Waypointers

If you ask most agency leaders, very few will claim to enjoy negotiating. Sure, it's a necessary part of business, but secretly most of them will be wondering how they could do things better. Could they have got negotiated better payment terms; could they have secured a larger remit with a client; could they have hired that senior person for less? Plus, negotiating can be filled with emotion, and dealing with emotion in the workplace can be deeply uncomfortable. This lively and at times, humorous episode of Waypointers features not one, but two experts discussing ways of improving negotiation skills, with scenarios lifted from their working lives. They clearly lived to tell the tale, but there were some potentially career ending moments along the way! In the negotiation hotseat are Waypoint's Jim Houghton, the author of a recent book, The Work Smarter Guide to Negotiation, co-written with Kirk Kinnell, a hostage negotiator and counter-terrorism expert, and chief negotiation officer Sam Macbeth, with many years' experience helping business leaders and agency heads smarten up their negotiation tactics.  Picking their brains and asking the difficult questions is Waypoint partner, Phil Gripton.

A new challenger on the blockAt Waypoint we talk often about Challengers, fast growing agencies and agency groups that are born digital and performance first, who deliver on the “modern marketing brief.”In this episode, Waypoint partner Matt Lacey profiles a new entrant to the Challenger cohort. That new entrant is SAMY Alliance, a fast-growing, social-first agency group, intent onpartnering with the world's most recognisable brands who are seeking a modern, social-first solution.SAMY already has impressive scale – 500 people globally, a client base that includes Kia, L'Oreal, Maybelline, Microsoft and Netflix, and investment from Bridgepoint.In the studio with Matt to tell the SAMY story is Rocio Lama, head of strategy and corporate development for SAMY Alliance. Rocio heads up a six strong M&A team in Madrid, working to deliver on the group's growth ambitions.  Growth strategyRocio talks to Matt about SAMY's M&A activity to date. The group has been acquiring in the UK, Europe and the US since 2019 and has a proven track record of successfully integrating agencies and driving value in them.SAMY is an exciting proposition for entrepreneurial agency founders looking at the next chapter in their growth journey; a fast-scaling business where they can play a role in something much bigger.And now, with support from professional investors, SAMY is focusing in on new targets in the US and Europe, what it describes as “anchor” acquisitions that will transform the group.In short, SAMY's sights are set on sector leadership. And as social starts to takes its place at the client top table, the future is set to be an exciting one.

Some agency and tech businesses have got their processes around tendering for public sectors contracts off to a tee. Many others are put off by a set of negative perceptions; that the whole thing is beset with red tape and simply not worth the hassle. They might have tendered in the past, simply to learn several weeks after the cutoff date, that they've not been successful. No feedback, no learning, no nothing. No wonder they decided not to go back for more. Changing timesVery soon all of that is set to change. The Public Sector Procurement Act, 2023, endeavours to level the playing field for SMEs and to give them far better access to government contracts. In this episode, Waypoint partner Phil Gripton talks to two experts in this area. The first, Martin Traynor OBE, is the former Small Business Crown Representative at The Cabinet Office. Martin explains the legislative changes that are coming into effect from October 2024 and which he played a key role in developing. He also outlines why they present an attractive new opportunity for SMEs.The second, Danny Herbert is an independent agency veteran who's tendered for and won many public sector contracts during his career. He helps unpack the significance of the changes and explains how SMEs should be preparing for what's coming. The best kept secretFrom October 2024 the government will have to spend £1 in every £3 with SMEs. So why aren't more people talking about this big change? The public sector has recognised that innovation often lives in small businesses and as a result, is looking to simplify and open up the procurement process to them. This episode of Waypointers aims to spread the word.At a time when new business is hard to come by and many agencies are feeling the pinch, now is a great time to find out about new revenue opportunities that are opening up.Quite simply, the changes are better for business, better for government, driving value for money for the British tax payer and empowering SMEs to win government contracts.

Disruption is a recurrent theme in our Waypointers podcast and it often happens at the hands of outsiders – as our previous episode with a former US Marine, Justin Lewis shows. The guest in our latest episode is Simon Martin, the founder and chief executive of Oliver. Over the last 20 years Simon has brought significant disruption to the ad industry. His unique perspective comes from having started his career in the insurance sector where he saw the way in which deeply embedded relationships with clients drove significant efficiencies, business opportunities and growth.   How it all started When he left his CMO role in insurance and set up Oliver, he brought a new mindset and practice to the ad agency sector. Very soon, the in-housing model that Oliver pioneered was being adopted by some of the most highly prized clients.Now part of the Brandtech Group, Oliver is 5,000 people in 60 countries, servicing 300 clients and is five times bigger today than it was at the start of Covid.Oliver's route to successSimon explains to Waypoint partner Jim Houghton Oliver's model of “people, process and technology” which allows it to work in genuine collaboration and partnership with client organisations. It also makes it unbeatable when it comes to efficiency and productivity.

