ALMOST 20 YEARS AND COUNTING…
A look back at Spinnaker - Robert Golsmith
As I look forward into a new year, I find myself drawn into a period of reflection. It is January 2023 and I realise that it is 19 years ago to the month since Spinnaker was incorporated and, my then business partner Brooke and I sat planning.
This means that we are into our 20th year. 😳
Phew, we weren’t meant to get this old. How old were we meant to get? Not sure. Shouldn’t we be multi-millionaires sitting on a yacht following a big sale? Maybe. Was that what we were looking for? I think hard but I can’t recall, so I don’t think it can have been. I think I would have remembered that bit.
So, what was it all about? I think harder. I would love to say that we set out to be a particular size, a particular shape but, while it would be so much more professional to reflect on a brilliant vision that was realised within a target period, I can’t honestly lay claim to this.
INSTINCTIVE AMBITIONS
No, it was much more about impulse and instinct. It came from a gut reaction. One that was rooted in a desire to give it a go, a natural inclination to risk take, to do things a little differently. This approach had seen me in a variety of situations throughout life, some occasionally a little dicey. But I had come through alive. Maybe I set up Spinnaker just because I wanted to see if I could, even if there were risks. Just to prove I could. Yes, I think that was it.
Why on earth!? I was MD of a multi-million pound creative agency, promoted to this position by the erstwhile owners while they occupied themselves with cash counting following a lucrative sale, I had three kids ranging downwards in age from 8 to 2 and my wife was at home as a full time mum with no big job to return to. Logic should have dictated that I stayed put and enjoyed a cosy, corporate environment.
But in reality, it wasn’t that cosy. There was no invitation by the new owners to share in equity and vision, they were demanding on terms that were not of my making and, I fancied exploring new directions and stretching myself on my terms.
TENACITY AND RESILIENCE
As I look at where we are now, I think about those early days and how I might proffer advice to other prospective new kids on the block. I realise that the instinct to take a risk, stick one’s neck out, be responsible for solo decisions must be at the heart of any business owner’s DNA. You need to get a fix from this. It doesn’t mean you will always enjoy it because, there are plenty of difficult and horrible times when you wish that this exposure to the elements would just go away. But you need to be tenacious, to care deeply about keeping going and then…. Go again. Whatever it is that drives you to care must be ever present. It might be fear, pride, money, legacy, ego, stubbornness or, a desire to be independent. No matter, but it must be there, otherwise an easier route will always tempt you over.
Exposure to the whims of clients, the dips in cashflow, the departure of good colleagues, cancellations of budgets and pitch losses are all part of the day job and can be soul destroying. On several occasions I have sat with my head in my hands, both literally and metaphorically, particularly in the early days. But somehow you keep going because doing things on your terms with no-one to answer to makes it worth it. And then when periods of windy, cold exposure turn to moments of sunshine it transforms your perspective and, the efforts that you put in to get there are your own…. with, of course, a little help from your friends.
PEOPLE AND TEAMWORK
And it is people and friends that are fundamental to success. The adage of ‘you are only as good as the people you surround yourself with’ is vital advice but, headstrong business starters can sometimes feel that their own direction is the one and only highway.
I wish I had taken more advice, invited more senior people in at the start, people who had been there before and learned from their mistakes.
But when it comes to the value-add of people it is not only the sage counsel from external sources that counts, it is mostly about the team that sits closest. I am so glad to have been part of the lives of the scores of people who have joined the Spinnaker fold over the years. People who I have been proud to work alongside, taught a little, been taught by and, seen grow. Building and nurturing a team of people with a goal to help them reach their potential has become one of the most satisfying aspects of running a small agency. As the years pass and, priorities change, it is the people thing that has started to become the legacy goal for me.
TEAMS MUST BE SUPPORTIVE AND CHALLENGING
The support of the people you surround yourself with is so important but so too are the pushbacks, the challenges, the ‘whys?’ and ‘what for?’. These sharpen your offering and your reasons for existence.
For example, at the start we knew that we could offer strong thinking and creativity when it came to the delivery of campaigns across varying disciplines. In 2008, reflective of our continued aim to stay current and be chameleon like, we found ourselves, quite rightly drawn into, the emerging word of social. And a variety of other digital disciplines. We needed to show that we could deliver across varying skill sets and platforms. For those clients who needed to tick the box of campaigns by discipline this was fine. But, on reflection our sales proposition was inward focussed. It was about us, what we offered and what we did.
Our external day to day services and counsel to clients was, on the other hand, positively outward in its approach. It was always about solving problems. Not brand problems (or celebrations) but those problems that their target consumer was experiencing. We urged our clients to tap into the issues, motivators and situations that confronted their audience in whichever category they might find themselves. How could their product or brand, directly or indirectly make a difference, solve a problem, and save the day? Not in a grandiose, solving the climate crisis ways… this is not what brands are all about, contrary to the belief of a few! No, in ways that can contribute to a small but better way of a target consumer experiencing any category or brand.
FOCUS ON SOLVING CLIENT PROBLEMS
So, why it took us so long to practice what we were preaching, get off our agency high horse of puffery, ‘see how good we are at xyz’ and focus our agency positioning credentials on problem solving rather than a line-up of how great we are, I have no idea. But with people teamwork and collaboration we did get there, particularly so in a post pandemic environment where it felt like the goalposts had changed a little and we tapped into a more authentic and direct way of doing business
It is why we now find ourselves being about Commercial Creativity. We have been, and always will be about creative thinking whether in words, visuals, ideas, or strategy. It is what clients need agencies for. But clients also need agencies to be solving commercial problems. This has never been in such sharp focus as it is now and it is why we start and finish all our work with commercial context. It also involves a switch from telling and showing to listening and asking questions, perhaps representing the final and most important pointer for anyone who might just be at the start of a 20 year journey like I was back in 2004.
A CULTURE OF CREATIVITY, CURIOSITY AND COLLABORATION
The last 20 years have been challenging at times but I have loved the journey and I am immensely proud to be where we are, still in business, working with fantastic clients, always profitable, still smiling with a team of fabulous people who define their own culture of creativity, curiosity, and collaboration. I will always look back with happiness and pride at what we have experienced and achieved, together.
So, here’s to another 20 years and, in 2044 I look forward to reading the reflections of whoever is holding the agency tiller. Who knows how the world will look then but, may the Spinnaker sail stay hoisted, colourful, authentic and in-touch.
In the meantime, a very happy and prosperous 2023.