Poke Radio: When Agencies Build Products

Most agencies talk about innovation. Poke actually built something. Poke Radio was a collaborative playlist platform that let people create and share radio stations together — a product born from the agency’s culture of experimentation.

Why an Agency Built a Product

The idea came from a hack day. Agencies spend their time building things for other companies — what would happen if they built something for themselves? Poke Radio started as an internal tool for the office, evolved into a prototype, and eventually launched publicly.

The Product

The concept was simple: create a radio station, invite friends to add tracks, and listen together. Before Spotify’s collaborative playlists became standard, Poke Radio offered a social listening experience that put shared taste at the centre.

The interface was deliberately minimal — a big play button, a shared queue, and a chat sidebar. No algorithms, no recommendations, just people sharing music they loved with people they knew.

What It Taught Us

Poke Radio never became Spotify. That wasn’t the point. It demonstrated that agencies have the skills to build products, not just campaigns. The experience of designing for users (rather than for a client’s brief) changed how the team approached every subsequent project.

It also proved that the best products often come from scratching your own itch. The team built what they wanted to use — and that authenticity showed in the design.