About us
The Surgery was founded in 2013 by Paul Cohen and Nick Cordell, built on a heritage of graphic design, brand thinking and digital craft. From brand development, print and sponsorship activations to retail environments and digital experiences, our roots have always been in creating work with clarity, intelligence and unmistakable creative polish.
As our relationships with clients deepened, one discipline consistently drew us in: internal communications. With the insight and encouragement of client and internal comms specialist Sarah Meurer, who later joined our leadership team, we made a deliberate decision to specialise. Carly Murray soon followed, strengthening our strategic capability and helping us shape a rare blend: design thinking and internal communications working seamlessly together.
Today, Sarah has returned client‑side, but her influence runs deep. As part of her legacy, we continue to run Barn to Boardroom – the internal comms event she and Carly launched over a decade ago. Now in its eleventh year, it remains one of the sector’s most valued forums for insight, challenge and connection.
This integration of disciplines has become our hallmark. Insight sharpened by creativity. Creativity grounded in human understanding. A combined practice designed to create communication which resonates and transforms.
We’ve grown intentionally, not exponentially. A 20‑strong team, proudly independent and purposefully lean. Strategists. Designers. Brand thinkers. Writers. Internal Comms specialists. All working side by side to deliver clarity, confidence and meaningful change for some of the world’s most respected organisations.
Our studio sits in a converted barn on a working West Sussex farm, a place with room to think, challenge, create and breathe. It shapes how we work: focused, thoughtful and always curious. A setting that invites fresh thinking and fosters great ideas.
We’re proud of our blue‑chip client list. Proud of the awards we’ve earned. But most of all, proud of the impact we create – work that helps people understand, connect and move forward with confidence.
This is The Surgery.
Independent. Insight‑driven. Creatively led.
Work that works®.
What drives us
Our mission
To create work that works – strategic, insight‑led, creatively crafted solutions that move people and organisations forward.
Why we do what we do
Because when people understand, believe, and feel connected to what’s happening around them, organisations thrive. Clear, purposeful and creative communication changes everything.
What we do
We combine human insight, strategic intelligence and creative craft to deliver internal comms, EVPs, brand, design and digital solutions that align and inspire your people.
How we do it
We listen deeply, think boldly and design with intention. We cut out the unnecessary, focus on what matters and turn complex challenges into clarity – and clarity into action.
What do you do when people want an AI playbook that simply doesn`t exist yet? 🤔
For the final episode of this season of Unprompted: AI in IC, we sat down with Lisa Pantelli, Senior Director of Communications – Technology and Global Product at Elsevier.
We talked about helping employees navigate AI when nobody has all the answers, balancing experimentation with responsibility, and why internal communicators have such an important role in helping people make sense of what`s changing.
💡 People are experiencing everything from curiosity and excitement to scepticism and anxiety when it comes to AI
💡 Honest communication about what we know, and what we don`t know, helps build credibility
💡 Peer-to-peer learning and experimentation are proving more valuable than relying solely on formal champion networks
💡 Security, privacy and responsible use remain some of the biggest ongoing challenges
It was a thoughtful and grounded conversation about the realities of AI adoption in a large organisation, and a great way to wrap up the season.
Link in the comments and available from all the usual places. Take a listen 👇
What`s the one meeting habit you`d love to eliminate?
https://ineedsurgery.com/the-wizards-are-in-for-a-staff-meeting-lets-hope-its-worthwhile/
Updating Confluence pages used to be one of the most frustrating parts of the job for this week`s guest.
In this episode, we spoke with Catherine Kernot from Frontiers about going from AI sceptic to enthusiastic adopter, and how she`s using AI to support both her own work and the wider employee experience.
💡 Using AI to design and update Confluence pages in a fraction of the time
💡 Building tools that help employees pull useful messages from large documents for customer conversations
💡 Automating repetitive internal comms tasks such as content gathering and publishing
💡 Using all-hands events and newsletters to showcase practical AI examples across the business
💡 Remembering to apply human judgement rather than creating endless AI-generated content
It`s an honest conversation about experimentation, adoption and finding practical value without getting carried away.
Available from all the usual places. Take a listen
Baked cheesecake, it doesn`t get much better than that. Lovely sweet cheesey cake with a crumbly but firm biscuit base. What`s not to like!… ahem anyway, it was week two of The Surgery`s Great British Bake Off challenge this week.
This is how the challenge works. We`ve all been paired with one of the GBBO bakers. When that baker gets booted off their Surgery partner has to bring in the tasty goods (or else!)
This time Shannon had to go, so that meant our amazing Digital Account Manager Fran had to step up and supply the treat.
Scroll to see how her own baked cheesecake turned out… I mean it`s not going to be bad is it? Cheesecake. Even the word makes us hungry!
Who knew the shapes and the colours used in great design could change the way you see it?
It`s all about the subtle art of using clever design principles to help people go to where you want them to be.
Do you use illustration styles in your communications?
Find out how brilliant design is key to getting your messages across;
https://ineedsurgery.com/big-fish-little-fish-cardboard-box-the-secret-meaning-behind-shapes-and-characters/
The Great Surgery Bake Off has begun!
We love a bit of GBBO here. So much so we`ve even got our very own version of the show!
This is how it `bakes down`… we`ve each been paired with one of the 12 bakers on the show.
When their baker is eliminated, the matching Surgeon takes on a baking challenge inspired by that week’s episode and has a week to bring in the tasty goods.
Up first for biscuit week was Creative Director Nick whose biscuits really took the erm… biscuit!
In fact, we had to fight off the designers who wanted to snaffle a biccie before we could take a piccie!
Join us next week to find out which Surgeon has been elbow deep in flour and sponge cake….
The thing about good design is that you probably don`t really notice it.
Because it works and is effective.
Take a look behind the scenes at what really goes into making design work;
https://ineedsurgery.com/good-design-is-invisible/
New to internal comms?
Perhaps you’ve been tasked with getting an internal communications function up and running at your organisation?
Fear not, we are here to help! Start off by reading our basic guide to internal comms right here:
https://ineedsurgery.com/what-is-internal-communications/
