You may know James Layfield as one of the youngest ever Managing Directors in Richard Branson’s Virgin group.

James, named in the Top 30 under 35 UK Entrepreneurs by Growing Business Magazine, caught the entrepreneurial bug from Richard Branson and went on to found youth marketing agency The Lounge Group.

The best marketing agencies understand their client’s clients. With a network of 8,000 under 35’s, The Lounge Group has the upper hand on devising campaigns that work to the youth market.

In this interview I ask James what he learned from working with Richard Branson and how The Lounge Group fills a gap in the market.

You once worked alongside Richard Branson. Did any aspect of working for Richard’s Virgin group inspire you to set up The Lounge Group?
As Branson’s youngest ever MD I definitely learnt a few things. I was inspired by his ability to trust and give responsibility to good people, he taught me to have the confidence to bring in people to the businesses that are better than me.

He also showed me the importance of culture to driving the success of a business and that passion and drive far outweigh any sort of experience when it comes to getting the best job done and yes, it made me want to start the Lounge for a market that I was passionate about.

Your agency has a clear focus - working on campaigns aimed at under 35s - was this a case of wanting to work on young brands, spotting a gap in the market or both?

Unlike nearly everyone who starts an agency I did not come at it as an ex Account/PR/Creative type wanting to go it alone. Instead the decision to start The Lounge Group was inspired by a need that I had seen whilst I was a Marketing Director for Virgin.

Having seen what was out there I knew that there was the market for an agency that was genuinely in touch with younger consumers. So The Lounge Group is first and foremost an excellent business that has been crafted to fill a gaping hole in the market. 

Tell me about the most fun online campaign The Lounge Group has worked on.
To be honest all of our campaigns are fun to work on and nearly all of them have an online component but I don’t think any of them just live online.

Our consumers don’t just live online so nor do our campaigns. I really love the work the team have been doing recently for the launch of Sure Girl, check out our Bebo page.

You have a peer network of 8000 people, can you explain who these people are, what they do and how you keep in touch with them?
Our network are the heart of our business, they are the ‘clever bit’ they are the bit that means we are not like any other agency. Our network ensures that The Lounge Group is more in touch than any client or agency.

They give us our edge and they make sure that our campaigns resonate and get the results our clients expect.

Finally, what happens when you’re above the age of your target group?!
That is the magic of The Lounge, we believe that “only the market gets the market”. So we don’t pretend to be “down with the kids”, in fact one of our team is over 70 – this is not a joke, she really is.

We deliver genuine insight based on our network, so no matter how old we get The Lounge will always be more in touch than anyone else.

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