Tag Archives: growth

TLA Book Club: The Power of Habit. Why we do what we do and how to change. By Charles Duhigg

Welcome back to The Lead Agency’s Book Club – part of our ongoing commitment to support and encourage self-improvement throughout the business.

We have a growing collection of titles on business, leadership, tech, marketing and more that help the team to learn and grow both in and outside of their roles.

So what else is sitting on our book shelf? As part of our regular series of five-minute book summaries, TLA Developer Liam Moorcroft looks at The Power of Habit. Why we do what we do and how to change. By Charles Duhigg.

In less than 100 words, what was the book about?

The book explores what habits are and how they impact your personal life every day, how they make massive companies eye-watering amounts of profit and what impact they have on society as a whole.

Habits make up a large portion of your day and you probably don’t even realise they are happening! They take advantage of your internal reward system which means you probably wouldn’t use the toothpaste you have at home if it didn’t leave that tingly mint taste at the end of brushing despite giving you no real benefit. Huge companies prey on creating new habits and hooking into your internal reward system to make their products intrinsic to all your consumption decisions.

What were the key takeaways for you?

That although bad habits can lead you to always ordering a pizza every Friday night after finishing work, by understanding what they are and how you can take control can they be unravelled and replaced to make you more happier, productive and successful in life.

Who do you think would enjoy reading it?

Anybody who is looking to be more productive in work, nail down going for that run every day which they’ve always wanted to do or figure out what exactly is going on in their head every time they see a tray of donuts pass by the office!

What have you read lately? Let us know what books have inspired you.

TLA grows team with seven new hires

We have strengthened our TLA team with seven new arrivals in the last few weeks.

Joining our Liverpool-headquartered company’s digital team is senior product manager Steve Timmis, performance analyst Miki Parr, project manager Emily Abbey, graduate PPC executive Amara Molloy and B2B marketing intern Gabby Dixon.

Meanwhile, Alicia Brady has joined the TLA surveys team with Steve Ashcroft arriving as quality control executive.

Head of talent acquisition, Michael Fitzsimmons said: “This is a genuinely exciting time for the business, with recruitment ongoing across all departments. As we grow, it’s vital that we find people who fit the culture of our business – ambitious, proactive and eager to keep developing their talent. Our latest additions certainly have those qualities, and we’re excited about what they can bring to the team.”

Steve Timmis, who joins the business from New Balance, said: “I’m excited to have the opportunity to join such a forward-thinking, consumer-focused tech business. I’m really looking forward to leading the product management of the automotive vertical and working with the cross-functional product teams as the business expands into international markets.”

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

Five minutes with… TLA Head of Digital Marketing Paul Court

Next up in our Q&A series we have Paul Court, who leads digital execution strategy for our clients across all verticals.

Paul joined TLA just over 18 months ago from Time Out, where he held the position of senior digital marketing manager. Prior to that he was part of an extensive digital acquisition team at lastminute.com. 

Here, he talks about the role of digital marketing at TLA, the passions that drive him and the future of performance marketing.

What is the role of your department at TLA?

The marketing department is the voice of the customer, so we must work to understand customer pain points and connect the most relevant client with that consumer. We work across all channel activity to drive the most effective and cost-efficient results for our clients.

What have been your biggest projects from the first half of 2019?

In the first half of 2019, the biggest project I’ve been working on is a digital transformation project around our proprietary audience platform. We’re building out a best-in-class platform that can connect audiences with client campaigns to deliver performance. I’ve been setting the 5 year vision for the platform and working on a 12 month execution plan to realise that vision.

What area of your work are you most passionate about and why?

I’m most passionate about team progression and enabling all members of the team to progress in their careers. Digital Marketing is a vast landscape and there’s lots of opportunities to find the role that suits you best so working with the team to help identify and pursue that role means that they’re working in the most effective way, which in turn delivers results for the business and for our clients.

What are your predictions for your profession and/or industry?

