South West-based brand and communications specialist AgencyUK has announced record growth as evolutions in the company’s culture continue to drive unprecedented levels of performance, despite an economically turbulent period for many.
AgencyUK (AUK) achieved record numbers in their 2023 financial results, following two years of cultural alignment and investment in their new Senior Management Team led by founding members Sammy Mansourpour and Amy Stobie. The business has delivered 220% annual growth in revenue for each financial period since January 2020, putting them on track to becoming one of the UK’s largest independently owned agencies.
“Celebrating 16 years is a seminal moment for the whole agency. It really feels like a transition into adulthood. As an established agency business with a team rich in experience, it is in no small part down to our team embracing creativity and new technology. AI and data analytics have made a meaningful difference to our work, by fuelling our creativity and building in new features around advertising campaign performance. This has been instrumental for our clients, particularly those in the B2B space, where we have a particular foothold in the healthcare sector. And we’ve seen the agency grow exponentially because of it,” says Sammy Mansourpour, Managing Director.
In 2021, the Senior Management Team focused on expanding the agency’s client portfolio in the health, life science and pharmaceutical sectors, leading to a record signing of three top-tier new drug development organisations, as well as launching Our Future Health, a nationwide health research programme in partnership with the NHS, which now has over 1.2 million participants across the UK.
The agency now boasts a stronger B2B portfolio making up 50% of its revenue. The remaining 50% houses well-known food, drink, health and wellbeing brands, including beloved sweet brand Chewits, currently enjoying a renaissance since our amplified brand campaigns and award-winning work across social media.
In response, the agency has expanded its in-house teams by growing its creative department and assembling a new senior management team, recruited from its in-house fast track careers programme. Overall staff numbers have increased by 50% with a further 30% expected to be in place by January 2025.
“We are of course delighted with the performance of the business over the past five years, and we have no doubt that our long-term investment in developing the agency’s culture and staff careers plays a significant part in our success on the bottom line. We welcome turning 16 with open arms,” says Amy Stobie, Director.
The AUK leadership team has embarked on a comprehensive programme of cultural development, sustainability and community outreach. Framed around people, planet and community, these initiatives also form the bedrock of the agency’s commitment to being a certified B Corp since their accreditation in 2021, as well as an award-winning staff development and well-being programme.
Do you know if your SEO activity is working? SEO strategies can be complex to create and implement – and even more difficult to monitor and measure. If you are spending time, resources and money on improving your website for organic search, you need to understand the impact of your activity. Rather than focusing on a single performance indicator, we recommend a weighted approach which considers multiple metrics to give you a broader understanding of whether you are seeing SEO success.
For a clear idea of your SEO performance, consider these seven key metrics side-by-side: domain authority, number of ranking keywords, keyword ranking position, SERP impressions, organic search traffic, engagement rate and conversion rate. Below we explain each in more detail to help you develop a strategic understanding of your organic search performance. But first, it is helpful to have an overview of the process you would expect to go through when improving your website for search engines…
As you make optimisations (whether technical, onsite or offsite) your content will be more likely to be discovered and indexed by Google and other search engines. Indexed content can then begin to rank in Search Engine Results Pages for relevant keywords. If your website is considered by the search engines to be of good quality – for example, having a strong Domain Authority – you will see both the number of keywords being ranked increase as well as those ranking keywords move upwards to higher ranking positions. The quantity of SERP impressions will naturally also increase, as more people begin to see your content within the Search Engine Results Pages. This in turn will lead to higher numbers of clicks through to your website, directly providing higher volumes of organic search traffic. Providing this is high-quality and relevant traffic, you can expect to see the visitors here engage with your website and ultimately go on to complete your chosen conversions, such as making a purchase.
