Tag Archives: people

Building the TLA Brand

The Challenge

In Late 2019 our team was challenged to rebrand The Lead Agency (TLA), to coincide with its 18th birthday, in February 2020. After years of growth and increasing work on the product base, TLA needed a brand that represented the evolution of our ecosystem and a fresh visual language. The goal was to reflect the team and the TLA spirit within a modern brand identity.

“We spent a lot of time talking to team members who had seen the brand evolve from a small business to a large corporation. It was important that we understood the journey of the brand, so we could put forward concepts that were reflective of a proud past, but strategies that looked towards a brighter future.” 

Jonny Kimber, Lead UX/UI Designer of TLA

The Process

The design team ran a double diamond process to deliver the overall brief. This four-step process (discover, define, design, deliver) is a problem-solving framework used by teams across the world to reach a desired solution. The team kicked off with a discovery phase — crucial to allow the team time to process the brief and provide purpose and direction. The intensive research period included staff surveys, stakeholder interviews and workshops to understand existing assets.

In the second stage of the double diamond process – the definition phase – consisted of filtering through the information received from the discovery phase and elaborating on this, pulling data apart and synthesising information. This crystallised direction for the team and gave intent to deliver the brief whilst finalising mission, vision, values and more.

The third phase of the project – the design phase – started with hand-drawn concepts informed by the entire journey so far. The designs were kept simple until strong ideas started to emerge, which is when the team starting delivering computer concepts in colour and detail. The only rule at this stage was ‘No idea is a bad idea’. The final deliverable at this stage was a presentation to senior stakeholders to choose the new brand identity.

Results

The final stage was the delivery phase and with a brand identity chosen, the team started to roll out the new visual language to print and digital touch-points, along with communicating the new vision to the rest of the business. This is where the fun really starts, as care needs to be taken to ensure the team launches the best possible version of the concept and in a timely manner. Elements covered are touchpoints – website, email signatures and customer-facing collateral.

“The team are thrilled with the new brand and the past 4 months has been such a journey for us. We’ve had many late nights, lots of coffee-runs and a lot of hard decisions to make but they’ve been offset by those amazing ‘a-ha moments’ that designers live for… It has all been worth it! We now have a modern brand that does justice to our 18 years in the automotive space. This truly is the start of a new chapter for TLA.”

Jonny Kimber, Lead UX/UI Designer of TLA

Meet our Future Leaders!

At TLA we believe that the opportunity for growth and leadership should be offered across the business.

From management to recent graduates, we firmly believe in equality of opportunity.

We also respect that there are different forms and ways that leadership can make a difference in life and work.

That is why the future leadership programme has been introduced, to support our colleagues that will benefit from expert training and mentorship to help their growth into leadership roles.

Say hello to our first cohort!

Richard Royes – Sales Team Leader
Duration at TLA: 4 Years
Initially I wasn’t going to do the course as I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy the reading side or if it was going to be to academic but Steve straight made it clear that it’s a programme that will help you learn you put in as much effort as you want to get as much as you want out of it.
Having not really given it my all school/college etc I wanted to prove to myself that if I put my mind to something, I can do it.

Danielle Smith – Systems Developer
Duration at TLA: 5 Years
when you come into work you are mainly focused on your own role and the team you are part of. By taking part in the FLP it allows me to gain a wider understanding of business as a whole and all of the other parts that make up the business instead of being just in the Dev bubble. The FLP provides this through many different modules in the course from project management, finance, entrepreneurial leadership and what it takes to become a leader. The course requires lots of research, presentations, coursework and group discussions to feedback findings to the group. I thought it would be a great challenge as you can gain out of this course as much as you want so it’s all about pushing yourself.

Amy Smith – Campaign Manager
Duration at TLA: 9 Years
I am excited to learn more about myself and how I can become better in my role. It is a privilege to be accepted onto the course and I want to use what I learn on the future leaders course to improve all aspects of my job and hopefully progress further within TLA.

Joshua Duxbury – Senior Software Developer
Duration at TLA: 3 Years
I’ve only just started on the future leaders program, but already it has given me a big insight into a different way of thinking and approaching from an entrepreneurial point of view. There is a lot of self learning, I’ve enjoyed reading the challenges faced by Philip Knight (Shoe Dog) and Steve Jobs. I’ve received great feedback on how to improve on my presentation skills and i’m looking forward to the next module around “What differentiates a high performance team”. I feel the program will enhance my skills for presenting at Dot Net Liverpool and allow me to be a better leader within my team.

