Brand MCR: Original Modernists

“Here, there is an insane love of football, of music, of celebration,”
-Eric Cantona

To fully appreciate the global impact of the Manchester brand, you need to board a long haul flight to Osaka or its triangulated counterpart in the southern hemisphere São Paulo. Just ahead of this month’s landmark referendum on Manchester’s city leadership (not Man City’s leadership of the Premier League) Osaka, itself once dubbed the ‘Manchester of the East’, played host to an Armani-sponsored Factory Records-themed Haçienda festival. Most weekends in downtown São Paulo see lower-key, but equally as venerating, Joy Division and Smiths festival-type events. You can’t really imagine any other English city inspiring such devotion, particularly among audiences who for the most part couldn’t remember it all first time round. It’s publicity that money can’t and certainly didn’t buy – famously no one from the Factory era ever got rich on the back of it.

And yet, if you were to mention the often expressed belief by the key actors of the era that the music and energy around it was the city’s response or riposte to Thatcherism, to any of these avid consumers of the Manchester brand in Japan or Brazil, you’d probably be met by a blank expression. If anything, Manchester’s effortless command of the zeitgest at its early 90s peak, not least England/New Order in the World Cup of that year, was fuelled by external vicarious hedonism and a hardwired knack for marketing in the city’s DNA – James were always said to be a band who sold more branded t-shirts than records. At the time, music industry veteran Rob Dickins summarised the city’s ascendant ethos and appeal in Granada TV’s ebullient documentary Madchester – The Sound of the North as: “An explosion of musical style and self-marketing. It has radio stations, it has the press, it has a TV station. It has all of these things with which to express itself, where a lot of other cities don’t. And I think there’s a great entrepreurial skill that comes from Manchester.” The same still rings true today, even if it’s the city teams’ Premiership hegemony rather than New Order’s ‘World in Motion’, and echoes in the views of Sue Woodward, Manchester’s Creative Media Champion, who summed it up for me as “Enterprise, ingenuity, endeavour and a dollop of cheeky Northern cockiness.”

Sue Woodward Creative Media Champion Manchester and Director of The Sharp Project

To some extent then we can consider Manchester as not only punching above its weight, but also as generating an almost effortless template to which other city brands can only aspire. As Ian Brown of the Stone Roses once remarked, the city has “everything but a beach”. Such self-belief is neither acquired overnight nor incubated on demand. One theory is that the city’s liberal pedigree (the Peterloo Massacre and birthplace of The Guardian newspaper), aligned with its industrial profile, stimulated an automatic projection as antithesis to the capital by which it came to rely on as a focal point internally and externally. This quaint liberalism later gave way to, or was certainly itself infused by, boosterism – take for instance city property developer Tom Bloxham’s argument that the legendary Sex Pistols gig at the Free Trade Hall acted as the genesis of the city’s property boom. Unwittingly perhaps, Factory Records moves in this direction in 1989 by opening its Dry Bar in a hitherto run-down commercial precinct led the way for the redevelopment and rebranding of the Northern Quarter, so Bloxham’s ageing punk posturing may have some validity.

In his recent book on the lynchpins of British indie music, How Soon is Now?, Richard King argues that the self-consciously Mancunian label Factory Communications, which certainly acted as Motown did for Detroit, acquired a remit for Tony Wilson’s aspirations to go beyond vinyl and perform as the de facto Manchester Marketing Board. To do this, Wilson envisaged that Factory would “reach beyond the activities of a record company and become a contemporary media organisation; one that would showcase Manchester at its dynamic, metropolitan, best.”

While Wilson’s myth-making activities such as Factory’s festivals at the GMEX were ultimately unprofitable, Manchester’s International Festival (since 2005) was able under more commercial hands to perhaps act as a global beacon for the city’s cultural offer and talent.

The pop lineage and its enduring legacy have more than comfortably set up a few authors in a Pennine cottage industry of books on the city’s musical heyday. The line “Manchester, so much to answer for” in The Smiths’ ‘Suffer Little Children’ has been recycled in a number of guises, while the era’s pun on Genesis ‘And God Created Manchester’ continues to find its way into any commentary on it. When the Observer’s April Fools gag for 2012 reported that the Happy Mondays’ Shaun Ryder had been appointed by David Cameron as the Coalition’s adviser on social class, I initially took it at face value, despite the occasion.

So is the musical legacy as much a hindrance as a help for the city brand? Not long after the Factory era peaked, the backlash did not take long to foment and many on the city’s creative scene still retain painfully vivid memories of what coincided with Tony Wilson appearing on the cover of Time. One member of 808 State, arguably a beneficiary of the upswing, spoke of his horror at the global pictures of “scallies in flared jeans” which accompanied the city’s temporary hype.  Sports brand consultant Gary Aspden, when invited by the Observer to fondly look back 20 years on, told the paper he found the “media cartoon” depiction of the city in the era as gawp-faced twerps in Joe Bloggs “simplistic and irritating”. More recently, one Guardian critic dismissed the glut of Factory era tribute films such as 24 Hour Party People and Control as mere “auto-hagiography”. An anti-Factory hype blog ‘Fuc51’ acted as the rallying point for those turned off by the smug and ossified cultural establishment in the city and the puritans-turned-promoters among the city council who had come round to the idea of using the bands’ sex and drugs image for its own benefit. Even now, among city firms there’s a certain unease about it – Creative Concern CEO Steve Connor told me “Reliance on the Factory era is an absolute dead end, for the under 30s, the under 25s particularly, it’s not on their radar at all.” It can all get a bit wearing, even the Manchester Hilton serves ‘Hand in Glove’ cocktails.

Steve Connor CEO of Creative Concern

For those lacking exposure to, or diminished equity from any of this, however, it is worth noting that as the former manager of the Happy Mondays pointed out to Richard King in How Soon is Now?, the urban environment and its effect on these acts lent itself to a “a spatial dimension rather than a literal recording”, which goes some way towards explaining both the traction then and the pervasive appeal of it all now. Not for nothing do tourists continue to flock to Salford Lads Club to emulate that Smiths pose from 1986 (or buy expensive flats in the former Haçienda building, for that matter). As King was at pains to point out, the legacy transcends art and guides its place strategy in a way in keeping with the earlier ‘metropolitan’ vision: “Wilson, Gretton and Factory’s civic pride is indisputable. Manchester’s civil servants, property developers and new creative class busily align themselves with the established Factory narrative that places music and culture at the heart of the city’s regeneration.”

Peter Hook is making plans to mark the 30th anniversary of the Hacienda first opening in Manchester – with a “last rave” in the car park at the Hacienda Apartments on Whitworth Street West where the club formerly stood – Manchester Evening News

From Freaky Dancing to BRICs

It was the city’s non-conformist paper the Manchester Guardian which was able to marvel amid the Industrial Revolution that “What Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow”. Place branding academic and commentator Keith Dinnie suggests that Manchester and its modern day municipal corporation have an easier mission than most English cities, a task which resides with the Marketing Manchester agency:

“I think its football, music and industrial past make Manchester an easy city to brand. Other cities face a much harder branding task in having to make use of much weaker associations and attributes. And now Manchester has not only Manchester United doing a lot of the de facto branding for the city, through that club’s intense and sophisticated global marketing, but now the city also has Manchester City stepping up as a potential global football brand. With all this pre-existing brand equity, I’d say Manchester’s city branding people have an easy job.”

Keith Dinnie

Even amid recessionary streamlining of city promotion agencies, Manchester’s tourism information centre is modelled on an Apple store and sees a footfall of 1,000 a day. The agency’s staff speak glowingly not only of the two city football clubs and their twitter-trending global reach, but also the growth of Liam Gallagher’s retail operation Pretty Green outside of its home environs, planting outposts of Manc swagger in the capital and elsewhere across the UK. 

“From its origins as the cradle of the industrial revolution, through to the present day, Manchester has always had a ‘can-do’ culture and developed people willing to try something different. So a culture of innovation, the confidence to deliver, a willingness to cooperate, all married to commercial acumen and a focus on results, an excellent university base and through its theatres, festivals, museums etc. a great cultural base to inspire.”  

Ben Waterhouse MD of SellingSolutions Ltd (from Jan 2009 – October 2012, Ben was Publishing Director of How-Do).

The recent ‘City Deal’ signed between the city region and central government saw an emphasis placed on seeking investment from the BRIC countries, particularly India and China, as well as in its Nobel-winning locally developed Graphene technology. To some extent Manchester can lay claim to the BRIC mantle in that city son and Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill was the first to coin the term so readily applied for global fortunes. 

For O’Neill, who doubles up as economic adviser to the city region, Manchester needs to concentrate on boosting science and innovation, investing in infrastructure and housing and develop the skills of its youth if it is to compete with the likes of Munich, Amsterdam and Chicago. O’Neill further contends that to be truly globally competitive, Manchester needs to be less dependent on central government in Whitehall for permission to invest and restructure itself. Sue Woodward indeed argues that the city’s entrepreneurial spirit has often been defined in defiance of the capital: “We have been making successful global content for more than half a century so we are not easily impressed by Emperors in new clothes. We have grown up with the confidence that unlike other cities we don’t compete with London – we support them in selling UK plc.”

BRIC Godfather Jim O’Neill. Photographer: Thomas Lee/Bloomberg 

Some of Manchester’s leading brands

The Origins of Original Modern

“Manchester has fancied itself something rotten for as long as anyone can remember.”
-Stuart Maconie, Pies and Prejudice.

Let it not be said that Manchester is lacking in either self-awareness or chutzpah. Urbis, founded as a ‘museum of the city’ forged amid the post-IRA bombing regeneration project of the city centre, carried the legend “the belly and guts of the nation” carved into the wall of its foyer, attributed to George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier. The minor detail involved here was that Orwell actually never wrote this about Manchester, but it acquired legs and became a stock phrase to deploy to convey the city’s gritty economic hub role. In a sense, the extent to which it became not only taken to heart, but largely unchallengeable speaks to the gutsy aplomb of the city, which can take licence to one of England’s most venerated authorities on national character and simply invent something for their own convenience. Somehow, the legend has become distinctly Mancunian in itself, a sense of ownership acquired on its own terms.

“The Manchester brand represents a number of things to me, but above everything is a restless energy that keeps the city buzzing even in difficult times.This has been fed by the city fathers’ vision of creating a European city and instilling a real pride in the place. It has iconic football and a real spirit of “must do” that tends to ignore the north south divide and just get on with it, it is a brand that does not feel the world owes it a living it knows it is a dog eat dog world out there and it must fight to get its share of the action. This, for us, feeds the entrepreneurial spirit of the place and defines why it has such a strong creative community, in all its guises.”

Andrew Stothert, CEO of Brand Vista

Branding comes with ease to many Mancunians and rests squarely within their concept of self, Professor Cathy Parker of Manchester Met Business School told me in an almost theoretical discussion: “A city brand is somewhat tautological: a city, by definition, is a brand. So I think in terms of Manchester rather than the Manchester ‘brand’. The problem with thinking of Manchester as a brand is that agencies start seeing the brand as something to own and control. Any corporation protects their brand – after all it is theirs to own and exploit. But Manchester belongs to all of us. To me Manchester means critical reflection and a ‘northern way’. It means a certain amount of confidence in doing things differently.”

Cathy Parker, Professor of Retail and Marketing Enterprise at Manchester Metropolitan University

In spite of the rapid growth of Manchester as birthplace and the engine of the Industrial Revolution, the ‘Original Modern’ brand built around this sense of history and identity did not necessarily enjoy an easy birth. 1997’s patrician-led city marketing slogan ‘We’re up and going’ was rounded on by the so-called ‘McEnroe Group’ (as in ‘You cannot be serious’) of Wilson, Bloxham and designer Peter Saville. To their credit, Marketing Manchester later co-opted their critics by appointing Saville, designer of many of Factory’s iconic sleeves, as the city’s first Creative Director following the successful 2002 Commonwealth Games, in which he remains in post to this day (“to the delight of some and horror of others” he says). 

According to Steve Connor, the Original Modern brand was the product of widespread engagement in contrast to earlier efforts: “While the immediate choice for the civic fathers would have been a conventional media or ad campaign for Original Modern Manchester, we knew that brand building was a broader, more grown-up process that worked through experience, action and word of mouth. We started a series of brand workshops across the city that in the end reached over 400 senior figures from all areas including a number from the creative sector.” He adds that for many cities, the logo and slogan rebranding process is something of a “civic flare-gun” deployed in times of distress, while the official Manchester brand has widespread acceptance and a softer, more subtle impact in keeping with the city’s way of doing things. Saville himself contends that “If your place needs a slogan, it has a problem.” defending Original Modern as a brand signifier for Manchester that doesn’t appear on any ‘official merchandise’.

Some of Manchester’s leading marketing communications agencies

True North

We are a design agency that helps transform organizations, create and re-invigorate brands and make things better.

Madhouse      

We’re an integrated agency, so we can mix and match our full range of online and offline services to meet the needs of your brand.

Delineo        

Delineo is in the top 10% of North West marketing agencies according to both Crains and Business Link. Privileged to be the lead or roster agency for a number of leading UK brands, we’ve spent the last three decades delivering inspired results and supporting clients with a passionate, can-do approach.

Mediaedge CIA

MEC is a leading media planning and buying agency in Manchester. We plan, create and buy media and communication plans across all traditional media, sponsorship, content-driven and digital platforms for our clients in retail, consumer goods, finance, food and drink, and business-to-business sectors.

Code Computerlove                                                               

Code Computerlove are a digital communications agency. This means that as well as the design and build you see on screen and mobile applications, we also look after online marketing strategy, media planning and buying, campaign management and all the other things that make online creativity such a powerful business tool.

Cheetham Bell JWT

We’re what happens when a creative hotshop meets a global network. The result is the best of both worlds – entrepreneurial flair and can-do attitude backed by the thought-leading excellence and might of JWT.

McCann Manchester

McCann Manchester is the UK’s largest and most successful integrated marketing communications agency. With 250 staff, a national and international client base and a digital innovation hub, we offer the size, scale and experience to tackle the most complex and challenging brief.

TBWA Manchester

TBWA\Manchester is a group of multichannel communications specialists working with local, national and international brands. We develop creative ways of shaping consumer behaviour to suit a business need. Our goal is to deliver greater success to each of our clients.

BJL                                                             

Since the agency’s inception in 1987 our best-in-class thinking and creative has driven BJL to produce groundbreaking work for regional, national and international brands – including British Airways, Crown Paints, Typhoo, William Hill, ASDA and Simplyhealth.

Carat                 

Mediavest (Manchester) Ltd. Has become part of the Aegis Group PLC and rebranded as CARAT Media. That means that Campaign Magazine’s global media network of the year 2010 is now open for business in Manchester (and Leeds and Newcastle).

Staniforth                                                 

Staniforth is a PR agency. But that’s not all. We launch brands and products, map stakeholders, develop communications strategies, solve issues and manage crises. We engage with the media and influencers at every level. Staniforth has a track record in digital PR; monitoring, creating content, PR led SEO strategies and developing owned media through sites, blogs and social networks.

Momentum  

Within Momentum UK we have lots of brilliant people who do lots of amazing things. As well as all the functions you find in ordinary marketing agencies, we have specialists within Events, Sponsorship, Shopper Marketing, Digital AND an office in Cheshire (Momentum Instore) dedicated to installation, merchandising and POS implementation.

Gyro           

Our mission is to create ideas that are humanly relevant.

Brand Vista

Managing and delivering brands in today’s environment is a complex and trans-organisational task that involves all the business, not just the marketing team. Brand Alignment helps the business improve the brand experiences that deliver the promises made to customers by brand communication and in doing so builds more robust differentiated brands.

MC2    

The North’s leading full-service PR, marketing and communications agency.

Magnetic North

We are digital thinkers, designers and makers creating commissioned client work for some of the world’s most interesting companies and brands. We do all things digital from websites and apps to installations and love prototyping, exploring new platforms and creating innovative social media campaigns.

Driven             

We are unashamedly focused on getting results. It’s what we call: Creating Ideas That Sell. It drives everything we do. From the way we uncover relevant insights that define what we need to say in order to sell.

Tangerine   

We are a full service public relations consultancy operating in myriad sectors, whose clients describe working with us as a “breath of fresh air.”             

How do you Salford a problem like Manchester?

Manchester city proper is but one of 10 local authorities which form the Greater Manchester city region, including its near neighbour and once rival Salford (“close to Manchester, but not Manchester” was the slogan of the outgoing council leader). Is there any tension between these constituent parts, what Marketing Manchester refers to as “offers within an offer”?