From this overview, you can see why it can take months for optimisations to translate to business KPIs like increased revenue. But once you reach that point, you can expect to receive high-quality and useful traffic. And that is why it is important to track progress indicators throughout the whole process. Now let’s look at our top SEO metrics and key performance indicators in more detail:
Domain Authority is a metric developed by MOZ which gives an insight into the quality of a website, and is helpful for understanding whether your content is likely to rank well for relevant keywords. But it is not the only option; other SEO software’s provide similar metrics which will also give you a sense of how trustworthy your site is considered by Google. For example, “Trust Flow” and “Citation Flow” from Majestic or “Domain Rating” from Ahrefs. Use one or all of these metrics to understand whether your site is considered to be authoritative and good-quality, especially in comparison to your SEO competitors. If you are lagging behind other competitors, improving your Domain Authority should be a key focus to help facilitate further SEO wins. To do this, work on making sure your content fits Google’s EEAT guidelines, and create an offsite content and outreach strategy to attract links from other quality websites.
This is a very useful early leading indicator for SEO activity. As with many of these indicative metrics, the number of ranking keywords does not give you the full picture when viewed alone. Afterall, some keywords may not relate to your most relevant site visitors. Or the rankings for each keyword could be languishing far below the all-important top 10 SERP positions. However, if you are working on a programme of content optimisations on your site and targeting a strategically mapped keyword landscape, an increase in the number of keywords you are ranking for will be one of the very first indicators that your efforts are having a positive impact, as your content begins to be considered by Google for a wider range of relevant topics and terms.
Once your online content is ranking for a good selection of relevant search terms, you can then focus on helping your landing pages to climb through the SERPs to reach higher places. The top spot in Google’s organic search listings will most often receive the highest share of clicks, with positions 2 and 3 also performing well. Remember that exact positions will fluctuate even for individual keywords – however, keeping an eye on the performance of your most important terms and watching these rise through the rankings will help give you a sense of your SEO success. This is also a useful metric to alert you to site issues – if you suddenly see some of your established top ranking positions drop, you will know to start investigating.
Use Google Search Console to check how the number of impressions your content receives changes over time. As your pages climb the rankings for a wider range of terms, you can expect to see more SERP impressions. That is to say, your listings are being seen within Search Engine Results Pages more frequently. This is an important step towards more people clicking through to your content, especially when combined with metadata optimisations to increase CTRs. We recommend looking at impressions from both a site-wide perspective and for specific important landing pages and search queries.
For many people, traffic is the only metric used to analyse the success of a specific digital marketing channel. And that’s because it is important! Use Google Analytics 4 to track the organic search traffic to your website (or to specific key landing pages) to get quick and easy top-level insights into SEO performance. However, it is worth remembering that SEO is a longer-term marketing strategy which can take a while to begin to send traffic to a website, which is why we recommend looking at metrics around keywords and SERP performance as useful lead-indicators when you first embark on search engine optimisation work. Finally, bear in mind that not all traffic is equal – if visitors are landing on your site before immediately bouncing away, or are unable to find the content they are looking for, there is further work to be done!
A useful metric to understand the quality of traffic that is being sent to your website, Engagement Rate in GA4 will tell you the percentage of visitors who arrive on your site and then actually interact with it. This could mean looking at additional pages, triggering a ‘conversion’ event, or spending a significant amount of time looking at content. Engagement Rate is therefore an extremely helpful metric to help you understand whether the visitors you are attracting via organic search are high-quality. This can help you to identify instances where there are mismatches between a visitor’s search intent and the content you are providing. It can also give an indication of the kinds of SEO content that perform best and should therefore be a focus in the future.
Similar to Engagement Rate, looking at Conversion Rate will provide useful information about the quality of the SEO traffic you are achieving. Within GA4, you can choose to allocate specific events as ‘conversions’. Depending on your business priorities, conversions are likely to be purchases, sign-ups or enquiries. Consider Conversion Rate in tandem with Engagement Rate to ensure that your SEO performance is driving high-quality visitors to your website who go on to take the actions which are most important to you.