Digital marketing is constantly evolving, always at a rapid pace so any prediction is difficult. A few things that stick out are:

  • The continuous move to ‘performance’. Marketeers are becoming savvier about where to put their money. With the rise of big platforms in FB, Google etc. performance accountability and execution has never been easier. Traditional display, through programmatic means has operated in an opaque manner for too long and transparency on what any given activity is delivering will continue to be key.
  • The rise of the big platforms has led to data silos and a war around data ownership. Walled Gardens in Google/FB/Amazon etc. mean that cross channel measurement becomes ever more challenging and there’s even more financial pressure on publishers who don’t always have the scale of a big corporate to compete.

How will they impact the way we do things at TLA?

Platform X will be our attempt to solve this industry’s wide problem, bringing performance and accountability whilst appropriately rewarding publisher contribution. It’s an exciting time for the digital marketing ecosystem as people continue to get more au fait with data and the impact it can have on digital execution effectiveness.

Where do you get your inspiration? Are there any books, blogs or websites you would recommend?

I tend to listen to several podcasts to keep up with the latest goings on in marketing – we tend to listen to Ad Age Ad Lib, AdExchanger Talks, The MadTech Podcast by ExchangeWire on a regular basis as well as consuming the latest content from Medium, the Drum and Digiday.

Finally, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in the digital marketing industry?

I have no regrets about getting involved in digital marketing, I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest brands and clients across several interesting projects. The piece of advice I’d give to aspiring digital marketeers is to try and get involved in as much as possible. Understanding the whole marketing and data ecosystem gives you a fantastic grounding in wider business performance and will set you up for a fantastic career.

If you’ve got a question for the TLA team or want to know more about what makes us tick, why not get in touch?

TLA Book Club: How Non-Conformists Change The World by Adam Grant

Welcome back to The Lead Agency’s Book Club! As part of our series of five-minute book reviews, our head of data insights Antony Neill looks at one of the most original books on from the TLA library.

Our growing collection of titles on business, leadership, tech, marketing and more has been introduced to help people learn and grow both in and outside of their roles.

1. What did you read?

Originals: How Non-Conformists Change the World by Adam Grant.

2. In less than 100 words, what was the book about?

The book delves deep into the concept of “original thinking” – what it is, what is isn’t, why some are better at it than others and how we can all start thinking more originally. Every chapter covers a different perspective on original thinking, including when it is best to disagree (and when it is not), why strategic procrastination often creates more and better ideas and how to nurture creativity within children. In all, a fascinating read that genuinely made me think how I should change the way I approached both work and home life.

3. What were the key takeaways for you?

That “being creative” is only half the battle if you want to change things; the other half is actual implementation of those ideas, which is difficult in the face of organisations and people that naturally oppose change. For that reason, innovators should arm themselves with the strategies in the book to effectively make their voices heard.

4. Who in the business do you think would enjoy reading it?

Anybody who has great ideas but isn’t sure how best to present or communicate them.

What have you read lately? Let us know what books have inspired you.

Five minutes with… TLA Lead UX/UI Designer Jonny Kimber

As part of this series of Q&As we have Jonny Kimber, who joined our TLA team in August last year as our Lead UX/UI Designer. Here he gives an insight into his time at The Lead Agency so far…

What is the main function of the UX & Design department at TLA?

There’s a real mix regarding the projects we get to work on as good UX can be applied to anything! My role is looking at the TLA ecosystem and ensuring our digital touch points are working as hard as possible for our users from landing page campaigns to engaging widgets.

What have been your biggest projects from the first half of 2019?

The biggest project of the first half of 2019 has definitely been the revamp of Ask A Price landing pages. We already had a great user flow, but we challenged the entire team with a bunch more requirements to the existing user flow. The results led to a large uplift in conversion, better standards across the board and a near-perfect coded experience to the original designs. It’s definitely set the bar for how we deliver large-scale briefs. Another really great project to note was our first global campaign overseas for Audi Canada, definitely an incredible achievement for us!

What area of your work are you most passionate about and why?

Throughout my career I’ve been lucky to be trained in all areas of design. I started in the branding industry gaining confidence and enhancing how I delivered creative briefs, then moved towards digital work as a UI designer. I then took the jump to UX design to ensure the digital projects I was delivering had the user at the centre of the process. This has taught me that true innovation comes from three things, desirability, feasibility and viability. As long as the user is at the heart of my decisions, I’m on the right track.

