IPG Managing Director Launches New Offering To Challenge Traditional Agency Model

Dubai, UAE, January 23rd 2025 – Matt Butterworth, previously Regional Managing Director at MullenLowe MENA, has launched thenobullpartners, a new consultancy built to provide high-growth businesses in the Middle East with an alternative to the traditional agency and in-house models.
thenobullpartners will offer fractional senior strategic marketing expertise combined with a global talent network, to give clients a smarter and more flexible support solution. The new offering has been created to solve a common challenge faced by Founders, CEOs, and Owners of ambitious businesses in the Middle East – how to bring marketing and communications into the boardroom and align it with broader business objectives.
“With just over three decades in the agency world across the Middle East, Europe, Asia, and the US, I’ve seen the good, the bad, and the downright ugly regarding how agencies operate with clients. It’s time the model was challenged and disrupted so that brands can gain the real value that they have so desperately been seeking for so long. We want to give brands what they have always needed but rarely got – senior-level expertise and an unbiased perspective to put their brand at the centre of their business growth strategy,” said Matt Butterworth, Founder, thenobullpartners. “We will sit at the side of our clients, providing strategic clarity with commercial acumen as well as creative and efficient executional delivery, ensuring that marketing budgets are spent in the right areas to deliver proper long-term results, value and growth.”
thenobullpartners offers a tailored approach, acting as brand guardians to ensure all elements of marketing communications are aligned with business growth and operational priorities. Many businesses struggle to strike the right balance between long-term brand building and efficient execution, often defaulting to hiring internal full-time resources or engaging large agencies that often lack strategic focus.
“thenobullpartners isn’t just another agency,” added Butterworth. “We want to be a partner that challenges what’s possible, finally aligning marketing with business strategy. Brands don’t need more expensive chiefs, they need expertise that matches with their ambition, gets things done and isn’t distracted with the day-to-day of agency politics and mindless bureaucracy.”
thenobullpartners model will allow businesses to scale their marketing efforts by leveraging a network of global best-in-class talent, providing strategic support when and where it’s needed, without typical agency overhead or limitations. The result is an approach focused on sustainable brand growth and operational efficiency, tailored to the unique needs of Founders, CEOs, and Owners in the Middle East
For businesses looking to navigate their next phase of growth, thenobullpartners offers a unique combination of boardroom-level strategy and hands-on execution. Bringing fresh perspectives and a refreshing no-nonsense approach, the consultancy aims to redefine how high-growth businesses approach marketing and communications in the region.
Butterworth joined MullenLowe MENA from McCann Worldgroup in 2016, transforming the agency to over 130 people, leading the agency’s strategic management and supporting some of the region’s largest blue-chip clients as a senior consultant across brand, marketing and digital communications activities.
For more information, please check out www.thenobullpartners.com