Sunday, July 24, 2016

Farewell to Francis Reid

With Andy Collier - Francis Reid (R)
Francis Reid, who died last month (9th June 2016), enjoyed a legendary reputation in the arcane  world of theatre lighting.

But not only was Francis the 'go to' person to ask about theatre lighting, his theatrical interests were much broader, with experience in many roles within the theatre, including running one. I had joined Strand from Thorn, the UK's largest lighting company, but none of my experience had taken me into Thorn's theatre lighting business. I  had however worked closely with Tony Isaacs and the team behind  Q File - a landmark product that had stolen a march on Strand the market leaders, in bring electronics to theatre lighting. I  was also told that in the sequence of recent Strand marketing managers I was unusual in having an engineering background and expertise in lighting. It was in this appointment I  first met Francis.

Some years earlier I  had, in an amateur role, attended a series of theatre lighting training sessions run on a Saturday morning in Strand's Covent Garden HQ. I was also aware of Francis' ability to communicate in other ways than the expression of his artistic abilities through his lighting designs. Also through his teaching and writing expertise similarly commanded respect. He taught us too, memorably, hands on' education at the Buxton Opera House in mid winter when the theatre was dark.

Despite his fame, Francis was so easy to talk to. Although our meetings were quite infrequent, we would sit and chat over a cup of coffee like long lost friends. Francis made you feel immediately comfortable and treated you as a valued friend. Unlike some, he did not use his position or reputation to take a superior role. When looking at new products, his questioning of how they worked was gentle and probing.  Not the attitude of others who try to undermine your new development. This all made his advice that much more valuable.

Francis had been one of the few editors of Strand's TABS magazine. By the time I  had taken over the marketing role at Strand, Richard Harris had taken up the editorial pen.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Time to bring back the export department

Before Britain joined what was to evolve into the EU, it was common for British companies to divide
the world into two main spheres. The Home market and the Export market.

The appointment of the new British Foreign Secretary - a job title that in itself reflects the division of the world into Home and Foreign affairs - has certainly sparked a lot of interest. What surprised me was the role is being filled by someone who actually speaks a number of languages other than English. In one major company I worked for an expertise in foreign languages was apparently not a requirement. In another company I  dealt with the export manager didn't even possess a passport! Turning the clock back still further, my father worked for a company that traded to all corners of the globe - English speaking corners that is - all in a pre-Internet, pre-international telephones era too, where the telegraph was the 'killer product" of communications.

The Home market was covered by a team of salesmen, branch managers, area mangers, regional managers - may be more. Export desks dealt with the Empire, later becoming the Commonwealth and handled through branch offices. Where I  worked we actually had a Europe desk, run by a man who could actually speak a few European languages, but also had a profound dislike of foreigners. Given this organisational structure it is surprising anyone ever imagined British membership of the EU was a good idea at anytime. Of course what actually happened is that big businesses became huge businesses and then global businesses in response to big political groupings like the EU. With an HQ in a low tax country like Luxembourg or Ireland  soon these huge global companies were paying less tax than the local shop keeper. Of course they wanted Britain to remain in the EU. But now the opportunity is there again for enterprising British companies to export to a global market again.







Thursday, July 14, 2016

The Brief

Getting the brief right and complete first time can save a great deal of time, money and frustration. But of course it doesn't happen very often.

I find it always helps when the client's brief to the agency is part of an established strategy. And that is typically a Marketing Plan supported by a Corporate Identity manual and quite importantly by a budget. As a marketing agency we typically operate as part of the marketing team and will have had input to the top level marketing strategy and planning, be familiar with the CI,  aware of the budget and critically have a good understanding of the market. Perhaps because of this issue of market understanding, b-2-b agencies often tend to specialise in a specific market.

All this helps with providing a comprehensive design brief, but even then it is often the case that important elements of the project are missing. Back in the distant past when b-2-b businesses were starting to develop a web presence, this missing information was not just a photograph or some technical data, but the whole way the business operated. What we all too often discovered was that building a web site demanded a clarity of what, how and where the client company sold their wares. It showed up big gaps in areas such as spare parts and consumables, often revealing an informal arrangement where someone wandered into the stores and picked up parts to post to the end customer. It forced the client to have a fresh look at their product offering and how they did business. For some this review in itself resulted in more sales, often because the web site revealed options which before customers didn't know existed.

Agencies often find their role is towards the end of a project so where the project is behind schedule the marketing collateral appears to be late, or the agency time frame gets compressed. We find that being involved in the project from the outset can help later on when it is time to launch a new product and significant elements of the marketing campaign are likely to be missing this can be flagged up early and resource allocated accordingly.




Tuesday, July 12, 2016

A Time for Reflection

Andy Collier      3rd September 1953 - 12th July 2013


 Today we pause from the daily work to remember and reflect on the anniversary of the untimely death of Andy Collier.






































Today we pause from the daily work to remember and reflect on