Welcome to the inaugural How-Do Media 100– a fascinating collection of the North West media folk who wield a combination of influence, power and employment, primarily in the region but also in many cases, well beyond the ‘boundaries’ of the region.
There are reported to be approximately 130,000 people working in the broader media industries of the North West: TV, radio, the press and publishing, film and production, new media, PR and advertising. Collectively this grouping represents one of the largest concentrations of media activity in Europe.
How-Do itself was launched because the publisher and a group of investors believe that the sheer scale and size of the media market in the North West is largely under reported by the national media which naturally enough focus on the huge London market which sprawls immediately around them.
The publication last July of the Guardian’s seventh annual ranking of its 100 most powerful media folk included just three from the region: Paul Abbott, James Purnell and Russell T Davies. Although totally plausible and rational from the Guardian’s perspective, the list also reflected the paper’s (almost) irresistible and overwhelming Metropolitan focus. We at How-Do were struck by just how little resonance the feature had ‘up here’ with the media community.
So we decided to publish our own list. Such lists are by definition subjective and credibility is paramount. So we brought together eight leading and independent communications industry people from across the region to help shape our list and simultaneously invited nominations from our 20,000 plus readers. Over 350 nominations were submitted to How-Do.
The compilation of such a list is obviously neither a science nor an art. Our various criteria included seniority, influence, number of staff employed and impact on the region. We also had fun asking a basic question of our candidates – “how quickly would you phone this person back should he/she leave a message to call?” Such a basic trick proved more revealing than we probably envisaged at the outset!
No doubt we have made a number of howlers and missed out numerous and obvious people (where would Tony Wilson have appeared if he were still alive?) but overall we believe the list accurately reflects the region’s media scene and in publishing it, we are drawing attention to the heroes, acknowledged or largely unsung, who help make the North West a thriving national and international centre of media excellence.
Before going into detail about the list and the judges, our judges felt there were a few interesting observations that needed highlighting.
The list is 99% white. This surprised our panel and we have no explanation for it. The percentage clearly doesn’t reflect the overall mix of media folk in the region or indeed the broader community at large. But it is how it is.
The list also demonstrated that despite the growing number of regionally-based companies, much of the wealth and investment in the region is controlled from beyond the North West. Having said that though, it is interesting that the majority of the top 20 are either self-employed or work for companies which are essentially run from the region.
Manchester and Liverpool, as is to be expected, form the bulk of the entries but our list has not been artificially contrived and there are a number of entrants from elsewhere across the region.
The final point of interest was, setting aside the somewhat thorny commercial status of the BBC, was the almost complete absence of the public sector in the list. Given that the public sector typically accounts for between 35 to 40% of the economy – over 50% in the case of Liverpool’s economy – the judges felt that this was an entirely positive state of being.
In terms of the Media 100 structure, we have ranked the list from 1 to 20 and thereafter have placed our media folk in four descending bands of twenty. Those in each band are not ranked and there is no specific order in their positioning within the four bands.
So here you have it. A celebration of our region’s media talent.
No doubt next year will see many new faces while saying goodbye to some of those on the following pages this year.
A PDF of the How-Do Media 100 will be published in approximately a fortnight.
How-Do would like to acknowledge the enthusiastic support of the two co-sponsors of this initiative: EYE Corp and Turner Parkinson.
In Europe, EYE Corp currently manages five airport advertising concessions.
These include the Manchester Airports Group (MAG - including Manchester Airport, Nottingham East Midlands Airport and Humberside Airport), as well as Belfast International Airport and Cardiff International Airport.
An international out-of-home media-owner, Eye is significantly investing and redeveloping the UK media offering in these airports to deliver the most effective and attractive communication platforms for advertisers.
Key features of Eye's redevelopment include: Signature networks, family of standard lightbox sizes, quality landmark sites, premium external locations and pioneering digital media opportunities.
Eye provides access to 35m brand-conscious flyers who are predominantly UK residents. Eye means Business.
turner parkinson LLP is a leading law firm with a reputation for friendly, innovative and partner led advice.
The firm has a dedicated creative industries team, advising a wide range of innovators, artists, software houses, publishers and marketing agencies throughout the North West and beyond.
In 2005, the firm was voted as ‘One of the region’s coolest solicitors' by City Life magazine, primarily because of its creative industries work.
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The North West’s media folk who wield the greatest combination of influence, power and employment, primarily in the region but also, in many cases, well beyond.