Cathy Parker suggests it’s something of a non-issue: “As for where Manchester starts and stops – then it depends where you are looking from. The concept of nested places means Canal Street can exist within Manchester, Greater Manchester, the North West, the UK and even Europe. Once a year, during Pride, it occupies a different perceptual space then it does on a rainy Monday lunchtime. Places co-pete. They collaborate and compete with other places at the same time. If tensions arise then it’s usually because places are only thinking in terms of competition.”

Salford’s new elected mayoralty, perhaps reflecting its re-emergence around the MediaCity project and Lowry Museum but an anomaly all the same, could, some suggest, see a ‘dual hub’ emerging for the city region and its leadership between Greater Manchester’s ‘twin cities’. Surprisingly however, Manchester did not follow its neighbour down the mayoral path when presented with the opportunity to do so in this month’s referendum. Even among the most ardent advocates of the mayoral model, the “double act” between the two knights of Manchester city council leader Sir Richard Leese (in post since 1996) and Sir Howard Bernstein as council chief executive, was not to be called into question for what it had already delivered for the city. The usual arguments concerning visibility of city leadership and delivery were simply seen as not applying to Manchester.

Sir Richard Leese                                       Sir Howard Bernstein

The question of whether or not to opt for an elected mayor was largely answered by the fact that Birmingham was so enthusiastically seeking one to ‘catch up’ with Manchester to regain its disputed second city crown. Trying to persuade Mancunians to adopt something which the likes of Doncaster and Middlesbrough had tried in the last chance saloon of urban policy and which Stoke on Trent had ditched like a bad cold, was never likely to fly. 

Steve Connor saw it an alien imposition, out of step with the city’s commonly understood ethos, the kind of thing which only appealed to the type of people who write pamphlets in SW1 think tanks: “In Manchester we’re the type to take to a charismatic leader and then want to tear them down, it’s just how it is here. The feeling here is that we have a collective democracy and any governance change needs to accept and reflect that, so we’re not interested in ideas from outside which go against this. The Manchester brand was also the product of stakeholder enterprise, the collective democracy, so I don’t see where individual leadership comes in here.” And even those of a more pragmatic or supportive bent lacked enthusiasm, such as Ben Waterhouse: “In principle it could have been a good thing, but the actual powers the mayor would have were yet to be decided. How we could be expected to vote on the concept without knowing what it would mean in reality is beyond me.”

Opponents of the elected mayor system cited the city region’s wider and collaborative governance through the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, the country’s first. The combined authority, rather like the French agglomerations such as Lille and Lyon, had its roots in the ways of working that followed Thatcher’s abolition of the Greater Manchester County in 1986, whereas the likes of Oldham, Stockport and Wigan acquiesced to undisputed Manchester’s titular lead in all of this. If the Manchester city region does eventually adopt some form of directly elected figurehead, it can at least claim to have pioneered the system itself, rather than have it imposed from London.

The city region’s global projection remains at the forefront of planning for the city authorities, in the form of its investment agencies and economic advisers, but for local business the opportunities to be realised have already progressed beyond planning into something more tangible, possibly as businesses don’t enjoy the certainty of tax revenue. The Peel Group, a significant regional player in transport and distribution through ports and airports, has worked up its £50bn Atlantic Gateway corridor along the waterways from Manchester to Liverpool. For the Atlantic Gateway to even begin to resemble the Pearl River Delta, urban planners contend that Manchester and Liverpool eventually need to adopt city region structures which, as Cathy Parker had it, co-pete as one, with visible leaderships to match and drive the co-branding globally. The challenge of any city regional leader therefore is to reconcile Peel’s economic masterplan with, dare I say it, Tony Wilson’s visionary civic spirit.

The late, great, Tony Wilson

Other challenges remain. When discussing the Liverpool city brand in March, the residual stereotypes of Scousers were raised as a concern affecting the city’s image, regardless of the passage of time and brand equity accrued through visible cultural and business events. Does Manchester have similar traits affecting its external perceptions? Steve Connor thinks so: “There’s an ongoing struggle around the external perceptions of the physicality of the city. We have a transformed city centre, better transport and are sat in a green context, equidistant between three National Parks and yet as Simon Anholt says, the visual brand of any city lags about 10 years behind the reality.” Manchester may no longer be the post-rave culture ‘Gunchester’ it was once depicted as, but the Beeb’s move to Salford was accompanied by no end of (unwarranted) well-heeled staff bickering over local crime levels. Last year’s Boxing Day random shooting of an Indian student in the city generated global coverage of an undeniable crime statistic, however.

Everything’s Gone Green

“We feel that Manchester has always been a stimulating place for creativity – in all its many guises – as it is populated with a lot of young talent who push boundaries, be they musical, digital or artistic. This really feeds an active creative community which is recognized by the city as being a real asset, hence the ‘development’ of creatively orientated sectors within the city. There is a real feeling of excitement around the city’s creative community and we rarely meet members of that community who sit on their hands, there is a real ‘do it’ attitude that we don’t see in other cities, even London at times.” Andrew Stothert, Brand Vista.

While Marketing Manchester aren’t quite able to take the day off on account of job done and all boxes ticked, compared to other English cities there’s less scope for a ‘roadmap’ for a better city brand as perhaps the need to consider its future opportunities and how creative businesses can benefit from and contribute to this.

With its grimy industrial heritage, Manchester isn’t yet known for its green city brand but the Low Carbon Hub agreed as part of the City Deal with central government could see genuinely pioneering work and policy emerge. US urbanist Richard Florida’s 2003 ‘Boho Britain’ index saw Manchester crowned as the most creative city in the UK on account of its ethnic diversity, gay population and number of patents applied per head, that is a winning mix of tolerance and scientific innovation. 

Richard Florida, Urban Studies Theorist.

Taken together, these demonstrate that Manchester could yet achieve global significance as a green and innovative city, as well as the cultural hub it has long been renowned for being, another stage in the cycle of Original Modern. A £650m Airport City development, one of the government’s new Enterprise Zones, will further augment the city regional offer alongside MediaCity. As if to underscore this last point, recent figures by VisitBritain show a 15% increase in global visitors in 2011 on the previous year.

With these opportunities in train, where then could the city’s creative businesses play their part in developing the city brand? Steve Connor feels that they have already had input into the brand building process but could go further in their everyday work: “Actually, creative businesses could do it a favour by showing the city as it truly is – it’s more of a cultural challenge to perhaps go easy on the stereotypes, less reliance on Shameless and Corrie as depictions of the entire population. We’re the most vibrant city outside of London, so we have to make sure that comes across in everything we do.”

To some extent Andrew Stothert agrees, pointing out where firms could enhance the city offer themselves: “I think that it is fair to say that the creative community already is engaged in developing the city’s brand both in how it helps develop communications, but more importantly what it does and how it has developed leading edge digital offers and social media businesses. The city is already developing the Northern Quarter and the area to the North in order to develop a creative area within the city not unlike Spinningfields and the professional services area. This development comes out of the restlessness of the creative community and the city fathers to keep Manchester well-positioned in global markets. The wonderful thing is that one can get a feeling of history potentially repeating as Manchester seeks a number of different commercial routes to global markets and one of these is its creative industries. It still remembers what made it famous and that is an entrepreneurial spirit, restlessness and never taking ‘no’ for an answer – this to us is still the heart of our great city.”

Sue Woodward however feels that there’s still work to be done on the brand narrative and where they can add value: “They need to input into the story of the city – shape the narrative, and ensure that the city bodies set up to sell the brand have the right story, as it and markets emerge and evolve. Having a robust but factually based narrative that original and accurately sells the city locally, nationally and internationally will generate new business/investment. No one knows their own business better than the people who build and run them. They must own that narrative and keep it up to date and informed.”

Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman with Sue Woodward at a recent creative industries event in Manchester.

Ben Waterhouse also finds the current brand management arrangements acceptable, but not without scope for improvement and challenge: “I think they do a very good job, but always to shout louder and further about the strengths that we have in Manchester and the quality of both people and output. A strong city brand pushing the offer is important, but as important is the people that it engages with, so a continued focus on engagement with the right people will lead to more opportunities.”

Though Tony Wilson and Factory Communications are no longer with us, their vision of the city at its ‘dynamic, metropolitan, best’ didn’t entirely escape the notice of those concerned with its future. Manchester Met Business School and the city council are currently in discussions around creating a ‘Manchester Institute’ to not only map out the future for the brand, but also train up a new generation of creatives to personify it. The brainchild of Cathy Parker and others, she says “We all have the responsibility to make Manchester better, promote the city and enhance its reputation, and the more people that ‘get on the bus’ the better.”

For the time being, the city leadership which ultimately acts as steward for the brand remains wedded to the status quo. If the city council leader does ever pitch up in Osaka or São Paulo himself then their mayors may be excused for probably having never heard of him, though the same would never be said for the city he comes from.

 About the author

Andrew Stevens

Andrew has advised a range of partners and agencies on place strategy and urban affairs in the UK. In particular he works as a researcher on urban futures, economy shaping and the Olympics. In the UK he has advised and represented the city of Tokyo on its marketing and promotion. He is also the Nomura Research Institute’s principal adviser in the UK on all aspects of urban governance, planning, infrastructure and investment.

A senior editor of CityMayors.com (since 2004) he has written widely on city branding, as well as for The Guardian, Time Out and others. His books include The Politico’s Guide to Local Government (several editions, in translation) and a chapter in City Branding – Theory and Cases (2010).

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Urban Economics Association.

References

Welcome to brand Manchester

Manchester is the city that tried to turn itself around by turning itself into a brand – and there’s an undeniable improvement.

Aditya Chakrabortty, theguardian, Monday 4 July 2011

Flop off the Pendolino, dodge the weekend hen parties patrolling Piccadilly station – and you emerge into a giant marketing jamboree. That’s not unusual in a city centre, except that what visitors to Manchester are being sold is Manchester itself. Bus stops are decorated with an M wrought out of tram tracks. The boards covering up council repairs near the Arndale shopping centre are plastered with pictures of the Smiths, Lowry, Coronation Street; a regionalist cultural iconography that’s almost as interesting for its omissions (neither Anthony Burgess nor Harrison Birtwistle feature – and not a single black person). Even the property developers converting derelict warehouses into offices for the Mac-toting classes put up signs that read “inspirational”, “creativity” and “transformation”.

None of this municipal hype is accidental or bolted on; it’s at the core of local government attempts to revive an area that 30 years ago looked out for the count. The international festival that’s taking over the city this month is canny PR: a not-so-subtle argument that Manchester is (as the programme puts it) “the cultural heart of England”.

Seated on AstroTurf carefully placed to lend Albert Square some festive élan, council leader Richard Leese tells me about officials’ efforts a decade ago to define a “Brand Manchester” they could go out and sell.

It came down to three local attributes, he says: “Openness. Inclusivity. And a certain amount of swagger.” Then he uses a phrase coined by the local designer of some of the most famous record sleeves ever, Peter Saville: “Manchester is the ‘original modern’.” It sounds like the usual quasi-mystical guff dreamed up by costly consultants, but then I notice those two words popping up again and again, even in adverts for neighbourhood law firms.

Manchester is the city that tried to turn itself around by turning itself into a brand. In the 1980s, Mancunians were faced with the same problem as their counterparts in Leeds, Liverpool, Birmingham and elsewhere: a collapse in manufacturing, a surge in unemployment and social deprivation – for the world’s first industrial cities, what looked like a giant historical dead end. Strolling around the city now, it’s clear what the local answer has been: smarten up the centre, specialise in service sectors – everything from accountancy to restaurants, drive money into housing, and have a good story to tell about where you’ve been and where you’re going.

The result has been an undeniable improvement. Here is the most astonishing fact about Manchester’s regeneration: where residents were once desperate to leave the city, now, for the first time in 50 years, people are flocking back. Jobs? While 186,000 manufacturing jobs were shed in Greater Manchester between 1981 and 2006, there was a net gain of 187,000 over the same period, most pronouncedly in finance, media as well as public-sector health and education. Accompanying all this is a distinct improvement in atmosphere. Critics might complain about the commercial takeover of the centre, but anyone who would prefer Piccadilly Gardens in its former guise as a heroin-needle exchange rather than a place with water fountains and young children chasing pigeons is putting their politics before their personal safety.

What’s wrong with this picture? Well, as Adam Leaver of Manchester University’s Centre for Research on Socio-Cultural Change puts it to me in a Northern Quarter cafe run by a DJ (and you don’t get much more New Manchester than that): “The city has a great brand – but any brand is full of tensions and contradictions.” Here, that means the tide of regeneration stops well short of the north and the east of the city, and hasn’t touched those not qualified to take up the smart white-collar jobs.

In Miles Platting in the east of the city, I ran into Terry wheeling along his toddler Jasmine. What did he make of the city’s revival? He turned and gestured back down the main road: “All the new jobs and offices stop halfway down there. We haven’t seen any of the money up here.” The figures bear him out: in 2009 a study by the Centre for Cities reviewed 56 English cities, and found Manchester the most unequal in the gap between its richest and poorest areas. Boosters point to the Sportcity in the east of the city – but no national cycling centre is ever going to match the now extinct heavy engineering firms of Trafford Park for job creation.

The other big worry must be David Cameron’s spending cuts. While Manchester has managed to turn itself into the de facto regional headquarters for big business, its main employers remain the health trusts, local government and the string of university buildings that line Oxford Road. All of these areas are seeing their finances cut, some sharply, over the next four years – the result is likely to be massive job losses.

Planners and bureaucrats across Europe now visit Manchester in search of an answer to one of the biggest questions of modern times: how do you make work that apparent oxymoron, the post-industrial city? Yet Manchester shows that while a smart local government can do a lot to improve the look and feel of a city, it still hasn’t got a good answer to what replaces the old industry. There, the obstacle isn’t local – it lies down south in Whitehall and Westminster.

Duncan Lewis, Group Marketing and Development Director at Age UK

TH: As Group Marketing and Development Director at Age UK what is your key focus?

DL: Making sure that the organisation’s key marketing assets – brand, database and website are able to support the range of commercial and charitable activity that we undertake to improve later life.

TH: How did the UK’s largest charity for older people come about?

DL: Through the merger three years ago of Help the Aged and Age Concern. Both organisations came to the conclusion that the interests of people in later life would be best served by having a single, strong organisation working on their behalf. The mechanics of the merger were completed before my arrival, but it is greatly to the credit of everyone involved that Age UK has emerged from the process in such good shape.

TH: What are the main challenges for your sector/category over the next 12 months?

DL: Core demand for our charitable services will continue to rise as existing models of funding and provision for social care struggle to meet rising needs. The fundraising environment continues to be challenging as a result of the prevailing economic situation although at Age UK our diverse revenue streams (including those from our commercial activity) leave us better placed than many to weather the storm and our plans are to use the merger as a platform for growth in the next few years.

TH: Your career has spanned Age UK, Commonwealth Games England, Land Securities, British Olympic Association, Barclays, Carlson Worldchoice and Thomson Travel Group, what have been the high points?

DL: I have been lucky enough to be involved in exciting projects in all the industry sectors I have worked in. Seeing the first brochure pages that I was involved in producing at the start of my career as a graduate trainee at Thomson Travel was a thrill at the time!

Big rebranding projects at AT Mays (which became Carlson Worldchoice), Barclays and Land Securities were all challenging in different ways, but all gave rise to a great sense of achievement when they were successfully completed.

Working with Sir Clive Woodward for a while at the BOA was a great experience and developing a new brand for Commonwealth Games England and then getting to see athletes wearing it on the podium at the Games in Delhi was also fantastic. More recently, getting out and about and seeing first-hand the great work that Age UK and its local and international partners do in places as diverse as Blackburn and Haiti is both humbling and immensely rewarding.

Sir Clive Woodward during the launch of the BOA Elite Performance Service. Photograph: Steven Paston/Action Images.

I have also been lucky enough to work with some great teams of people and the high points share in common the convergence of good people, harnessing focussed creativity, to make a real impact.

TH: Along the way, which marketers particularly impressed you with their attitude and vision?

DL: I would like to think that I have picked up something from most of the people I have worked for and with. The (sadly) late Colin Mitchell, my first ‘big boss’ at Thomson could dissect the most complex of spreadsheets with a freshly sharpened HB pencil and a few equally sharp questions.

Malcolm Hewitt at RCI and Carlson was a great sales and marketing oriented leader who always had time for front-line staff and as a result could drive organisations through significant periods of change.

Simon Gulliford and Jim Hytner led the marketing function at Barclays in very different, but nonetheless successful ways. These are to name but a few (and I will spare the blushes of my current colleagues, but suffice to say that I am learning all the time!).

I am also often inspired by the passion and commitment of the people who have worked in my teams- especially here at Age UK, where the drive to achieve something really positive for others is clear to see throughout the organisation.

