If it’s not Brexit, then it’s COVID. If it’s not COVID, then it’s the cost of living crisis. And of course a war in Ukraine. Add in the death of a monarch, numerous Prime Ministers, energy prices escalating, interest rates going up, a winter World Cup and numerous strikes. No wonder people are happy to see the back of 2022. I am one of them.
Why can’t we just have a normal year? That would be too easy. But in amongst the mayhem, our little agency has had a good year. New clients, new projects, new friends, some really lovely work and a few awards. And that’s alongside great relationships we already have with our existing clients. And overall we’re all fit, healthy, warm and well-fed. We hope that anyone reading this is well too. After all, that’s all that really matters.
But here are a few things that we are particularly thankful for.
We’re thankful for our little gang
There were 14 people at our Christmas party this year. In 2017 there were two. But everyone who sat at that table this year played a huge role in the success of the agency this year. Nobody left. A few more friends joined. We grew our delivery team across research, creative development, film making and project delivery. We missed out on a Christmas party for the last two years due to COVID, so it was a joy to bring everyone together. However, I am sure that for the past two years they didn’t miss sitting through a gushing speech where I tell them just how brilliant they all are. How they’re the cornerstones on which this little agency is built. That their passion, drive and talent is what makes me get up in the morning and be excited to start the day. That our clients are truly grateful for all their efforts and love working with them. Thank you, gang.
We’re thankful for our clients
We are very lucky. We work with some great businesses. Our oldest client is Hastings Direct and this year we helped them re-launch their careers website, www.hastingsdirectcareers.com. And there’s more coming early in 2023. We did more work with Jaguar Land Rover, Wolseley, Nisbets and Vectura. And of course NFU Mutual. We’ll talk a little more about them later. We helped our existing clients define their employer proposition, develop their employer brand, deliver their careers website and so much more in between. They kept us busy. They helped us return quickly to full speed. They understood that we could really help each other come out of this challenging time stronger and fitter than we went in. Thank you, friends.
We’re thankful to be busy
And we are. Busier than we’ve ever been before. We get around two new business enquiries every week. And we’re continuously surprised by the size of the businesses and profile of the brands that would like to work with us. Heads of Resourcing, Recruitment and Talent Acquisition have moved from one company to another and taken us with them. We’ve been recommended by friends within the industry and new clients have come our way. And some have arrived just by Googling ‘employer brand agency’ and finding us. Three of our biggest clients have come this way. I knew that SEO would be worth it. Thank you, Google.
We’re thankful for new friends
This year we welcomed some fantastic new clients to the agency. And judging by the Christmas cards we’ve received this year; they’re already enjoying the experience. In 2022, we said hello to Bishop Fleming, Coventry Building Society, DLA Piper, Horiba Mira and the Royal Horticultural Society. All of which have kept us busy this year and will again next year. But as well as working with new clients, new contacts within existing clients are looking to refresh, renew and revitalise their employer brands or careers websites. It’s always exciting working with new people. It’s amazing how a new point of view can breathe life into a project. The enthusiasm is always infectious. Thank you for your passion. All of you.
We’re thankful for the recognition
All the awards were back this year. And we kicked the year off with the gang going to the RADs. Sadly, we didn’t win the ‘Best Employer Brand’ award that we were up for, but we certainly won the ‘most disgracefully drunk agency’ gong. But it was great to be there. For some of the team it was their first time. Little RAD virgins. Yeah, we broke them. And we’re back there again in January with our friends at Miele X. Who knows this may be the one.
But for us a massive highlight of the year was picking up the ‘Best Supplier Partnership’ award at this year’s FIRM Awards. We were recognised for the work we’d done with NFU Mutual. Who themselves picked up the award for Large Recruitment Team of the Year. Well done to Heather, Siobhan and the team. You’re awesome.
And then there was a little surprise one. Our friends at Anchor picking up the ‘Brand Innovation’ award in the 2022 Marketing Week Awards. While we supported them in developing their employer proposition, actually all the amazing work was done in-house. Thank you Greg, Rachel and the team for allowing us to bathe in your glory.
Outside of that it has been quite a quiet year on the awards front. As we were still elbows deep in delivering some really interesting projects for Miele X, Bishop Fleming, Coventry Building Society and the Royal Horticultural Society. We’re hoping to see their names on the shortlists of the FIRM Awards, Recruitment Marketing Awards and the RADs. Thank you to our clients for being so bold and brave. Faint heart never won fair lady. Apparently.
We’re thankful to see the back of bad, old practices
It’s December, and this month we’ve been invited to three competitive pitches. But in each case, even before we saw the brief, the client gave us a call and talked through the potential project. In the first case we didn’t even see the brief, because the call quickly established that we weren’t the right agency for them. In the second, we quickly established a conflict of interest. We were both gutted. But the third we got very excited about. By the time the brief arrived in my inbox, we were already emotionally engaged in the project, loved the project team and were passionate about winning the project. Actually, we didn’t win it, but we did pitch with passion. Bye, bye beauty parade. Thank you, but don’t come back.
So, what now?
Who knows what’s around the corner? This year we’re not making any definite plans. We’ll continue supporting companies in better telling their employer story, we’ll deliver more high-quality (hopefully award-winning) projects and we’ll keep being told by our clients that they think we’re brilliant. And that’ll do for me. For now. Thank you.