What are your predictions for your profession and/or industry?

UX in general has had a really good reception and has really been recognised as a catalyst for business success. I constantly talk about the ROI of UX design and how it benefits businesses across the board from more engaging products for the user but also less resource burden on development teams amongst a multitude of other things. I think we will see the continuation of this success and an increased split of UX facing roles such as UX writers and UX researchers. These roles are fairly standard within the world of design but not realistically adopted by small/medium-sized businesses.

How will they impact the way we do things at TLA?

A lot more work around the entire journey of a customer, enhanced touch points across the board (digital and non-digital) and a greater emphasis on adding colour and context to the data we ascertain.

Where do you get your inspiration? Are there any books, blogs or websites you would recommend?

I’m a member of the IDF (The Interaction Design Foundation) which is a great place to up-skill UX skills, meet up with the fellow UX community and share my opinions on current projects in the digital industry across the world. It truly is an incredible site that can benefit any designer or company in general. I also read design blogs (Invision Blog, design related content on Medium) and I have a Dribbble profile to showcase some of my more visual work. I also mentor a designer in New York called Dongwei, he’s a really great guy so it’s awesome hearing about the projects he has on and talking UX processes with him.

What do you enjoy most about working at TLA?

The projects for sure – they keep me busy, challenge me and allow me to learn with every single project produced. There’s a huge focus on testing and gaining learnings from those tests so a project is never really complete. Second to this, the team I work with are a pretty inspiring bunch! Whether it’s the marketing department or the development teams, I’m constantly learning new ways to execute projects, deliver better briefs and afterwards share a drink with a good group of people. I can honestly say we all reach the finish line at the same time, it’s one of the best teams I’ve ever worked for.

How would you summarise TLA’s culture in three words?

Fast-paced, Talented, Opportunity.

Finally, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in the UX or design industry?

Never stop learning, always be accountable for a project you’re a part of, always strive for innovation and don’t worry about having different ideas to bring to the table.

If you’ve got a question for the TLA team or want to know more about what makes us tick, why not get in touch?

Paul Earnden joins TLA to head up property business

Paul Earnden, the former director and board member of digital agency Prodo, has joined us to take on the newly-created position of strategy director for our growing property business.

Having expanded into the property market two years ago, following a decade and half in automotive, we welcome Paul at an exciting time for the business, with new technology soon to be launched.

Paul is tasked with developing and driving forward the company’s proposition across a number of property markets, including estate agencies and mortgage providers, helping our clients to acquire new clients in meaningful volumes.

“Paul brings a deep understanding of digital, marketing and product development,” commented TLA CEO Anton Hanley. “His experience of working with external service providers off-shore and on- to deliver technical solutions make him a great fit for where TLA is heading as a business.

“Paul will be responsible for researching and setting the strategy for the property vertical, leveraging our proprietary advertising technology to provide clients the highest quality of in-market leads available.”

Paul joins us after five years with Chester-based Prodo, where he led on strategy and sat on the agency’s board of directors. His remit there was to set the strategic direction for all clients from a customer acquisition and digital transformation perspective. These included the New York Times, RBS, Emirates Old Trafford and several clients in property and financial services markets.

Speaking of his new challenge, Paul said: “In the current era of digital disruption, I’m incredibly excited to be joining TLA. I am highly impressed with the technology offering and how TLA’s platform can be leveraged by brands looking to acquire customers in the property space.

“I’m looking forward to joining a well-established, 17-year-old tech company and growing the property business into a major part of TLA.”

Five minutes with… TLA PPC Manager Dan Potter

Ever wondered who are the people behind the technology and campaigns TLA produces? In a new series, we’re grabbing five minutes with members of the team to shine more light on who they are and what inspires them.

First up is Dan Potter, who joined the business in 2015 and manages our paid media campaigns. Here’s what we learned in our five-minute catch-up.

Hi Dan. Let’s start with an important one. Which sports teams do you follow?

