Deciphering Code - North West Media Features

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Deciphering Code

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By Alan Johnstone

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

For a company that’s “never had a proper outward bound sales process in place” Code Computerlove has somehow managed to attract more big name clients than a Hollywood madam. How-Do sits down with managing director Tony Foggett to chart the rise of Manchester’s most influential digital media agency.

That whole ‘nice guys finish last’ adage is a crock of crap.

Tony Foggett, Wini Tse and Louis Georgiou are three of the most affable, amiable and approachable individuals on the Manchester marketing services scene.

In seven years of reporting on North West agencies this writer has never heard a bad word uttered about any of them (apart from a few unkind reviews of Tse’s break-dancing skills following the occasional industry shindig).

Despite that – although it’d be more pertinent to argue partly because of that – they’ve established one of the region’s most successful digital media agencies and attracted a slew of client names that are nothing short of stellar.

The facts speak for themselves. Their agency, Code Computerlove (although surely only employees now use the cumbersome Computerlove appendage), has grown from being just the three of them when they set up in May 1999 to a current headcount of 48. This year's projected turnover will be close to £4m (up from £2.4m in 2006) and the firm’s media division has gone from a standing start less than a year ago to boasting billings of £1m.

The mouth-watering client list suggests a specialism in the entire medium of digital, rather than one specific sector, mixing up household names including HMV, Hovis, BUPA, Huggies, Bruntwood and Sharwoods.

Which makes it all the more surprising, when How-Do sits down with MD Foggett in the firm’s Jutland Street offices, to find out that they’ve never been profiled in the trade press: an injustice that it’s surely our duty to put right?

Specialist vs. bolt-on

The start of the Code story begins with the three colleagues sitting rather uncomfortably at Mainstream in Manchester, now thankfully renamed as With. Although happy with their treatment within the firm they were unhappy at the treatment of the digital medium itself (‘new media’ at the time), seeing far more potential than it was then given credit for.

As Foggett recalls: “For us it’s the specialism that’s always been the key, and that’s why we decided to jump ship.

“There’s a huge difference between a specialist agency and a full service advertising agency that offers digital as just one of those services. When digital’s a ‘bolt on’ you may get a nice integrated approach, but digital in its own right needs to have a much more on-going, focused and long term strategy.

“Traditional agencies may start a conversation with the consumer, but with digital it goes beyond that and becomes an experience that you’re creating – that’s a much more complicated thing to design and develop. As a result it demands complete time, energy and understanding. That’s what we believed we could offer.”

Going off the chronological line a bit at this point Foggett then proceeds to rubbish the ‘nice guy’ theme by noting: “I’m still waiting, years after we started, for the offline agencies to start taking their digital offerings more seriously than they do. For example, I don’t think McCann’s or BDH in particular really hit the same weight with their digital propositions as they do with their offline. That surprises me.

“It surprises me that there aren’t larger agencies with the capabilities of us around. In fact I’d argue that we’re now emerging as the only real full service digital agency (in Manchester) – in that there are other design and build, or advertising based agencies, but nobody that’s actually integrating creative, media and planning like we are.”

Growth through ad agencies

Considering this rather negative appraisal of the more traditional agency milieu it comes as another surprise to discover that Code started out by partnering up with the very firms that ostensibly undervalued digital.

“I would say that that was a definite strategy,” comments Foggett candidly “and it definitely helped us.

“We got a real leg up by having more traditional ad agencies bringing us in to develop digital solutions for pretty recognisable brands.

“But everyone was a winner from that. We understood that the ad agency was the client and never trod on their toes, they got our specialist skills and the clients were just pleased because they were dealing with experts.

“That undoubtedly gave us access to some great brands that we might otherwise have not been able to attract and, from a PR perspective, it gave us a lot to talk about.”

Sticking the boot in

Looking back though Foggett sees the arrival of boot boys Doctor Martens as the point at which things really began kicking off for Code.

“We’d done some work with them before and they came and found us after the end of year one” by which time, he hastily adds, the three’s lock-out covenant with Mainstream had run its course.

“It was the end of year two when we finally got a chance at their website and I’d have to say that that was a breakthrough for us.”

Foggett and his fellow directors decided to go “hell for leather” on the project, determined to use this high profile assignment to help cement the agency’s reputation. It was a strategy that again bore considerable fruit.

“We put an awful lot of love and attention into that website, really demonstrating how well we could get to grips with a brand, and it paid off. We got a lot of great jobs off the back of it and secured a great relationship with DM. It was a real turning point.”

Group love

Although jobs such as the team’s HMV work has since acquired the column inches, it’s the ‘group’ gigs that followed on from Doctor Martens that really helped secure the foundations of the business.

In particular the team’s appointment by the Kimberley Clark Corporation.

“I think the DM job was instrumental in us winning Huggies,” states Foggett with a hint of dewy-eyed nostalgia.

“Obviously it’s a FMCG brand with a completely different positioning and audience, but they appreciated what we’d achieved and how we got under the skin of that one brand.”

Since their first Huggies brief in 2001 Code has gone on to secure a permanent place on the KCC roster, working with the majority of the corporation’s brand portfolio. It’s a coveted position and one the firm has been “very lucky” to emulate by getting both feet in the door of
Rank Hovis McDougall; a role Foggett particularly relishes as “we’re not just delivering for the group, we’re educating them too.

“To be honest,” he notes, “the FMCG sector is quite a long way behind in terms of understanding where digital fits in. So with RHM it’s a fantastic job with a real responsibility; a responsibility to show the way forward for the whole organisation.”

‘We love sticking it up…’

When Foggett refers to being “very lucky” it’s probably down to the fact that Code has seemingly manoeuvred itself into pole position on the digital grid without ever putting the sales pedal to the metal. Indeed, as he freely admits: “Shockingly I think there’s not one job we’ve delivered where we’ve actually thought ‘right, we really want to work with those guys, let’s make it happen.’ It’s all been through word of mouth and people coming to us with opportunities.

“That said, although we haven’t actively gone out and got those clients we’ve made sure that when they’ve come calling we’ve done all we can to get them.

“I think that’s another key point with us - when I think of clients like DM, HMV and Huggies - when the real seminal moments have arrived we’ve seen them coming and reacted.”

If the phrasing of this is unfortunate, then so is his explanation of the pleasure that stealing such A-listers from the London firms gives him. “We love sticking it up the south,” he grins with obvious pride. “We’re Manchester people and we love it here. I think that fact makes us more determined - gives us an extra yard in preparing for pitches – and that usually pays dividends.”

Any barges for sale?

Foggett

Going forward the only problem Foggett sees for the agency is space. Or more precisely the lack of it in their new custom built offices.

“Last year when we moved we had 37 members of staff. We’re up to 48 now and the new office only holds 55 people max. After that we’ll have to start sticking them on barges on the canal outside.”

But maybe this won’t be their problem. After all, we’ve heard rumours in the past that the traditional agency groups, the very ones that Foggett criticised for their lack of digital prowess, may have been sniffing around Code with acquisition in their eyes.

Is this true?

“Well yes,” is Foggett’s forthright admission. “But it’s obvious that when you become one of, or the, main digital agency within the region then people are going to come knocking. And we’ve had that.

“For the time being though we realise what we’ve got, the direction it’s going in and the reputation we’ve established. We know what that’s worth and it’s important to keep hold of that.”

Suggesting that these guys aren’t quite finished yet. In fact you could say they’re here to last.

www.computerlove.co.uk

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