Clockwise from top left: Malcolm Hewitt, Simon Gulliford, Jim Hytner

TH: What work have you done recently makes you really proud and what did it achieve?

DL: Seeing the Age UK brand only two years old but going from strength to strength is a great tribute to the work of everyone in the marketing function here and creates a platform that will help drive the organisation forward and enable it to do more good.

Have a look at Age UK’s recent animated TV ad, created by Karmarama with Larry Lamb’s voice over.

Using the key theme ‘a problem shared is a problem halved’, the ad features different animated scenes made of cake and icing to demonstrate how Age UK provides practical help to millions of older people across the UK.

The stop motion animation, features icing characters exercising in a swimming pool with marshmallows as floats, a house made entirely from cake, and a purse filled with chocolate coins – was created by Daniel Gill and Robin Crowley, who recently worked on feature film Fantastic Mr Fox, as well as Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie.

We wanted to create an appealing advert that resonates with everyone and clearly demonstrates the wide range of free information and advice services offered by Age UK. From financial and health issues, to concerns about family, friends or property, there are many things to think about as we all grow older. Through this campaign we want to show how Age UK can help with many of the issues that may be faced in later life.

TH: How do you see the media landscape unfolding in the next 5 years?

DL: More complex and fragmented, but with greater interactivity. This will bring benefits and challenges to marketers in equal measure. Potential for more precise targeting and greater engagement will open up on one hand, but on the other integration of campaigns and management of the customer journey will become more complex.

 TH: Do you prefer to use an ‘integrated’ agency approach or specialist agencies by individual discipline?

DL: I tend to favour specialists rather than a one stop shop – although they should work together in a highly integrated way.

TH: When choosing agencies were you ever influenced by awards?

DL: Not consciously

TH: How often do you look at new agencies or review your roster?

DL: No set timings. As part of every annual planning process we would look at our supplier requirements but whether or not that would lead to a wider review and/or pitch depends on much more than just length of tenure.

TH: How do you monitor and stay-in-touch with the agency market to ensure you work with the best?

DL: Through personal contacts (especially other client side marketers) and professional bodies such as ISBA, The Marketing Society and the CIM.

TH: Which agencies do you think are ‘hot’ right now?

DL: The ones we are working with at Age UK!!

TH: Do you/have you used intermediaries in the past? What are your observations?

DL: Intermediaries can be a huge help with the leg-work on something like a pitch – enabling you to get a level of market coverage for initial selection that would be difficult to achieve unless you had a huge in-house resource, and making sure that the whole process has structure and rigour to it. They also enable your existing team to concentrate on the day-job because that doesn’t go away and changing the wheel whilst you are riding the bike is always a bit tricky!

Tom Holmes with Duncan Lewis at Age UK

TH: Would you ever consider awarding an agency business without a pitch? What would they have to do / demonstrate?

DL: Never a large project or ongoing account relationship – these should always be subject to the rigour of a pitch. If, however, you had huge time pressure and felt you could trust a known supplier to deliver on a smaller project, then there might be circumstances when it would be the right thing to do.

TH: What are your top tips to agencies when presenting credentials to you?

DL: Don’t. I’m afraid that a request to do a generic credentials presentation is doomed to failure. A bite-sized piece of fresh insight that is relevant to my organisation  is much more likely to get you on my radar, but then you will need to be patient because until I have an appropriate need it really doesn’t matter how good you are.

TH: What was the most impressive agency presentation you have ever seen?

DL: The most effective was probably a presentation on innovation at the Marketing Forum many years ago by Chris Wood (then of Corporate Edge). He was good, but even better was the recommendation I got from an existing client of his as we chatted over dinner that evening and the combination of the two has led to us working together on several successful rebranding projects.

Chris Wood – Following the chairmanship of the COI, currently focussing on the nedship of a new luxury accessories start-up and being the marketing partner of a Wiltshire gastropub, but also looking for one or two other interesting non exec posts

TH: Thanks Duncan

Andrew Morley, UK & Ireland General Manager at Motorola Mobility.

TH: As Vice President and General Manager, UK and Vodafone Global Group GM. at Motorola, what are your key responsibilities and priorities?

AM: Motorola has a long history of innovation. For more than 80 years Motorola has worked to connect people to each other and the world around them in entirely new ways.

When automobiles were becoming a popular mode of transportation, we helped bring entertainment to the ride. We introduced the world’s first commercial portable cellular phone. We even invented the groundbreaking Six Sigma quality improvement process, which became a worldwide standard for excellence. Building upon this brand heritage is a core focus of my role and every role within our business.

Clearly linked to this is ensuring that we continue to build and distinguish our smartphone, tablet and accessories business within the market.

TH: Your career has spanned Ford Motor Company, BSKYB, Cable & Wireless, Harrods Group and Motorola, what have been the high points?

AM: During my role as Sales and Marketing Director in Sky TV I felt we were bringing a truly revolutionary service to the market. We were launching Digital and re-defining TV delivery in the UK and Ireland and I was a part of it.

However that same drive for innovation is present within Motorola. Helping re-define Motorola as an Android smartphone and tablet business, re-invigorating the brand and driving awareness of the truly unique experiences we offer has definitely been, and continues to be, a high point.

TH: Along the way, have there been particular marketers who impressed and inspired you?

AM: Bill Ogle, Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer, Motorola Mobility is an inspirational figure to all those around him. He has repositioned the Motorola brand to represent a fusion of innovative technology with human insights to create experiences that simplify, connect and enrich people’s lives.

Bill Ogle – Bill leads marketing and branding efforts across the globe, which includes building the brand presence of Motorola Mobility and driving both demand and sell-through of our company’s products and services. He oversees Motorola Mobility teams that have developed new brand positioning, a communication strategy, in-store retail improvements, as well as launches for the widely acclaimed family of DROID™ by Motorola smartphones for consumers and business users. He also is leading efforts to market a range of innovative products that address emerging consumer demand driven by the convergence of mobility, media, consumer computing and the Internet.

TH: What work have you done recently makes you the most proud?

AM: The original Motorola RAZR was, and still is today, one of the most iconic and recognizable brands across the globe with the more than 130 million original RAZR devices sold. It was an industry changer.

When we launched a brand new Motorola RAZR in 2011 it represented the re-birth of an icon and it took the world by storm. Not just because of its unique design, which was impossibly thin and lightweight, but the addition of mind-blowing power and smart software.

Take our Smart Actions app. It’s ready to take over changes so users have less to think about in a day. Who doesn’t get concerned with battery life once in a while? With Smart Actions that’s one less worry because it can automatically change settings to optimize power. For those people that always forget to kill the ringer at work, Smart Actions can remember to do it for them. It’s the app that keeps an eye on the phone, so users can focus on more important things.

Or MotoCast™, the app that lets users sync, store and access the content stored on their home computers from their smartphone, tablet or even another computer. Users can get instant access to entire libraries of photos, music, videos, documents and more whenever they need them wherever they are. 

We are combining smart design with smart software to deliver fantastic experiences that are unique to Motorola.

TH: What are the main challenges for your sector/category over the next 12 months?

AM: Faced with an increasingly competitive market, ensuring that we as a company continue to differentiate the Motorola brand and the products we offer is a key objective. Linked to this is ensuring that during this time we continue to put the consumer first, delivering devices and services that enrich their lives and communicate what we stand for as an organisation.

TH: How do you see the media landscape unfolding in the next 5 years?

AM: We are already seeing the rapid growth of mobile content creation and advertising in response to growing consumption on the “small” screen. This trend will definitely continue, leveraging the unique information the device can offer about the user to ensure they are receiving the content they want, when they want it and in a format they want to engage with.

We are also starting to see the evidence of media companies responding to the worldwide growth in tablet usage. These will become increasingly apparent in our daily lives, with advertising and marketing campaigns becoming truly immersive through touch screen interaction for instance.

Tom Holmes talking to Andrew Morley at Motorola UK.

TH: Do you prefer to use an ‘integrated’ agency approach or specialist agencies by individual discipline?

AM: I prefer the “hub and spoke” approach. Our currently lead agency is Ogilvy and I have worked with them for over 20 years and they continue to push the envelope. They have huge amounts of experience, are very consumer focused and employ exceptionally talented people.

Their current UK CEO of Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Hugh Baillie, for instance, is probably the most talented “Agency Guy” I have ever had the pleasure of working with.

TH: Do you prefer to use local agencies by market or international/global agencies?

AM: International agencies, once again like Ogilvy, are able to offer the consistency required by multi-national countries whilst also delivering campaigns that take into account local nuances and requirements.

TH: When choosing agencies in the past were you ever influenced by awards? 

AM: No. The results and what they can do for me and my company is the most important.

TH: What challenges do you face, managing day-to-day agency relationships?

AM: None – it just works well.

TH: How often do you look at new agencies or review your roster?

AM: I review the roster all the time to ensure we are working with the best and brightest the industry has to offer.

TH: How do you monitor and stay-in-touch with the agency market to ensure you work with the best?

AM: I work with a very talented team and we share the same ethos when it comes to ensuring we are working with the best and brightest. Over the years I have also built strong relationships with people across the industry who adds to these internal insights.

TH: Which agencies do you think are ‘hot’ right now?

AM: The ones we use…

TH: Do you/have you used intermediaries in the past? What are your observations?

AM: I prefer direct relationships. This not only allows the agency to understand exactly what I am looking for, but also allows me to get an idea of team chemistry and enthusiasm for what we are trying to achieve.

TH: What’s your attitude to the ‘traditional’ pitch? Do you think there is a better/more modern way?

AM: The traditional pitch will always have a role to some extent, however it’s increasingly important to look at what has and will be achieved in more detail.

TH: Would you ever consider awarding an agency business without a pitch? What would they have to do / demonstrate?

AM: No – I would always want a pitch for the reasons stated above.

TH: What are your top tips to agencies when presenting credentials to you?

AM: The consumer is the most important person and any business should revolve around them. If you understand the consumer better than anyone else and become their advocate, you will always have their attention.

TH: What was the most impressive agency presentation you have ever seen?

AM: David Mayo from Ogilvy once took us to meet our consumers in their pitch at Ford and we listened to them together. It provided some great insights and is still talked about today.

David Mayo, President of O&M Asean (Southeast Asia)

Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman, talks to Paul Ridsdale, Head of Marketing at ITV and 2011 Scholar at The Marketing Academy.

Since leaving Southampton University in 2000, Paul has worked in the Marketing Department’s of several leading media companies including Sky TV, BT Vision (part of BT Group) and currently ITV. In that time he has been responsible for some of the UK’s largest TV channel brands including Sky Sports, ITV2 and most recently ITV1. As well as overall responsibility for these channels, Paul has developed campaigns to promote world famous content brands including Barclays Premier League football, The X Factor, Downton Abbey and The Only Way is Essex.

Most of Paul’s roles to date have focused on holistic brand management, leading the development of a brand strategy and then working with other areas of the business to execute activity across the various consumer touch points.  Paul is currently a member of the Executive Board of Promax UK which works to promote excellence within the UK television marketing industry as well as being a Scholar of The Marketing Academy.

Why did you choose a career in marketing?

After studying physics at university I found myself staring at a lifetime poking around in darkened laboratories. Terrified of that thought I decided to try a career which made use of my analytical background whilst also providing a creative outlet – and nothing seemed to offer that more than marketing.

What do you think makes a successful career in marketing?

I believe there are actually many different ways to be successful and people need to develop their own style. But over and above ‘being yourself’, I think one of the most important elements for success is to focus on getting as close as possible to your customers. Listen to them, observe them and then represent their interests around your business. But importantly, don’t mistake this approach for asking consumers to do your job for you. We still need to make the big decisions ourselves and back our instinct.

And who is a great example of this?

Not the most obvious choice but I recently heard a talk by Tim Westwood (the Radio 1 DJ) given to the Marketing Academy and was struck by how natural a marketer he was. In the absence of any formal marketing strategy, he manages to stay relevant by embedding himself in the lives of his target audience. He lives their lives, watches what they’re doing and spots the trends early enough to ride on the wave. Given his enduring success, I think it’s a great example for more technical marketers to learn from.   

What do you think are the main challenges facing marketers today?

It feels to me like marketing is having a ‘dot com bubble’ moment. Technology is causing everything to change at a pace we haven’t seen before in the industry, and this is causing fear, panic and there’s a herd mentality pushing everyone to do something ‘innovative’ whether it’s the right thing or not for their business. I think the challenge is therefore to embrace new technologies as tools to help us do our jobs better, whilst remembering that many of the fundamental principles of marketing are still the same.

Paul Ridsdale, Head of Marketing, ITV.

How do you keep up with constant stream of innovation in marketing comms? 

Firstly, I try not to read everything that’s out there. If I did that I’d worry that everything I’m doing is outdated, ineffective and that the definition of marketing has been re-written since last week. Beyond that I’ve found the most useful filter is my colleagues – we have an email group (and email’s dead isn’t it?) where people can share the very best new things that they’ve seen or heard about. By working as a group to discover and share new stuff you massively increase the quality and relevance of ideas that you hear about. 

How does this impact your relationship with agencies?

I still look to our agencies to come to us with new and creative ideas and solutions. It’s just that the access that everyone now has to information means the bar is being set higher and higher in terms of our agencies really impressing us. But at the end of the day we’re paying them for their expertise, so if they can’t bring something extra to the table then there’s something wrong with the model.

How do you know if you’re getting the best from your agencies?

The main thing I look for is whether it feels like we’re partners, rather than client and agency.  I want to feel like they understand and care about my business and brand as much as I do. And I want them to come to me with ideas spontaneously, rather than waiting for me to ask them a question or give them a brief. When this happens I think the relationship becomes much more rewarding and motivating for the agency too. 

How do you think marketers can raise the profile of marketing within their organisations?

It does frustrate me that marketing is often seen as a lesser function compared to other key business areas. Sadly there are now many companies where marketing is not at the heart of strategic discussions helping to shape the direction of the business. And in the worst cases, marketing becomes little more than the ‘colouring in department’. But whilst it’s frustrating, I think it’s down to marketers to change these perceptions.  We have to earn our place at the top table by demonstrating how we can add value and truly transform companies. If we can’t sell the benefits of marketing to our colleagues then we’re probably all in the wrong job. 

Do you see yourself as a generalist or a specialist, does it matter?

Personally I see myself as more of a generalist but maybe that’s because I don’t want to claim to be a specialist at anything!  There certainly are specialists in the field of marketing and I’m always amazed and a little jealous that they are so brilliant at their ‘thing’. But I have a broad interest in business and so I’ve tried to stay in roles where I’m able to interact with lots of different parts of the marketing mix and also contribute to projects and initiatives outside of marketing. That may well make me a jack of all trades but I’ve always thought it’s those people who make the best CEOs!

The Marketing Academy is a non-profit organisation which provides a unique forum for industry leaders, marketing gurus, entrepreneurs and inspirational people volunteer their time to inspire, develop and coach the next generation of future leaders. The Marketing Academy gift a maximum of 30 ‘Scholarships’ each year to the fastest rising stars in the marketing, advertising and communications industries. A team of high profile mentors and coaches develop these stars through a process of mentoring, coaching, networking and personalised learning. 86 mentors, 30 Coaches, 20 Judges, 36 companies and an owl called Merlin all provide their time, resources and knowledge to assist in shaping the minds of our future leaders. Furthermore as a vital part of their curriculum all Scholars volunteer at least one day per year through our Donate28 initiative to work with charities who need bright young marketing minds. For a full list of the individuals involved, see the Sherilyn Shackell interview.

Sherilyn Shackell, CEO of the Marketing Hall of Legends (UK) and Founder of the Marketing Academy.

TH: What does the Sherilyn Shackell brand stand for?

SS: I’m passionate about inspirational ‘Leadership’; identifying it, nurturing it and developing it. That’s my thing. If in any way I can help guide someone to become the best they can possibly be then I’m happy.

TH: Tell me about the Marketing Hall of Legends UK and how it came about?

SS: The journey began in 2009. I’d spent 20 years as a headhunter and had always felt somewhat guilty about it. Headhunting firms are frequently used when a company’s internal succession plans have failed or when they are in a ‘distressed’ situation following a resignation or termination. Very often I would be asked to interview internal candidates for roles where my client had no intention of promoting them. The brief was often ‘bring me someone with an external view, who does things differently, who can tell us things we don’t already know’. Outside of completing an MBA it’s hard for internal talent to compete with that unless of course they leave their employer, go somewhere else and then return later in their career.

So, I wanted to create a forum that would provide high potential employees the chance to broaden their skills, knowledge and network without having to leave their companies to do so. As a fan of ‘mentoring’ I believed that being mentored by people outside of their companies from non competing sectors would be the best way of sharing external views and insight.

