What is Poke?

A Brief History

Poke was founded in 2002 in Shoreditch, East London, at a time when digital agencies were still a novelty. The name was a deliberate provocation — a poke at convention, at the status quo, at the assumption that digital was just a supporting channel for ‘real’ advertising.

The Agency Years

Through the 2000s and 2010s, Poke built a reputation for campaigns that combined strategic thinking with creative ambition and technical craft. The client roster read like a who’s who of brands taking digital seriously — EE, Ted Baker, BBC, Mulberry, Orange, Diesel, and many others.

The work ranged from social campaigns and brand launches to interactive experiences and digital platforms. What connected it all was a belief that the best digital work starts with understanding people — their behaviours, their motivations, their relationship with technology.

Key Campaigns

Some highlights from the Poke archive:

• EE Social Hub — A real-time social media command centre for the UK’s biggest mobile network
• Global Rich List — An interactive experience that reframed wealth inequality
• #TedSelfie — A fashion brand’s Instagram-first campaign that set social benchmarks
• The Wembley Cup — Where YouTube creator culture met professional football
• Making It Snow in Hackney — A guerrilla stunt that proved experiential could scale digitally

Today

Pokelondon.com carries forward that legacy as an independent publication covering the digital creative industry. The same curiosity and opinionated perspective that defined the agency now shapes how we write about campaigns, strategy, and the evolving creative landscape.