Serving in the military provides a unique perspective on leadership. In this episode of the podcast, Waypoint Partner Matt Lacey sat down with former US marine Justin Lewis to learn about his very personal form of leadership at Constellation, a collective of best-in-class agencies within challenger network, Stagwell. Justin's take on leadership is inspiring and he speaks with great passion. There is much here for new and experienced agency heads alike to learn as well as for entrepreneurs looking to build best in class businesses. When he was not long out of the marines and working out what to do as a civilian, Justin fell in love with the new online world and learnt to code. He went on to found digital agency, Instrument with his two partners, bringing to bear the skills honed in the military, to successfully grow the business and eventually sell to MDC (now part of Stagwell).Justin's interpretation of culture is an unusual one. He believes that a corporate culture should never be fixed at a point in time. Instead, it should flex whenever there is a new arrival on the team. Only by doing this can it remain meaningful to everyone in the business, while taking care not to lose sight of its north star. That is a difficult balance to tread.Justin provides some great examples of what he learnt from his time in the marines. How to bring people with you on a journey; how to make them feel like they matter by remembering something unique about them even when there are several hundred people in a team; how to define values that are authentic to the agency and that everyone can identify with.Matt and Justin agree that growing a business is about so much more than numbers on a balance sheet. If there is a poor culture or the leaders are not aligned, then that's becomes evident pretty clearly and a buyer like Justin will quickly walk away.  For incredible insight into great leadership, like nothing you've heard before, check out the latest episode of Waypointers.

As a sector, market research has been experimenting with machine learning and predictive algorithms earlier than many other parts of the marketing services industry; the same is true of AI. Research group STRAT7 has been building expertise in AI well ahead of ChatGPT and generative AI becoming mainstream. This AI themed episode of Waypointers sees STRAT7 leaders Barrie Brien and Paul Jackson in conversation with Waypoint's tech editor Martin Ward explaining their approach to harnessing AI for competitive advantage.  They talk about investing in and creating what is effectively an AI centre of excellence at the heart of STRAT7 that can be accessed through every agency in the business. This working group of consultants, data scientists, engineers, modellers and other specialists collaborates to build the best possible products and services to drive value for clientsSome of the agencies Waypoint has spoken to as part of the Waypointers AI series have encouraged their stuff to experiment with public tools such as ChatGPT. STRAT7 has taken a very different approach and has built its own AI tool, strat7GPT.  Paul and Barrie talk about the balance they struck between speeding up strategic delivery to STRAT7 clients while ensuring this is always done within a secure environment that supports confidentiality agreements and allows the agency to maintain control of client data to remove any risk of it leaking into the public domain.To hear more about the strategic decision making involved in building AI into the heart of a business and how to bring people and clients along the way, tune into this fascinating episode of Waypointers.

2023 was a busy year for M&A in the PR/comms industry. One of the most significant of these deals was announced in October when Lansons was acquired by Team Farner.   This episode of Waypointers sees Gordon Tempest-Hay, the CEO of Lansons telling Waypoint partner Jim Houghton the story behind the deal headlines and his and Farner's ambitions – “to become the European management consultancy for integrated communications”.  Farner might not be a well-known entity in the UK, but that's about to change. We also hear about Gordon's rather circuitous route into the comms industry by way of spending almost ten years trying to make it as a rock star (hint, he came very close!) Once in the industry, from working in-house at the DWP, Gordon moved agency side, taking up roles at some of its most notable businesses – Fishburn Hedges, Blue Rubicon, Teneo/Blue Rubicon and from 2022, Lansons.  At BR/Teneo, and then again when Lansons became part of Waterland backed Farner, he's had plenty of experience working with private equity investors.  He talks positively about the value they bring to a partnership and the support they have provided him in good times as well as bad.

To mark the start of 2024 this episode of Waypointers looks to the future, specifically the future of AI and tech more broadly, covering business, society and beyond.Our guest is the inspirational Nell Watson, one of the most compelling global voices discussing the direction of travel for AI and tech. Nell is a tech ethicist, researcher and reformer,  “a trailblazer in emerging technologies such as machine vision and A.I. ethics.” She is president of the European Responsible AI Office and AI Expert at Singularity University. She also pioneers global standards as an AI Ethics Certification Maestro at IEEE. She advises leading organisations on their machine learning strategies, specialising in AI research and ethical advocacy.Her conversation with Waypoint's tech lead and partner, Martin Ward, is a wide ranging one that has something for everyone. Together they cover the importance of smart leadership in an increasingly AI driven world; how malign actors may look to harness AI and what society can do to protect itself; how AI will increasingly manifest in our day to day – e.g. domestic robots, AI girlfriends/boyfriends/companions and how breathtaking developments in AI will force us to question what it means to be human…..and much, much more!