The original inspiration behind what would become the Marketing Academy came from a friend of mine who founded the Marketing Hall of Legends in Canada – it’s a high profile awards ceremony that recognises and celebrates legendary Canadian marketers once a year. I’d attended the event early 2009 and was inspired by the fact that they had the ‘Legends’ on stage providing a Q&A to 400 young marketers – for free. Whilst I knew that the last thing the UK needed was another award ceremony I did feel that if the Canadian ‘legends’ would give up their time to share their knowledge with the next generation then I was pretty sure that the British equivalent would. So I borrowed the name, registered the Marketing Hall of Legends UK as a voluntary & non-profit organisation and began the most exciting journey of my life! Within 6 weeks of returning from Canada the strategy for the Scholarship had been shaped and I began to discuss it with CEO’s and CMO’s who loved the idea. It took around 6 months to pull together the people and companies now involved. I was advised early on to use a different brand name for the Scholarship and so in February 2010 we launched as ‘The Marketing Academy’.

TH: What is The Marketing Academy?

SS: The Marketing Academy identifies, nurtures, and develops exceptional British talent in the field of Marketing, Advertising and Communications by gifting a minimum of 25 free ‘Scholarships’ each year to the industry’s fastest rising stars. A team of high profile mentors, coaches, and world class organisations develop these stars to become the future business leaders through a process of mentoring, coaching, networking and personalised learning. We are in our third year – we appointed 28 Scholars in 2010 and 30 Scholars in 2011. Selection for the 2012 Scholarships is now underway.

TH: What are the benefits of a Marketing Academy Scholarship and who can apply?

SS: The Scholarship is completely free of charge and takes place over 20 days during a 12 month period. The programme has been designed to include a powerful combination of mentoring, coaching & learning ‘faculties’ run by some of leading marketing organisations in UK and is delivered via six learning streams. Each Scholar meets with a variety of legendary Mentors in one to one / face to face mentoring sessions, attends ‘Lunch & Learn’ sessions with inspirational CEOs, works with an Executive Coach, attends learning initiatives delivered by our Faculty Partners, takes part in a the Donate28 initiative (working with small charity’s around the UK) and attends ‘Boot Camps’ packed full with inspirational speakers & workshops.

It’s open to anyone currently employed in the marketing function or an agency with a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 12 years total work experience. However you can’t simply apply for a Scholarship, potential scholars must first be nominated by someone who believes them to be amongst the best in the country. Those fortunate enough to nominate are then invited to apply and then undergo a rigorous 4 stage selection process.

Sherilyn Shackell, Founder of The Marketing Academy and Tom Holmes, Founder & Chairman of creativebrief

TH: What sort of companies do your Scholars represent?

SS: They come from all sectors; blue chip corporates, creative & marketing agencies, charities, public sector and SME’s. We also have a number of entrepreneurs who have founded their own businesses.

TH: Which brands sponsor the Scholarship?

SS: Our main Brand Partners for 2012 are O2, Nokia, Kraft Foods, Microsoft and Marketing Week. We’re also supported by Faculty Partners; Google, Fallon, PHD, The Living Leader, Brand Learning, Wisdom8, JKR, Albion & Millward Brown who are each directly involved in delivering learning within the Academy curriculum.

TH: What value do they get out of supporting the Marketing Academy?

SS: I often say that the academy brings together people & companies that are have at least three things in common; they are dedicated to excellence in marketing practices, passionate about the development of ‘talent’ and committed to ‘giving something back’. Being involved in the Academy enables our partners to state those things publically as well as internally to their own organisation.

Our main Brand Partners have a guaranteed scholarship place and are directly involved with the Academy and the curriculum, with a seat on the Board, and an individual on our Judging panel.

All of our partners are influencing the future of marketing Leadership in the UK in addition to highlighting their company’s commitment to marketing excellence, talent development and corporate social responsibility.

TH: When it comes to mentoring, what sort of experience level do you require and what disciplines are covered?

SS: Our Mentors are either CEOs, or CMO / Marketing Directors or expert practitioners in disciplines such as PR, Brand, Comms etc. We also have Mentors from the military, public sector and universities. All of our mentors are in positions of significant influence.

TH: You currently have 80 ‘Mentors’ please can you name drop some of your movers and shakers?

SS: See list below, take your pick.
Each of the following individuals have volunteered their time to inspire, develop & mentor our Scholars on a one to one or group basis during the year.

Mentors – Corporate

• Adam Crozier, CEO ITV Plc
• Alastair Pegg, Head of Brand Marketing, Nationwide Building Society
• Amanda Mackenzie, CMO Aviva Group
• Andy Duncan, UK Managing Director Camelot
• Andy Fennell, CMO Diageo
• Andy Routley, Managing Director Church & Dwight UK
• Andrew Swaffield, Managing Director The Mileage Company
• Ashley Stockwell, Global Sales & Marketing Director Global Ethics
• Ben Stimson, Head of Retail Operations Waitrose
• Carol Brannigan, Marketing Director ELLP KPMG
• Carolyn McCall, CEO easyJet
• Charles Allen, Marketing Director Arsenal Football Club
• Charmaine Eggberry, SVP Marketing Nokia
• Claire Cronin, Marketing Director NetJets
• David Hilton, Marketing Director Sony Ericsson
• Dee Dutta, CMO Bodog Europe
• Deborah Dolce, Group Marketing Director TK Maxx/HomeSense
• Ellen Marzell, Consultant Nokia Sponsorship
• Elizabeth McGregor, Marketing Director Energizer
• Emma Beale, In-Store Communications Manager Waitrose
• Gavin Patterson, CEO BT Retail
• Helen Kellie, CMO BBC Worldwide
• James Hart, SVP Global Marketing AVG
• James Scroggs, Founder house of opportunity
• Joe Clift, Brand & Customer Marketing Director Lloyds Banking Group
• John Harber, VP EMEA Jawbone
• John Orriss, Acquisition Director BSkyB
• Jon Goldstone, Marketing Director Premier Foods
• John Petter, MD Consumer BT Retail
• Julia Porter, Ex Director of Commercial Marketing ITV
• Justin King, CEO J Sainsbury
• Katie Vanneck-Smith, CMO News international
• Kristof Fahy, Group Brand & Marketing Director William Hill
• Mark Howe, Managing Director Agency Operations Europe Google
• Martin Glenn, CEO Birds Eye Iglo Group
• Mikah Martin-Cruz, former CMO Microsoft
• Nigel Trood, CEO Red Bull
• Paul Stobart, Chief Executive CPP Group
• Paul Wilson, Division CMO SunGard
• Philip Mehl, UK Head of Marketing HSBC
• Sally Cowdry*, Marketing Director O2
• Saj Arshad, Group Marketing Director Vodafone
• Sarah Speake, Strategic Marketing Director Google
• Stephen Miron, CEO Global Radio
• Tom Christie-Miller, CMO The Walt Disney Company
• Troy Warfield, VP Family Care, Europe Kimberly Clark
• Vijay Solanki, Senior Director Global Digital Marketing Philips

Mentors – Advertising, Digital & Marketing Services

• Andrew McGuinness, CEO Beattie McGuinness Bungay
• Andrew Walmsley, Founder i-Level
• Andy Sandoz, Creative Director WorkClub
• Beth Broughton, Client Partner The Leading Edge
• Caroline Foster Kenny, Chief Client Officer MEC Global
• Chris Brassington, CEO Starfish 360
• Cilla Snowball, Chairman & CEO Abbott Mead Vickers Group
• David Wethey, Chairman Agency Assessments
• Debbie Klein, Joint CEO Engine Group
• Gail Gallie, CEO Fallon
• John Owen, Partner Dare Digital
• John Townshend, Partner Now
• Jonathan Stead, CEO Rapier
• Julian Ingram, Regional Director EMEA Momentum
• Matt Hart, Founder Industry Approved
• Mark Lund, Founder Now
• Michele McGrath, Chief Operating Officer Brand Learning
• Mike Ashton, Managing Director Ashton Brand Consulting
• Moray MacLennan, Worldwide CEO M&C Saatchi
• Nick Howarth, Partner CHI & Partners
• Nick Massey, CEO Boxclever
• Paul Duncanson, Managing Director creativebrief
• Phil Rumbol, Founder 101
• Robert Ffitch, Managing Director MG OMD
• Robert Senior, CEO Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Group
• Rory Sutherland, Executive Creative Director Ogilvy Group UK
• Simon Bitcliffe, Managing Director Webmart
• Steve Gray, Chairman Emnos
• Sue Farr, Executive Director Chime Communications Plc
• Tim Duffy, CEO M&C Saatchi
• Tim Wragg, CEO Millward Brown
• Teresa Octavio, Director EffectiveBrands

Mentors – Public Sector / 3rd Sector / Academic / Not for Profit / Associations

• Major General Arthur Denaro, Former Commandant Sandhurst Military Academy
• Prof Cathy Parker, Prof of Retail and Marketing Enterprise Manchester Metropolitan University
• Chris Lenton, Chairman, Chartered Institute of Marketing
• Emma Harrison, Chairman FSI
• Jack Black, Founder MindStore
• Mark Ritson, Associate Professor Melbourne Business School
• Michelle Settle, Marketing Director Comic Relief
• Mike Hughes, Director General ISBA

We also have a team of fantastic Executive Coaches who work with the Scholars on a one to one basis throughout the year.

Sherilyn Shackell “Inspiring and Developing the young talent of today to become the leaders of tomorrow”

TH: What is the real value of a Marketing Academy Scholarship to your Alumni?

SS: By far the greatest value is the relationships that develop between each other. It’s an elite group so the sense of ‘belonging’ is enormous.

They provide each other with a sounding board and across the group it’s likely that future opportunities will develop.

They also have extremely high level access to leadership & marketing expertise across all industries & sectors, therefore their ability to make things happen by tapping into people they know is elevated.

Levels of confidence and self-belief become sky high, they’re equipped with a range of leadership techniques & marketing tools which they can implement immediately and a contact network that will stay with them for life.

Meet the Scholars 2011

• Adam Henderson – Jaguar Cars, Global Brand Partnership Manager for Land Rover and Range Rover
• Alex Sonnenberg – Tuenti, Acquisition Manager
• Alfredo Garicoche – BT Plc, General Manager – Broadband Acquisitions
• Alina Eagle – Mindshare, Account Manager
• Alison Esposti – Naim Audio Ltd, Marketing Manager
• Bryn Snelson – eHarmony.com, Head of Marketing
• Charlotte Greenaway – O2, Digital Marketing Manager
• Chris Dodson – Concept Cupboard, Co-Founder & Managing Director
• Daniel Chidley – DGCC Ltd, Sales & Marketing Manager
• David Son – DWP, Communications Manager
• Emanuel Gavert – Kraft, Innovation Manager
• Emily Harlock – AMV BBDO, Account Planner
• Gregor Lawson – Morphsuits, Co-Owner & Marketing Director
• Helen Lawrence – ASOS, Marketing Manager for New Platforms
• Imogen Landy – M&C Saatchi, Account Director
• James Butcher – Microsoft, Bing & MSN Marketing Manager
• Jonny Miles-Prouten – Proximity, Senior Account Director
• Josh Connell – Livity, Account Manager
• Karla Paff – Shelter, Brand Manager
• Maria Nolan – Retail Category Marketing Manager, Service and Services for Sony Consumer Electronics
• Mark Chamberlain – Millward Brown, Account Director
• Mark Paterson – Cadbury Dairy Milk, Assistant Brand Manager
• Masha Voskresenska – Johnson & Johnson, Category Solutions Manager
• Nick Payman – Arsenal Football Club, Membership Marketing Manager
• Paul Ridsdale – ITV, Head of Marketing
• Phil Mitchelson – News International, Senior Digital Marketing Manager
• Sarah Ellis – Sainsburys, Head of Content
• Sarah Tate – Google UK, Agency Search Manager
• Selina Sykes – Unilever, Marketing Manager – Lynx
• Sorcha Harriman-Smith – Childrensalon, Ecommerce Director

TH: What’s Merlin’s Apprentice?

SS: Merlin’s Apprentice is our newest programme and to our knowledge it’s a unique initiative. We’re providing fully funded 12 month Marketing Apprenticeships for disadvantaged young people aged 18 to 24 and currently not in employment, education or training (NEETs) who may normally be overlooked for such work experience.

The apprentices are placed in a host organisation in a specific role within the marketing, advertising or communications sector. Merlin’s Apprenticeship provides on-the-job learning, world class training, and marketing qualifications and equips the Apprentices with the confidence and self-belief to build a successful career in marketing.

We’re working in partnership with The Princes Trust and the CIM and our first ‘sponsors’ are News International.

TH: How do you go about identifying the apprentices?

SS: For the pilot programme we are identifying potential apprentices from the group of young adults who have been through the Princes Trust programmes. When we roll out the scheme later this year we’ll be also be working with other youth charities.

Each apprentice will be selected for the specific role available within the ‘Host’ company. To be awarded an Apprenticeship each applicant must undergo a selection process which allows them to highlights their skills, experiences and passion as well as showing their interest in a marketing career.

TH: Who attends The Merlin Lectures and what speakers have you had recently?

SS: The Merlin Lectures were created as a way to open some of our learning opportunities to a wider audience. The Merlin Lectures are free events which run throughout the year and are hosted by inspirational business leaders, speakers & industry guru’s. Recent Merlin Lecturers have included Rory Sutherland, Vice Chair of Ogilvy Group UK, Richard Jolly, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School, Mark Ritson columnist of Marketing Week & Robert Senior EMEA CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi. All scholarship nominees are sent invitations and followers of our social media groups are also able to request tickets.

TH: What is unique about your role within the marketing industry?

SS: We are entirely non-commercial and exist with the single aim of identifying and developing the future leadership pipeline for the UK. In total we have over 130 people and 30 companies involved in the Academy who all share their knowledge, insight and experience for no commercial gain.

To our knowledge we’re the only organisation providing learning, shared knowledge and best practice to all sectors, client and agency side, without charge.

Because of this we’re privileged to be able to unite the collective resources of the associations, societies and industry bodies that surround Marketing and bring them together with a common purpose. We’re working in true collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the Marketing Society, the Institute of Direct Marketing, the Mobile Marketing Association, the Association of Marketing Agencies and ISBA to name just a few.

TH: Prior to the Marketing Academy, did you ever work in the industry either as a client or at an agency? Was this a help or a hindrance?

SS: I’ve never worked in the marketing industry period! Which in hindsight was a good thing, I came in with very few limiting assumptions about what could be achieved and no expectations of potential barriers. I just had an unshakable belief that the Academy was needed and structure of it would work. This meant I had absolutely no reservations about pitching it to some extremely senior people, was not remotely shy about seeking advice and given that it was such a unique concept (with absolutely no resources at the beginning) I had no fear of asking for help – and as every person and company I met was asked to ‘do something for nothing’ it was probably just as well!

TH: What does success mean to you?

SS: I would like for the Academy Scholarship to be regarded as a kite mark for outstanding leadership in Marketing. I want both Brands and Agency’s to have an expectation that at least one person in their team or company is involved in the Academy in some way. Ultimately success will be demonstrated by how many of our Academy Alumni become the best they can possible be and populate the boardrooms of the future.

Thank you Sherilyn

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Nick Howe, Managing Director of Uniform.

Nick Howe, Managing Director of Uniform

Nick established Uniform in 1998, with partners Pete Thomas and Nick Bentley. Since then it has grown from a three-man team to a 20+ strong brand communications agency with a turnover over £1.5m. Nick graduated from Liverpool John Moore’s University with a degree in Product Design & Marketing. Nick now focuses on strategic development and leading the agency, as well as getting involved in Uniform’s key branding projects.

 Heavily involved in the wider design community, Nick is on DBA and D&AD NW advisory boards, LJMU Design Academy advisory board and he also founded the Design Symposium North with Simon Rhodes of Smiling Wolf. Uniform is the only Liverpool design agency to be named in the Design Week, Top 100 Design groups in the UK survey.

TH: Nick, what does the Liverpool brand stand for?

NH: Creativity, heritage, vibrancy, entrepreneurialism. It’s always been at the edge – geographically and culturally; it’s got a distinct and individual brand personality and a cultural micro-climate.

If you look at the city skyline from the River Mersey it’s breathtaking. You see the Three Graces, the Albert Dock and the cathedrals. It represents a strong, confident and bold brand, and one that is thankfully beginning to rediscover its confidence again. It’s getting its mojo back!

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

NH: It sends out all the right signals. Confident, single-minded and determined to make things happen.

