Dear friends of MAAG,
Welcome to the MAAG fortnightly bulletin. This is the place to be for MAAG news, community conversation, event information and a place to learn from others. This is also a place to connect and a way to feel part of our exciting, growing, entrepreneurial and independent thinking community.
Hope you enjoy.
  Jo Chappell
Director of Communications
MAAG
[email protected]
0207 535 3550
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MAAG Christmas Drinks Party and “Speed Mentoring” GreenJam
The Collective, 14 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3JA
6pm-10pm
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We are so excited for our first MAAG Christmas Drinks Party, open to all agency professionals across member agencies. The event will feature a special GreenJam “Speed Mentoring” separate event which will run parallel for Future Leaders, typically with 2-4 years experience. In addition, we will also be offering reverse mentoring options throughout the night to C-Suite and management.
There will be 11 mentor stations covering all areas of agency life (CEO, CFO, Creative Director, New Business to Client Services), as well as mental health and executive coaching, providing a platform to build stronger links between junior and senior agency peers. The GreenJam attendees will be split up into mini groups and will circulate the room, going from station to station and then join in with the rest of the party at 20:00.
If interested in attending the GreenJam Speed Mentoring as well as the MAAG Christmas Party please click here
The MAAG Christmas Drinks Party is not only a thank you to our Member agencies for support and an excuse for festive cheer, but marks the beginning of many initiatives MAAG is launching in 2019, focused around talent development and mental health.
Opia Risk, who have kindly sponsored Tuesday night’s event, express why they are supporting the evening:
“Opia Risk is keen to support MAAG as it continues to develop its role as the champion of independent marketing agencies. The GreenJam events have been welcomed enthusiastically by the membership as they provide a forum for discussion on the important topics in our industry. Opia Risk is delighted to sponsor the Speed Mentoring, which offers future agency leaders quick fire career advice from a range of industry principles.”
MAAG’s Learning and Development plan includes the Diploma in Integrated Marketing, a long-term mentoring scheme, and a mental health campaign named the Festival of Happiness.
MAAG Advisory Board Member, Stephanie Whitaker, MD, ignis, states:
 “Involvement in MAAG’s numerous learning and development initiatives, from the Diploma in Integrated Marketing, through GreenJam and Future Leaders, means that we can upskill the ignis team more effectively and cost efficiently than would otherwise be the case. Future Leaders has been particularly useful in helping our management understand the concerns and pre-occupations of younger colleagues, thus enabling us to tailor internal initiatives to address such concerns.
“I’m delighted, as an Advisory Board Member, that we are now focussing within the Future Leaders programme and beyond on what is a key industry topic – the mental well-being of our employees”.
“Recognising that stress at work is a pressing issue for us all, resulting not least in reduced productivity, we are working with several charities, specialising in helping individuals across the demographic spectrum better to cope with mental health concerns. The culmination of this initiative will be next year’s “Festival of Happiness”, during which MAAG Member employees will be able to access talks and events around the topic of mitigating stress and maximising the beneficial experience of working within our agencies. These sessions will be led by professionals from broad backgrounds, including counselling, well-being practice and even social influence! As part of the run-up to the Festival, one of the Counsellors taking part will attend next week’s ‘Speed Mentoring’ session, so that potential attendees can get a taste of what we are certain will be a life changing, but also business-facing, event in 2019’s MAAG calendar.”
MAAG is working with partners to build a concrete programme of events for 2019 to address topics like mental health and wellbeing among others affecting the industry, as research shows 61% of employees have experienced mental health issues due to work or where work was a related factor, a statistic cited in the latest string of reports on mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. (2018, Seizing the Momentum. Business in the Community) .
Petra Velzeboer, Executive Coach, Business owner & Psychotherapist says:
 “In our training programs we explain how we all have mental health just like we have physical health. In the same way that you’d maintain good physical health through exercise and nutrition, we normalise language around mental health as it is simply about maintaining the health of our minds so that we can sustain our hectic work and personal lives. With a faster pace of life, the surprising impact of technology can be a feeling of disconnection, loneliness and comparison to Instagram perfect lifestyles; the impact can be that it’s harder to do the things that we know improve mental health, for example, nurturing deep authentic connections, time outside in nature, giving back to our communities and engaging in meaningful work where we can feel comfortable to be ourselves.
“I’m so excited to be taking part in next week’s GreenJam Speed Mentoring event and to be involved in the planning for the Festival of Happiness in 2019 where we can highlight the fun and practical ways to look after our mental health!”
Please see below examples of some of the events we have to support this topic:
 Becoming Confident and Assertive (Half Day) £235
8th January
4th April
Mastering Persuasion and Influence (Full Day) £390
22nd January
2nd April
Wellbeing at Work – An introduction to Stress and Mental Health Webinar £140
7th February
Rest, Recovery and Recharge – The Value of Sleep Webinar - £140
8th February
Everyday Mindfulness – An Introduction Webinar - £140
8th March
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Deadline to enter the MAA Worldwide GLOBES awards has extended to December 7th
Final chance to enter! For more info please contact [email protected]
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Event Recap: Headlines from the Kingston Smith Annual Survey 2018
The Kingston Smith Annual Survey results were presented on Thursday evening to a packed audience in London, with Guest Speaker Sir Martin Sorrell adding his insights.