In this episode of Waypointers our guest is Jason Foo, the CEO of independent agency, BBD Perfect Storm, a brand and cultural transformation company, helping clients transform themselves and their categories for increased growth and positive societal impact. The conversation with Waypoint partner Jim Houghton is a fascinating one, covering purpose, culture, leadership, AI/automation and much more. Jason talks about the journey he and his team went on to become a B Corp business and why it was such an important goal for them. He discusses the agency's bravery in setting up a specialist division, New Macho, focused on helping brands grow through a new positive male narrative, just as the #MeToo movement was at its loudest. Smart, compassionate leadership and clarity of vision are hallmarks of Jason's MO. Listen for more on what makes this influential independent agency special.

Leading agency VCCP created headlines earlier in the year when it launched AI agency, Faith, with Sage as a founding client. In this episode of Waypointers, Faith's innovation director Peter Gasston explains why VCCP took the decision to make this major investment in technology and what the journey has been like so far.  Interestingly Peter explains that the impetus was largely led by the creative department within VCCP who were increasingly experimenting with generative AI tools of their own accord. Rather than seeing these tools as a threat, they saw that they could deliver efficiencies, doing some of the work that no one really wants to do, so that people can focus on creative activities that need a human at the heart. One of Peter's key learnings is that unless you're there in the thick of it, trying things out in real life, you're never going to understand the full capabilities of the tools that are currently available. Peter brings this to life with some great examples – did you know that AI image generator Midjourney cannot come up with an image of two middle-aged European men kissing each other on the cheek – a very standard greeting? Nor did Peter and his team until they tried.  And it's not just about efficiencies, Peter also explains how AI can stimulate creative thinking, driving creative people to be even more creative. In a world that's moving as fast as generative AI, nothing is set in stone and planning cycles are 90 days at most. Something that's true today might be redundant in a month's time. That's why this conversation is so deeply engaging – the journey Peter and his team have embarked on is like nothing they've ever experience before in their careers. Click on the link below to listen to this fascinating conversation between Peter and Waypoint's tech lead and partner, Martin Ward.

Peter Reid, the CEO of MSQ Partners is the next guest in our Challenger agency series.A former McKinsey consultant, Peter has taken MSQ on quite a journey. He joined in 2007 to turn around a business that at the time was known as Media Square and that came with significant financial challenges.  After several years of streamlining, in 2010 Peter became CEO and in 2011 took the business private which he describes as a key way to establish a sustainable financial structure and to drive a transformational agenda.  Today MSQ is a highly profitable operation with 1250 people across 13 offices, recently becoming a B Corp and the first international group in the sector to achieve carbon negative status.  Peter's top priority is scale in the US – 10-fold in the next few years - and to triple size of the business over the same period via a mix of M&A and organic growth.Waypoint partner Jim Houghton talks to Peter about many things, including: How his McKinsey background equipped him to deal with the issues he faced when he joined Media Square – looking at the agency model through a different lensHow the MSQ business model now works MSQ's tech offer and how it gives the group a competitive advantageHis growth ambitions 

Robin Skidmore, CEO of Journey Further, is a serial entrepreneur. He built his first agency Epiphany and sold it into listed business, Jaywing in 2014. In this episode he explains what drove him to set up his second agency, performance marketing specialist Journey Further, and how the lessons he learnt from his first outing in the sector have allowed him to turbocharge growth. Robin talks about the importance of goal-setting and how he and his business partner take time to align on personal and business goals. If you'd like an insight into Robin's goal-setting process you can download a template here.   The US is now a key focus for Robin's energies. Having had some early experience, he believes the only route to success is to be physically there. He explains how he learnt this the hard way and how any preconceptions that the UK and US markets are similar disappear once you get face to face with the reality of doing business in the US. Robin's just moved his family out to NYC for the next 12 months so he's taking his own medicine!

Join us on our latest Waypointers episode where journalist, CEO, and renowned communications & brand strategist, Gay Flashman, is our special guest.Gay details her fascinating career in international journalism, the move to brand management and her motivation to found Formative, an agency supporting global B2B clients with multiformat storytelling. The episode is essential listening for any business leader who wants to build an engaging brand and seize advancing opportunities like AI. Listen to gain insights into the invaluable lessons and support she's received to keep the agency one step ahead with emerging technology.