Any shift that brings quicker decision-making and a more progressive attitude is good news for business and we’d welcome that. There’s still a great deal of physical change planned for the city region, including the £4.5bn Wirral Waters and £5.5bn Liverpool Waters developments by Peel. Entrepreneurs, investors and tourists will be attracted to a city that is dynamic. A mayor with a can do, confident and ambitious attitude will help spearhead that change.

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool globally, what would you focus on?

NH: Few cities in the UK have the landmarks of Liverpool. It has got an iconic waterfront that few can compete with, add the two cathedrals and theatres and galleries and it’s a compelling weekend break for tourists.

From a business perspective, it can build on this as a place where you would like to live and work. The great cities of the world, from Barcelona to San Francisco, are places you want to visit, and then want to stay. They have the same energy and fluidity that Liverpool has. Liverpool should carry itself as bold, confident and a great place to live and do business.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

NH: Our creative output is influenced by our attitude, our ambition and our confidence, very much like we see the Liverpool of the future. Its heritage still has a strong influence, both as a working class dockland city and as a culturally significant hub. Cities by the sea are different, and Liverpool has enormous wide influences affecting it. For us, being based in Liverpool means that we are ploughing our own furrow, not following the herd like many in London for example. And our influences are global rather than local.

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

NH: I don’t think it’s a case of consider using Liverpool agencies, but more a case of not limiting yourself to using London agencies. We’ve attracted talent from across the country – and internationally – because we’ve established a reputation for innovation and creativity. There are some great agencies in London, Manchester and in Scotland, but a senior marketer put it simply: “At Uniform you’re willing to invest in quality to be at the forefront. You never seem to be looking over your back at what the others are doing, which means you’ve never let geography get in the way. You just get on with it, which is probably why you win work from Denmark to Canada.”

TH: What makes your agency offer different?                                      

NH: Our process and depth of thinking is second to none, combine this with the mix of skills across the agency and our commitment to research and innovation, and you have something quite unique. It’s also about the culture and the fact that we’re based in Liverpool, clients are often surprised when they discover we’re not based in London!

Over the last 18 months, our research and development platform, ULAB has been making waves. Bringing innovation to client accounts as well as self directed projects has set us apart, with coverage everywhere from BBC Worldwide, to FastCo and Wired. This work specifically has seen us invited to speak and show projects at both SxSW in March, and Future Everything later this year.

“Uniform is an award-winning strategic brand communications agency based in Liverpool. Most of our clients are national or international. The company is 12 years old, employs 25 full-time staff, and has worked with brands ranging from Unilever, Carlsberg and Center Parcs to property group Westfield. Our philosophy is simple. We believe that every brand is a story waiting to be told.(You can watch our philosophy film at: http://www.uniform.net/) Over the last 18 months, our research and development platform, ULAB has been making waves. By bringing innovation to client accounts, as well as self directed projects, this has set us apart with coverage everywhere from BBC Worldwide, to FastCo and Wired. This work specifically has seen us invited to speak and show projects at both SxSW in March, and Future Everything later this year”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why? 

NH: Liverpool FC for obvious reasons! Warburtons quietly becoming the biggest bread brand in the UK and staying true to its northern roots, Booths supermarkets for doing it that little bit better than everyone else, Peel for its single minded ambition with projects like Liverpool & Wirral Waters, and Co-operative for its ethical approach to business.

TH: What business would you most like to win?                                      

NH: A major drinks brand. Off the back of experience and recent work for Carlsberg, there is so much opportunity to deliver great experiential projects and it’s a sector that is hungry for innovation and open to doing things differently.

TH: Thanks Nick!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Jon Brown, Managing Partner at Paver Smith.

Jon Brown, Managing Partner at Paver Smith

Jon Brown is managing partner of PR and creative agency Paver Smith. He spent a career in newspapers before crossing to the dark side in 2007.

TH: Jon, what does the Liverpool brand stand for?

JB: What it stands for and what it ought to stand for are two separate things. It ought to stand for enterprise, culture, internationalism and glorious independence. All the things, in fact, which made it famous in the 19th century. It’s not quite there yet so for Liverpool, the next decade must be about going back to the future, using the assets which drove its rise to pre-eminence a hundred-plus years ago to drive its current renaissance.

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

JB: Our mayor will have considerable additional leverage – financial and political – to cut through the pan-regional politics which have hampered the city’s efforts in the past. Our attack brand is Liverpool, not Southport, not St Helens, not the Wirral. Our mayor will be empowered to ensure marketing spend is focused on Liverpool – not that most pointless of concepts, Merseyside. 

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool globally, what would you focus on?

JB: Twenty-odd years ago, I lived in Sudan and Ethiopia. Mention the word Liverpool in downtown Addis Ababa or Khartoum and there is instant recognition because of the Beatles and Liverpool Football Club. It remains the same today. We frequently risk ignoring the obvious, focusing instead on niche offers in the mistaken belief that the Beatles and football are old hat. There’s more to the city than that, of course, but if Liverpool isn’t about truly world-class culture – sport, music, amazing art galleries and museums – then I don’t know what it is about.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

JB: I’m not sure it does – except to say there’s an amazing pool of talented freelancers in the city and you can always find the right man or woman for the job in hand.

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

JB: We’re cheaper! Seriously, while we have an office in London and one in Manchester as well, we’re very conscious that we’re not burdened with London premium overheads. It makes a difference to margin and to price.

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

JB: Nothing. We live in an increasingly flat world and agencies which boast about being ‘unique’ are invariably bullshitting. 

“We manage our clients’ reputations by helping the media report the positive things they do and by distributing client content via various on-line platforms. As a result, our clients sell more of the goods and services they provide. Benchmarks such asInvestors in People, the Consultancy Management Standard and ISO 14001 have underpinned our commitment to excellence and environmental responsibility. Meanwhile, our 60 point CPD programme ensure a continuously improving stock of knowledge and skills: quality inputs always result in quality outputs”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why?

JB: The one that’s caught my eye recently is the Chester-based Reel Fish Company, which sells line-caught tuna. Brilliant positioning and, from everything I’ve read, run by lovely people who have married principles and profit in a union of perfect harmony.

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you?

JB: I don’t think any marketer has ever inspired me. A couple of journalists have though, including Mark Dickinson, former editor in chief at publisher Trinity Mirror, and Paul Horrocks, former editor of the Manchester Evening News. Both somewhat old school but understood their readers instinctively.

TH: What business would you most like to win?

JB: The Reel Fish Company! Also, a small technology business at Daresbury Science and Innovation Campus which is about to develop a diagnostic device which will transform the global TB pandemic. I think I’d work for them for free in fact.

TH: Thanks Jon!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Bryan Adams, Founder and CEO of Ph.Creative.

Bryan Adams, Founder and CEO of Ph.Creative

Bryan Adams is the Founder and CEO of the Online marketing agency Ph.Creative. Since March 2004 Bryan has seen the digital landscape change and evolve including the introduction of e-commerce, social media and now mobile and mobile-commerce.

 Bryan has consulted and worked for  brands such as MasterCard, Dominos, Bupa and Somerfield as well as many many SME’s and this year his agency have been appointed as the Google legacy partner agency of 2012 in the northwest in a bid to support the Google ‘Get British Business Online’ campaign. 

 Bryan is starting to become known as a thought leader and is passionate about entrepreneurship, digital communications and effective online business development.

TH: Bryan, what does the Liverpool brand stand for? 

BA: I think until recently this has been a little vague, however the leadership seems to be as strong as ever and we’ve clearly set our stall out as an entrepreneurial Daring, Caring and sharing international city.

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

BA: Yes. It’s imperative Liverpool keeps momentum rolling and with one, strong, clear voice representing us and supporting the new ‘Marketing Liverpool’ plan, we can continue to evolve the our city’s brand perception and continue to grow the local economy.

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool globally, what would you focus on? 

BA: Producing young talent for skilled jobs and more entrepreneurs.  I would focus on supporting key  sectors such as creative and digital, renewable energy/Green and tourism by encouraging more private investment.

I would also like to see a ‘buy local’ culture develop in Liverpool too.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output? 

BA: Liverpool is an inspiring, friendly city that seems to have been continually punching above its weight of late – there’s a lesson in their somewhere. In general, the attitude amongst the business community is positive and inclusive yet competitive which is conducive to healthy continual improvement for us all. The music scenes and arts & culture is also an ever present reminder that if you dare to think differently you can produce bigger and better results.

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies? 

BA: Liverpool agencies have upped their game over the last 5 years to a point now where we’re every inch as creative and capable as any London agency. I would say our friendly, down to earth customer service shines through and of course we’re typically cheaper too…all for the sake of a 2hr 10min train journey.

TH: What makes your agency offer different? 

BA: We’re confident enough to predict hard noised business results and then we strive to achieve them. We have a very balanced approach to brand experience (top class design) and return on investment. We also stay ahead of the curve with technology and digital strategy which directly benefits our clients and partners.

“Whether you want a website for lead generation, e-commerce , a microsite or a website re-design. Our design and development team will work with you to create the best possible solution”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why? 

BA: Bibby Line Group – they’re a monster that keeps on growing and giving back. JMU adds so much value to the business community and is a credit to our city. Matalan are also a fantastic success story and they’ve stayed local which is always nice to see. 

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you? 

BA: Google’ Dave, sitting opposite me as I write this – he keeps me on my toes and continually surprises me with his strategic insights and approach to digital marketing. We’re a good team.   

TH: What business would you most like to win?

BA: I would like to be a lead consulting agency for ‘Marketing Liverpool’. I would take so much pride in working directly towards promoting our city. I would also like to work with Virgin –  I think they would be a fun team to work alongside. 

TH: Thanks Bryan!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Richard Clein MCIPR and Bell Pottinger North.

Richard Clein MCIPR and Bell Pottinger North

Richard is a former BBC journalist and broadcaster who heads up Bell Pottinger North’s Liverpool office and is recognised as being one of the most influential people in the industry having been listed in the PR Week Power Book. He has proven experience of working with both the public and private sector and is a specialist in managing and enhancing reputations particularly at times of crisis. This includes advising and acting as official spokesman for Gillian Gibbons, the British teacher jailed in Sudan for letting her primary school class name a teddy bear “Mohammed” and advising Oldham Council after a high profile court case collapsed. For three years, Richard managed the account for Liverpool Primary Care Trust (PCT) which included handling the media relations for the PCT’s public health programmes and for the multi award winning Liverpool’s Challenge, Lose a Million campaign, the biggest social marketing campaign in the UK. Most recently Richard was seconded to Stepping Hill hospital to head up the communications after saline had been contaminated.

TH: Richard, what does the Liverpool brand stand for?

RC: Liverpool’s strength is its people and their friendliness and that is what it’s best known for. It’s a welcoming and wondrous place.

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

RC: Despite having more power, I don’t think he will have any more influence than the Leader of the Council currently does. The likely winner will be one of the candidates who is currently a councillor not the “star” name or non-politician similar elections across the UK have attracted. This suggests the elected Mayor will be the figurehead just as the Leader of the Council currently is when on scouting missions abroad. The reality is that some of the places Liverpool does and seeks to do business in are far more impressed with such visits being led by the “ceremonial” Lord Mayor which remains.

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool globally, what would you focus on?

RC: The people, the architecture, the heritage (including musical and sporting), the quality of life.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

RC: You need to be creative to survive in Liverpool as there is so much available to businesses on their doorsteps (literally).

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

RC: You will get the same, maybe an even better, level of expertise for a cheaper price – but beware of cheap imitations.

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

RC: We are the biggest agency in the North with offices in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. We are also, part of the UK’s number one communications group Bell Pottinger, able to seamlessly put together bespoke teams as appropriate.

“A PR company with a wealth of talent and a FRESH approach to PR in Manchester, Leeds and Liverpool. We pride ourselves on our strategic vision, industry understanding and ability to deliver memorable PR campaigns using a bespoke blend of communication tactics and channels. Key to our success and the success that we can deliver for you, are our great people who have the dynamism, skills and contacts to catapult your business into the spotlight for all the right reasons and to manage and protect your reputation in difficult times”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why? 

RC: The obvious ones are Littlewoods which has successfully moved with the times and Jaguar which continues to thrive (recently announcing 1000 new jobs).

But there are also the entrepreneurs who have succeeded from humble beginnings for example Home Bargains, Matalan and Cream as well as the new breed.

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you?

RC: My inspiration comes from the many people in Liverpool who battle and defy the odds on a daily basis.

TH: What business would you most like to win?

RC: From start-ups to multi-nationals, we work with businesses of all shapes and sizes. More and more of our business is managing reputations and preparing and dealing with crises.

We have already worked with some of the biggest brands and key influencers in the city most recently working with Liverpool Vision on handling media relations for the Global Entreprenuership Congress attended by 3000 delegates from 120 countries.

There isn’t really a wish list as such but those who share our passion and values tend to find us …eventually.

TH: Thanks Richard!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Jon Egan, Head of Strategy at Aurora Media.

Jon Egan, Head of Strategy at Aurora Media

Jon is Managing Director of Aurora Media, a Liverpool-based full service communications agency. Aurora’s cultural clients include Liverpool Biennial and the public art think tank Ixia. Jon played a key role designing and delivering the communication strategy that secured Liverpool its European Capital of Culture title in 2008 . More recently Aurora were appointed to help the city of Liverpool develop a new creative framework to integrate its inward investment and tourism marketing activity.

 Jon has worked in PR, marketing and public affairs for over 25 years, but began his working life in arts development at Merseyside County Council. He was an elected member of Halton Borough Council for ten years, during which time he was a local authority representative on the North West Arts Board. Jon has remained passionately involved in Liverpool’s cultural and creative life as a member of the Open Eye Board, through his professional work and as a recording and (very occasionally) performing musician

TH: Jon, what does the Liverpool brand stand for?

JE: There has been a huge amount of research undertaken by the city’s promotional and inward investment agencies around the Liverpool brand both before and after 2008. All of this has coalesced around words like creativity and dynamism, but these words don’t really have any meaning or impact. They have been appropriated by virtually every other city and repeated ad nauseam in place marketing campaigns across the globe. We have got to try and find a more original way of communicating originality. In a homogenized world Liverpool is still a city with a distinctive accent and attitude. What makes Liverpool different is that it is different. It feels different, it sounds different and it looks different. It’s less polished, less self-conscious, less rehearsed and never quite finished off. Philosophically brands are presented as being the immutable essence of a product or place. It’s a kind of Platonic idea, but Liverpool’s brand defies that model. Liverpool is pre-Socratic; it’s flux, unpredictable and slightly disconcerting.

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool, globally, what would you focus on?

JE: Surprising people! When we launched the creatives for the it’s liverpool / i’m liverpool campaign, we related a story by Milan Kundera about the man who fell over in the street. A man falls over on his way home from work and cracks his head on the pavement. After dusting himself down and wiping the blood from his head, he goes home and gets on with his life. At that precise moment an internationally renowned photographer passes by, on the other side of the street. He captures the image and makes it the centre-piece of his big global exhibition and best-selling book. This is the moment when the man and his image become tragically separated. Liverpool is the city that fell over in the street. Its’ external image is fixed in a series of snap shot images, and not all of them are especially flattering or accurate. The journalist and Mayoral candidate Liam Fogarty described Liverpool as the “city that rewards investigation.” This sentence provided us with the direction for the work we have been doing with Liverpool Vision on their Liverpool Plan. In very simple terms Liverpool needs to start telling people things that they don’t already know, and one of those things is that it is an exceptionally beautiful and visually dramatic city.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

JE: That’s almost impossible to quantify. The Liverpool Biennial has featured a program of collaborations called “Cities on The Edge.” It explores the affinity that exists between port cities that have similar rebellious, creative and counter-cultural personalities. Places like Marseilles, Seattle, San Francisco, Naples, Rotterdam and Barcelona. One theory is that port cities are melting pots for ideas and cultures, they are places where things never quite settle. I think it might also have something to do with Marshall McLuhan’s ideas about right hemisphere thinking and what he called acoustic space. Ports face outwards they are perched on the edge of a vast formless abyss. It’s an omnipresent reminder that there no limits,

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

JE: An original perspective. To paraphrase Steve Jobs – a great spiritual Scouser  – we think different.

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

JE: It’s a good question and it’s something we have been asking ourselves a lot over the last 12 months. It’s led us to the threshold of creating a new entity with a much clearer sense of mission. We were hugely inspired by Bruce Mau when he came to Liverpool last year to lead on a project to re-imagine an inner city park. It confirmed our own growing cynicism about the ideology of traditional marketing and PR. It led us to redefine our own offer and stop describing our business by the tools we use (PR, design, new media etc) and instead concentrate on the essential creative process. What we do really boils down to two things: helping people discover who they are and helping them develop relationships through communicating that identity authentically and imaginatively.

