What Sideshow Group does

Sideshow Group is a UK-headquartered private digital marketing and customer transformation group whose primary operating brand is GAIN (legal entity THIS IS GAIN Ltd.), founded in 2003 and headquartered in London. The group is positioned as a creative-led, insight-driven company that blends data, technology, and creativity, organized around six integrated service pillars: Creative Studios (brand strategy, visual identity, content production, social and influencer marketing), Customer Science (customer transformation strategy, CRM, media planning, data and analytics, tracking and measurement, and the proprietary Customer LENS analytics platform), Conversion (CRO expertise, enterprise experimentation consulting, personalisation, UX design, and product and pricing experimentation), Experience (user-centered UX/CX consultancy, research, usability, accessibility), Performance (paid digital media, search and organic growth, link building, content optimization), and AI Products (the proprietary Lupine AI-powered CRO tool). The business generates revenue through professional services delivered via project-based engagements, retainers, and consulting arrangements, with no publicly disclosed pricing and a go-to-market motion centered on direct enterprise field sales targeting both enterprise and mid-market organizations.

Sideshow Group has pursued an active acquisition strategy, completing two agency acquisitions in 2021: Access, a Manchester-based digital agency with over 20 years of operating history (announced 5 November 2021), and Widerfunnel, a Canadian digital agency specializing in conversion rate optimization. These additions, combined with disclosed operating presence across the UK, Spain, North America (US and Canada), the Philippines, and India, give the group a multi-region delivery footprint. Customer concentration is diversified across more than 35 named enterprise and mid-market logos spanning Financial Services (BlackRock, Direct Line), Travel & Hospitality (easyJet, P&O Cruises, loveholidays), Tech & Telco (BT, Virgin Media Ireland), Government (Met Office, UK Parliament, Essex Council), Food & Drink (KFC, Tim Hortons, Gousto, Tilda), Consumer Goods (L'Oréal, Whirlpool, Dollar Shave Club), and Non-Profit (Unicef). The group has also established a strategic partnership with Insider One to combine customer intelligence platform capabilities with GAIN's CRO and customer science services for UK brands.

The underlying technology stack combines agency-grade service tooling with two proprietary products (Customer LENS and Lupine) and a registered GAIN® trademark. AI is embedded across modalities (text, structured data, image, multimodal) and capability types (optimization, recommendation, predictive analytics, process automation), but it operates as one pillar among six rather than as a foundational business model. Headcount sits in the 251-500 band, no revenue is disclosed in source data, and no funding rounds or institutional investors are identified, indicating Sideshow Group operates as a privately held, founder/operator-controlled roll-up of digital marketing services assets.

Name

Sideshow Group

Legal name

THIS IS GAIN Ltd.

Website

https://sideshowgroup.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2003

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Sideshow Group is a UK-based private digital marketing group operating the GAIN brand across six service pillars (Creative Studios, Customer Science, Conversion, Experience, Performance, and AI Products), serving enterprise and mid-market clients across 14 verticals globally with multi-region delivery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Marketing Services

NAICS

Advertising Agencies (541810), Marketing Consulting Services (541613)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Direct Marketing, CRM & Lifecycle (Email, SMS, Loyalty) (BPAFAAAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Customer Journey Orchestration & Campaign Management (BPAFAFAF), CRM Strategy, Implementation & Managed Services (MPAAAIAD)

Keywords

• Digital marketing services
• Conversion rate optimization
• Customer science consulting
• Experience design agency
• Performance marketing campaigns

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Digital Agency Services: Professional services including conversion optimization, customer science, creative studios, experience design, and performance marketing. Services are delivered through project-based engagements, retainers, and consulting arrangements.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Sideshow Group, through its GAIN brand, is a creative-led, insight-driven digital marketing and customer transformation agency. It delivers integrated professional services across Creative Studios, Customer Science, Conversion (CRO), Experience (UX/CX), and Performance marketing, supported by proprietary tools including the Customer LENS analytics platform and Lupine AI-powered CRO engine. Services are sold to enterprise and mid-market clients worldwide through project-based engagements, retainers, and consulting arrangements.