SaaS businesses get a good deal of attention in the merger and acquisition (M&A) world. But many businesses that co-exist in the same markets - the technology services businesses which offer application consult, design, build and implementation services – tend to get overlooked. This episode of Waypointers aims to set the record straight and demonstrate the enormous M&A potential that resides in this space. Richard Shaw, partner at Growth Capital Partners (GCP) discusses with Waypoint's tech partner, Martin Ward what GCP has learnt through investing in successful technology services businesses for almost fifteen years and helping them build value.

Tom Walters, one of the three founders of Billion Dollar Boy, a trailblazing influencer agency, discusses the journey he and his fellow founders have been on over the last ten years – some of the wins and some of the challenges - and why they made a point of investing in building their own technology from day one. Tom explains that this deep exposure to tech to support the growth of the business means it's well placed to harness the power of AI and continue on its winning path.

What kind of agency is best equipped to handle the modern marketing brief? Can a challenger agency compete with the holdcos for some of the industry's biggest media accounts? The answer is most definitely yes. These are among the topics that James Townsend, Global CEO Stagwell Brand X Performance Network and Global CEO at Assembly discusses with Waypoint's Matt Lacey in the latest episode of Waypointers' Challengers series. James explains how he has worked to bring together creative, media and commerce to deliver a business outcome and how the group's talent base, combining data and tech literacy, gives it a disproportionate advantage. Listen in for a fascinating insight into how James built Stagwell's media offer and how this leading challenger sees the future of the industry. 

Is the conventional agency model fit for purpose in today's ever-evolving business climate?Steve Johnstone founded Alliance Creative to address the supply and demand needs businesses are looking for in a way that the traditional model often cannot. Alliance Creative is a carefully selected team of freelance professionals that adapts its resources and service-offering based on projects instead of retainers. In this Waypointers episode, Steve explains what motivated him to found Alliance Creative, its unique operating model and why he believes its alternative approach delivers the best results for clients. #Agency #CreativeIndustry #Creatives #GrowthAdvisory #BusinessPodcast

Jenny Hughes and Jodie Williams, founders of The Marketing Pod, join Jamie Learmont in this week's episode. Jenny and Jodie discuss how, with no prior agency experience, they set up their award-winning B2B marketing and strategic comms agency, navigating the complex world of ESG in the energy sector.  The enlightening conversation also looks at the challenges and opportunities Jenny and Jodie face in being female founders in the traditionally male-dominated B2B and energy sectors. 

What are the pros and cons of taking angel money? Should you seek funding from friends and family? How can you avoid ending up with a messy cap table when taking early-stage investment?In this episode of #Waypointers, partners Deepa Shah and Jim Houghton pool their experience and discuss the different funding options available to agencies looking to support their growth.They also consider the different flavours of institutional investment and the vital issue of preparing your agency and its leadership team before going out for PE funding.Tune into to find the answers to these questions and much more.

Katie Street, Owner and Founder of Street Agency, joins Phil to argue that a marketing-based approach to sales is the best way for agencies to grow and secure new business.   With only 5% of your target audience in the market for your products or services at any time, you need to ensure you're reaching them in the most effective way.   B2B Marketing allows you to identify your core audience, create relevant content for them, and know when best to pitch.  

Tom Otton, Create Group CEO, joins Phil Gripton to explain how he successfully built and grew an agency across the Middle East and North Africa.  Tom shares his insight on how to build a successful agency model that can navigate the challenges and maximise the opportunities presented in individual countries, and build lasting business relationships in nations where change is a constant.  

Growing your agency internationally isn't easy but it's vital to scale your business and build a global brand. A real challenge is adapting to a different business-style. Countries like the US have different approaches to client-relations, reporting and budgets. You need to know how to speak their language. To succeed you also have to prove the benefits of hiring your agency despite the potential drawbacks of being based internationally.Join us on our latest Waypointers episode where Paddy Moogan, Aira CEO and Co-Founder, shares his insight to build a non-domestic client base. 

In this third episode of our Challenger series, Waypoint partner, Matt Lacey sits down with Luke Smith, founder and CEO of Croud.Luke reflects on Croud's recent acquisition of social media agency, Born Social and talks about his ambitions for the business.Tune in to hear about Croud's origins, an honest account of what it was like to secure private equity investment, as well as the ownership structure and culture that sets it apart from the competition.