Unfortunately, I’m a lifelong-suffering Evertonian (thanks Dad). I’ve also got into American football over the last couple of years and follow the New Orleans Saints (the least Everton-esque team I could find).

What TV series or film should we be watching?

I feel like it’d be too obvious to say Game of Thrones here, but… Game of Thrones.

If you had two weeks off, where would you go?

Japan. Absolutely no doubt. I’ve always been fascinated by the unique cocktail of ultra-modern technology, rich culture and traditions, and crazily beautiful natural landscapes. Plus the sushi, obviously.

Want to join Dan in the PPC team? Why not get in touch and apply today! 

Which TED talks (or equivalent) have you seen that you recommend we watch?

I’m going to cheat here because it’s not a TED talk, but I’d highly recommend giving ‘Cambridge Analytica – The Power of Big Data and Psychographics’ from the 2016 Concordia summit a watch. It’s a fascinating yet terrifying insight into how big data was leveraged alongside laser-targeted ad messaging to influence the Trump US election. It’ll make you never want to use the internet again.

Which websites do you visit daily?

I can’t remember the last time I went 24 hours without going on Instagram or YouTube. Workwise, PPC Hero post a lot of useful content and industry news daily. I’m also a big fan of Copyhackers, they teach you how to use the power of words to influence our highly susceptible human brains and drive action.

Which entrepreneurs do you admire and why?

I’m a big fan of Elon Musk. He’s not your typical entrepreneur that spotted a gap in the market or found a way to monetise their passion. He’s someone that’s driven by a genuine desire to change the world. He’s totally self-made, a massive risk taker and relentless in chasing his goals to an obsessive degree. Pretty much the poster boy for innovation and pushing boundaries.

And finally, what aspect of your work are you most passionate about?

I love the opportunity to be creative – and with digital marketing you’re able to actually see the direct tangible results of what you do. It’s super satisfying when some outside of the box thinking comes off.

If you’ve got a question for the TLA team or want to know more about what makes us tick, why not get in touch?

TLA Book Club: Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

Welcome to The Lead Agency’s Book Club, a newly-introduced office library, that is part of our ongoing commitment to support and encourage self-improvement throughout the business.

Our growing collection of titles on business, leadership, tech, marketing and more has been introduced to help people learn and grow both in and outside of their roles.

So, what’s currently sitting on the bookshelf? Find out with our regular 5-minute summaries from the team – starting with our head of studio Neil Cosgrove…

1. Hi Neil. What have you been reading? 

Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins.

2. What was the book about?

Goggins should have been a statistic, the odds stacked against him to amount to anything in his life. Come from a rough childhood, to growing to 300 pounds in the Air Force, then loosing 110 pounds in 3 months to become a decorated Navy Seal, ultra-distance endurance athlete and world 24h pull up bar record holder (4,030).

3. What were the key takeaways for you?

  • Master your mind.
  • Most people only use 40% of their capability!
  • Take control of your life – you are the only one who can affect your future.

4. Who do you think would enjoy reading it?

Anybody who enjoys inspiring, motivational stories.

What have you read lately? Let us know what has inspired you and we’ll add it to the TLA library.

TLA appears in FT 1000 list for second consecutive year

The Lead Agency has been included in the Financial Times’ listing of the 1,000 fastest-growing companies in Europe for the second consecutive year.

With the help of data specialist Statista, the FT 1000 ranks fast-growing businesses from across the continent based on compound annual growth rate in revenue over a four-year period (2014-2017).

With a growth rate of 80.4%, we are delighted to have climbed from 363rd on the list in 2018 to 306th for 2019, placing as the 46th highest-placed UK business.

This recognition comes off the back of three respected tech company league table placings in 2018 as well as our first inclusion in the FT 1000, which has no restrictions on business type. We were named 50th in the The Sunday Times Tech Track 100, 39th in the Deloitte UK Fast 50 and fifth in the Northern Tech 100.

Placing in the FT 1000 for the second successive year is a tremendous achievement for everyone associated with the company, demonstrating our continued growth and success. But it wouldn’t be achievable without the consistently exceptional quality achieved by the TLA team and the continued support, trust and commitment of our clients and partners. We thank you all for helping us to continue our journey and allowing us to be a part of yours.