Product overview

GAIN, part of Sideshow Group, is a creative-led, insight-driven company that blends data, technology, and creativity to help brands achieve growth. The company operates as a multi-disciplinary agency offering six integrated service pillars: Creative Studios (brand strategy, visual identity, content production, social/influencer), Customer Science (customer transformation strategy, CRM, data analytics, media planning), Conversion (CRO expertise, experimentation, personalisation, UX design), Experience (UX/CX consultancy, research, usability, accessibility), Performance (paid media, search, content optimization), and AI Products (Lupine AI CRO tool). These services work individually and together to provide brands with the vision, data, and confidence for impactful decisions. Sideshow Group has also acquired Access (Manchester) and Widerfunnel (Canada) to expand its capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lupine: AI-powered CRO tool for website optimization and testing suggestions
• GAIN Customer Science

Products and services

• Creative Studios Full-service creative department offering brand strategy and visual identity, creative content, the Content Engine Room, production services, and social and influencer marketing for enterprise and mid-market brands.
• Customer Science Customer transformation strategy service that uses data, campaigns and technology to build customer lifetime value, encompassing customer strategy, media planning and buying, Customer LENS analytics, CRM solutions, data and analytics, and tracking and measurement.
• Conversion (CRO Services) Conversion rate optimisation services that help brands optimise their digital ecosystems, websites, platforms, and customer experiences for measurable growth, including enterprise experimentation consulting, personalisation and customer experience, conversion-centred UX and design, and product and pricing experimentation.
• Experience (UX/CX Design) User-centered experience design service for public and private sector organisations, covering research and insights, experience design and digital strategy, UX and CX consultancy, usability and evaluation, UX training, accessibility, and technology services.
• Performance Marketing Data-driven performance marketing service helping brands show up in the right place at the right time, including paid digital media, media strategy and campaign activation, performance creative, search and organic growth, link building, and content and engagement optimisation.
• Lupine AI CRO Tool Plug-and-play AI-powered conversion rate optimisation tool that nurtures website potential by identifying what to test next and why, providing data-driven optimisation recommendations for enterprise experimentation.

Quantifiable outcome

• 18x ROI for Gousto's CRO programme
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers38 records

Segments10 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Insider OnecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to help UK brands turn customer intelligence into customer growth. The collaboration combines Insider One's customer intelligence platform with GAIN's customer science and conversion optimization expertise to deliver integrated customer growth solutions.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Jellyfish: UK-headquartered digital marketing agency with global footprint spanning paid media, creative, and training — closely comparable to GAIN's Performance and UX Training practices.
• Croud: UK-based digital marketing agency offering paid media, SEO, content, and CRO via a global network of 'Croudies.' Comparable CRO and performance orientation to GAIN's Conversion and Performance practices.
• Concentric: Specialist B2B marketing and customer experience agency focused on content, lifecycle, and customer insight. Comparable to GAIN's Customer Science and Experience practices within mid-market.
• R/GA: International digital agency combining creative, consulting, and technology to deliver customer transformation. Comparable to GAIN's blend of Creative Studios, Customer Science, and Experience services.
• Brainlabs: Data-led digital marketing agency specializing in programmatic, paid search, SEO, and CRO. Directly comparable to GAIN's Conversion and Performance services and similar UK-rooted scale.
• Dept Agency: Global digital agency combining creative, technology, and data services with multi-region delivery. Comparable integrated-services positioning and growth-via-acquisition strategy to Sideshow Group.
• Merkle: Global data-driven customer experience management agency (now part of Dentsu) with deep CRM, analytics, and lifecycle marketing capabilities. Closely comparable to GAIN's Customer Science and Performance pillars.

Broad incumbents

• Dentsu: Global advertising network with significant customer transformation and CXM assets, including Merkle. Broad incumbent peer competing across the same verticals GAIN serves.
• Publicis Groupe: Global marketing and communications group with strong data, digital transformation, and CX capabilities (including Sapient). Broad incumbent competing for the same enterprise digital mandates.
• WPP: Largest global advertising holding company. Competes broadly for the same enterprise client spend across CRM, creative, media, and experience — a broader incumbent rather than niche specialist.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@thisisgain
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php?id=61574068737393
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thisisgain
• Instagraminstagram.com/thisisgain
• TikToktiktok.com/@thisisgain

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sideshow Group