The new entity which we are launching later this month will be called Intelligence Agency. Of course there is a bit of irony in the title, but it’s still more accurate and descriptive. It will also give us more room to discover surprising solutions to problems. As Mau observes sometimes the prescription to the client is not about changing communication, it’s about changing behavior. This has certainly been true with respect to the work we have been doing recently with Liverpool city on its cultural programming. Actually it is the breadth and ambition of its future events, and particularly the proposal to replace the Mathew Street nostalgia-fest with an international music and interactive festival on the model of SXSW, that will convince people that the city still has a creative pulse and a global perspective.

“As a full service agency we are adept at providing clients with public affairs advice, PR strategies, design creatives, branding concepts, digital media solutions and broadcast quality films. Architects and developers, charities and hospitals, recycling companies and restaurants are amongst those who have chosen to work with us”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why? 

JE: I love the work of Jon Barraclough who helped found two of the city’s most consistently inventive agencies, Nonconform and Smiling Wolf.  Jon is both a visionary and a master craftsman. He has produced some beautiful brands for cultural institutions like the Bluecoat Gallery and an exquisite original typography for Liverpool Cathedral.

There has been some very creative and brilliantly executed life-style brands emerge in Liverpool over the last few years. Hope St Hotel must be the only hotel in the UK that has a Creative Director in Mary Coulston, but her focus on art directing every aspect of customer experience is the key to the success of their product. Similarly Natalie Haywood’s LEAF cafe is a phenomenal success predicated on an entirely original idea (it’s a cafe, live venue, cultural salon, reading room…) and an exquisitely choreographed brand.

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you?

JE: Jon Barraclough, and more recently another free-lance designer and creative Chris Blackhurst. We worked with both of them on theit’s liverpool project and also worked with Chris on the Show Your Beautiful Face  campaign in North Liverpool. I love Chris’s restlessness and impatience. He is an ex-architect, former journalist and will probably be an opera singer this time next year. One of the big motivations for our new business is the desire to work in a looser and more collaborative way with people like Chris and Jon.

TH: What business would you most like to win?

JE: The sort of jobs that really inspire and excite us are about rehabilitating and renewing failing brands or lost causes. We did a piece of work for the Equality Trust earlier this year to present a make-believe campaign to a conference of policy-makers on the issue of social inequality. It has led to two really interesting and challenging briefs working with the TUC and International CND. The TUC project is about developing creatives for a campaign that challenges the economic values of The Coalition and their austerity programme. We did some ad van designs for The Labour Party in the last few days of the 2010 election campaign. It’s depressing how those warning messages about three million people out of work have come to fruition so quickly. 

These would be fantastic projects to win. They pose enormous creative challenges, but they are also causes that matter. I know there are a lot of agencies who can and will turn their skills to any prospective account, but we have got to believe in what we are doing.  

TH: Thanks Jon!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Matthew Blanchard, Founder of The Lucid Agency.

Matthew Blanchard, Founder of The Lucid Agency

Matthew Blanchard is the founder of ‘The Lucid Agency’, having graduated with a degree in Business Management at 21 he enrolled on a graduate business scheme and began a clothing label called ‘Guilt Edged’. Having spent a year developing the brand, he went on to win best new business with the brand in 2008 and ‘Guilt Edged’ today still remains the holding name of the group. During this time he was also establishing the agency side of the business, which began creating both brands and websites with a focus on fashion and events clients in 2007. Fast forward to today, at the tender age of 26 he has grown ‘The Lucid Agency’ rapidly and has worked for some of the worlds biggest brands including The BBC, Lego, London Fashion Weekend, Art13 and Prudential to name a few. Matthew is now firmly set on the agency servicing an international client base and spends his time working with clients from as far a field as New York and Sydney. He sites the focus over the next few years being on the agencies digital offering in mobile, web and online marketing. Bringing design and technology together in harmony to create digital applications and strategies that both look beautiful and work equally as well for their clients. That along with a strong focus on customer service he says is the key.

 TH: Matthew, what does the Liverpool brand stand for?

MB: Liverpool has well and truly weathered some tough and challenging times over the past few decades, something its people are rightly proud of and this, I think, is at the crux of the city’s brand. Preconceived ideas from the uninitiated revolve around football, the Beatles, and the indomitable ‘scouse’ stereotype of course, however just one visit to the city reveals how much more it has to offer.

The city has been given an amazing opportunity to shape a new identity; generous attention and funding from Europe and Grosvenor and the regeneration that has transformed the city centre and surrounding areas mean that Liverpool now more than ever has a chance to redefine what it stands for and build on what is a great history and culture.

The utmost respect still has to be paid to The Beatles and what they have done for the city, the same must be said for the globally renowned football clubs; these are brands that will be undoubtedly difficult to top. However, the regeneration of Liverpool, the melting pot it always has been and the modern cultural hub it is quickly becoming will need to soon become much more prominent in the branding of the city, its vibrancy and variety is something to be shouted about!

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

MB: This is the subject hot on everyone’s lips at the moment in Liverpool… who is going to be Mayor? So right now having not seen how a mayor operates in a city I can’t really say. But I would like to think that a Mayor can help to centralize what the city has on offer and that he or she can listen to local business and cultural leaders to help clearly define what it is and isn’t that Liverpool would like to be known for both nationally and internationally.

They will hopefully form a select panel of individuals from across the board, that I personally would be happy to sit on. That would bring ideas and inspiration from the key sectors, for any city or business to market itself well all departments need to be clearly defined and they need to compliment each other and work together. United we stand, divided we fall.

Key to the future of the city now is enterprise and entrepreneurship and this is being pushed a lot in the City. But there can never be too much in my opinion, the big brands have all come to the city now and they have showed their support and given the Liverpool One Shopping area a strong retail space that any city would be proud of. In doing that though the rest of the City has lost a lot of shops and certain areas have started to slip. I would love to see more independent stores, restaurants, agencies and so on open up in these areas and see a mayor in total support of initiatives like this, helping young businesses to get the funding to do things properly.

When you travel to a different city, you do so to experience a different culture, to buy different things that you’ve never seen in your city, to see different art and to leave that city feeling as though you noticed it’s identity not that it felt exactly like the last one you visited. The danger of big brands and the corporate world is that they can homogenise areas and city centres and there is no reason to then visit them. I mean when you flick through a Wallpaper Guide you don’t look for the nearest Tesco in the city you are discovering or search out the part of the city where the shopping area for chain stores is located.

We’ve done the homogenisation bit, now we need to focus on the identity of the city, it’s independent businesses and what they can offer tourists and people from outside the city coming in. So that when those people leave the city they are talking about it, tweeting pictures of it, pinning images of it on Pinterest and Facebooking their friends that they need to go and see it for themselves. A city is just like any brand, for it to be a success people need to engage with it, they need to relate to it, they need to talk about it and they need to understand and love it. They are the brands that succeed and they too are the City’s that succeed too.

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool globally, what would you focus on?

MB: As a full service agency we would focus on Liverpool’s brand and it’s digital offering (website, apps, etc). I think Liverpool maybe needs to step away from the ‘Liver Birds’ emblem and maybe needs to reinvent itself a little. Liverpool has changed, it has grown and it is different. We are only at the very beginning of it’s metamorphosis in my opinion, but we need to tell the world we have changed and it needs to be a great brand when we do.

I love the work that Landor did on Melbourne City in Australia’s rebrand. They created a device that morphs into each different identity that the City possesses. Maybe that is what Liverpool needs to do.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

MB: Liverpool is a beautiful city, it has some great buildings, beaches and generally quite a relaxed feel to it when you come back up from London. I think that relaxed feeling helps creative output and not forgetting that we have the only Tate outside of London, a trip to the Tate on a Sunday afternoon can give you that sometimes much needed injection of creative spirit. My close friend and a budding short film director in the City recently sent me the quote.. “Basic purpose of art; to make man feel less alone” that’s so true. Recently the Open Eye Gallery moved to the Mann Island development and I love what they are doing with that place too, so that’s now on the list when I’ve got a spare moment. 

I think we just need more of that kind of thing, galleries, more independent stores, agencies with a face in the city. When you visit places like Amsterdam, Berlin, Antwerp, London or Sydney you can look in and see what’s going on, I like that. More independent coffee shops, restaurants and bars too, the later maybe less so than the first few, because let’s face it one of the most inspiring things is seeing what other people are doing.

Liverpool is ultimately a cheap city to work in too, which certainly helps any creative business with it’s output as it keeps overheads low and ideas running high. Creative output is hugely about being free and if you are constrained and locked up in a room because it’s the only place you can afford to be, then your creative juices are going to run dry. So finally on that point I’d have to say Liverpool is a great city to live and work in for travel. It has a great short haul airport ‘John Lennon’ and a great long haul international airport just around the corner. London is 2hours on the train, a shorter commute than some of our clients have in to work within London. I like to get away and see other City’s and cultures as much as possible and living and being based as an agency in Liverpool has allowed me to do that. Most of our work in all honesty comes from outside the city, with the majority of it being in London. But there is nothing stopping us, I take weekly trips on the train to the Capital and we meet with clients from as far a field as New York and Sydney regularly.

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

MB: I think the first impression is always that if you source work from Liverpool agencies or agencies in the North that they will be cheaper and I think there is some truth in that. We definitely have lower over heads in terms of office space, that coupled with the lower cost of living means that employees of agencies are prepared to be paid a little less than if they have to live in the capital.

However I would like to think we have more than just price on offer. I think there a number of Liverpool agencies, us being one of them that can stand up to the task on any level of project that big London agencies can and that’s what matters to the client. Like I mentioned earlier, travel around the country is easy from Liverpool and London is only 2 hours away. Any agency based in a City like Liverpool should be prepared to travel and accommodate clients wherever they may be. We are now attracting work internationally in New York, Sydney as well as working with brands in France, New Zealand, Denmark to name a few.

I believe Liverpool agencies like ours are open minded and willing enough to do what it takes to get there and that our new portfolio and client list that we are due to release proves that.

So clients don’t be afraid to try a Liverpool agency, many of our clients have done just that and I think they have been pleased with the results so far.

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

MB: The agency began really with a firm base in the fashion world and has grown from there. Fashion has always been close to my heart and has always been something that I have tried to keep running through the agency from day one. We still work with some great brands in the fashion world like ‘London Fashion Weekend’ and the British Fashion Council. As well as some more cutting edge smaller brands like ‘Cassius’ an eyewear brand from New Zealand and ‘Waiting for The Sun’ from Paris. Charlotte Taylor is a ‘Young British Designer’ based in London that we have worked with and supported since day one and I love everything she does. It’s great to see young brands develop and succeed, that’s close to my heart. Not to mention a big fashion website we are working on that is top secret at the moment, that brings fashion retail brands together. So I would definitely say our fashion offering and knowledge is something that makes us different. Coupled with our love for tech and futures, which is definitely a unique offer as I’d say my feet lay firmly in both camps. A digital platform HAS to look pixel perfect, astonishing and beautiful, but it too has to function, serve information and perform as well as it looks too. So I think we are definitely an agency split firmly down the middle in bringing both design and technology together. I like form and function to be equally considered and so our team of developers are focused on delivering just that. What use is a great looking website, if you can’t find anything on it. But directly parallel to that, what use is an amazing app if it is not pixel perfect and isn’t beautiful to look at.

We offer a broad spectrum of services that includes web, mobile, brand & creative, marketing and consultancy as well as occasionally getting involved in very special cases with interiors. Not one of those offerings isn’t carefully considered before we step into it and take it on, working in partnership where we see needed to ensure that the client gets expert advice, service and skills in anything that we offer. If I am not 100% confident that we cannot deliver, we won’t take it on. That’s policy.

“Lucid is a Creatively-Led Design Agency, with a passion for both Design and Business. We love Creating, Creativity, Creatives and Creativeness, but we also understand in the world we operate in, that the commercial viability of a business, as well as how good it looks, is important. We seek to continuously deliver engaging, effective solutions for our Clients by always trying to understand their needs and areas of expertise”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why?  

MB: Christopher Shannon, not strictly local brand as he’s based in London, but he is a Liverpool lad and is doing great things as an emerging designer in the fashion scene both in the capital and globally. I love the Leaf brand too and what they’ve done for the city as a whole bringing something new to Liverpool that it needed.

Domingo Rodriguez is a fashion designer, who I have worked with on fashion projects at the agency. He graduated at LJMU and received a scholarship to LCF in London, where he is now based. He’s produced collections for ASOS and worked alongside some big names in the fashion world. He is still very young and I know he and his brand have what it takes to make it.

I hugely respect the work of John Hargreaves and what he’s done with the Matalan brand over the past 30 years.

Harking back to the past growing up, the independent fashion department store Wade Smith was a real source of inspiration in a small city, the Wade Smith family did great things giving back to the community in terms of regeneration in the early stages of Liverpool’s development; after selling up to Arcadia, the brand faded which was a real loss to the Liverpudlian entrepreneurial spirit. I know the Wade Smith family are still doing things in the city with fashion and I would love to see more of that.

Obviously, I have to mention Unilever who I have great respect for as an international heavyweight, especially since they were given a face by branding experts Wolf Ollins.

One to definitely look out for in the future is ‘Camp & Furnace’ having visited them last week for a guided tour of what they have to offer. Anyone who is interested in the arts, fashion, music, food, drink, Liverpool and I would think the UK’s first ‘Caravan Hotel’ you really must keep your finger on the pulse with what this place is doing.

Circus and Chibuku are great brands for our city’s music offering and Rich McGuiness has always had his finger firmly on the pulse there. With brands like Shipping Forecast bringing something new and unique to the city.

Form is a brand we built from the ground up with its owner/director Jamie and I not only love what they do because they are a client, but because of their keen eye for great commercial furniture brands. Something that my other half might say I am mildly obsessed or a geek about. Just recently they became the dealer for Arper a fantastic account to have on board. So any agency or brand reading this should check out their website www.form-office.net if they are looking for something spectacular for their work space.

Liverpool Biennial have done some seriously amazing things in the city and I massively respect what they have done for the city. I look forward to what they have up their sleeve for the future; let’s hope they keep getting the amount of funding they need to do it.

Utility the furniture store has been around for a long time now and I think it’s great to see an indie brand like this, whose brand selection and buying is spot on. I just wish there was room for more stores like this.

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you?

MB: Form - Form is a great brand and a brand that we have been with since the very beginning. As I mentioned earlier furniture is a subject close to my heart as it is for many other people in the industry and so it is inspiring from that point of view. But it has also been inspiring to see Form develop through the hard work and dedication that Jamie the owner/director of Form has put in.

Skin Solutions - Another client and young successful company we work for ‘Skin Solutions’ has done really well in retail cosmetics over the past 5 years as a small start up, which now sells products like Xen-Tan exclusively into some the highest profile department stores like Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Natalie Roache the MD there is a driven, focused, young entrepreneur, who’s clear focus inspires me.

Apposing - Dave the MD of Apposing is a good friend and a business associate too. We have worked in partnership on a few projects and pitches and do join forces when we feel the fit is right for us and the client too. I have again watched him grow as a person and in business since we met some 4 or so years ago. We met when he was raising sponsorship to run the NY marathon for his dad who was at the time battling with Cancer and he ran the marathon in clothing that I donated to him from the fashion label side of the business that I was running at the time ‘Guilt Edged’. Dave has grown that business through his dad’s battle with cancer and unfortunately death, and through some other very challenging times and his journey has inspired me no end… Certainly one to watch out for in Liverpool.

He is again a focused and talented individual, who has a firm grasp of where he is going. I like that in people and it inspires me to do the same, sometimes there is so much to do or that you want to do it is easy to lose focus of what you are doing. You have to work to constantly re-align that direction and focus and make sure you are going in the right direction and that all you are doing is too channelled in that direction.

Press Glue - Jonathan Farber is the founder and brains behind ‘Press Glue’, a publishing platform aimed at educational establishments that draws parallels with ‘Wordpress’. I met Jonathan relatively recently, but in the short time I have known him I have enjoyed spending time with him as a client, but also someone who has a passion for both design and technology and is again totally focused. We recently started working with him and his team and I am excited to unveil what we have been working on with them in the coming months. He is a keen ‘TED’ talk watcher and is always full of ideas and directions he wants to take things in. We watched a great ‘TED’ talk last time we were together at their brand new offices in ‘Knutsford’ near Manchester, about businesses approach and whether they work from the inside (ideas, why they are doing what they do and passion) or from the outside (what they are doing it for, end goals and purely financially driven results). It was clear that we both saw the world through the same eyes from that meeting; I think when you partner up with your clients that is the key.

