There are 120 nonconformists in the award-winning ad agency St Luke's, according to its vice chairmen and creative director Kate Stanners. She says: "If you conform, then around here you're the maverick. The whole basis of the organisation is to encourage people to think differently because our clients come to us for new and mould-breaking solutions.
"We have an upside-down hierarchy where the role of senior management is to provide a safety net and allow individuals to experiment. No one dictates how things should be done as long as it's without greed and ego, and with respect for other people."
Walk into St Luke's office and the bold colours and wacky furniture make it obvious that this is no conventional operation. The only people who have office space are clients, with "brand rooms" dedicated to each one, so that work on Quorn, the meat substitute, is done in a mock-up of a suburban kitchen and the Eurostar room has seats and tables from the train itself. Table football, massages, yoga and weekly talks by leading figures from the world of the arts or business stimulate thought, and a group of 40 staff are going to Beijing on a fact-finding mission "to bring back 40 fabulous ideas".
With creativity being encouraged on all sides, how can it be disciplined into producing what the client wants? Mavericks are notoriously bad at working in teams, but Stanners claims that, at St Luke's, it happens. "Every client project has a team consisting of different disciplines - with an account director who's responsible for getting it done. Each team is a law unto itself, but mutual respect is very important, and it's up to the team members to make it work."
Stanner admits that operating in a highly creative environment can sometimes feel like being on a roller-coaster ride. "But, fortunately, we don't all have our maverick moments at the same time."