Sectors
Capabilities
Specialisms
SARAH – It was the dotcom boom when we were planning our agency so lots of new digital businesses were being formed, and we wanted to be part of it. In the late 90s we had seen how influential the West Coast tech PR firms were with their clients, and we wanted to bring that to Europe. No other comms agencies in the UK were emulating that approach at that time. We wanted to do much more than PR: we wanted to help clients to formulate and articulate their brands and their brand vision and we wanted to bring those brands to life using as many comms and marketing techniques as possible. So that’s why we called ourselves Brands2Life.
GILES – At the back of our minds there was a bit of purpose too. We wanted European tech businesses, especially all these new digital ones, it being the dot com boom, to be as big and influential as their US counterparts. In the past there had been hardily any – but that changed in the late 90s and early 2000s – there were plenty launching that had that potential. We wanted to be their partner on the journey to success. These were – and are – THE BRANDS TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD, the type of businesses we all love working with most.
GILES – Hair-raising. Firstly, the dotcom boom turned into the dotcom crash two weeks before we launched. All our family and friends were asking us if we were mad. We had put all our savings into it and didn’t pay ourselves. We had no clients or staff. Looking back we can see why they were worried!
SARAH – The fact that we spent the first week varnishing the floor – and painting the walls rather than hunting for clients does – in retrospect – show either supreme confidence in our future prospects or a slightly eccentric approach to launching a business. Probably both. But we worked really hard, seven days a week.
SARAH – We picked up about six clients in the first three months and pretty soon we had to say no to new clients as we couldn’t hire the right staff. It was only after about six months that we were able to start hiring good people and taking on more business. About a year later we started to win some big brands, and we won PR Week New Agency of the Year in 2001. That gave us a lot of confidence.
GILES – Our core strategy has always been to provide ambitious tech-driven brands with all the PR, comms and marketing capabilities they need. That’s the BETTER STORIES I BIGGER IMPACT approach – one idea, multi-channel, multi-market. We have always told clients that we want the work we do for them to be as ambitious and innovative as they are. When they come to us, we want them to be amazed at what one agency can deliver for them in terms of results.
SARAH – We never sit still. If you look at our history, we have always set out to do new things every year, creating new services we think our clients need or entering new sectors – whether that’s moving into consumer or corporate, creating Brands2Life Global, becoming a first mover in social, expanding into marketing services, launching health and fintech, launching into the US, creating our AI Hub. The list goes on. We believe a pioneering spirit, a commitment to innovation, is what makes us different.
SARAH – At the end of the day a service business is all about the people, isn’t it? Over 300 people have started their careers here and it has been fantastic to see how many of them have developed. Some of our most senior people today took their first steps into the industry at Brands2Life. Plenty of others who started here now have senior in-house comms jobs or run their own agencies. Knowing you have been instrumental in their careers is very rewarding.
GILES – We’re also proud to have played a key role in so many client successes whether it being helping them IPO, launching new products or technologies or creating award-winning campaigns for them. The launch of the first Android phone was quite something. At 24 hours’ notice every single meeting room in our offices was filled with national journalists trying out the phone for the first time.
SARAH – And we mustn’t forget the awards – in particular, as we mentioned, the PR Week New Agency of the Year (2001), PR Week Mid-Sized Agency of the Year (2011) and PR Week Large Agency of the Year (2020). And winning PRovoke Global Tech Agency of the Year three times. All those meant a huge amount to us all.
GILES – COVID has to be mentioned. Like all businesses we had to send everyone home to work. Luckily our IT Manager had pushed us to move onto Teams the year before, so the transition was reasonably painless. But for so many people it was very tough indeed. Everyone was so brilliant and resilient – we were really proud of them. That’s one of the reasons why we decided to do the Employee-Owned Trust (EOT) in August 2020, so everyone had a stake in the business going forward. They had already behaved as if it was their own business.
SARAH – We had had quite a few offers over the years but always said no. Paritee was different – we liked the vision, and we liked the people. Being part of Paritee gives us the best of both worlds – we retain our brand and control over our destiny, but we also become part of a bigger platform that enables us offer clients a multi-agency experience that more closely mirrors what they get when they work with us. Paritee’s plan in terms of sectors, services and geography is aligned with our plan so we will all get there faster working together.
GILES – Going back to the Brands2Life vision we mentioned earlier, helping our clients to grow and win in their chosen markets, the Paritee relationship will enable to do more of this. The world is a very, very uncertain place. No prizes for saying that. Many economies are struggling, and growth is increasingly hard to achieve. It is certainly true of the UK. The tech sector in all its guises – healthtech, fintech, cleantech, security, and, of course, AI – has the potential to create new industries, new jobs, new sources of growth. We want to help drive all of that.
SARAH – A good business partner is pretty important – Giles and I have worked together for nearly 30 years and we both know we wouldn’t have achieved nearly as much as on our own. And, of course, brilliant colleagues. We have the best Board and Senior Leadership Team in the business. Without them we would be nowhere.
Luck is very important. You need a bit of that. I remember when we decided to move from Earl’s Court to Victoria. Giles and I were standing on our own in the middle of a completely empty office designed for 60 people – and we only employed 30. Everyone could fit in one half of the office. We were standing there thinking – what have we done? Then the phone rang – it was Cisco – we had won their account. Our biggest win ever.
GILES – Our values have been critical – Ambition, Integrity, Commitment, Respect and Enjoyment. We live by those and constantly check with everyone here to ensure we are living by them.
I would also add a word coined by Ian Dowie, the former Manager of Crystal Palace, ‘Bouncebackability’. It’s very important. Things go wrong in agency life all the time. In the mid-80’s I went to a PRCA talk by Peter Gummer (now Lord Chadlington) in the tiny basement of the Cheshire Cheese on Fleet St. Shandwick was just starting the move from being a UK-only player into becoming a global leader. Someone asked him for his career tips and his words have stayed with me. “In the agency world you will get your legs kicked from under you many more times than you receive a pat on the back but, if you can live with that, you will succeed in this business.”
BOTH – So, finally, we’d like to say thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years. Family, friends, clients, partners and above all, everyone who has worked at Brands2Life. We would not be the business we are without you all. You have helped shaped the agency to be what is it today, and you will certainly help shape the future of our agency in the years to come.
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