Jonny Kimber – Lead UX / UI Designer
Duration at TLA: 2 Years
I’m really excited for the high performing teams module of the course. As a relatively new team at TLA we want to ensure we’re having the biggest impact on the company and working on the most significant briefs. We’ve got a pretty good infrastructure already but it’s always good to learn ways to improve!

Graham Fyfe – Sales Manager
Duration at TLA: 8 Years
Looking forward to learning as much as I can during the FLP. Hopefully, the knowledge I gain can be a benefit not just to myself but to the TLA.

Kristian Brown – Email Marketing Manager
Duration at TLA: 5 Years
Looking forward to learning new skills that will help me become a better digital marketer and contribute even more to the future growth and success of TLA.

Mike Jones – Sales Team Manager
Duration at TLA: 10 Years
I love learning new things and applying them to everything I do so this course is perfect for me. I am finding myself changing the way I think and the way I look at new situations. I am most looking forward to the High Performing Teams Module as it applies most to me and my role within the TLA.

TLA’s Sam Reaney up for FD of the Year Award

We are thrilled to say that our very own Sam Reaney is in the running for a top accolade this evening at the Finance Director of the Year Awards.

Sam, who joined the business in 2015, has been included on a three-person shortlist for FD Under 40 Years of Age – Business up to £25 million Turnover. His fellow nominees are Rick Poskitt of Thrive Media Group and Chris Bird of Adlib Audio.

The awards recognise and celebrate the outstanding work done by the region’s financial directors, rewarding the underestimated job they do within their organisations.

Sam has been a key figure during TLA’s growth over the last few years, which has seen the business appear in the FT 1000, a list of the thousand fastest-growing companies in Europe, the Sunday Times’ Tech Track 100 and the Deloitte Technology Fast 50.

The event is being held at the Crowne Plaza in Liverpool City Centre and hosted by BBC Radio 5 Live’s Hugh Ferris. This year’s sponsors are Accountable Recruitment, Grant Thornton, Hill Dickinson and HSBC.

Good luck to Sam and the other nominees!

TLA receives accreditation as Living Wage Employer

We are pleased to announce that The Lead Agency (TLA) has been officially accredited as a Living Wage Employer.

The certification acknowledges a company’s commitment to voluntarily pay all members of staff a higher rate of pay (based on the real cost of living) than the government-set minimum wage and national living wage.

The accreditation is given by the Living Wage Foundation, an organisation that is leading an independent movement to ensure a hard day’s work receives a fair day’s pay. It does so by celebrating and recognising companies and leader who choose to pay more than the government minimum.

The Foundation highlights that the Real Living Wage, based on what people over the age of 18 need to live, is £9.30 per hour across the UK and £10.75 in London. By comparison, the minimum wage is £7.70 (for people aged 21-24) and £8.21 (for people over 25) with no additional weighting for London.

Having met all required criteria, TLA joins 6,000 UK companies accredited with Living Wage Employer status. Others include Everton and Liverpool FC, Accenture, Ikea, KPMG, Aviva and Nationwide.

To view our current vacancies, please visit Careers.

Hit for six: TLA’s Key Takeaways from Jonathan Levav’s innovation masterclass

On Friday, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Jonathan Levav hosted an ideas and innovation session in Liverpool attended by some of the city’s most notable creative business.  

Inspired by Silicon Valley, the event was packed with great insights into how companies can consistently and regularly produce great ideas. We asked some of the TLA team who attended the session to share their big takeaways:

1. Psychological needs are a key pillar of consumer choice.

Apple products are not the cheapest in their respective markets. They’re often not the best either, with less features than their rivals. But what they do is satiate the consumers’ psychological desires. The prestige. The presumed ease of use. They make the thought of having an iPhone feel good. – Dan Potter

2. Make what you can sell, don’t sell what you can make.

In product development, there can be a rush to build and ship as many ‘innovative’ features as possible without an understanding as to whether or not they’re actually something that the end user wants to buy. With that approach, businesses risk building a product that is inferior and too complex. And, worst of all, that doesn’t actually solve a need. – Paul Earnden

