Following our recent feature City Brand Leaders – Manchester, we interviewed a select group of leaders from Manchester’s top agencies to help focus on the Manchester brand and consider their own agency vision.

Creativebrief Founder & Chairman Tom Holmes talks to Phil Rogerson, Managing Director and Creative Director of Madhouse Associates Ltd.

TH: Phil, what does the Manchester brand stand for?

PR: Manchester is synonymous with innovation, invention and leadership in many sectors, the brand has a confidence that’s as much based on historical events than present day and to be fully aware of why Manchester, or Mancunians, have a right to ‘hold their head high with an air of confidence one needs to consider how important to the world Manchester is.

Manchester has long been a city to pave the way with the wealth of innovations, economy and ideas of society it has produced over the decades. From the city that split the atom, created the programmable computer and produced countless musical movements, Manchester is a city to be admired and replicated; not just in the UK but worldwide.

Of course the list continues with sporting prowess and the recent BBC vote of confidence!

*** I’ve included a potted history of Manchester at the end!

TH: Are the city’s brand values reflected in your own agency culture?

PR: Yes, of course a collective workforce assumes a collective personality and given the ‘can do’ attitude of the Mancunian culture….actually I’d alter that to – ‘how can I do that better’ attitude, then I’d say that yes the team at Madhouse do adopt the Japanese (or was it invented in Manchester?) principle of Kaisen – continual improvement. This spills in to everyday working life manifesting itself as not only meeting the client’s expectations but striving to exceed them.

TH: Does being based in Manchester influence your creative output? If so, how?

PR: Madhouse produces marketing communication materials for clients across Europe and on a wider world stage – to be successful we must, as a team, understand the cultural differences that have to be considered when producing a pan-European campaign. To that end I find it difficult to answer this question with a yes, given that when we tackle a brief the preliminary planning and strategy work is completely focussed on the delivery of the proposition to the target audience – if the target audience is Swedish, Russian or French then that is what influences our approach. Going back to my earlier comment regarding continual improvement then I suggest that’s the Mancunian influence that helps us to create something that is innovative everytime.

TH: What makes your agency offer different?

PR: Thinking. Before we start to even consider the execution of a brief we have a process that includes planning sessions, research, vox pops, roll-plays, strategic insight sessions, proposition development and testing etc…then we breathe life in to all that insight in the creative studio.

TH: Why should clients consider sourcing work from Manchester agencies?

The days of Manchester = flat caps or Madchester are gone. When you consider that 12% of Manchester’s workforce are employed in the creative industry – that’s 42,000 people, and given the high-speed connections (both physical and digital) to the world then clearly  Manchester everything to offer. Whatever skill set is required to fulfil a project in whatever discipline – some of the best are in Manchester.

TH: What sort of clients do you particularly want to attract?

PR: Global accounts, when you consider 75 – 80% of our billings are to clients outside of the UK, Madhouse should be seen as an exporting success. Our account managers regularly fly from Manchester airport – the largest airport outside of London, connecting people directly to 220 destinations (in fact we have people in Brussels and over in Germany as I write this).

Manchester is a founder member of the European Smart Cities network and is implementing a strategic direction for a Digital Manchester – this is an excerpt from a paper setting out the vision for Manchester’s leadership in the digital world….
Manchester has the largest and most dynamic cluster of creative and digital businesses outside of London, with significant growth across Greater Manchester with the relocation of the BBC and expansion of Media City in Salford Quays. The Corridor Digitisation Project is a test bed for providing very high speed “Next Generation Access” (NGA) digital infrastructure fibre, wireless and networks, helping to fulfil the vision in terms of developing a Digital place and becoming one of the world’s foremost digital cities by 2020.

TH: What work have you done recently makes you really proud?

PR: Having said that we are a fully integrated agency that covers all aspects of the marketing mix,  our digital offering and portfolio is expanding very fast and the production of rich content for the internet has become more in demand and particularly more diverse In the past year we’ve produced high-end films for Toyota genuine parts, animations for parking aides and complex software programmes, instruction films for the medical sector….the list goes on but really this demonstrates a shift of our offering in response to the change in technologies and client requirements – the continual improvement and development that I’m so proud of.

