View from a start up

Editor's Notes

• #3 Brief intro
• #4 Passion is the single thing that drives us as an agency
• #5 If we don’t deliver work that works for our clients then what’s the point
• #6 We call ourselves a modern media agency It’s something we’re extremely proud of We’re here to offer a future facing alternative, something fresh, something new
• #7 So if that’s the case why has over 25% of our billings of our billing been within the press/newsbrands space Surely if we were future facing all of our media would be a data driven, content powered digital buy? Surely we would be declaring the death of so called ‘traditional media’, building a single platform buy? Employing data scientists & content specialists ahead of everything and anyone else.. But we haven’t ….
• #8 ..and I’m asking myself why, I’ve challenged myself on why or whether we’ve done the right thing…and this is why I think we have actually done OK
• #9 Firstly we’ve challenged ourselves to break our filter bubble.. As agency people we live in a bubble, as agency people in London we live within a bubble, within a bubble I recently presented at the IAB to debate the state of the TV industry and shared some of the Thinkbox research that clearly demonstrated how we, as media planners, vastly over estimate the complete reliance on digital for the UK population We are working hard to keep an open perspective. Impartiality and actual transparency helps a bit..
• #10 We have to challenge the Magpie Generation Not sure how many of you follow Mark Ritson He talks about the Magpie Generation…. I cannot name the person for obvious reasons, (he is well known as one of the country’s foremost media strategists), who recently said to me, “If I am given a brief and respond with a print solution as being the impactful and cost effective, I will be shown the door.’
• #11 Audience buying, I get it, we have a responsibility to reach the right people at the right time in the right place….but if I’d seen this comment one more time… the sad thing is that this is often used as an excuse as to why the clients won’t see (or need to see) which environments their ads are running in…this isn’t about brand safety (that is the absolute minimum that should be expected) it has to be about brand suitability..
• #12 Secondly – as a start up agency we are finding ourselves working with a second generation/first round of real funding client – those that are looking to grow their business fast, but actually businesses that are mature enough to understand the short vs the long term Only 2 of our clients don’t manage the vast majority of their digital channels and short term acquisition work in house. For those clients the need for an implementational digital agency is limited – they want advice and consultation but they believe they know their businesses best – and believe me they do.. What has happened is that they’ve turned to us to help them build a brand in the outside world, reach & understand new audiences, unite proper POE planning (which is where impartiality and transparency is critical – again) – to help them build the long term vs the short… It’s why we been employed by SkyBet to manage their POE planning above and beyond media planning and buying (that’s not our job) and it’s also why Newsbrands see a healthy share of spend
• #13 Thirdly…we never forget that our clients OWN their businesses…even the big one’s aren’t responsible to their shareholders – they’re responsible to themselves and they want growth, double digit growth yesterday, today and tomorrow.. With ownerships comes an intense level of CARE and scrutiny on every penny spent.. This is Henrietta - she started to cook food for her dog Lily (who has a skin condition)..7 years later she’s in charge of a business selling 10’s of £millions of product, experience 40% YoY growth and we’ve spent hours with her, if not days…and guess which bit of activity she’s been most intent on getting right - Newsbrands
• #14 Never ever forget the power of context – no platform is the plan approach can deliver this 100% of the time against 100% humans.. I’m not saying that placing appropriate copy in appropriate editorial is ground breaking….but sadly it’s a dying art as less and less emphasis placed on context.. Placing a fashion dog food ad in the fashion pages in Telegraph magazine, or any of the other placements – takes care, takes time, takes trust….but builds results – even in what other may say is a dying media – LK’s initial results suggest that they are going to sail past their stretch stretch target for FY 2017…
• #15 And at the other extreme…we have a typical entrepreneur in David Spencer P – who’s invested in bringing to life the proven health benefits of Rosemary, infused it in water and is selling it high end establishments for £4.50 a bottle…he’s created an extremely high desirable, high value brand – over 80% of his expenditure has been in traditional high end press/national press… High end luxury press to drive the premiumness, national press and coverage relating to the power of Rosemary to help memory to justify their claims.. The single thing that has helped him open the doors of the likes of Firmdale Hotels, Selfridges & made the industry take their product and claims seriously
• #16 And I don’t think we’re operating in a bubble, it’s very easy to say that these businesses are a small % of the overall advertising market…that may be the case but they’re where the growth is.. Don’t forget that the combined annual turnover of SMEs was £1.8 trillion, 47% of all private sector turnover in the UK.- THAT’S HUGE ..and then you only need to check out the likes of B Corp (which both ProperCorn and LK are part of) to understand that there is a new generation of business on our door step. Business that want to good, businesses that have genuine authenticity at the heart of their story and reason for being – something that so many of our bigger brands crave for and attempt to build powerful stories around…but consumers are getting smarter, authenticity and doing the right thing is critical to the future.. This is not about being a ‘meaningful brand’ – it’s about being meaningful people, a meaningful business, a meaningful history and meaningful proper and fair growth.. You only need to look at the how the craft ale generation has taken on the beer market to understand my POV.. And I’m prepared to bet that if you were to scrutinise the media channels that these brands are using to tell their story – NewsBrands would be playing a significant role..context is crucial and I can’t see how any relationship that isn’t 100% human and 100% real (not fake) can be of any benefit to a truly authentic & trusted brand… For these business their brand is PERSONAL, HUMAN, REAL – which is why Newsbrands matter  
• #17 OK – up until now I’ve talked about the power of authenticity, the balance of the short vs long term, the personal power of context to growing businesses…and yes it’s very easy to say that we’re not embracing the true modern, multi channel, digital and content driven power of the news brands..
• #18 In March we gave the Newsbrands market a brief…a brief to change and revitalise an old favourite –that’s probably slightly lost it’s way amidst today’s hectic world of charity Movember.. A lovely charity but no one know what they do, it’s a charity that found its way into the heart of the hipster community – but lacks scale, lacks resonance beyond London SE
• #19 6 Months later – we have a fully integrated campaign around a single partnership powered by Newsbrands Talk through approach
• #23 Brief intro