3. Prepare well to ideate well.

Ideation involves a lot more planning and preparation than you might realise and starts before the actual session. Going for a walk, or even a few drinks(!), beforehand can open up the mind to new possibilities. And having the session on a Friday or at a time when people are more tired, when they self-regulate less, can actually lead to better ideas. – Kristian Brown

4. Follow a process. Constraint breeds creativity.

Ideation is far more successful if there is structure and a clear process to follow. For example, Task unification (where you assign a new task to an existing item (e.g. iPhone case/battery combination); Separation (such as how car radios used to have façade separated from actual radio to prevent theft); Multiplication (like when old combination music systems were swapped out for separates); Attribute Dependency (which involves mapping internal attributes against external attributes/requirements see where additional value can be created); or Brainwriting (which involves writing an idea down on a piece of paper and passing it to the next person to develop further). – Ed Clark

5. Develop your idea before you share. 

Not all ideas need to be developed in collaboration. If you have a vision, sharing it with teammates too early can see it go off in a direction you hadn’t planned or wanted (maybe for the better, maybe not). By developing your idea further in isolation before you share, you can seek the input of others at the point when they can help you bring your vision to life. – Steve Timmis

6. Simplicity leads to innovation.

Perfection is attained not when there’s nothing left to add, but when there’s nothing to take away. Start by making a list of the attributes a product or product type has and experiment with removing them one-by-one. The more simple the solution to your customer’s needs, the better the product will be. – Rachel Hellon

Visit TLA’s LinkedIn account for more feedback on the Jonathan Levav event.

My Design Internship with TLA – Adam Hodkinson

Over the past six months, we were delighted to be joined by Adam Hodkinson on a design internship. Here’s what he had to say about his experience and learnings from TLA.

What made you apply for TLA?

After graduating from The University of Salford I struggled to break into the industry, so I decided to reach out to several businesses about potential internships. This is when I came across the opportunity here at TLA.

I was hoping for an internship which would allow me to develop my skills, knowledge and improve on my portfolio. TLA has turned out to be the best possible place for me to end up – giving me the opportunity to explore a potential career path and get a feel for what the industry is like.

What was the most interesting piece of work you had done?

Now that I’ve come to the end of my internship, I’ve gathered several portfolio pieces where I’ve really outdone myself! If I had to choose one, it would be the future leaders programme. You can find more about my work in my full Portfolio here.

Key things you have learnt in your six months here?

Over the past 6 months, I’ve gathered so much knowledge and improved on my skills around branding and identity, graphics, logo design, print, typography and illustration with additional experience in UI Design.

How have you developed personally during your internship?

My core strengths: work ethic, keen eye for detail, communication, creativity and time management have improved massively. I’ve met some amazing people, I’ve gained amazing experience and I have a top notch portfolio – I hold TLA and the design team responsible for relighting my passion for design.

So what’s next?

I hope to move onto a similar role or maybe experiment with different pathways, however UI Design is my number one priority.

If you’ve got a question for the team or want to know more about an internship here at TLA, why not get in touch?

TLA back on the saddle for NABS’ Ride Adland challenge

We’ve signed up to take part in this year’s Ride Adland event, organised by the ad and media industry’s mental wellbeing charity NABS.

Taking place on Thursday 3 October 2019, this is a cycling event with a difference. Rather than riders lining up together to travel from point A to point B, stationary bikes are placed in each participating team’s offices. Up to 20 riders from each company then compete against other media and advertising teams across a virtual landscape.

There are two races for teams to compete in – a 50km Fun race that will take place on the morning of the event; and the more challenging Epic race, which is a 100km afternoon ride for more experienced riders.

Given that our team has ridden from London to Liverpool, Paris and Brighton over the last three years in aid of different charities, we felt it was only fitting that we gave ourselves the epic challenge!

NABS Jersey

Riding for TLA in the hope of landing the coveted NABS jersey will be Neil Cosgrove, Abel Paz, Joshua Duxbury, Tom White, Ed Clark and Anton Hanley.

All six were part of the Sea Change for Mental Health cycle from London to Brighton in June, which we organised with the aim of raising £25,000 for NABS in 2019. Please head here if you’d like to donate.

