Why we are One

I suppose this opening post serves as a positioning statement for my newly created design and advertising agency Jepson One?

Back in 2006 I was the joint Managing Director of a regional design agency I had founded with a friend of mine in 1989. Over the years we had inevitably acquired all the 'resources' we'd need; big shiny offices, even shinier company cars, sales representatives, business development directors, account handlers, designers, artworkers and web developers, the head count lately growing in numbers almost daily. Arriving at the office every morning and seeing 'what's his face' and 'who did she used to work for' huddled at their respective workstations did nothing to reassure me of our future success. It was getting to the point that I couldn't even remember some of our people's names. And we had to keep all these bodies busy. There must be another way to approach what we do and how we do it?  

Around this time and well before Chuck and Cindy's lifetime dream of owning a mansion like Paris Hilton's without the benefit of any sign of sustainable form of income had been the catalyst of global economic armageddon. Anyone in business with any common sense would have started to build a fall-out shelter or at least start applying a bit of prudent objectivity on what the future might hold for their company. The economic virus might have started in the US but everyone including the UK design and marketing businesses were going to sneeze at some point.

Although I'm no economist or expert on macro-economics I did voice my concerns at a few board meetings that we'd best start being conservative about the future. Perhaps presenting a biblical sized memo to my co-directors, titled "The Things We Think and Do Not Say: The Future of Our Business" might get their attention? But Jerry Maquire had beat me to it. Anyway I don't have the Kwan of Tom Cruise and this was the real world with people's futures depending on my leadership. No Goldfish in hand, just a healthy remuneration for my shares, we parted company and I surveyed my options.

I of course honoured the inevitable compromises which were agreed as part of my share payment and even carried on working as a consultant on a number of projects. Then two years all promises fulfilled I was ready to start where I'd left off.  

Meanwhile in the time of my brief respite and the hour it took me draw a vertical line and write the do's and don'ts for my new agency Jepson One, the economy had gone even further back into default mode.

The design, advertising and marketing industry was making a paradigm shift anyway, with not just the economy driving change. Any businesses with incumbent overheads were now finding it tough to compete with the more flexible and agile studios. Clients were also demanding more value and results in not only ROI and brand metrics, but in trust and confidence in their agency's ability to perform on tighter budgets. New marketing channels such as social media and online marketing were also empowering businesses to undertake their own campaigns. All bad for business. Or is it?

Whilst this new environment is an uncomfortable place for many, I believe there are even greater opportunities for studios like ours. It's late now and I'm going to the Xerox copy shop. Time to get some copies of that memo I should have done in 2006.

Ray Jepson
Creative Director
Jepson One