Can you remember the last time we had a normal year? No Brexit, no COVID, no financial melt-down, no cost-of-living crisis and no war. A year when the energy prices weren’t spiking, and the interest rates remained stable. And we only had one Prime Minister! No, me neither. So it’s no wonder people are happy to see the back of 2024. Or, more accurately, the back of the last few years.
However, amongst the mayhem, there are some real glimmers of hope. Some high points. 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.
So, I thought I’d take a few moments to pick out a few ‘glimmers’ and highlight a few things we’re particularly thankful for.
We’re thankful for the opportunities that have come our way
In November 2023, I sat alone in a tiny room in a shared office, wondering what the future held for me and my little agency. Twelve months later, I am looking across a huge office at an agency of 45 people I am hugely proud to be part of. In just a year, we’ve merged with Brand Point Zero, acquired Home, unmerged with Brand Point Zero and formed the Point Zero Group. It’s exciting stuff, and there is more about that here.
We’re thankful for our little gang
The move into the Point Zero Group offered our little agency some big advantages. The biggest is the ability to call upon a hugely talented creative team of almost 20 designers, writers, animators and filmmakers. It did mean that we had to scale down our use of retained freelance talent and say goodbye to some talented people who had been integral in our success over the past few years. Thank you so much to David, Nick, Lauren and Ben for their hard work and support. At the same time, we welcomed Charlotte (Project Director) and Darren (Developer) into the gang, strengthening our digital delivery team. Welcome.
We’re thankful for our clients
We are very fortunate to work with some fantastic people in some fantastic organisations. And we’re particularly proud that our first client, Hastings Direct, is still a client almost nine years later. We did more work with JLR, Wolseley, Nisbets and NFU Mutual. We helped our existing clients define their employer proposition, develop their employer brand, deliver their careers website, and so much more. They kept us busy. 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. We’re continuously surprised by the size of the businesses and the profiles 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. In 2024, we said hello to Autoglass, Berenberg, Clarks, Met Office and the Volkswagen Group, amongst others. All of which have kept us busy in 2024 and will again in 2025. 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
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 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’ll be back later in January with our friends at Miele X, Met Office, and Clarks. Who knows, this may be the one.
For us, a massive highlight of the year was picking up the ‘Careers Site Provider of the Year’ award at the IHR Supplier Awards. An award for our services to careers website development as opposed to a single project. Not that we’re too shabby at building websites, though. At the Recruitment Marketing Awards in October, we picked up the ‘Best Careers Website’ award for our work with Clarks. 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 we got very excited about the third. 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. We didn’t win it, but we pitched with passion. Bye, bye beauty parade. Thank you, but don’t come back.
So, what now?
Who knows what’s around the corner? Last year was such a huge one that 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.
Need a little extra help
If you’d like some help, support, or even a little chat about LinkedIn and your careers site or any aspect of your employer brand and talent attraction strategy, just let us know. After all, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea and a Zoom call.