Top of this year’s ranking is financial services firm Blue Motor Group, which achieved a compound annual growth rate of 701.4%, followed by last year’s number one Deliveroo, which grew by 441.2%. The 1,000th placed company, German business Atheneum Partners, had a growth rate of 37.7%.

2018 in Review: A year to remember for TLA

In 2018, we earned independent recognition, secured new clients, developed cutting-edge technology and raised a significant sum of money for charity. It was a special year for everyone connected with TLA.

2019 is well underway and our focus is firmly on the future, but it would be remiss of us not to recap on some of our biggest achievements of the last 12 months and say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped make them happen.

Awards

One of the most pleasing aspects of 2018 was the recognition we received from some of the UK’s biggest and most respected organisations. In the early part of the year, we were named in the Financial Times’ league table of the 1,000 fastest-growing companies in Europe. We featured featuring as the 56th highest-placed UK business in the FT 1000 and 363rd overall.

Soon after, we were invited to the Northern Tech Awards by Tech Nation to discover where we had placed in its Northern Tech 100 table. Our growth rate over the last three years saw us named as the 5th fastest-growing technology business in the North of the UK and the top-ranking company with Liverpool headquarters.

We followed those up with what are arguably the two of the most prestigious tech industry league tables in the country. We were named as the 50th fastest-growing tech company in the UK as part of The Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 and 38th in Deloitte’s UK Technology Fast 50.

All four represent great recognition of our continued growth and commitment to driving performance through technology.

GDPR

Regular visitors to the TLA blog will have seen a lot of GDPR-themed content from us over the last 12 months – and with good reason.

As a company that generates, processes and distributes large volumes of consumer data, we have a huge responsibility to make sure we take an ethical and accountable approach. It’s a responsibility we have always taken seriously, but there was no doubting the ground-breaking nature of GDPR, which came into effect in May.

Our proactive approach begun almost two years ago, ensuring company-wide and top-down buy-in and taking decisive action to go beyond the regulation’s requirements. This included updates to processes, policies and technology that have all helped to make us a stronger business and partner to our clients.

The result was a GDPR programme that allowed clients to confidently continue with their lead generation campaigns, generating incremental sales at a critical time. Furthermore, our programme received great publicity, not least of all for the independent endorsement we received from ASE Global.

ASE’s report concluded: “What’s particularly impressive is that the work undertaken by The Lead Agency goes far beyond what the new legislation requires.”

Cutting-edge technology

One of the most exciting things for an employee at TLA is the commitment to continuous improvement. Our value ‘go beyond limits and expectations’ is something you see daily throughout the business as we push to be the best we can be as individuals and collectively.

We never top looking for ways to take our technology to the next level to provide a better service to clients and consumers. And in 2018, that resulted in us launching our new Landing Page Builder, Publisher Portal, Client Portal, Policy Management Portal and Quality Control Portal – all of which have led to improvements across internal processes and client results.

The biggest tech evolution however was our customer acquisition platform, which we’ve been working on over the second half of the year.

Built on the principles of transparency, effectiveness, simplicity and compliance, this new platform will transform how businesses generate incremental sales when it launches in 2019. Watch this space!

Charity

We’re passionate about creating opportunity. But it doesn’t end with our clients or staff. We commit to giving back to a worthy cause every year.

In 2018, we set an ambitious target of raising £10,000 for the NSPCC – a fantastic charity that deserves a lot of support. To achieve our goal, TLA and friends took part in a series of mammoth endurance challenges, including the London Marathon, Man v Lakes and a London to Paris Cycle.

We are immensely proud to have raised a whopping £10,450.40 and cannot thank the people who have donated enough. It genuinely means a lot to everyone here.

And finally…

We would like to extend that thank you to everyone who has played a part in what we were able to achieve in 2018 – including our clients, partners, suppliers and teammates. None of it would be possible without your continued trust, support and commitment – and for that we are immensely grateful.

We hope all of you enjoyed a great 2018 year and have made a successful start to the new year. We’re excited to see what it will bring.