Ubiquity PR - Not a client, but someone I have known in the City since I began the business and someone that I think is a glue for the city is Joel Jelen. He runs a PR Agency called ‘Ubiquity’ and they work a lot in the food and drink arena. He’s someone who moved to Liverpool from London and he loves it here, we’ve talked a lot about that fact over the years too.

Family - I think finally I’d have to say my own family; especially my mother and father have inspired me as local marketers since an early age. Mum has served 30+ years as an Interior Designer and had a very successful career; she now works in the agency full time and is an inspiration to me every day. My father a colourful character, who has been involved in a huge variety of businesses, ventures and ideas since I can remember gave me a broad and eye opening outlook on life and business. So I would have to say they stand as the biggest and longest standing inspiration to me. My brother and business partner too is a daily inspiration to me, he is a sharp minded individual. We are a good team.

TH: What business would you most like to win?

MB: This is a really interesting question and one I had to stop and think about because there are so many great brands and businesses out there we would love to work with.

I think it’s very much a matter of reviewing the brief and really thinking whether we have something to offer that client that is going to wow them and their audience. If we feel we can do that, then I wouldn’t say there is a particular client we would like to win work from.

We work mostly in the following areas:

• Events
• The Arts (this is a new area for us and one that we are keen to work more in, having recently worked on the fairly high profile launch of ‘Art 13’, 
• Retail
• Fashion
• Cosmetics
• Home and Office Furnishings

 That said, I recently saw a briefing notice that British Land put out for a project in Leeds for a new shopping Centre they have built. The brief requires experience in fashion and retail. Something I would be very interested in the agency working on.

The Kooples a Parisian brand I have been tracking and following from their early days in Paris, alongside Cult brand ‘Surface to Air’ that I have long coveted the work of have recently opened a store in the City. Again great to see and a brand like this entering the city. It says a lot that they would put that much faith and investment into the city, it is a big risk for any brand to do that and it shows they believe in the city. I would love to work with them on their technology offer, I have so many ideas for a brand like that and what we could do with them.

Ultimate project though I think would have to be in web/mobile, designing, building and doing the UI/UX for a big gallery. I have always admired the work of London agency ‘The Bureau of Visual Affairs’ and the work they have done on websites like ‘The National Gallery’. I think that’s what we would love to get our teeth into. I love design that is useful and serves a purpose, design that improves the users experience and in something like the design of a gallery website it can be the most challenging environment to do that in.

TH: Thanks Matthew!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Phil Blything, Director of Glow New Media.

Phil Blything, Director of Glow New Media

Phil spent the last 15 years as an internet marketer working with governments, newspapers, universities and businesses, helping all of them succeed with digital communication. 

Before setting up Glow, Phil worked as Commercial Manager for the International Centre for Digital Content. Phil is actively involved with voluntary work and sits on the board of trustees for Mencap Liverpool.

Phil first got involved with the internet in ’96 when it was a relatively unfashionable part of the “Guerrilla Marketing Mix”, and has been fascinated ever since.

TH: Phil, what does the Liverpool brand stand for?

PB: Liverpool is one of very few UK cities which is well known outside the EU. Whether that’s because it’s the port that supplied the Empire, where the Football team come from or where the Beatles got their funny accents matters less than that it is fundamentally international.

Those glory days of empire are gone now – Liverpool took some very hard knocks in the 80’s and unfortunate characters like Yosser Hughes and Derek Hatton added a dark tang to perceptions of Liverpool – but like a good stilton, Liverpool’s flavour is far from boring.

Add recent renaissance successes – Culture year, cruise liners, Shanghai World Expo, Global Entrepreneurship Congress and you’ve got a new confidence and capability on top of the edgy creativity Liverpool is world famous for.

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

PB: Liverpool’s renaissance is not news to anyone who lives here. We’ve seen and enjoyed the last 10 years success. The problem is more of finding someone who can unite the disparate tribes and represent them credibly as “Liverpool” outside the city. The mayor needs bring those tribes together and represent them coherently to the outside world.

TH:  If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool globally, what would you focus on?

PB: Liverpool’s got personality and character in spades. The #itsliverpool campaign is currently giving voice to that… There are a great many positive stories to tell now too but if I had to pick on one theme, it would be how so many people are so surprised when they love Liverpool. “I had no idea this was here!” they say.

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

PB: Liverpool has a very big creative scene – it’s famous for it. It’s hard not to be influenced by that. The cultural assets are important too – Tate Liverpool, FACT, Biennial – They’re all within a few blocks of where we work – It’s nice to absorb that especially when the biennial is on – so many random creative things going on, We watched La machine from our office!

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

PB: Liverpool has amazing agencies – the work speaks for itself. But the city is under populated. 450,000 now as opposed to 900,000 in 1930. That means it costs a lot less to live here, than the capital for instance. What does that do to dayrate?

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

PB: We’ve all got about 15 years digital experience so we know what we’re doing in digital and we stick strictly to it. We’re picky about the briefs we work on. Our clients get to work with a director and they love having that experience on tap.

“Glow is an award winning Liverpool web design and digital marketing agency, set up by Phil Blything and Thom Shannon. We’re here to help you succeed and our small but fast growing team is highly focussed on doing just that. Working with clients throughout the UK, we have an impressive portfolio of varied projects each delivering clear benefits to our clients. Based in central Liverpool, in the historic Gostins Building, we’re easy to find”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why? 

PB: Liverpool School of Topical Medicine, because of the amazing work they do that makes an impact globally.

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you?

PB: Few locals have tenure like Jack Stopforth, with a long agency history and now heading up Liverpool Chamber.

Sean Marley and his team at Lime Pictures have dominated the world with TOWIE.

Kerrin MacPhie and the team at ACC Liverpool have put Liverpool firmly on the conference destination map

But top marks to Terry Leahy. Can a marketer be *too* successful?!

TH: What business would you most like to win?

Any of the above?

TH: Thanks Phil!

Here, Tom Holmes, creativebrief Founder & Chairman speaks to Richard Kenyon, Managing Director of Kenyon Fraser.

Richard Kenyon, Managing Director of Kenyon Fraser

Richard Kenyon is Managing Director at Kenyon Fraser, Liverpool’s largest and longest established marketing communications consultancy. Currently with over 90 clients and a team of approaching 30 staff the team work with clients across the public, private and not for profit sectors. The team has specialism in transport, health, sport and leisure and professional services.

Estimated revenue for this financial year £2.5M.

Richard is qualified with an MBA and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is Chair of CIM in Merseyside. He has over 10 years experience in marketing.

TH: What does the Liverpool brand stand for?

RK: Dynamism and culture, with all its facets.

But what is important about the brand isn’t just what it stands for – the distillation of a vibrant and influential history linked to a positive present and future – but its visibility. Liverpool is a global brand – a status many other European cities can only envy, and spend millions trying to acquire.

In terms of strength of the brand we have found more challenges in the UK than the worldwide audience.

TH: If you were responsible for marketing Liverpool, globally, what would you focus on?

RK: It’s a job any marketer would love, of course, and in a sense we and all the other firms who market Liverpool organisations are contributing to that global marketing process, to some extent. But if I was given the job tomorrow, I’d stress the newer things about the city region, not just the football, the historic buildings, the Beatles…

I’d focus on the knowledge economy and the excellence in creativity – the flood of innovative ideas and sheer cleverness that’s coming out of the city region. I’d focus on big plans like the Superport and some of the large outdoor events that the city is putting on which rival those anywhere.

 A lot of focuses!

TH: How does being based in Liverpool influence your creative output?

RK: We have to be sharp, all the time. It’s a smallish pond, and we’re biggish fish in it, so everyone will know what we are doing and be watching our work. But it’s easy to feel sharp here: the city has life and bustle, and there are many good people to draw ideas from, and good clients to work for. 

To be sharp, we have to have a bit of an edge, and that edge shows in some of our work. I’m not certain that something like our Walrus brand for the Merseytravel smartcard would have gone down quite as well everywhere else in the UK. Here, everyone ‘got it’ straight away. And it stands comparison with other similar branding work nationally and internationally.

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Liverpool agencies?

RK: Because the quality of work is first rate and the ideas and execution can be absolutely brilliant. We work across the UK and our clients outside the North West really appreciate the value we have brought to them. We’re hard working and results focused. A client recently described us as ‘gritty not fluffy’ which I took as a compliment when they explained they meant a determination to get results!

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

RK: We’re marketers first and foremost so always look to our client’s business plan and marketing plan before approaching anything from a creative perspective – whether that’s branding, advertising, design, PR, digital or a full mix, we deliver a full integrated service in-house and are one of the biggest agencies outside London with such capabilities. We’re absolutely resolute in delivering value and never take on a project without putting our money where our mouth is and committing absolutely to outcomes.

“Kenyon Fraser. An integrated marketing, communications and engagement consultancy working across the UK. One of the largest marketing communications agencies of our kind outside London with offices in Liverpool and Leeds”

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why?  

RK: In Liverpool Aintree Racecourse and the Grand National has to be admired for the global reach of its flagship event, as do the football clubs, Liverpool in particular.  Other Liverpool based brands such as Princes Foods (now owned by Mitsubishi Group) have achieved sector dominance while retaining their Liverpool roots which has to be admired.

The cities two main Universities continue to hold their own in a difficult market and will no doubt continue to do so through their quality and investment in their brand over the years.

There are many other smaller business with fantastic brands in the city. Voodou hair salons has a cult following in and around the city with corporate and student audiences alike and continues to beat off the more sterile chains that have tried to out-muscle them.

TH: Which local marketers have inspired you?

RK: I look to the people behind those ‘household name’ brands I grew up with, like Meccano and Littlewoods, because they showed that you can build a brand and a business that reaches out from Liverpool to the rest of the country, and the world, by knowing your market absolutely accurately.

In terms of individuals my colleague Ben O’Brien is probably the most astute marketer I have known. His background within the public sector and in social marketing with more recent commercial experience has given him the ability to take the best from both worlds and is helping many of our public sector clients work more commercially and our private sector clients learn best practice from public and not for profit sector marketing.

TH: What business would you most like to win? 

RK: We are working nationally (and internationally) more and more these days and love work that challenges perceptions and ultimately changes behavior. We also love work that helps change society for the better. So, dream client would probably be anything where we can help our clients deliver both a return on their investment direct to the bottom line whilst also achieving a social good. We have growing expertise in transport, education, health and sports so we’re looking to build our portfolio in these areas particularly, although we’re happy to talk to almost anyone!

TH: How can a mayor influence the way the city markets itself?

RK: Strong leadership is key to delivering the Liverpool brand strategy and that, as well as additional resources, should be what our mayor will bring. That together with the creation of Marketing Liverpool and it’s full time staff in the coming months will no doubt ensure Liverpool delivers on its brand promises…exciting times!

TH: Thanks Richard!

Dominic Chambers, Head of Marketing at Audi UK

TH: As Head of Marketing Audi UK what is your primary focus?

DC: My number one focus is nurturing the Audi brand to develop it further to be the true leader in UK automotive. I have always believed that brands are like living organism. They do have a lifecycle; they have personalities and can die. Brands are an intangible asset that many senior people in the commercial world do not really understand. They often buy and extol great brands personally, but when it comes to decisions and choices to be made about brands within their purview then short term decisions are made. Brand equity also works a bit like a reservoir of goodwill, you should work hard to fill this goodwill but if the circumstance demands the goodwill can be tapped to get the brand through a difficult situation.

Dominic Chambers talks to Tom Holmes in Audi's flagship brand centre in West London

TH: You are responsible for an incredibly strong and innovative brand, do you feel there is an opportunity to progress Audi further in the ways customers experience and interact with the brand?

DC: Audi is a fabulous brand and it is a testament to our key partner BBH and to Audi management over the last 20 years that such a strong and innovative brand has been developed. There is still plenty of scope for Audi in the UK, we are only 6% of the UK market (we have a greater share in Germany) and there is a trend within the UK car market towards premium and this will only accelerate as the centre ground gets squeezed. The 1 to 1 interaction with brands, especially premium car brands, will become ever more important. Driving a premium car is a significant commitment and does say something about your choices. We have had a great success with Goodwood Festival of Speed and our own bespoke Audi Driving Experience which utilizes German instructors in building long term advocates of the brand.

TH: What are the main challenges for your sector/category over the next 12 months?

DC: The UK car market has had a tough 5 year period and it looks to be flat this year. Our challenge is to really focus on our existing owners and drivers to ensure that they stay with the brand, and to ensure that we attract fresh people into the brand as our range is expanded into new segments’ for example with the new Q3. There is also a delicate balance between maintaining a significant investment in brand and customer experience as well as being tactical and ensuring that we take the business opportunities as they present themselves.

I also believe that in many marketing organisations there is an over reliance on data/ROI and doing communications that makes the business happy but bore the consumer. You always have to remember that whilst your brand and business issues fill your brain for most of the working week (and more) for your consumer target you are lucky if it takes up a couple of percent. This fact is often forgotten when brands want to transmit their messages rather than engage and entertain first. There is also a risk with digital/social media that so much data is generated that you get lost in the proverbial woods.

Dominic with the new Audi Q3

TH: Your career has spanned Audi, LG Electronics, Vodafone, Uniqlo, Warner Home Video and Seagram, what have been the high points?

DC: As you point out I have experience of a number of categories that gives me a broad view on what elements of the marketing tool box that can be brought to bear on different challenges. The launch of Uniqlo in the UK back in 2001 was certainly a highlight, also doing some pioneering marketing in China with Chivas Regal back in 1996/7, the brand has grown from 40,000 cases back then to over a 1m million today, which is incredible! I also delivered a massive brand and cultural refresh within Vodafone which helped revitalise the UK business. And I am very much motivated to be working on the Audi brand to deliver the best work, which is tough as the standard on the brand is extremely high!

TH: Along the way, have there been marketers who particularly impressed and inspired you?

DC: The best boss/marketer I worked with was Chris Woolston at Seagram, he was extremely focused and clear on what was required and great at distilling priorities which is key to making progress on a brand.

TH: What work have you done recently makes you the most proud?

DC: The A6 Avant campaign ‘Humming Bird’ was a great piece of creative that challenged the conventions of the car market; it had great standout and illustrated well the benefits of our new Ultra lightweight construction in the new A6. I think it’s important to work very hard to engage and entertain the audience.

Audi A6 “Humming Bird ” Commercial.

Created by BBH, the animated spot was directed by Oscar winner Daniel Barber.

Credits:
Advertising Agency: BBH, UK Creatives: Paul Yull, Adi Birkinshaw. Creative Directors: Nick Kidney, Kevin Stark. Producer: Ruben Mercadal. Team Manager: Polly Knowles. Team Director: Simon Coles. Production Company: Knucklehead. Director: Daniel Barber. Producer: Matthew Brown. DoP: Stephen Blackman. Post Production / Animation: The Mill. Lead 3D Artist: Tom Bussell. Editor / Editing House: Adam Marshall / The Whitehouse. Sound: Factory

TH: How do you see the media landscape unfolding in the next 5 years?

DC: It is surprising how resilient terrestrial TV is in the UK, although the TV audience is ageing which is a worry. There will be the relentless push of the internet in outdoor and IPTV, plus all the other devices that will allow ever more use of the web. Traditional print is not looking good. There is a growing generation gap in media consumption which means that you have to be focused on your target more than ever. Brand fame is more important than ever and so the ever mutating channels risks brands spreading themselves too thin!

TH: Do you prefer to use an ‘integrated’ agency approach or specialist agencies by individual discipline?

DC: We have a strong lead agency with BBH who do all our main communications including CRM and dealer POS, we do have some other specialist agencies, but overall I have to say it is certainly easier to manage a smaller roster.

TH: Do you prefer to use local agencies by market or international/global agencies?

DC: I am only responsible for the UK, but Audi do not run a global network and it probably does contribute to a higher standard of creative work and a more motivated local client and agency.

The Audi R8 V10 was named 2010 World Performance Car at the World Car of the Year Awards ceremony at the New York Auto Show.

TH: When choosing agencies in the past were you ever influenced by awards?

DC: Awards motivate agencies; a motivated agency does great work.

TH: How often do you look at new agencies or review your roster?

DC: I do not have a fixed view on roster review, as you probably know BBH and Audi have a 30 year relationship. It is also very time consuming to review and get new agencies brought into a brand like Audi. I am also keen to build long term relationships.

TH: How do you monitor and stay-in-touch with the agency market to ensure you work with the best?

DC: I love advertising and so if I see a great piece of work I always check out who was behind it, sometimes I think agencies are not great at promoting their own work. Often agency websites are either weird or dull.

TH: Do you/have you used intermediaries in the past? What are your observations?

