You can see the holding companies imploding from outer space.
Technophobia stalks the corridors.
‘Creative’ has become a commodity.
Siloed thinking defeats big ideas.
Complexity rules.
Everyone is struggling to make a buck.
Ad agencies have become slow, generic, overmanned, and uneconomic.
I wouldn’t want the job of restructuring one.
In the wider economy, productivity is flat lining. And so, therefore, is growth.
We’re suffering an economic crisis. We’re suffering a cultural crisis.
Red tape and anti-competitive practices are bogging business down.
Our entrepreneurs, the potential saviours of our economy, are stifled.
You could say we’ve lost our mojo.
So against this lack lustre backdrop, me and my ex-advertising pal, Nick Dutton got together for a chat.
“Brilliant. There’s never been a better time to start an advertising
agency. We are standing on the threshold of a golden age.”
And so Supermarket, London’s newest agency, is born.
Nick and I both had pretty chunky careers in advertising. And are still connected to the business. But we’re outsiders too.
We are entrepreneurs. And when you look back at the ad business as an outsider, as an entrepreneur, it’s not a pretty sight.
For a million reasons, agencies struggle to let go of, and continue to replicate the past.
Talent is not the issue.
London is jam packed with brilliant, experienced strategists, content creators, media thinkers, technologists, producers, pr people, e-comms experts, researchers, customer experience gurus.
The issue is how talent is organised.
Outdated processes, irrelevant structures, technophobia, mis-aligned charging principles, unproductive overhead are all keeping agencies from being the innovators they should be.
If you have a blank slate, and you want to start an agency that is destined to succeed, there are only two things you need to worry about.
Talent. And technology.
Human talent, working in multidisciplinary teams. Empowered by the thrilling power of technology.
Supermarket will be fast, collaborative, decisive, and, in the true (not commoditised) sense of the word, creative.
We will deliver start-ups, fast growth companies, innovators and challengers access to big agency talent, teams and experience. Without the big agency cost.
Our output? The ‘unfair advantage:’ Outstanding, game changing, unsiloed communications ideas. Shit kicking, free flowing content.
If you like the sound of what we’re doing, and would like to know more, get in touch.
We’re built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurial businesses. The future of our economy. Let’s Supermarket.
