New Chapter
As subscribers to my weekly newsletter Fix know, I have strong opinions on how advertising needs to develop. Much of the consulting work I do through addictive has advertising at — or close to — its heart. We have worked with Brands, Agencies, Platforms and Adtech firms — all seeking to make more of the ad market
I have been looking at how to get more deeply involved — again — for a while.
Having so much experience across both Creative and Media agencies I have been exploring both options, but realised that to deliver real value you need to be able to influence both.
So I am delighted to tell you I am starting a new chapter, taking addictive into The Media Kitchen — the award winning digital US Media Agency that is part of KBS — and in turn, part of MDC.
A key part of my new role is to grow the European business and hence I will work closely with my friends at Albion, who joined the KBS family a couple of years ago.
Combining the talent, skills and experience of addictive, The Media Kitchen and KBS Albion give us a formidable set of capabilities — across Strategy, Product and Proposition development, Creative and Media.
The Media Kitchen won Programmatic Agency of the year in 2014 and Mobile Agency of the Year in both 2015 and 2016. We will draw upon their amazing US team and already have one of their smartest people working in London.
Done properly, advertising creates huge value for Brands, Content Creators and People. Media — in its widest sense — is the tool where innovation and rigour can make a big difference. And I am convinced that the best way to make media investment work harder is to optimise the creative.
We are looking to work with businesses across Europe that are hungry for growth and — using whichever of our skills are most appropriate — we seek to drive real value.
We recognise that smart businesses are increasingly seeing some aspects of digital as a core competence and expanding their internal capabilities. We understand this and support these businesses with market intelligence, unbiased advice on adtech stacks and creative direction.
I will continue to share my thinking through Fix and we will make sure we don’t turn it into a puff piece for the agency — but we will share news and work when relevant.
I am very excited about this move. I think there is a huge opportunity for a fresh approach and I think we have a good chance to shake things up and make things better for everyone.
Both The Media Kitchen and I believe in collaboration, so we are keen to hear from anyone who wants to help us. Businesses who want to grow. Media owners — and AdTech firms — who want to innovate.
And Talent that wants a place to do your best work.
If we have just one philosophy, it is this; By any means necessary.