DC: I have used intermediaries, I used Agency Insight extensively at Vodafone, and they were an invaluable resource to helping manage and guide a large pitch. They have a much better understanding of the broader agency market and significantly reduce the time it takes to run a fair and successful pitch.

TH: Would you ever consider awarding an agency business without a pitch? What would they have to do / demonstrate?

DC: Yes it is possible to ‘try out’ a new agency with a small project; this would be mostly be on a personal recommendation. It is tough to get through the front door.

TH: What are your top tips to agencies when presenting credentials to you?

DC: Be brilliant, be brief, be gone.

TH: What was the most impressive agency presentation you have ever seen?

DC: I have to say that when BBH are on their metal, nothing can beat the quality and standard of their presentations, I would also say that Dare were also very impressive.

BBH showcase their Audi work and it’s effectiveness on creativebrief

TH: Thank you Dominic

Rory Sutherland, The Wiki Man

TH: What does the Rory Sutherland brand stand for?

RS: W.W. Clements, a former CEO and president of the Dr Pepper Company, described the taste of Dr Pepper as one-of-a-kind, saying “I’ve always maintained you cannot tell anyone what Dr Pepper tastes like because it’s so different. It’s not an apple, it’s not an orange, it’s not a strawberry, it’s not a root beer, it’s not even a cola. It’s a different kind of drink with a unique taste all its own.

I am an avid fan of Dr Pepper, which, despite the absence of any supporting evidence, I am convinced possesses actual medicinal powers.

And, if any of my character traits are the result of deliberate effort rather than mere accident, it is that, like Dr Pepper, I try to avoid categorisation.

I have a slightly exaggerated fear of the obvious, or of being easily stereotyped.

In this, I have been generously indulged by Ogilvy. But it is quite important. The switch from commission to payment by the hour has forced people in agencies to over-specialise to the point of individual irrelevance. (I have a friend who is both a very good planner and a very good copywriter; he finds it almost impossible to find a job, since no one knows which departmental budget should be used to pay him, or how to charge him out).

This pin-factory approach to our business, and the need for clients to be presented with some neat, Taylorist idea of “the creative process” seems to exemplify much that is wrong with our business. To force everyone to define themselves as “digital” or “a social specialist” or an “advertising planner” is deeply inimical to problem solving and the creative imagination.

There is a phrase used in mathematics – and now widely used in the software industry – called “the inventor’s paradox”. This comes from the insight that, in problem solving, the best way to solve a specific problem is often by solving a different, more general problem to the one you have been given to solve. Too much specialisation makes us ill-prepared to do that. One of many reasons I have stayed at Ogilvy for 23 years is that it does seem better placed to exploit the inventor’s paradox than many more narrowly focussed organisations.

Rory Sutherland, Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman, OgilvyOne London and Vice-Chairman, Ogilvy & Mather UK

TH: How satisfying has it been making a career out of tinkering with perception?

RS: A career? How dare you? I have never had anything so vulgar as a career. It is a job and it is a vocation.

In fact I have come to the strange conclusion that tinkering with perception is often more than just acceptable, it is a duty. When making decisions, people are influenced not only by the information they receive but by the manner in which it is presented and by the context in which it is framed. It is only by presenting people with possibilities in multiple ways that there is any hope of them reaching a sane decision.

Let me give you an anecdotal example. A few months ago I visited a friend at the RAC Club. “Gosh, this is posh. How much does it cost to join?” I asked in my vulgar Welsh way. It was about £1,000 a year. There might even have been a joining fee (a commitment device exploiting sunk-cost bias, in behavioural economics terms) of £1,500, too.

“Bloody hell, that’s expensive, I thought.” Because it is, isn’t it?

Or, rather, it is expensive when framed one way. It’s expensive for a club, certainly.

But a few months earlier I had wondered about buying a little flat in London. This would have been unlikely to appreciate in value, and the council tax, broadband, utilities, insurance and god knows what else would have cost about £3,500 a year, not including the cost of mortgage interest. I would have perhaps stayed there for 20 nights a year.

By contrast the RAC is a bargain. It has three bars, several restaurants, a swimming pool, a Turkish bath, a garden, a library, a staff of fifty, its own post office and the opportunity to rent rooms for about £80 a night. In Pall Mall. When your comparative frame is the cost of residential property ownership, the RAC isn’t expensive: it’s a bargain.

Royal Automobile Club

But, unprompted, very few people will ever make this comparison. People don’t, generally – we are simply not very good at making cross-category comparisons. Mentally everyone frames “property” in the mental category of “investment” while club membership is filed in the mental pigeonhole labeled “cost”.

Unless you continually tinker with people’s frames of reference, they may make dumb decisions.

Ultimately the responsible job of marketing is to make it easy for people to make good decisions, and to ensure they are happy with those decisions once they have made them.

This raises some intriguing philosophical and ethical questions. For instance there are innumerable areas where information which appears to be presented in a rational highly scientific way is, through cognitive bias, misinterpreted by real people in the real world.

Take APR as a measure of interest in financial services. The problem is that 1) a significant percentage of the population don’t really understand percentages and 2) most of us are not mentally equipped to understand things which are non linear, such as compound interest. The net effect is that people underestimate the cost of borrowing – and similarly underestimate the returns of saving.

If you were allowed to sell savings products some other way – for instance “Double your money in nine years” – would more people save?

For more on this see Gerd Gigerenzer’s excellent book Calculated Risks: How to Know When Numbers Deceive You.

TH: What did you most enjoy about being President of the IPA?

RS: We’re back to “the inventor’s paradox” here. It was the opportunity to look at the business from an industry perspective rather than an agency perspective. Most of the problems which agencies gripe about are common to the whole industry – and can only be solved collectively, if at all. In particular the excessive dominance of over-rational, mechanistic models of human behavior at the top of large client organisations, which has caused the marketing function to lose status and influence.

There was also the joy of working with a wonderful organization with extraordinarily good people; at times it felt like being a government minister in the Macmillan era – in a good way. The IPA still operates a kind of Rolls Royce civil service around the President, which was extraordinarily good.

Rory Sutherland’s 2011 IPA President’s Reception speech

TH: Advertising was once full of big personalities, now, apart from yourself, who else is there?

RS: There are plenty, though mostly over 45 years of age. I have been fortunate to have known or at least met some of the greatest of them, including Drayton Bird, Steve Henry, Jeremy Bullmore, Dave Trott and even, fleetingly, David Ogilvy. Quite a lot of the younger “personality capital” of the advertising industry has moved its efforts online, where we certainly tweet above our weight.

Drayton Bird       Steve Henry     Jeremy Bullmore   Dave Trott       David Ogilvy

But I do worry that both our remuneration and the new puritanism in Anglo-Saxon business culture, especially in publicly owned companies, have made our industry a bit too worthy and deferential. “Accountability” is the new watchword. What a completely boring, unambitious aspiration. What about “fabulousness” or “magnificence”? BBH used to call themselves a “fame factory”; they probably don’t say this so much any more, as it may be seen as self-indulgent, but it is scientifically perfectly valid.

I was, by the way, very wrong about this in the early days, in that I believed marketing was all about pinpoint targeting and efficiency, whereas Darwinian psychology shows (the egregious Robin Wight was the first to spot this) consumers attach a huge significance to brand-bling, display, confidence and even conspicuous waste – using the perfectly efficient heuristic that companies with money to spare and with expensive, fragile reputations rarely produce bad products. Tim Ambler even co-authored a paper entitled “The Waste in Advertising is the Part that Works”.

I think the rot started in advertising when we started rewarding people with money rather than flash cars. Money, being invisible, only motivates the recipient, whereas flash cars motivate everyone. And money you can only spend on luxuries is far more emotionally motivating than money you can spend on paying household bills. Creative people, I think are more like rap stars than accountants, in that they would rather look rich than be rich. At least that’s what I always tell my shorty.

TH: How do you think the quality of UK advertising compares globally?

RS: We are supremely good at global advertising – a product of London’s location, culture and a readiness to absorb and adopt people from elsewhere. This is economically valuable, and has a massive impact on the fortunes of business. Unfortunately it is also difficult and time-consuming to do. This sometimes depresses us. You can spend a year working on something, only to find it comes to nothing. Mind you, it could be worse. I once mentioned this problem to a pharma client – who laughed. He explained that most of his company’s scientists spend their entire working lives never seeing any drug they have helped develop make it to the market.

Ogilvy Awards Cabinet

I wonder whether the centralization of global advertising in networks has gone too far. For clients such as IBM or American Express, who are communicating to global tribes, it certainly makes sense. But for snack bars and beers and so forth it seems more motivated by efficiency than effectiveness. You certainly pay a price in local relevance. It is harder to find cultural hooks which work across many cultures, so the danger is that people fall back on the same few familiar tropes.

TH: Do you think marketing’s contribution is really valued across industry and government?

RS: No. In the golden era of US advertising it was universally recognized that psychological insight was a huge source of potential competitive advantage. A variety of factors too numerous to mention (but including neo-classical economic models taught at business schools, the new power of finance and even the invention of the spreadsheet) has caused business to abandon that approach and supplant it with a series of Newtonian, mechanistic models which are psychologically blind.

The way for us to win back this lost ground is obliquely, via a flanking move – by using academic research and the new fashionability of behavioural economics to change business thinking. We should not try to win the battle head on. But nor should we cravenly surrender to the beancounters. Behavioural economics is a great confidence boost for us: it shows that often we were instinctively right and the number-men are rationally wrong. (It is possible to be rationally wrong, by the way).

Even the most basic assumptions of these economic models (for instance that reducing price increases demand) are highly questionable in reality.

The other failing of marketing was that it was over-dependent on conventional market research as its sole source of wisdom about human behavior. It thus denied itself access to many valuable insights which come from understanding unvoiced, subconscious influences on decision making. As David Ogilvy once said, “The trouble with research is that people don’t think what they feel, they don’t say what they think and they don’t do what they say.”

TH: Of the leading marketers you know, who are the most impressive?

RS: Horrible to have to name names. But Alan Flack at IBM is another Dr Pepper character, who always gets great work.

Alan Flack IBM's Wimbledon Client and Programme Executive

British Airways has also impressed me recently for appointing a very senior figure exclusively in charge of customer experience; a little like the Director of Detail I once proposed at TED. In truth most of our clients are, individually, good to great. What really makes the difference is the way the company makes decisions – a really convoluted or disjointed approval process, or internal politics, can result in many great people all buggering up great work.

Rory Sutherland at TED: Life lessons from an ad man

Rory Sutherland at TED: Sweat the small stuff

Often the best clients are slightly bipolar. They either love work or hate it. And that’s fine. The thing that makes the difference is decisiveness. Nobody is right or wrong more than 70% of the time. And, to be honest, rejecting work is absolutely fine and good – so long as it’s done quickly and unambiguously. There is always more than one good answer to a communications problem, and, when you reject work outright, the next campaign you get may well be better. Killing bad ideas is fine. Killing good ideas isn’t all that bad, either. What’s a disaster (creatively and financially) is keeping an idea barely alive on a life-support machine while it suffers multiple, well-intentioned surgical interventions from a whole mix of different people until it is no longer recognisable.

Rory shows Tom around The Ogilvy Digital Innovation Lab in Canary Wharf which is part of a global network of Labs that showcases the agency’s range of digital activities. Designed to educate and inspire - it shows how different digital services can combine across multiple media to deliver uniquely creative campaigns. Particularly relevant to the digital signage industry - the Lab shows digital out-of-home as a key building block around which other digital channels, mobile and interactivity all work to enhance media value.

TH: What successful advertising campaigns have you done, make you particularly proud?

RS: A three-stage direct-mail campaign in the 90s – where we sent senior retailers three books in an effort to persuade them to accept the American Express Card. First they received a hardback copy of Pride & Prejudice (a dainty bookmark listed a few reasons they might have for being biased against acceptance), followed two days later by Sense & Sensibility (here a bookmark listed reasons to change their mind) and then by Persuasion (with reasons for meeting a sales representative).

I liked it because it showed that you can do something fabulous in any medium.

One other thing I loved did never saw the light of day. We effectively invented Groupon seven years ago in response to a client brief. It never went anywhere.

But in about 2002 I decided to stop trying to be proud of my own work and to start getting proud of other people’s. The best moments now are when I see other people standing in front of clients and saying things like “your website choice-architecture is flawed” or “how can we better exploit the endowment effect?” – without prompting.

It has to be without prompting. Jerry Della Femina said “You can either be indispensable or you can be immortal – not both”.

TH: What do you most admire about Howard Luck Gossage?

RS: See Dr Pepper, above.

The Book of Gossage, “The Socrates of San Francisco”

TH: What’s so unique about Ogilvy’s 360 Degree Branding approach?

RS: I refer the honourable gentleman to my reference to the inventor’s paradox, above.

TH: Around the world, what other agencies do you rate?

RS: All of them and none of them. We are constantly looking for hero agencies, like DDB in the 60s or HHCL in the 90s. But one statistical possibility is that their like will never be seen again – just as no band in the future will ever be as big as The Beatles – the eco-system is just different now. Instead we should stop looking for Jesus-agencies and make sure 1) That none of our work is bad 2) That all of it is pretty good and 3) that some of it is brilliant.

Some of the best work in recent years – including digital work – has come out of Grey. McCann does excellent work. We should try to resist this trend where we pigeonhole agencies, or look to a couple of Midas-touch shops for our inspiration and direction – and start to look elsewhere. The best marketing idea I have seen in the last ten years came from a creative team (though they wouldn’t call themselves that) at the University of Chicago called Shlomo Benartzi and Richard Thaler. This was the “Save More Tomorrow Mortgage”.

Save More Tomorrow: Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Employee Saving by Richard H. Thaler and Shlomo Benartzi

TH: What new brands have recently caught your attention?

RS: Zopa.com and kiva.org, two network lending sites (the latter charitable, the former avaricious) impress me mightily. I rather like the choice architecture site www.justbuythisone.com too.

Offline I have been talking to someone called Henrietta Lovell who runs The Rare Tea Company. Any business with a mission or purpose – other than its immediate self-enrichment – seems to enjoy a extra level of brand resonance. There’s a wonderful TED talk by someone called Simon Sinek – who used to work at Ogilvy New York – on this very issue.

The Rare Tea Company and Henrietta Lovell

www.rareteacompany.com

TH: What established brands, do you feel, most require a makeover?

RS: Royal Mail is a superb product which is routinely underappreciated. But, God, would we miss it if it went. And I have always had an affection for the Jaguar brand which I feel is not always felt is shared by my countrymen. This may be because the user-imagery which bedevils the brand “curmudgeonly, red-faced, right-wing, portly, Telegraph-reading, middle-aged, male” I view as being positive accomplishments – something to aspire to, in fact.

TH: When choosing an agency what top three things should a client consider?

RS: 1) Their understanding of behavioural economics. 2) Their cultural fit. 3) Their ability to do two extremely different things: for instance, can it produce a blockbuster 120” TV spectacular AND improve the conversion-rate of a website?

TH: What do you think of pitching, is there a more efficient way to select an agency?

RS: I love pitches. The problem is that they are beset by a kind of arms-race mentality. So that every stage of the pitch process has been escalated as a result of inter agency competition – like a bull Elk’s antlers. So a chemistry session is not a chemistry session but a strategy presentation. The “tissue session” now sees the presentation of finished artwork. Which means the final presentation resembles the opening ceremony for the Coliseum. If you don’t have at least two Nubian slave girls wrestling a live bear, it’s considered a bit lacklustre.

The other thing I don’t like about pitches is that the narrative structure of a pitch constrains what you can present. Often, nowadays, an agency can create a lot of value by improving a lot of little things just a bit. But the narrative arc of a pitch requires a single “Ta-Da” inflection point, a Eureka moment, to fit the storyline. I am not sure this is always helpful.

Wearing his trademark ensemble of blazer and cravat, Rory discusses the benefits of tweed with Tom, who wears a Donegal tweed ‘Magee’ jacket from Kevin & Howlin, Dublin.

TH: Which is the better tweed, Harris or Donegal?

RS: Tweed is like sex. When it’s good, it’s really, really good. But when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.

Tweed is also an experience good – and its qualities depend on the climatic conditions in which it is worn. So in order to answer your question, I shall follow the practice of 1970s Procter & Gamble advertising: I shall construct a coat 50% cut from Donegal Tweed and the other 50% from Harris Tweed. At the end of the year I should have an answer to your question.

The Wiki Man

TH: What did you enjoy most about writing The Wiki Man?

RS: The fact that I did it 500 words at a time. As a copywriter, my ability to write to lengths over about 750 words is completely hopeless.

TH: What will your next book be about?

RS: A theory of everything. It’s due out in 2065.

TH: Thanks Rory