Ride Adland is being sponsored by Mail Metro Media and has received the backing of Google, AMV BBDO, Sky Media and Mediacom.

For more information about the event or to find out about the important work NABS does for people who work in the media and advertising sector, visit NABS.org.uk.

My Summer internship with TLA – Gabriella Dixon

This summer we were delighted to be joined by Gabriella Dixon on a three-month B2B marketing internship ahead of her final year at university. Here’s what she had to say about her experience and learnings from TLA.

“As a Business Management with Marketing student, I was on a mission to find an opportunity that would help me get my foot in the door to prepare me for when I leave University.

After struggling to find any appropriate advertised positions, I decided to reach out to several companies in hope of securing myself a summer internship. I was hoping for an internship which would allow me to learn and develop my skills and knowledge while being able to explore a potential career path and get a feel for what the industry is like.

In June, I was grateful and thrilled for the opportunity to join The Lead Agency as a B2B Marketing Intern.

The past three months have flown by. I’ve learnt so much and will take away some really valuable life lessons and advice. From the day I started I was made to feel so welcome and instantly felt like part of the team. Everyone is super lovely and supportive.

During my first week here I was taught about the company’s work culture and core values, something they really do live up to. There is a positive atmosphere and everyone’s very open and honest. There is a really strong work ethic here and everyone is really focused, committed and dedicated to their roles. I have found this truly inspiring and a pleasure to be around.

Celebrating women in tech

So, what have I been up to? I have been involved in lots of different projects, tasks and opportunities. One of the biggest has been working on our Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing campaign – a content series that ran across TLA’s website and content channels.

I undertook research to explore the current state of the industry and the underrepresentation of women in the UK tech industry. We believed the journeys of the women here at TLA were worth sharing with other women who are considering a career in the industry, so create a content plan that would allow us to get their stories out.

As part of the campaign, I organised and ran my first round-table discussion featuring 12 female TLA employees. I prepared the questions and a short series of slides to facilitate the event. That session allowed us to understand the experiences of women in the tech and marketing industry, their route to TLA and the female role models that inspire them.

We created a series of articles over a six-week period and I took ownership of pushing these out on TLA’s social platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, generating positive engagement. I also managed other social media content during my three-month placement, covering job vacancies, charity press releases (particularly TLA’s work with NABS), employee Q&As, book reviews and highlights from our ‘brown bag’ lunches.

SEO learnings

Away from content, I’ve learnt about other aspects of B2B marketing, including email marketing, PPC and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). For the latter, I undertook a vast amount of research into the different aspects of SEO and presented my findings back to the team. That’s an area I’m keen to learn more about in the future.

I’m excited to take all that I’ve learnt over the past three months and progress further. It has been a great way to learn and develop as well as gaining commercial experience. I’ve met so many amazing, talented people and have loved my time at TLA.”

Gabriella Dixon

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?

Five minutes with… TLA Head of Quality and Compliance Kathy Fleming

Following on from our Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing round-table, we sat down with head of quality and compliance Kathy Fleming for a quick-fire Q&A session.

What’s your role and the role of your department at TLA?

Head of Quality & Compliance (including responsibility as the Data Protection Officer). The department is responsible for call monitoring and coaching. I have overall responsibility for FCA Compliance and one of the leads for the ISO27001 certification.

What do you believe has been the most important change to this industry over the last 5 years and why?

The new data protection law has undoubtedly had an impact on how consumer data is handled. Working with high profile clients puts us in a position of trust and it’s our responsibility to demonstrate our commitment to GDPR compliance. We must be able to demonstrate transparency and integrity in what we do, putting customers information rights at the heart of the service we are providing.

What changes do you think we’ll see in the next 5 years and what long-term impact will they have?

Better use of intelligent data (tracking data) which will help inform us and provide insights into consumer behaviour. Whilst this data will be valuable, there are certainly some compliance considerations that must be at the forefront of this activity.

What excites you most about the industry?

The development of systems to enhance what we already do – in particular the way in which TLA can evolve to become more diverse.

What aspect of your work or profession are you particularly passionate about?

Making sure that we operate with integrity in all of our interactions with customers – a DPO should act as the conscience of the organisation.