Well-designed user journeys are essential to boost conversions rates, however, UX is often executed imperfectly, requiring a lot time and money on revisions.In fact, research has shown 50% of work on digital products is what's known as ‘rework'. That equates to around $2.3bn of time on revisions. Join us for our 11th episode of Waypointers where UserTesting's Bruce Hunter and Phil Gripton discuss why digital design should be a business priority, regardless of sector. UserTesting is a leading UX design business helping companies all over the world improve their User Interface. 

Remote working has quickly enabled agencies to build an international workforce, but managing a culturally diverse team comes with a whole new set of challenges. It can be hard to know where to go for guidance. Look no further!  For the last 20 years, Tom Otton, CEO of Dubai-based Create Group has been building a 200-person, culturally diverse agency and client base spread across the broader MENA region. He explains the lessons he's learnt along the way with Waypoint's Jamie Learmont in our latest Waypointers episode.

Have you ever heard of Hopium? It could be what's blocking your agency's success. Listen to our latest Waypointers podcast episode where David Kean, Co-Developer of Catalyst2 discusses with Phil Gripton, Partner at Waypoint, about how Hopium can undermine your sales strategy. Hopium: (Noun. An obsessive sales / business development behaviour characterised by habitual episodes of unsubstantiated optimism, persistent delusion, and expressions of self-deception within the context of winning new business.)

The frequent changes to online paid advertising can be hard to navigate. Platforms like Google, Amazon and Meta regularly update their practices, which can be highly confusing to businesses. Frequent updates mean being an early adapter is essential to ensure budgets and resources are used effectively. In this Waypointers episode, Dan Chorlton, Co-Founder and CEO of GOA Marketing discusses with Phil Gripton, Partner at Waypoint, about new developments in paid advertising. This honest and up-to-date discussion with an industry expert provides key insight into online advertising, its challenges and how to utilise it effectively and profitably. 

In the first of our longer form podcasts, we introduced a set of agencies that we call “Challengers” – if you want to catch up on that episode you can do so here.  In the latest instalment of our Challenger series, we are delighted to bring you an exclusive interview with Michael Birkin, the CEO of kyu, part of Hakuhodo DY Holdings. As the former group CEO of Interbrand and then CEO of Omnicom Asia-Pacific Michael needs no introduction. kyu itself grabbed the headlines in the UK when it acquired Lexington.  In this fascinating episode Michael talks to Waypoint partner Jim Houghton about his career to date, what makes kyu tick (and whether or not it can be called a “Challenger”) and how the Lexington deal took shape. Tune in for this and much more.

Traditionally, agencies have marketed the services they offer through credentials and pitch decks which reel off the services they offer. But as clients become more sophisticated, agencies must adapt to become a strategic partner rather than simply a contracted service provider. Making that mentality shift in agency sales teams will help agencies to scale and give them greater senior access with clients.In this episode of Waypointers, Maddy Cooper, Founding Partner and Chief Commercial Officer at Brilliant Noise joins Steven Mallon, Director at Waypoint Partners, to discuss her experience and the benefits that have come from changing the sales model of her agency. 

There is a cohort of ambitious agencies that is increasingly making waves in the marketing services world, collectively described as “challenger” groups. A diverse mix of agencies, what unites these businesses? In this special deep-dive edition of Waypointers, Jim Houghton and Matt Lacey from Waypoint Partners discuss what it means to be a “challenger” agency, what makes them different, how they do deals, and  the outlook for the year ahead.

Just because an agency isn't scaled doesn't mean that its sales processes and growth strategy shouldn't be professional and considered. Many smaller agencies find positioning to scale difficult, but it needn't be.   Smaller agencies need to act big to be big. Professionalising the sales function will help agencies achieve scale. Evolved Search is a shining example of how overhauling the sales function can help agencies to overcome barriers to growth. In this episode, we hear about their experience and what other agencies can learn from it as well as Waypoint Partners' expertise in supporting businesses like Evolved Search. 

Agency exits can be tricky, particularly when you want to balance profitability with a socially conscious approach. In response, agencies are increasingly turning to employee ownership trusts (EOTs) which have more than doubled in number to almost 500 in the last 12 months, according to the Financial Times. In this episode of Waypointers, Jamie Learmont and Jim Houghton from Waypoint Partners look at EOTs and MBOs as agency exit routes, de-mystifying what they mean and discussing the merits of these increasingly popular options. 

Host Martin Ward is joined by Phill Robinson from Boardwave to discuss what European tech companies can learn from their US-based counterparts to compete with Silicon Valley. Hear about Phill's own experiences in the US and why he believes the solution is through creating effective networks within the European software industry.

Host Phil Gripton and guest David Kean discuss strategies to seize opportunities during a recession. David Kean has decades of experience in business development and implementing growth actions during tough economic times.