Having trouble effectively understanding the impact of your SEO strategy? Not seeing the improvements you had hoped for in your organic search metrics? The expert team at Varn can help. Please get in touch to find out what we can do to support your ongoing organic search strategy. We would love to hear from you!
Having just wrapped up my exit from the agency I founded 12 years ago and moved into the consulting world, I’ve had a little time for reflection recently.
As I was recalling some of the clients I’ve worked with over the 25 odd years since I set up my first agency, and how marketing has changed so dramatically in so many ways, and yet in others, nothing’s really changed at all.
There was no such thing as digital marketing – no SEO, PPC, social media etc. – so you could be forgiven for thinking that everything is now totally and utterly different. And in some ways, of course, you’d be right. The Internet, social media and a million different marketing technology solutions have revolutionised the way we do things.
But in other ways – i.e. the fundamental principles of marketing – things really never change. And I think that, as marketers in a digital age, we sometimes need reminding of the basics. We’re very quick to jump on new and shiny things but, occasionally, we’re just as quick to forget the fundamentals.
Ignoring my pet subject of ‘content marketing’ and when it was invented – I’m pretty sure people have been doing it for a very long time before digital came along – here are a few quick examples to get you thinking…
It’s not rocket science… break down your audience into segments or personas and understand what makes them tick. Identify the right messages for each target group, and present it to that audience via a channel they actually use at the best time.
Back in the days before digital, how did we put together a marketing strategy? Well here’s what we didn’t do… start with a list of popular magazines, newspapers, radio and TV stations, throw in some outdoor advertising close to busy roads, and scatter the budget evenly between them (please tell me that’s not how you did it!).
But essentially that’s exactly what some companies do with the digital channels that are available today. Just because we have more ‘cool stuff’ available to us, doesn’t mean we have to use it all!
The advancement of technology is relentless. But, again, just because they’ve built it, doesn’t mean you have to find a way to use it! Over the years I’ve witnessed a repeating theme of companies embracing new technology because they saw something cool, got over excited and didn’t properly evaluate their actual requirements, and what benefit they would derive from the tech.
I’ve met several companies recently who have signed up to one of the all-singing, all-dancing inbound marketing software solutions or social media planning/scheduling tools at substantial cost to their business, only to realise that the platform relies on content to feed the entire process – something they’d overlooked completely – so they find themselves grinding to a halt.
One of my first clients owned a massive multi-storey department store in a pretty dodgy part of town which sold everything under the sun, from furniture to clothes and any other random job lots he’d picked up from the back of a lorry, I suspect.
At a time when authenticity (especially in the context of social and influencer marketing) is on everyone’s lips, it’s never been more important to understand your brand, and what it actually is, rather than what you’d like it to be, and carefully match your communications to your audience. You’ve worked so hard to get them to interact in some way with you – don’t let them down.
Recommendations and reviews weren’t invented for the Internet. Testimonials have always been powerful in marketing. Before the Internet, if you needed a plumber, or the roof fixing, what did you do? You may have used a directory like Yellow Pages, but you’d probably also ask around. Has a neighbour, friend or family member used someone that they can recommend?
Building in testimonials and proactively driving recommendations and referrals has always been one of the first things I’ve tried to introduce into my clients’ marketing material.
Back in 1994 we engaged a well-known cricketer to be a brand ambassador for a client. He turned up at events, and we produced a range of marketing material which featured him and the client’s product in ways that felt less like an advert and more educational. We leveraged his large fan base and trusted position to introduce our client’s product to a wider audience and make it instantly credible by association. Sound familiar?
Another buzzword hijacked by digital/content marketing in recent years is ‘storytelling’. I read an article last week in a reputable marketing publication, which started with this sentence: ‘Brand storytelling is gaining momentum in the marketing world, and with good reason.’
The same article then went on to define brand storytelling as: “Using a narrative to connect your brand to customers, with a focus on linking what you stand for to the values you share with your customers.”
Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that marketing principle isn’t just starting to ‘gain momentum’ in 2018!
Independent human-centred design consultancy Six, has kicked off 2024 in style by promoting Sally Gillo to Partner for Client Experience – making her the sixth member of the Board. Sally will be joining CEO John Argent, Partner for Growth Ruth Clarke, Partner Julian Barclay, Creative Partner Dickon Langdon, and Finance Director Alison Evans.
Over the last seven years, Sally has played a pivotal role in mentoring and leading the client experience team at Six. Her ability to build strong relationships by consistently delivering exceptional experiences has led to growing and leading the agency’s key accounts, including S&P Global, Lloyds Banking Group and bp.
As Six enters its 30th year, Sally’s promotion also reflects the agency’s increasingly strategy-first positioning. Central to Six’s growth plans, Sally will help drive the agency’s vision forward: to help every transformative strategy land with impact.
John Argent, CEO of Six, said, “Sally’s promotion is so well-deserved. Not only is she hugely talented, armed with great vision, energy and pragmatism, she has proved to be an exceptional leader and inspirational mentor within Six. Her drive and fresh perspective perfectly complement the blend of strengths in our Board – and will only help accelerate our progress in pursuit of helping solve our clients’ complex transformation challenges.”
Understanding agency salaries is pivotal for job seekers and employers alike. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the average salaries for agency roles in the South West, shedding light on crucial factors influencing pay scales and considerations beyond just the numbers.
At ADLIB, we’re always keeping close to market trends and how things can fluctuate between organisations. Here, we aim to provide an overall range of salaries based on the spectrum of roles within the South West agency world. Factors that can influence one’s salary: the size of business and team, their location, the size and number of accounts you may be working on, management responsibilities, the industry sector, and specific marketing skills, will all have an impact.
While salary is a key factor, it’s not the only consideration. To attract the best talent, employers should also focus on:
This guide provides salary bandings for various Agency sector roles and their respective job titles, including:
By considering not only salary but also the holistic work environment, employers can attract and retain top-tier talent. Use this guide as a resource to navigate the intricacies of agency salaries in the dynamic South West market.
Explore current job opportunities or get in touch with one of our expert Marketing & Agency consultants.
Have you ever had the impression that you’re pursuing your online rivals’ triumphs like you’re playing a virtual game of cat and mouse? It’s time to give up chasing and take charge of the group. Knowing how your competitors operate in the complex world of SEO can help you propel your company to the top. Together, we can simplify rival keyword research and set you up for success.
In a nutshell, competition keyword analysis is SEO done like Sherlock Holmes. It’s the skill of figuring out the keywords your rivals rank for and how they use them to drive traffic. Putting on your detective cap, you may utilise expert SEO strategy to uncover your competitors’ secrets and utilise the information to guide and improve your own SEO efforts.
Imagine having complete awareness of your adversaries’ whereabouts and their forthcoming moves. That would be powerful knowledge, right? In terms of SEO, having this knowledge enables you to:
You must first ascertain your opponent’s identity before you can assess. Consider your digital adversaries as well; they may not even be on your radar now. Think beyond traditional competitors. Look for companies that are listed for the terms you are interested in on the search engine results page (SERP).
Many SEO tools are available that take care of the research for you. Use them to find the top search engines for your keywords and examine their profiles.
An easy Google search will yield a wealth of information. Look up your main keywords and take notice of who comes up most often. These are your principal opponents.
The real game is about to start. It’s time to examine your rivals’ keyword strategies in detail. Recall that knowing the context in which keywords are being used is just as important as just locating them. Here’s how to do it:
Take note of the kind of content that your rivals create. Do they use product pages, blogs, or case studies to focus on particular keywords? How does the quality compare? What’s more, how can you improve upon it?
Examine the headers, meta descriptions, and title tags. They contain a wealth of keyword data. Take note of the prominence, frequency, and seamless integration of keywords on their website.
