I’ve been running agencies for 20 years (hence the grey hair) and during that time clients have slowly been moving towards engaging agencies that can deliver multiple services – and rightly so: being able to solve communications and skills problems from end to end is often preferable to working with suppliers that only offer one service line.
The approach in the early days at one of my previous agencies (I co-founded Casual Films), was to just to say ‘yes’ and work out how to do it afterwards. Whilst that can work when you’re small, it doesn’t wash with enterprise clients.
Clients are now more aware and more knowledgeable than ever of the skills they’re looking for, and that means agencies must be agile enough to quickly bring in (or buy in; more on that shortly) that expertise. Clients won’t wait two years for you to develop it organically.
Which brings me to the way we’re doing things now.
Without a doubt, my ‘pond’ was filmmaking. After my exit I considered building another film company but was worried it wouldn’t provide the opportunity for me to learn and develop professionally.
Meeting Rachel Pendered, my Co-Founder at Auspicious, was what gave me the impetus to jump out of my ‘pond’. We found we had common ground. We both had plenty of experience of growing independent agencies from the ground up. But that took us 15 years each (Rachel Co-Founded Media Zoo) the first time round, and we knew there had to be a faster, better way to build something bigger.
So with Auspicious, we’ve started a new journey with an acquisitive business model. The model is centred upon rapid growth through acquisition and we’re delivering on that: we bought three companies in our first three months, including one in the States and a fourth soon to be announced, and we’re talking to acquisition targets every day. All of these companies so far have had at least one female founder, which we’re incredibly proud of.
The strategy behind the model is to build an Auspicious Group rapidly, with a laser-focus on companies with great leaders who have talented teams behind them, with skill sets that are in demand.
But, crucially, we’re also bringing in people who understand other areas outside of their own ‘ponds,’ so they, and their businesses, can integrate and complement quickly.
We currently have four agencies in the group, each with their own client base. We’re integrating behind the scenes and refining how we go to market as Auspicious. We’re leading with our tech capabilities in the skills space, which is supported by the tremendous storytelling ability we have across the group.
We’re working with entrepreneurial founders who are used to running their own businesses, so bringing those varied personalities together has been interesting. I’m very happy with the willingness of everyone to get stuck in and share resources across the group.
Our model, with excellent constituent businesses led by talented people, means we as leaders can focus on the bigger picture of growing the group. This includes developing tech solutions to help solve the skills crisis, identifying best in class agencies around the world that buy into our vision, and rekindling old client relationships.
I’ve also learnt a lot in a short space of time. Working closely with new business partners with varied experience has been valuable. And now I know a lot more about what a good press release looks like, how an hour-long TV documentary is put together, and what it takes to deliver consumer grade tech products for enterprise clients.
If you’ve been in a job for a while, or run a business for a while, there’s an inertia that sets in that makes it very hard to imagine what life would be like if you did something else. Life is short, and I think it’s important to look for opportunities to learn.