Knowledge is at the core of our ideology, we’re members of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) and as such must demonstrate that our staff are continually trained, each member of staff must log at least 24 hours of training each year – many log far more hours. Just lately a lot of this training has a digital bias – social media, SEO, etc.. so that our staff have a complete understanding of all emerging trends. As a Managing Director, that’s work that I feel proud of!

TH: What local brands do you most admire and why? 

PR: Manchester City – the world’s wealthiest football club (oh yes in Manchester!) …not for obvious but because this is a brand that has completely embraced the requirements of their customers in terms of what they really want and how they want it.
Manchester City, is rolling out a number of new digital initiatives to help drive support and increase fan engagement; the club’s YouTube channel, shows behind-the-scenes footage posted, whilst its own website continues broadcasting actual match highlights.
Richard Ayers, Digital Head at Manchester City, helped the club consolidate the existing four-tier membership structure into a single RFID-enabled season membership card, containing a QR code and an augmented reality placeholder. Other initiatives to enhance fan engagement  include posting data on individual team players (sprint times, tackles made, average time played, area covered on the pitch etc), developing an iOS, android and web apps. MCFC have also played to one of the strengths of Manchester – it’s musical heritage creating a music remix mobile app. A great example of a brand moving forward and embracing technology.

TH: Are there any local marketers who have inspired you?

PR: Julian Pate, head of marketing, Manchester City

Chris Thompson, marketing director, PZ Cussons.

TH: What business would you most like to win?

PR: In Manchester? PZ Cussons – natural progression from our work on Vosene, Witch etc..

TH: Anything else you’d like to add?

PR: Yes, a short history of Manchester, as many visitors to Manchester this summer may be unaware of its rich heritage and the important role the city has played throughout history.

But I’ll let you wrap up first!

TH: Thanks Phil!

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A brief history of Manchester - By Phil Rogerson

The first computer was invented in Manchester, the spinning jenny changed world industry forever, even the atom was first split here. So here’s a whistle-stop tour through the ages to let you know about some of our city’s great achievements.

Sir John Dalton

A long time ago…
 
During the Industrial Revolution Manchester became the focal point of the northern cotton trade. Inventions like Hargreaves’ Spinning Jenny and Arkwright’s water frame changed the face of the world and Manchester was at the forefront of that of the technologically advancement of the 18th century.
 
In 1757 the official census put the population of Manchester at 17,101 and for any of those citizens wishing to make the 180-mile journey to London they would have the dangerous three-day coach journey, constantly at risk from attack from highwaymen.
 
In 1761 the Bridgewater Canal was opened. It was the first modern artificial waterway and linked Manchester to the town of Worsley but it was six years later with the Spinning Jenny that really put Manchester on the map for ever.
 
Now Manchester was growing a growing city and this was underlined by the opening of the first bank in 1771 while the population was fast approaching the 22,000 mark.

Ten years later saw the publication of Manchester’s first newspaper, the Manchester Chronicle which eventually ceased publication in 1838, by which time the census put the population of the city at over 180,000 despite a serious outbreak of cholera some six years previously.
 
1844 saw the death of John Dalton who years earlier had had come up with the first table of atomic weights of elements and atomic theory. He was buried in Ardwick cemetery.

By the end of 1853 Manchester was a declared a city and eight years later the city was showing off its wealth courtesy of the cotton industry with the opening of Watt’s warehouse, by far the grandest of cotton warehouses yet erected. It is now the Britannia Hotel on Portland Street.
 

A Spinning Jenny

A new town hall

1877 saw the grand opening of the Town Hall in Albert Square at the same time the first horse-drawn trams were introduced, by 1901 these became the first electric trams running in the city.
 
The turn of the twentieth century also saw a meeting between two gentlemen that would change the face of the new motor industry forever. It was in the Midland Hotel that Mr. Rolls met Mr Royce resulting in the formation of Roll-Royce.
 
Shortly after World War I Manchester’s population had soared to well over 700,000 and over the next few years the population warranted a bigger airport than the existing Barton Aerodrome. A year before the beginning of World War II, Ringway Airport (now Manchester International Airport) was opened.
 
During the war Manchester was hit hard during the Christmas Blitz with the city devastated by the German assault. It took years to rebuild and after the war people began moving out of the city and by the early 1970s the figure was at 541,468.
 
1986 saw the completion of the renovation of Central Station to turn it into the G-MEX exhibition centre, the venue for the Gymnastics and Judo at the Commonwealth Games.
 
