Tangerine PR

How would you sum up 2009 for your agency?

I’d say we bucked the trend. Many agencies either chose to consolidate or had to shrink, whereas we grew. We made major moves into the digital PR arena with our acquisition of specialist social media marketing agency Juice, leading to the whole team fully embracing the digital media world. Our client relationships were also strengthened as we found ourselves working even more in partnership with clients as budgets were tight and proven results even more important than ever, due to the challenging climate. Organic growth was more in focus as new business was thinner on the ground. 50% of our growth last year came from existing clients, which we’re proud of as clients trusted us to take a bigger share of marketing budgets and made cuts elsewhere.

What was the high point of 2009 for your agency?

It would be our acquisition of social media marketing agency Juice which has helped to fulfil our ambitions of leading this field and added new faces and experience to the team. Our client retention was also excellent. We only lost one client due to the recession and they’re keen to come back when their company has recovered.

What was the low point of 2009 for your agency?

Recruitment – we have always found finding really good people to keep pace with our growth and help us drive the business forward a challenge. As a result we can’t always harness all the opportunities that are out there and therefore we don’t always achieve the level of growth we could, which is frustrating.

What is the key difference between working in your region and working in London?

I think there’s less ‘fluff’ outside London and more of a down to earth, ‘get on with it’ culture. There’s more honesty and clients want and expect a clearer idea of what they’re getting for their money. In some instances budgets aren’t as big as those banded around the capital and therefore we have to think more creatively to achieve what clients want with a smaller purse to do it.

Please give an overview of your staffing through 2009, including significant hires and internal promotions.

We increased the team from 23 to 30 in the last 12 months. Internally we restructured and created three teams which created new roles including three team leaders. We also continued with promotions and brought on board two apprentices currently studying NVQs, which not only gives them vital work experience but also helps support our teams internally, particularly on the admin side. Through the acquisition of Juice we also brought on board Steve Downes – MD of Juice – as our head of digital. Steve has decades of PR experience (he was the ‘Downes’ in Paver Downes) most recently in the digital arena and has brought a new senior ‘brain’ to the consultancy, as well as some more ‘grey hair’ which I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying! Oh and I also can’t forget two new additions to the team in the form of our first two Tangerine babies!

What was your best client/account win of 2009 and why?

Difficult one but I would say Makro as it is such an interesting story to be involved with as the business is going through turnaround and it is a very exciting time.

What were your three best campaigns of 2009?

Another difficult one! We were fortunate to be involved with lots of interesting campaigns last year. Our work with the Road Safety Partnerships in the North West is always interesting and last year we ran campaigns which targeted young drivers and Christmas anti drink driving which achieved great results. The whole team enjoys being involved in these projects as they have such an important message to communicate. We’re also proud of the work we do with Atkins (low carb diet) as, even though the client has no new products to launch, we continue to achieve substantial national print and broadcast coverage, enabling additional listings for the bars and shakes which support the diet. The third would be The Big School Makeover initiative for Dulux Trade. This was a nationwide project launched to encourage teachers, parents and young people to get involved in refreshing or refurbishing key areas of their school. We achieved a great ROI for the client with this campaign and it was a lot of fun at the same time.

How did the recession affect your performance in 2009 and what trends did you notice throughout the year – e.g. clients taking longer to sign off budgets etc?

Everything definitely took more time in 2009 - whether it was existing clients signing off additional budgets or potential clients agreeing to meet. It appeared there was generally less client movement between agencies too, as clients appeared to have the view that moving around was too much of a risk in the tough climate, even if they weren’t particularly happy. The same could be said for people too. Recruitment was tough as people were more reluctant to ‘jump ship’ – again even if they were unhappy. As mentioned earlier our turnover growth was lower than usual but we counteracted this with a growth in profit which was our aim. Overall 2009 was a pretty good year for us despite the recession!

Of which achievement in 2009 are you most proud?

Probably just continuing to grow when most of our competitors were shrinking. Our client retention was excellent and we never even came close to having to make any redundancies or pay freezes which we’re aware was the case elsewhere. A major achievement as part of the growth was of course our acquisition of Juice which was quite a coup in a difficult economic climate.

Describe your agency in five words

When we recently overhauled our website, the design agency we used asked our clients what they thought of us and what kept being mentioned was ‘a breath of fresh air’. We are extremely proud this description and as it’s five words, I’ll use it again! A BREATH OF FRESH AIR!

How have you embraced social media in 2009?

That’s an easy one – our acquisition of Juice! This gives us a complete team dedicated to social media which infiltrates all the other teams so all clients benefit. We’ve also done a vast amount of internal training using the Juice experts so social media is now second nature to the whole team. That’s what we wanted to engender – not that social media is something different or separate, but that it should just naturally be a part of everything we do.

What are your plans for 2010?

Continued growth again! Our business plan sets out year on year growth of 15% and every year we look to better this and usually do. This year will be no different. The internal team structure was put in place towards the end of 2009, so cementing this will form a major part of our plans. We’ve also outgrown our office space – again! – so premises will be an important decision this year. Client growth and retention will of course be a major part of the year, as it always is. We have excellent relationships and loyal clients so ensuring this continues is a priority.

We’ve also just gone for and achieved silver status for IiP which we are delighted with and gather we’re the only marketing agency in the North to have achieved this level, so we’re keen to utilise this to good effect too as looking after our team is crucial.

If your agency were an animal, what animal would it be and why?

We’d be a meerkat! Because they’re inquisitive, current/on trend, individual but work best as part of a bigger clan. They’re a bit cheeky on occasion but also have good vision, are hard workers and dig below the surface - ie not always going for the obvious. Simples!