To determine the relative value of a certain keyword, it is essential to run a backlink analysis and find out which keywords are generating the most links.
With newfound insights, it’s time to inject some zest into your SEO strategy.
Equipped with a keyword list, create content that outperforms those of your rivals in terms of engagement, insight, and overall quality. Make Google think you’re better than your competitors.
Through competition keyword analysis, you can elevate your online presence by finding keyword chances that your rivals have overlooked. Make original content for these keywords to take the lead in the market.
Create a strong backlink strategy by focusing on the same superior websites that link to your competitors, or discover new ones to increase your reach.
SEO requires ongoing care, unlike a slow cooker that can be “set and forget”d. Maintain a close watch on the actions of your rivals and often analyse their strategies, adjusting your own as necessary.
Success in SEO doesn’t come overnight. It’s a continual process of improvement and adaptation. Use Master the Art of Competitor Analysis for Superior SEO Strategy to ensure you’re always one step ahead.
SEO can seem like an insurmountable mountain to climb, but with savvy competitor keyword analysis, you’ve got the best gear to reach the peak. Remember, your objective is not just to match your rivals – it’s to surpass them.
Don’t let complexity deter you; when done correctly, rival keyword research may be a very useful tool in your SEO toolbox. Are You Prepared to Change Your SEO Approach with Competitor Keyword Mastery and Get an Advantage in SEO with Insights into Competitor Keyword Strategies? It’s time to take action!
Even though I’ve provided you with the treasure map, occasionally you still need an experienced guide to show you the route. Fear not—I’m here to help you through the SEO jungle if you find it intimidating to navigate on your own. How about scheduling a discovery call at https://www.bristechtonic.co.uk/discovery-call? Together, we can begin mapping out your path to SEO dominance.
In the ever evolving world of technology, Google stands as a towering titan, shaping the way we navigate the digital universe. Synonymous with search, information and connectivity, there is a reason Google reigns supreme – beneath the surface of its user-friendly interface and instantaneous results lies a complex web of algorithms and artificial intelligence that drives the heart of the technological giant. In this blog, we will take a closer look at how Google is utilising AI to improve upon these algorithms – and the implications such advancements hold for the future landscape of search.
Google has been incorporating elements of AI into its products and services for quite some time. Back in 2014 Google notably acquired DeepMind Technologies, a British Artificial Intelligence company. Doing so brought an array of advanced machine learning capabilities to the search engine giant, who have since infused AI into a wide range of applications, including search algorithms, language processing, image recognition, and more. The company continues to leverage AI to enhance user experiences, improve efficiency, and explore new frontiers in technology. As such, the relationship between Google and AI is one that we expect to see continue and develop for many years to come.
During Google I/O 2023, Google announced that they are striving to make AI “even more helpful for people, for businesses, for communities, for everyone”. Whilst they have been focusing on being an AI-first company for the past 7+ years, 2023 signalled a turning point of sorts in the relationship between Google and Artificial Intelligence. All thanks to the introduction of generative AI.
An example of this is the introduction of “Help me write” in Gmail. Smart Reply (launched in 2017) offered users a range of short responses that you could select with just one click – this was followed by Smart Compose, which offers writing suggestions as you type. In the past year alone, these two tools alone were used over 180 billion times. Now, with a much more powerful generative model of AI, we have Gmail’s “Help me write”. For example, when responding to an email, simply submit a prompt related to the desired email content, and a fully crafted draft will emerge. This sophisticated system adeptly references pertinent details from the initial email where relevant, and provides a comprehensive foundation for your response. This not only constitutes a significant time-saving resource for any professional setting but also underscores the continuous refinement inherent in generative AI. The capacity for improvement over time positions this tool as an invaluable asset in enhancing productivity and communication efficiency within the workplace.