Trams returned to the streets of Manchester in 1992 when the much heralded Metrolink was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen.
 
With the City seemingly in a state of stasis it took the largest ever bomb on mainland Britain in June 1996 to galvanise the population and begin a rebuilding and redesigning process that still goes on to this day. Miraculously nobody was killed in the IRA attack on the city but within days the spirit of Mancunians was bursting through with billboards on the streets declaring “They went for our heart – but they’ll never get our soul”.
 
Now with the centre modernised for the 21st century, locals and visitors alike can enjoy the pleasant, friendly surroundings in a city that many people would name as their favourite in the UK.

Further highlights for Manchester are listed below

• 1653 The nation’s first free public library opened, founded using money donated by wealthy Mancunian Humphrey Chetham.
• 1761 The Bridgewater Canal opened- the first totally artificial waterway independent of natural rivers.
• 1773 The first steamboats operated on the Bridgewater Canal.
• 1783 Richard Arkwright set up the first mill to use steam power on Miller Street in the city centre, paving the way for mass production techniques.
• 1803 John Dalton’s atomic theory was the forerunner of all modern medicine.
• 1805 The first gas street lighting illuminated part of Chapel Street in Salford, along with the Philips and Lee factory.
• 1815 Vegetarianism began, inspired by the sermons of the Reverend William Cowherd at the Salford Bible Christian church. .
• 1824 The first bus ran from Market Street in Manchester to Salford.
• 1825 Glasgow born, Manchester mill owner Charles Mackintosh took out a patent for a practical waterproof fabric.
• 1830 The world’s first true railways started operating from a purpose built station on Liverpool Road.
• 1842 The world’s first commuter towns developed along the railway routes of southern Manchester at places such as Alderly Edge and Sale.
• 1846 Philips Park, Queens Park and Peel Park became the city’s first parks.
• 1850 Manchester led the way in providing its citizens a supply of fresh, pure water when it opened Longdale Reservoirs.
• 1853 John Benjamin Dancer, working from 43 Cross Street, invented microphotography and microfilms.
• 1857 The first international art exhibition was held in Manchester.
• 1858 The Halle Orchestra became the first professional permanent orchestra, set up by German conductor Charles Halle.
• 1868 The first general meeting of the Trade Union Congress took place in the Three Crowns pub in Salford.
• 1880 The first mechanically powered submarine was launched to the designs of eccentric Hulme curate, the Reverend George Garrett.
• 1888 The first professional football league was set up in the Royal Hotel, Manchester.
• 1892 A predecessor of New Labour, the Independent Labour Party was formed in Manchester- its first MP was Keir Hardie.
• 1893 The first and only swing aqueduct in the world was built at Barton- it carries the Bridgewater Canal over the Ship Canal.
• 1894 Despite having a market stall in Leeds, Marks and Spencer opened its first store on Stretford Road in Hulme.
• 1896 The first purpose built industrial estate was created at Trafford Park.
• 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women’s Social and Political Union in her home, which still stands on Nelson Street. The aim of the organisation was to recruit working class women into the struggle for the vote.
• 1904 Frederick Royce met Charles Rolls in the Midland Hotel and set up the famous company which bears their names.
• 1908 The first British plane was designed and flown by A V Roe.
• 1908 Annie Elizabeth Fredericka Horniman began the British repertory movement, influencing 20th-century drama, acting, and production.
• 1919 Ernest Rutherford discovered how to split the atom at Manchester University.
• 1919 Probably the world’s first scheduled airline service was set up between Manchester and Southport.
• 1948 The first computer with a stored programme and memory- nicknamed ‘baby’- was developed at Manchester University.
• 1964 The first Top of the Pops was recorded in Manchester in a church on Dickenson Road in Longsight.
• 1980 Manchester became the first British Nuclear Free City.
• 1982 The Castlefield area of the city became Britain’s first Urban Heritage Park.
• 1986 Renovation of Central Station was completed to become G-Mex; Europe’s largest indoor arena.
• 1992 Trams were reintroduced to British streets by Manchester Metrolink service.
• 2002 The Commonwealth Games, held in Manchester, became the largest multi-sport event ever hosted in the UK.
• 2003 The Boho Britain Creativity Index ranked Manchester as the creative capital of the UK.
• 2006 Manchester was voted Britain’s best city for business in a national survey of over 5,000 of the country’s biggest employers in 28 cities