From selling pool floats to establishing a global social powerhouse – Komodo co-founder Joe Ellyatt tells CORQ why talent needs to be nurtured, how the team’s enthusiasm for travel has remained both a perk and a strategy, and why success shouldn’t be dictated by numbers on a spreadsheet.
Key takeaways
- Joe Ellyatt is one of four founders who launched Komodo in 2017
- The foursome evolved from selling pool floats to running a global company spanning the UK, US, Australia and Asia
- As well as talent management, Komodo offers services around influencer campaigns, content creation, events and social media
- Its roster includes Sarah Ashcroft, Marvin Brooks, Hari Beavis and Isaac Smith
- Komodo has worked with the likes of Sky, Adidas, Michael Kors and Disney
- The team prioritises nurturing talent, good people management and a strong team connection
- Future goals include creating more tangible assets, moving into TV and increasing its global presence
Ellyatt is one of Komodo’s four founders – alongside Freddie Strange, Andy Ryan and Nick Seymour – and says today’s business venture stems from a small company called FLOWTS.
“We used the power of social media and saw success in the UK and Europe and then started influencer activations with that product,” he says.
“Our Ibiza trip received mass attention and brands started reaching out. We looked at the market, which was still in the early stages, and saw a gap where we could do influencer activations abroad on behalf of brands, so we started reaching out and offering this service. We aimed to make as much noise as possible and those trips put us on the map.”
While running these trips – which would often see the founders hosting creators in the likes of Kenya, Bali and Sri Lanka concurrently – the team became interested in representing influencers as well. Having heard plenty of frustrations from their client attendees, Komodo hoped to learn from those mistakes and prioritise their values, including building genuine friendships and connections.
“We won’t over-sign talent because all that means is they don’t get to hear from their manager as much,” explains Ellyatt. “We will always add staff as the roster grows to make sure the talent gets enough support.
“We also learned how strict a lot of agency contracts are and how creators can get locked in to a multi-year contract, which feels a little unethical, especially considering there’s a lot of young people in the industry. Our contracts are more flexible and include a one-month notice period because we don’t want to cage anyone in – it’s important to have a good working relationship.”
As well as talent management, Komodo’s services include influencer campaigns, content creation, events and activations, and social media, and it has offices in London, Los Angeles, Sydney and Bangkok.
Building a roster
Komodo’s first signings in 2019 – including Australian beauty and fashion creator Kaela Tavares (475K Instagram followers) and entrepreneur and lifestyle creator Sarah Ashcroft (1.2M followers) – were people the founders knew from the trips they hosted and the roster grew through word of mouth.
“We wanted to build it organically and focus on quality over quantity and give them our full attention,” says Ellyatt. “Fortunately we do have other revenue streams within the business so we didn’t need to put pressure on anyone to be signing big numbers.”
The team manages 20 talent in the UK and Ellyatt is keen to grow this in time but doing the best for the current roster is the main priority. Komodo hosts regular talent-exclusive events to encourage and maintain relationships between the agency staff and the creators, including a celebratory trip to the Maldives just before Christmas 2023. Travel was part of Komodo’s inception and it remains both a perk and a priority.
Creators are chosen based less on their content and following and more on whether they have that “special spark” – ranging from people such as fashion creator Georgina Lennon to fitness and comedy influencer Isaac Smith (Italian Bach) and father-and-daughter comedy duo Paul and Phoebe Gillett, AKA PuwTok.
“My favourite part of the job is seeing the success stories for our creators and being able to create opportunities, and when the talent managers who believed in them and were so passionate about them get to see that success,” says Ellyatt.
On the lessons learned over Komodo’s lifespan, he says: the first is to be reactive (“it’s important not to get left behind”); the second is to realise when it’s not working with a creator and have a conversation with them and be transparent – perhaps even to suggest a different agency that might suit them better – and the third is to acknowledge that social media platforms’ algorithms are constantly changing and this is completely outside of everyone’s control.
“This can take a huge toll on creators personally which I think people outside the industry don’t always understand. There’s not enough support for people in this industry and I can see it becoming a bigger problem in the future. Being a creator is like being a professional athlete, lots of ups and downs, and all in the public eye,” he says.
“I would love for there to be more support and awareness across the board of the potential negative impact on the mental health of full-time creators and for this to be taken seriously.”
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Working with brands
When it comes to negotiations with brands, Komodo is always on hand to try to negotiate the best deal possible but the ultimate decision is up to the creator.
“We like creators who say no,” says Ellyatt. “It’s best that they stay authentic and work with a brand they have genuine affinity with – otherwise it could affect future opportunities with their dream brand. We have a strategy meeting every six months where we discuss these things and their goals.
“Often creators are looking for opportunities outside the collaboration space as well, something more tangible like a brand or podcast or book, such as Hari Beavis’ cookbook, which is exciting.”
Smith recently worked with Liquid Death – “such a great fit for his style of content and the brand as well” – multiple Komodo talent partnered with Adidas – “amazing to work with across the board, a dream brand” – and Marvin Brooks signed a year-long deal with Dyson.
“We’re always interested in retainers or long-term deals – it makes sense for both parties because it’s a company the creator really wants to work with and it builds that affinity and brand awareness over time.”
Other brands the Komodo team highlighted as their favourites to work with include New Look, TALA, Monica Vinader, L’Oréal, Garnier, Coca-Cola, ASOS and Red Bull.
In terms of favourite campaigns, for Ellyatt it’s hard to look past the recent Penhaligon’s AlUla trip, which Brooks attended. “We ran this amazing trip with Penhaligon’s to Saudi Arabia and being able to watch all of our hard work come together was absolutely incredible.”
Talent managers Rosie Luff and Emily Gray highlighted Ashcroft x Living Proof, Gigi Vassallo x GUESS, Milly G x Gymshark, Brooke Hewer x Dove, Joe Onyuma x Cerave and Billy x Sony Music as some of their favourite campaigns from the past six months.
In the short-term, Komodo judges the success of its talent’s content on its engagement and audience sentiment. However, long-term success is based more on if a brand wants to continue working with the creator, such as Lennon’s second edit with New Look which dropped in March – this is a huge marker of confidence from companies that are generally highly focused on return on investment (ROI).
Influencer marketing advice and 2024 goals
For brands new to influencer marketing, Ellyatt advises they trust the process and don’t expect to see a huge spike in sales right away.
“What you want to see is multiple touchpoints and build brand awareness over time – it doesn’t happen overnight,” he explains.
“Also don’t over-brief talent. You’ve chosen who to work with so allow them to take control of the creative direction. They’ve spent years and years building up their audience so they know them best and what will perform best. There are other options if you want to do a really strict brief, such as user-generated content.”
Looking ahead, Komodo will continue focusing on new and existing quality talent, building assets outside of collaborations – perhaps including TV opportunities – and increasing its global presence to offer an international service.
But most importantly, Ellyatt needs to get planning that next big talent trip – 2023: the Maldives, 2024? The sky’s the limit.
By Lauren Harris, CORQ editor. Picture credit: Joe Ellyatt
