businesses, joining us alongside gen z specialist agency Seed and business specialist Wonder.”

Beckie adds, “We knew we wanted a partner that allowed us to ebb and flow with the demands of a brief. Brands, whether niche or global, often want the boutique approach but need the scale to facilitate it. Amplify allows us to partner on a global scale without losing our personal touch. Beyond Amplify’s cultural reputation, we knew of and felt an instant rapport with Jonathan and knew that joining forces would enable us to offer an unrivalled solution to the frustrations we felt being in-house.”