“Help me write” was rolled out in 2023 as part of Google’s Workspace updates – as were a number of other AI driven tools, including a new immersive view for routes in maps, and a new magic editor experience in Google Photos (as well as much more). You can read more about these updates within the Google Workspace Product Announcements.
2023 has also seen one of the biggest visual updates to Google SERPs that we’ve seen in some time – with Google’s Generative AI-powered Search Experience (SGE). You may be inquisitive about the limited information or absence of firsthand encounters with SGE. This could be attributed to the fact that SGE has not yet been officially launched in the United Kingdom. Google SGE was released in May of 2023, but is currently only available in the US on Google Labs (correct at the time of writing, November 2023). So what exactly is Google SGE, you may ask? SGE is a new feature being developed by Google, which will display information in response to a Google search, at the top of SERPs. Whilst you might naturally think that it sounds similar to Featured Snippets, it is much more advanced. Thanks to generative AI, Google SGE has been built to help make searching easier – so you have to do less of the heavy lifting. As google puts it, SGE allows you to “understand a topic faster, to uncover new viewpoints and insights, and to get things done more easily”. Not only can you use Google for searches containing more variants and information, the result you are provided will also be more informative, more descriptive and will even suggest relevant follow-up questions. You can see an example of this, below:
Search query: “If I am travelling to Woolacombe for a holiday with two children, is it best I stay at Woolacombe Bay or Twitchen House?”
Context will be carried over from question to question, to help you more naturally continue your exploration. You’ll also find helpful jumping-off points to web content and a range of perspectives that you can dig into. Whilst this functionality and these AI generated search results are very different from what we’re used to seeing, we only expect more growth and development within SGE, over the coming months and years.
Aside from the developments within Google SGE, another area of AI being discussed near the end of 2023 and most likely to be a popular topic of discussion in 2024 is cybersecurity. Last month, Google Cloud Security Talks took place, marking the 20th anniversary of Cybersecurity Awareness Month. A key discussion as part of these talks surrounds the Google Cloud Security AI Workbench and Duet AI – two tools with the ability to help address pervasive and fundamental security challenges: the exponential growth in threats, the toil it takes for security teams to achieve desired outcomes, and the chronic shortage of security talent. It is incredibly interesting to see Google increase the use of AI in combating cybersecurity threats, as they have also warned of the potential for cyber criminals to significantly enhance the effectiveness and scale of cyber attacks in 2024, using AI. So whilst AI appears to be part of the solution, according to Google it could also be part of the problem.
In terms of SEO, Google Bard is also likely to see massive developments in 2024. Bard is Google’s own AI language model, created to hold an informative conversation with the end user. Whilst early adopters of these language models appeared to prefer ChatGPT, Bard is becoming increasingly popular in the world of SEO – and planned developments for the coming months such as integration with Google Assistant only add to the buzz and excitement surrounding the AI tool.
In order to stay up to date with the latest developments, and to monitor the impact of Google SGE in 2024, make sure you regularly check out our Varn Insights. In an upcoming post, we will be exploring SGE in more detail, as well as looking at how it impacts Google Shopping, Google Ads and more. We will also take a closer look at the specific data being pulled into SGE SERPs by Google, uncovering the potential of generative AI in search before it reaches the UK (hopefully by some time in 2024). Keep an eye on our blog or sign up to our newsletter today, to stay in the loop.
B2B and corporate PR and communications specialists, AMBITIOUS is closing 2023 by celebrating two new strategic hires and seven new business wins to round off a year of solid growth for the firm.
With the agency expanding to 27 staff and on track to meet its £1.65 million revenue target, AMBITIOUS has secured its position as one of the largest independent PR agencies in Bristol and the Southwest.
Sarah Woodhouse, Director, AMBITIOUS, said: ‘This year we’ve seen the same challenges as other agencies with a lag between briefs being awarded and work then starting but we’ve had a strong new business pipeline. The ink has dried on seven new contracts in the last quarter of this year alone and together with strong client retention, puts us in a strong position for 2024.”