 Here are a few of the main points that emerged:
- Revenue growth in the Top 50 Independents was 10.5%, slightly up from 2016 at 10.4%. Marketing and Sales Promotion showed growth of just 1.2% but up from the decline in 2016 of 1.1%. Growth was recorded in Advertising up 4%, Design up 7.8% and Digital 7.8% (down from 15% in 2016).
- Profit margins moved from 9.7% to 10.3% in the Top 50. Advertising 11.3%, Design 14.9% and Digital 11% all improved from 2016 but Marketing and Sales Promotion declined from 11.4% to 10%. There are agencies in all sectors achieving margins of 20% plus.
- In the Top 50 revenue per head grew from £92k to £97k but staff costs remain high at 59%. The top performers have staff costs down to 55%.
Sir Martin Sorrell talked about his new venture S4Capital stating that they were looking to acquire business interests in Content, Media Planning and 1st Party Data and believed the future was all about Faster, Better, Cheaper. Two key points made in his interview were; -
- Long payment terms are causing big problems in the industry affecting Balance Sheets and depleting working capital
- ‘In-Housing’, which is primarily affecting the Marketing and Sales Promotion sector, is becoming a problem for clients since they cannot recruit the best talent and do not keep up to speed with changes in technology.
All the trends, data and opinions will be presented and debated at the MAAG Commercial Directors meeting being hosted by Kingston Smith on 16th January 2019.
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 "If you would like to discuss any MAAG initiatives and would like to have a conversation around Membership and how it can benefit you and your Agency, we’d love to hear from you, please do feel free to get in touch."
Susan Speller
Director of Member Relations
0207 535 3550
[email protected]
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MAAG Member Benefits:
Complimentary free audit to save agency businesses costs with MAAG Agency Purchasing Power (APP)
With your MAAG Membership, Members are offered a complimentary free audit to save agency businesses costs. Selwyn Pye, Agency Purchasing Power (APP) MAAG has proven experience in saving businesses money in the following areas:
- Computer Hardware
- Computer Software (the main ones like Adobe, office 365 etc - not apps that link to Xero)
- Telephone systems
- Internet Lines
- Mobile phones
- Conference calling
- Gas
- Electricity
- Stationery
- Furniture
- Cleaning Suppliers
- Provisions - Fruit & Milk - other drinks etc
- Health insurance
- Company Insurances - PI, PL, EL, D&O, General, Travel etc
- Foreign exchange
- Finance Leasing
- Printers - leased and Pence per print
- Waste Recycling / Secure shredding
- Courier
- Taxis
- Car/van hire
- Staff travel (agents fees)
If interested, please contact Selwyn on [email protected] or call 07949 081135 to discuss further and book your audit.
Selwyn Pye, Agency Purchasing Power (APP) MAAG explains “On average I can save you 15% plus across your overhead costs. As an MAAG Member your business is able to get a full audit free of charge, with no commitment required”.
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Don’t forget your 30 mins free legal advice per month!
MAAG Legal Advice and Pitch Protection Services
Lee and Thompson provide a one-stop shop for the marketing communications sector, advising on commercial contracts, intellectual property, code compliance, data protection, employment law, corporate law and dispute resolution. Lee and Thompson are recognised leaders in the wider creative industries – in music, film, tv, gaming, AI, art, fashion, sport and technology. With ever increasing convergence and cross-over this strength in the audio-visual sectors has never been more important to our marketing and advertising clients.
 Our Advisory Board Member, Dominic Bray, Lee and Thompson states: “We are proud to be associated with the Marketing Agencies Action Group. As part of your MAAG Membership we offer you 30 mins of Legal Advice per month, and access to the Pitch Protection Service”.
Please contact [email protected] Or call 020 3073 7600 to find out more.
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Training
A Morning On...
Half Day Training Sessions
5th December - Winning Pitches
9.30am -1:30pm
Trainer: Richard Houghton, Agency Doctor
Cost: Member £250 + VAT Non-Member £350 + VAT
*Only two places left*
12th December - How to write a killer brief
9.30am-1pm
Trainer: Julian Saunders. Editor-The Communications Challenge, Ex Ogilvy & Google
Cost: Member £250 + VAT Non-Member £350 + VAT
*Last few spaces*
PLUS MORE Training in association with PRCA
Budget Management – Full Day £390
22nd January
21st May
NegotiationSkills Half Day - £235
23rd January
14th May
How to Create an Effective Blog Webinar 90 minutes - £140
25th January
Business Development Planning Techniques Full Day - £390
3rd April
For more info contact: [email protected]
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Dates for your diary:
Upcoming GreenJam dates for the diary!
29th January
11th February
5th March
2nd April
Festival of Happiness – (In association with Mental Health Awareness Week)– more to follow:
15th May
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The Groups
Commercial Group
16th January 9am – 11am, Kingston Smith Annual Survey
10th April 9am – 11am - Value Pricing
10th July 9am – 11am - Making creative use of space. The property: people ratio.
New Business Group
31st January - New Business Barometer results and implications for the year ahead.
25th April - Converting Pitches
25th July - Growing & Developing Existing Clients
24th October Planning for 2020 - Filling Pipelines / Generating Opportunities / Prospecting & Marketing
Creative Director Group – Dates TBC Talent Group
22nd January
30th April
17th July
16th October
CEO Breakfast
6th February
15th May
Future Leaders Advisory Board Meetings
10th December
16th January
20th February
20th March
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