United Kingdom

The UK is the second most important revenue market for the Group, representing over 25% of total revenue. It is also the place where the Group was founded back in 1981 and where it is headquartered (although Tim Dyson, the Group CEO, has been happily based in the US for the last 14 years!). The first quarter of the financial year was strong, with good momentum continuing from the previous record year and it seemed at that time that the worst of the downturn might be contained to the financial sector. However, by the beginning of 2009, the UK businesses had seen some client budget allocations significantly reduced and it was clear that the UK faced a very difficult year. Agency-management teams responded quickly and decisively cutting non-essential costs and reducing staff costs in line with revenue projections. Alongside the downturn, traditional media outlets continued to shrink and the shift to online media consumption gathered pace. So, with the prospect of reduced client spend and a diminishing demand for traditional media relations services, the response had to be both ambitious and thorough.

Inferno had been created by a team from Bite in 2003 as a response to client conflicts where Bite could not handle the work. Inferno had developed independently into a good business with some great clients, but following a strategic review in early 2009 it was felt that a merger with Bite would create a single entity better positioned to succeed in the current marketplace. This merged team created a broader group of specialists able to deliver counsel, create content and drive communications campaigns helping clients reach the right audiences with the right messages through the right media. This decision was vindicated as the newly merged business pitched and won the Logica account in the UK.

Despite the economic climate and the clear need to deliver outstanding work to existing clients, there was still a desire to pitch and win new clients. Text 100 secured regional wins in Europe with leading technology brands Skype and SanDisk, where London provides the central hub team taking the lead on content creation, campaign development and international coordination. Bite was successful against some strong competition in securing new business from Amadeus, 4Music, Juniper and Xerox. Consumer agency Lexis had success with DHL, Weight Watchers, Strepsils, Beck’s and Flora.

Research agency Redshift has a different business model, being almost exclusively reliant on ad hoc research projects. So the success of this business depends on its ability to win, deliver and secure repeat commissions from clients. Working with other parts of the Group was a key objective when Redshift was formed. Redshift works closely with Lexis on the consumer side and provides media analysis and evaluation work for Group companies as they pitch for new business. This has helped win business with Hitachi Data Systems, Sony Professional, HP, AMD and Amadeus. Redshift has also worked with Bite in the US to develop a proprietary way of proving return on investment for PR campaigns. Other examples of the UK businesses working together are EXO, the design team at Lexis, working with Bite and Text 100 clients, and Lexis working with Text 100’s worldwide network on the Barclays Premier League account.

As mentioned above, social media and digital campaigns are becoming increasingly imbedded into all client PR programmes. Worldwide, Text 100 worked on more than 300 social media projects, many of which were regular projects for key clients, such as IBM. Here Text 100 has been working on a landmark social media campaign to showcase IBM’s technological expertise in the Virtual Forbidden City, a breathtaking Second Life-like representation of a Chinese world from five hundred years ago. The campaign utilised social media tactics as an integrated component of a more traditional marketing programme to generate new influencer audiences and generate new business leads.

Despite the tough climate, there are always those less fortunate to consider. The UK businesses have once again shown that they care and Lexis raised nearly £15,000 for Cancer Research, and two staff members went to Ecuador to help rebuild a school as part of the Sir Bobby Moore project for prostate cancer. Text 100 has supported Action For Children since 2005 by raising money on Byte Night, the IT industry’s annual sleep-out in support of Action for Children. Over the last five years Text 100 has raised over £23,000.

It’s a source of pride and motivation to be recognised for good work and a good culture. Text 100 UK was shortlisted for the PR Week International Consultancy of the Year and was voted as Exceptional by Best Companies and ranked No. 29 in The Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For, where Lexis also featured once again. Lexis was also shortlisted for Best Consumer Campaign by PR Week for their work for Boots’ No7 anti-wrinkle cream, Protect & Perfect Intense. Redshift Research was also recognised with a shortlisting in the Best New Agency category by the Market Research Society.

2009 has been difficult and the new financial year started in August with only tentative signs of economic recovery. The UK businesses of Next Fifteen have weathered the downturn, taken the right action and are well positioned to benefit from any sustained recovery. Next Fifteen is still investing in the UK market with the recent announcement of a digital PR start-up business in both the UK and US, which seeks to supplement the work that the existing agencies are already doing for their clients.