Based on Oakfield Road in Clifton, the agency has grown from strength to strength with new retained clientsincluding Tunstall Healthcare Group, GlobalGiving UK, Harley Row Clinic, and a short project with UCAS.
Further growth also came from the agency’s existing client base expanding their remit.
Sarah Woodhouse explains, “CEOs are striving to build trust signals with customers and prospects, driving up the need for third-party endorsement. We’re seeing growth from organisations that want to build understanding and earn these trust signals from a range of audiences – and we have a key role in driving these strategic communications. We’ve also seen uptake for our work supporting companies to integrate their marketing and PR efforts.”
AMBITIOUS has made two key hires since September, in addition to four hires made earlier this year. Maria Dickson joins as Marketing Director, a newly created role signalling the agency’s commitment to more integrated campaign activations. She’ll also be leading the agency’s marketing strategy as it looks to expand. Chloe Tonkin also joins as a senior PR consultant and copywriter to support the firm’s growth.
With over 12 years of experience working in award-winning communications agencies and most recently leading all national marketing and social media for Girlguiding, Maria Dickson is a seasoned marketer. Having led UK and global agency teams across consumer, pharma and not-for-profit sectors she has extensive experience in developing and implementing integrated strategies. Her career includes roles at Pegasus (now Evoke Mind + Matter) and Edelman, working with clients such as GSK, Bayer and EIT Health. For the last four years, she led all marketing and campaigns at Girlguiding, including a new brand rollout – the largest in the organisation’s 113 year history.
Chloe Tonkin has over ten years working agency-side across B2C and B2B-focused sectors, in both the UK and New Zealand. Her experience spans technology, FMCG, healthcare, and beyond. She’s worked on campaigns for big-name clients including Samsung, American Express, HSBC, Specsavers, and Unilever. Her primary area of expertise is in traditional earned PR and media relations, but she also has extensive experience in running influencer programmes for clients like Samsung and Dove.
Lis Anderson, Founder & Director, AMBITIOUS, said: “We’re excited to grow our team again this year and welcome Maria and Chloe into the fold. They each bring a wealth of experience to complement our existing team, ensuring that we can deliver the best possible service to clients as we look ahead to 2024.”
“Ensuring we have a happy and healthy team is of utmost importance to us. We’re proud of our growing team and a record of 3.5 years with no staff attrition – a testament to our team culture. We’re excited about the year ahead.”
Interested in working for or with AMBITIOUS? Please email Sarah or Lis at [email protected]
Against a backdrop of new working dynamics and AI advances, a new McCann Synergy study explores the ‘Truth About Work,’ and how organisations can use their own brand platforms to give staff a greater sense of purpose.
A new global study from employee engagement agency McCann Synergy, in partnership with McCann Worldgroup, has revealed that 61% of workers think that if their job disappeared no one would notice.
Previewing the findings at an event in partnership with LinkedIn in London last month, the ‘Truth About Work’ study drew on a survey of over 19,000 people across 18 markets, to reveal a range of insights including an imperative for work that is not just functional but personal, intentional, and deeply aligned with the values and dedication organisations extend to their customers.
The world of work has undergone a radical transformation in recent years from hybrid working to the influx of ChatGPT, but with 61% of young people planning to change jobs in the next two years, retention is the new truth to tackle. Creating employer brand experiences that engage employees – mirroring the quality and delivery of EX and CX – will help brands unlock growth and retain employees.
Nicky Clark, Client Director at McCann Synergy, said: “Our study reinforces the critical need for organisations to realign their brand purpose with the everyday lives of their workforce. When employees understand the connection between their role and a company’s mission, the impact is transformative. As an employee engagement consultancy, we find that working with leaders that recognise the value of a strong workplace culture is a real game changer – when brands get this right, employees flourish, innovation grows and organisations are more successful.”
