Iris Rebrands with a Warning: Participate or Perish

May. 22, 2025

Iris Worldwide, the global creative micro-network, today announces a bold new rebrand designed to reposition the agency at the forefront of modern marketing. With a powerful new visual identity, a streamlined strategic offer, and a Latin rallying cry - Participa Aut Peri (Participate or Perish) - Iris is challenging an industry that has become increasingly automated, consolidated and indistinct.

The rebrand follows a wave of leadership evolution at Iris over the past nine months, including the arrival of Zoe Eagle as UK CEO, Menno Kluin as Global CCO, Eduardo Maruri as Chief Global Creative Chair, and Katy Hopkins as UK ECD, alongside the promotion of Jill Smith to CEO of the Americas. Together with Global CSO Ben Essen, this revitalised team believes the industry is facing a pivotal moment.

As in-housing becomes the norm and networks consolidate, the lines between client and agency have blurred, and the conditions under which work is made have become increasingly homogenised. In too many cases, so has the output.

The rebrand is Iris’s response to that sameness: a bold reassertion of what makes the agency different and recognition that the thing clients are most missing in their marketing mix is the thing Iris has always delivered: unconventional, surprising creativity that refuses to be put in a box. Not just in how it looks, but in what it stands for - original ideas, creative courage, and a refusal to play it safe.

Ian Millner, founder and Chairman of Iris said:

“In a market where brands are buying their marketing like they buy broadband - cheap, functional, and forgettable - we’re standing up for creativity. We believe the agencies that thrive will be the ones that give clients something they can’t get anywhere else: original ideas, creative courage, and the power to participate visibly and vibrantly in people’s lives.”

 

Born in 1999 outside the ad establishment, Iris has always prided itself on its outsider mindset. That same mindset is now its biggest asset - one that aligns with a new generation of brands seeking partners who understand how to break through bureaucracy and drive real-world relevance.

Against this backdrop, Iris has reasserted its identity as a “global creative micro-network”: big enough to be dangerous, small enough to stay creatively agile. With a structure built for integration and a culture that champions bravery over bureaucracy, Iris is positioning itself as the go-to partner for brands seeking ideas that can’t be templated or commodified.

Menno Kluin, Global Chief Creative Officer at Iris added:

“Clients aren’t coming to us for what they can get from their in-house teams or corporate networks. They’re looking for something that’s impossible for them to do themselves - and that’s where we come in. While there are many boutique specialists, we're the only integrated boutique agency and micro-network. Integration has become systemised, but for Iris, integration has always been about creativity and colliding different disciplines together to produce things that have never been done before”.

 

Iris’s founding principle - Participation - has long been a differentiator, but in a media landscape that is moving from broadcast to participation, it’s no longer just an option for progressive clients. It’s a directive for every brand that wants to survive. 

The agency is now reframing its offer around a sharper, more confident call to action: Participate or perish. As people become more empowered to filter out brands, Iris believes participation is no longer optional - it’s existential. Brands must earn their place in culture or risk irrelevance.

Kluin continued:

“We used to spend time explaining how participation works. Now, we just show it through the work. We’ve moved from a philosophy to a provocation.”

 

This thinking is brought to life in a newly simplified strategic framework that defines Iris’s work across every brief.

Ben Essen, Global Chief Strategy Officer at Iris said:

"We’ve distilled 20 years of research on participation - via Iris’s Proprietary Participation Index -  into three core outcomes: we help brands stand apart by carving out distinctive space in saturated categories; we ride culture by creating ideas that plug directly into how people live, talk, and connect; and we move behaviour by designing work that measurably gets people doing what we need them to do. It’s a simple framework, but it’s how we bring participation to life through the work, not just the words."

 

The visual expression of the rebrand marks a radical departure from the previous corporate identity. At its centre is a striking new logo: a wild boar charging into the unknown, ridden by a horn-blowing figure symbolising optimism, movement, and rallying leadership. Beneath it, the Latin motto: Participa Aut Peri.

This emblem - by turns surreal and symbolic - captures the spirit of the agency.

Kluin explained:

“The wild boar is our spirit animal. Relentless, determined, and unafraid of the unknown. That’s always been Iris. We just hadn’t drawn it yet.”

 

While the identity is new, the spirit is not.

Millner said:

“Iris’s rebrand is less about reinvention and more about rediscovery - of the creative, pragmatic, culturally-attuned DNA that made it a standout agency to begin with."

 

The rebrand will roll out globally across all Iris offices, with a new website, updated credentials, case studies, social presence, and branded environments.

Zoe Eagle, CEO, Iris UK said:

“This rebrand isn’t just about how we look. It’s a rallying cry for our people and our clients - a reminder that standing apart and moving culture requires a different kind of agency. One that leads with spirit and courage. That’s Iris.”

 

Jill Smith, CEO Iris Americas said:

“In 2025, being bold isn’t just brave - it’s necessary. Playing it safe is the riskiest move a brand can make in a world where audiences call the shots. Relevance, courage, and clarity of purpose aren’t optional; they’re the price of entry. Brands that stay silent won’t just fade - they’ll disappear. As we say, participate or perish."