Where do you go for inspiration or to learn?

I attend a quarterly data protection networking meetings which is a great forum for sharing good practice with people in similar roles across different sectors.

Which entrepreneurs do you admire and why?

Our CEO Anton Hanley – because of his passion and tenacity.

What advice can you offer the next generation of women considering their future career?

Believe in yourself, have confidence in your ability and use every opportunity to improve and gain experience.

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?

Celebrating women in tech and marketing (part three)

Our latest addition to the Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing content series explores what TLA’s female stars are passionate about regarding their work and where they go to get inspired and learn.

The tech and marketing industry is well-known for being fast-paced and that’s certainly true of life at TLA. When hiring, we look for people who embrace the changes and opportunities that come with the territory, regardless of the role they’re in.

Work passions

When we asked what our group was most passionate about, senior quality and compliance executive Abigail Hanson was first to comment on “the constant growth in the company,” highlighting that the role she’s been promoted into didn’t exist two months ago and that she’s excited about what “opportunities could present themselves in the future”.

Kathy Fleming, who heads up the quality and compliance team, elaborated on that growth, adding: “I’m excited about the development of systems to enhance what we already do – in particular the way in which we can evolve to become more diverse and provide a service that clients want and that add value.”

While it’s great to hear that the company’s growth matters to them, we decided to dig deeper into things they love about their respective roles. “I’m most passionate about ad analysis,” said Amara Molloy, who joined TLA earlier this summer as a graduate PPC executive.

“I enjoy comparing ad types and determining which ads worked and which didn’t,” she added. “I find it extremely interesting to look and try to understand how the audiences mind works allowing our department to produce more effective campaigns.”

Miki Parr, another recent arrival at TLA, this time in the data insights team, said: “I love reporting. I know that sounds sad, but I get a kick out of seeing the numbers line up. It’s interesting to spot trends and patterns within the data that you may not have spotted if it hadn’t been investigated. The other aspect of my job that I am passionate about is investigative analysis. Having spotted something in the data that doesn’t look quite right, and then delving into the root cause of this.

“Data is the currency of the world now,” she added. “Everyone uses it and uses it differently. Within my profession no two days are ever the same.”

For our placement student Shania Corbishley, who is part of our technical development team, passion comes with “learning new things every day due to the fact that tech is always changing”. She added: “I enjoy problem-solving and pushing myself to improve.”

Fellow developer Danielle Smith, who joined TLA in 2014, said: “I enjoy helping people. It’s rewarding when someone has an issue, or you make a change to a system, that is going to benefit and help their job easier.”

Shannon Miller, another of our long-serving technical developers cited that her passion comes in the form of “contributing to the design and development of new systems, learning how to use new skills and technologies, and creating something that is useful to other people and the company.”

Sources of inspiration and learning

Learning and growth are a big part of our culture. So, where do our group go to seek inspiration and fuel their passions?

For Shania, it’s “seeing other people in the tech industry create amazing things. When I see something mind-blowing it inspires me!”

Amy Smith, one of TLA’s account managers, looks closer to home: “Within the TLA there are people with a wealth of knowledge and amazing skill sets.  If I have a question or need help, I have always found people willing to take the time to share their knowledge.” And that sentiment is echoed by Danielle: “I always like speaking to the other devs in our team. There’s a lot of knowledge within the team and I can learn a lot from them.”

For developers, there are a wide variety of online sources that provide information to help you develop your knowledge and solve a multitude of challenges. For example, Danielle uses Feedly to follow .net blogs and other professional blogs.

Another great source of inspiration and learning are events – including but not limited to Dot Net Liverpool, which was formed by Joshua Duxbury, a member of the TLA technical development team.

Outside of tech, Emily Abbey finds inspiration in a women’s networking group called AllBright. “Being able to connect with other women who ‘get it’ in terms of balancing the many demands on us between work and home life, and who are also brilliant role models and can offer pearls of wisdom has been a lifesaver!”

Kathy, meanwhile, said: “I attend a quarterly data protection networking meetings which is a great forum for sharing good practice with people in similar roles across different sectors.”

If you have a question about anything that’s been discussed as part of our Celebrating Women in Tech and Marketing series, including the events our team attend, please get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.