Monthly Archives: September 2018

Charity success: £10k target hit for NSPCC

After successfully completing a trilogy of endurance challenges, we’re extremely excited to announce that we’ve surpassed our £10k fundraising target for NSPCC!

A huge thank you must to all those who generously donated in aid of such an important cause. The donations will support the NSPCC as it fights to put an end to child abuse in the UK.

The challenges

Having set our ambitious £10k goal at the start of the year, we teamed up with friends of the business to take on a series of difficult challenges.

The first was the Virgin Money London Marathon in April, which Anton Hanley and Ed Whelan completed in soaring temperatures – a brilliant achievement and one that got our fundraising started.

In July, following the marathon, five members of team TLA took on the immense Man vs Lakes, otherwise known as ‘The Rat Race’. This 28 mile race through the Lake District, involved running and kayaking, complete with a 4,200ft ascent.

Man vs Lakes Man vs Lakes Man vs Lakes

To top off our fundraising efforts, a team of 14 got on their bikes for the London to Paris cycle at the start of September. The 165-mile, three-day adventure began at the Marble Arch and concluded at the Arc De Triomph.

Our CEO Anton Hanley said: “We believe it’s important to give something back, and the NSPCC’s fight to end child abuse in the UK is a cause we are proud to support.

The challenges we’ve undertaken this year have pushed us to our limits at times, but we had great fun doing them. The whole team put in hours of training to prepare and rallied the support of their friends and family to help us reach our £10,000 milestone. We’re immensely grateful for the support and commitment from everyone involved.”

NSPCC senior development manager Rachel Walker commented on our fundraising mission: “The team at The Lead Agency are absolutely awe-inspiring in their determination to raise vital funds for the NSPCC.

“The money they have raised will help us to be there for more children who have experienced abuse and neglect.”

Chris Gawor joins TLA as Head of Agency Partnerships

With 20-years’ experience in media sales and a deep understanding of the automotive industry, we are delighted to welcome Chris Gawor to The Lead Agency team.

gawor automotiveChris joins us with a remit to develop strategies that will grow and develop our relationships with key media partners and clients within our two main verticals, automotive and property.

As former agency sales director for Auto Trader UK, and having previously held senior positions at Orange, Mail Online and WPP, Chris’s wealth of knowledge will help us to identify ways we can further support the objectives of our clients and partners.

‘Strong reputation for quality’

As Head of Agency Partnerships, Chris will be working closely with our Group CEO Anton Hanley and our automotive managing director, Tom White, who spent seven years with Auto Trader and three with Time Out Group before joining us in 2017.

“I’m thrilled to have joined a growing business with such a strong reputation for quality.”

“I was immediately attracted to the team’s genuine commitment to build partnerships based on trust by providing transparent, insight-driven services that consistently deliver results. That proposition is one that I’m excited to work with as we grow relationships with new and existing media agency clients.”

‘In-depth understanding’

Anton commented on Chris’ appointment, telling us about how “Chris’ in-depth knowledge and understanding of the automotive industry’s commercial challenges and together with our growing team of account managers will provide a premium customer acquisition service for our clients”.

We wish Chris a happy and successful future with us here at TLA!

If you’d like to be a part of team TLA, visit our careers page to find out more about our vacancies.

Our Culture Book

Our company values are important to us here at The Lead Agency, which is why we’ve created our first culture book for all members of team TLA.

company culture book

The book outlines who we are, our mission, our vision and our values – all of which help to shape the culture of the business.

Everyone in the business has been handed their own copy, and all new starters are provided with one when they join the team.

It provides new starters with an insight into what it means to be a part of TLA, what’s expected of them and what they can expect from their time here.

It forms part of a thorough onboarding process that helps people to get settled in their new surroundings, understand how their role contributes to the goals of the business and what we believe is the right way to do things.

The book features images of some of the real faces behind the business, along with inspirational characters such as Steve Jobs, Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan.

The book was a collaborative effort between the TLA team and Liverpool-based Wordscapes.

One of our values is to ‘go beyond limits and expectations’, which is summed up well by our latest series of charity challenges in aid of the NSPCC. Read more about our cycling trip from London to Paris.

Challenge completed: London to Paris by bike

Team TLA and friends have successfully completed their latest charity challenge – 165-miles from London to Paris, by bike, in aid of the NSPCC.

We have now achieved over 90% of our £10k fundraising goal!

The team posed for a picture in front of the Marble Arch in London before they started their peddling to Paris, with a few punctures along the way…

london marble arch    

The sun was shining, the team was still smiling and the views along the way weren’t too bad either…

    

Boarding the boat to France…

    

And they made it! The team celebrated their brilliant achievement with a well-deserved ice cream whilst posing for a picture in front of the Eiffel Tower.

    

If you haven’t already, catch up with the other TLA charity challenges here.

If you would like to support the NSPCC’s fight for change, we would greatly appreciate any donations.

TLA named in The Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100

The Lead Agency has been named as one of the UK’s fastest-growing technology companies by The Sunday Times’ Hiscox Tech Track 100.

Tech Track 100

Published in special pull-out in yesterday’s edition of the paper, the 18th annual listing ranks the country’s private technology, media and telecoms (TMT) companies with the fastest-growing sales over the last three years.

We’re a new entry in the table, placing at number 50 for the whole of the UK.

Disruptors and innovators

Tech Track receives applications from hundreds of companies every year representing a range of different sectors. Previous years have placed businesses that have gone on to achieve huge success, including Just Eat, The Hut Group, Shazam, Zoopla, Opta and Skyscanner.

As the companies listed above reflect, being included in the Tech Track 100 is about more than growth alone. Each one of those businesses has disrupted their industry through innovative technology and services, which is at the heart of what we do at TLA.

Team effort

TLA was founded by group CEO Anton Hanley in Wigan in 2002 and later moved to Liverpool, where the company has built one of the city’s biggest digital teams. The company now has offices in central London as well as a sister company in the US.

Commenting on what it means to earn Tech Track status, Anton said: “One of the great things about this form of recognition is that represents the hard work of everyone within the business. Every member of the TLA team has played their part in the growth and success we’ve achieved over the past few years.

“We also couldn’t have achieved this listing without the continued support and trust of our clients and partners. To them, we’d like to say a big thank you.”

Tech Track is our third league table inclusion of 2018, having been named as one of Europe’s fastest-growing businesses by the Financial Times as well as the fifth fastest-growing tech business in the north of the UK by Tech Nation.