Fernando Fascioli, President, McCann Worldgroup Europe & UK, added: “Organisations thrive when they put their customers and employees at the heart of all they do. As a creative network, McCann Worldgroup’s mission is to help clients unleash their brand purpose to earn a meaningful role in people’s lives. To remain competitive brands must extend this ethos to their employees and create brand experiences that can engage, delight, and drive a sense of shared purpose.”
Connecting to brand purpose has always been an external customer driver and the need for purpose is widely seen as business critical across the advertising industry. Between 2012 and 2022 the importance of brand purpose in Cannes Grand Prix wins increased by 71%. However, brand purpose has become decoupled from the lives of the people who build the brands from the inside, and 1 in 2 employees globally believe their job feels pointless.
McCann Worldgroup partnered with LinkedIn, the world’s premier professional network, who have been at the forefront of the future of work and employer branding to launch their Truth About Work study. At the event in London, they were joined by panelists Joe Ryle, Director of the 4-Day Week Campaign and Media & Comms Lead at Autonomy; Stephen Adeoye “Corporate Steve” TikToker and Founder & CEO of Beyond Education; Kate Waterfall Hill, Leadership Coach and Tiktok Creator; and LinkedIn’s James Gill, to explore how brands can use their brand platforms to amplify and energize their employee experience and engagement strategies.
James Gill, Senior Director – Head of Agency Development & Marketer Education at LinkedIn EMEA & LATAM commented: “In a world that is constantly evolving, it’s crucial for us to embrace change, adapt to new realities, and envision the possibilities ahead. Our approach to life, work, and growth have fundamentally shifted in the wake of the pandemic.
“At LinkedIn, we recognise the profound impact of these changes and we’re delighted to collaborate with McCann Worldgroup to explore the future of meaningful and impactful work, and shine a spotlight on the importance of adaptability, reskilling, and life-work balance in the future of work.
Although working culture and talent retention might feel like buzz words, employees who said they understood how their role fitted into their company’s mission were most likely to rate themselves as 1.7x happier. They also self-rated themselves as 1.6x more productive, showing that engaging employees can have a big impact on company profitability. In a time of constant change, employers who harness their brand platforms internally will create a culture of purpose and productivity that will support their employees and customers alike.
For full details, click here: www.mccannworldgroup.com/about/truth. For more information on McCann Synergy, visit: www.mccannsynergy.com
Halo continues to strengthen its strategic offer with the appointment of Matt Crisp.
Matt is a leading creative and strategic thinker, bringing with him brand and commercial management experience from his 9 years at Diageo. He subsequently was MD of Brave, one of the UK’s leading independent creative agencies, growing global brands such as Fever Tree, Adidas, Panasonic and Green & Black’s.
Matt moved from agency life to take on a number of private and public sector advisory roles in smart cities, technology, media and mobility, with a track record in building high growth companies.
Matt will work alongside Halo’s teams and clients to develop insightful strategies and effective creative solutions to improve business performance and audience experience.
Hannah Williams, Halo’s recently appointed MD, says, “we’re thrilled to bring Matt’s level of expertise into Halo at this pivotal point in our agency’s growth. Matt’s appointment will help ignite our 2024 ambitions and build on the excellence of our strategic capabilities”.
Nick Ellis, Creative Partner and Halo co-founder says, “We’ve known Matt for over 10 years and in that time we’ve created significant work for retailer clients and FMCG brands together. Matt joining the team full-time is a natural move for us, and underlines our commitment to further strengthen and grow our strategy practice”.
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About Halo
Halo is a full-service, independent brand agency, partnering with household names evolving and renewing their propositions, challengers disrupting the status quo and start-ups beginning the journey.
We develop strategies to deliver a competitive edge and physical & digital experiences that connect with audiences on-screen and in-person; making sure brands are recognised, remembered and encouraging action.
With joined-up thinking & inspiring, creative energy, we improve audience experience and ultimately business performance.
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