Drum feature on AgencyUK
AgencyUK, confident that its offer is unique outside the largest London agencies, this agency is one that aims to grow places, fast. With any expanding business it’s important to maintain and nurture the start up culture,” says Sammy Mansourpour, co-founder of AgencyUK. “It’s never about an individual but working collectively as a team.” The Bath-based agency is achieving this by recruiting “the right kind of people”. Those who are engaged, collaborative and passionate about what they do. “We look to employ people with a range of skills and experience, so our teams complement each other and we ensure diversity,” adds Mansourpour.
The agency launched last year at a time of cost-cutting and saving. However, its founders were confident that its service was one well suited to the climate. “We knew that starting a business with low overheads that offered high level, senior strategic and creative thinking to blue chip organisations was not a risky strategy,” says Mansourpour. “The recession has given us a tremendous opportunity to acquire large pieces of business from very large competing agencies.”
The core team comprises of several strategic and creative directors that have known and worked together for some time. Mansourpour began his career with Air Products. He switched to agency life after becoming European marketing manager at the age of 23 – prior to establishing TheAgency he worked for Rapier; Partner Amy Stobie has held executive and associate director positions for The Goodwill Group, Crystal UK, Crone Corkill and Financial Search Selection; while exec creative director Rajnish Razdan began his career with Omnicom, launching the American Express Black card as well as working for the likes of LloydsTSB and Vodafone.
But, after a successful launch, which included winning UK brands like BSM, how can the partners continue to push the business forward? “With any fast growing business, it is the practical issues around the management and expansion of head count, infrastructure and financial planning that we all know give us growing pains,” suggests Mansourpour. “Thankfully, what we don’t need to worry about is our new business. That is why we spend a considerable amount of time forward planning our growth, minimising its effect on the day to day operation. We’re confident we have put a robust plan in place to continue to grow successfully.” “However, because of our rapid growth,” continues Mansourpour, “the issue of finding the right new people in the short term has been one that’s needed addressing.”
To that end, AgencyUK has set up an exclusive partnership with a recruiter to manage the time and vetting process. “We now have first pick from the brightest talent, most of them with a London agency background, which gives us a distinct advantage as we continue to expand,” adds the co-founder.
And that’s probably just as well, as when asked what to forecast for the near future for AgencyUK, Mansourpour is quick to respond: “Rapid, managed growth over the next five years.”
