A man with a plan

Judie Lannon: There are a lot of good agencies around of increasingly good quality, and there's the recession. How are you different?

Simon Davies: I agree that there are many good agencies. There always have been. But what's happened is that there are too many with too many specialisations. Yes, they are good at what they do but within a fairly narrow range. All this fragmentation has increased choice, but ironically, all this choice makes life much more difficult for clients.

Things used to be much simpler. You had a marketing problem and you had a marketing partner, and you worked out the strategy between you. The solution was usually to make a TV commercial because your marketing partner was an advertising agency, and anyway your choices were limited. For example, when I started at Cadbury there were 22 brands advertised on TV. Nowadays it's more like three.

As the agency market has got more specialised, the client increasingly has had to do all the thinking in advance before choosing different specialists. You're not talking to agencies about how to divide up the total budget in the way you once did. So we feel there is a genuinely significant need for an experienced solution-led agency.

JL: There are indeed a lot of specialist agencies, but there are also those that claim to be 'media neutral'. How are you different?

SD: Those agencies have moved the game on considerably. But they are still just about media, which is only a part of the marketing mix. I've had 20 years in marketing plus five years as sales director.

I trained at Cadbury, which was a fantastic experience, then moved to Bass, which became Molson Coors, as board-level marketing director with a big portfolio, including Carling. We were investing £75 million a year in that portfolio. So I've had a lot of direct experience managing small brands, large brands, digital, sponsorship, TV, the regulatory environment and so forth.

This should be the most exciting time to be in marketing communications. We can do things never imagined in terms of ability to connect with consumers. It's mind boggling. But choice can be distracting. Having 40 things on offer and having to make choices really isn't such a pleasurable experience, never mind the opportunity cost of those you don't choose.

So what should be exciting is often frustrating because navigating your way through all these choices requires experience, knowledge and time. And, as a client, with all the other things you have to think about, you really need help that you can trust.

JL: Who are your partners and what are their skills?

SD: David Walters is the second member of the team and he's had client experience as well. We were brand managers together but he has worked at agencies for most of his career. He founded Blue Chip agency in 1989 which he ran until 2002. Since then he has been a consultant.

The third member is Mark Batey, an academic psychologist from Manchester Business School. Mark's subject is creativity – he's the fifth most published author on creativity in the world. He will be working with us but will still be connected to the business school. What he brings is a deep understanding of creativity.

Development of the overall communication strategy will be down to me and David. Then Mark will lead the creative process. He believes that creativity is a skill like any other and he will coach and work directly with clients to bring strategies to life, to clarify the core ideas that will drive them.

Mark brings an ability to look into the future. We will obviously use conventional market research when required but research struggles with genuine innovation, and that is one of Mark's strengths.

JL: Getting paid is a knotty problem. How do you intend to charge clients – by inputs or outcomes? Or do you have a different model?

SD: In all the time I worked at Coors we never used the term 'marketing budget': we used the term 'revenue investment'. It was embedded in the culture of the company. And like all investment you must get a return. We belive that our work should be able to demonstrate a return and that we should share in results generated.

I know this is very difficult – what measurements do you use? But the principle is that we should be rewarded for what we do. As a client I have seen many grandiose and naive measurements of success. But because I've been a marketer I feel I'm in a better position to judge what success looks like. But we will agree with clients in advance what the criteria are.

JL: How are you going to deliver your services? Will you use inhouse people, freelancers or both?

SD: The key criteria for resourcing are quality and flexibility. We want access to the best in each of the disciplines we will want to use. But we don't want to pay for people full time if they're only required part of the time. We will have a core staff but bring in outsiders.

The freelance market has really changd over the years. We may employ individuals or whole organisations. I ran a team of people for five years with only 10 per cent on my payroll.

JL: Most clients are buyers rather than sellers by nature. How will you adapt to being at a client's service rather than calling the shots?

SD: I disagree with that distinction. Marketing is about generating revenue. Maximising revenue requires the pulling together of parties with equal status and stakes in the outcome. Our major difference is that we will be delivering total solutions, not selling particular aspects of execution because that's what we make.

JL: Most agencies fail because of a lack of personal chemistry. How well do you know the people you will be working with?

SD: That's an excellent question. It's tempting to construct a team of people who share your perspectives but you need to be challenged. I think we have that mix right because although we don't always agree, David and I have known each other for more than 20 years. This business is the culmination of 15 years of discussion and now we feel the environment is right.

I've just got to know Mark this year. David took his degree at Manchester so he's known him for longer and finds him very inspiring to work with. He has a great personal track record.

JL: And the name MMIXX? How did you choose that?

SD: It reflects our offer – the total marketing mix solution.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Simon Davies owns MMIXX, an integrated marketing and creative agency.

[email protected]