Then and now... Alex Uprichard

In the latest instalment of Bdaily's Then and now series, Alex Uprichard, managing director at global creative agency IMA, reflects on her career, from her first role to the present day, highlighting the lessons she has learned from her personal and professional evolution.

You’re managing director at IMA. What does your role entail?

In a word: variety.

I juggle the day-to-day running of the business, keep a firm grip on commercial accountability, lead key accounts and get involved in new business, oversee operations and keep one eye firmly on the future. 

That means innovation is always on the agenda, because standing still isn’t an option.

Did you always want to work in marketing? Or did you have other ambitions when you were growing up?

Not exactly. 

Growing up, I wanted to be in the music industry or a presenter. 

I did extra work in Hollyoaks, volunteered for a hospital radio station and chased anything tied to entertainment or popular culture. 

The common thread? Excitement.

I knew I wanted a career that would be different every day, with enough versatility to keep things interesting.

What was your first job—and did you enjoy it?

I was a trainee TV buyer at McCann Manchester. 

I had no clue what that meant when I joined, but I quickly realised advertising was electric. 

Working in TV meant access to premium programming, making creative calls on where advertisements should sit and being integrated into bigger campaigns from the start. 

I was hooked.

Were there any mentors or individuals that helped shape your career? And are you still applying lessons you learned then to your workforce of today? 

I’ve had brilliant role models who showed me that balance (of viewpoints, backgrounds and perspectives) leads to the strongest solutions. 

Two lessons have stuck: feel the fear and do it anyway (new situations will always feel daunting, but you’ll never know unless you try) and sweat the small stuff (nail the details early and the big picture takes care of itself).

What attracted you to the marketing sector?

It’s never dull. One day you’re solving a data-driven challenge, the next you’re shaping a creative concept. 

Marketing fuses psychology, language, culture, technology and innovation. 

And the payoff is tangible. 

When you see a TV advertisement you placed in the Love Island final, walk through an event you imagined into reality, launch the site you helped to build or read an annual report from a business you helped to grow, you know the work was all worth it. 

How do you feel you’ve changed as a person over the years? Have career roles brought new dimensions to your personality?

I’ve grown in conviction, especially in decision-making, helped by co-founding, scaling and selling my own business. 

Becoming a parent made me both more empathetic and more driven. 

Through it all, I’ve kept a sense of humour. 

We spend a lot of time together at work; we might as well enjoy it.

You’ve seen many changes to the employment world across your career – how do you see the workplace evolving in years to come?

Hybrid is here to stay, but the magic still happens in person through listening, debating and sparking ideas. 

The future workplace will be flexible, tech-savvy and purposeful, but the heart of it will always be the people who create these environments. 

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