Re: UKNM: Arse = head

[Sean Clark]

Ah, this is getting interesting! I've wanted to talk about London vs. out 

of London for a while...


When I first started in this business in 1994 with my own (very) small 

company "DRCI" (not many clients, the most notable was The Shamen) I had 

a number of offers to move down to London and work for more "happening" 

agencies. After thinking long and hard about it I decided to stay where I 

was and instead "merge" with a Nottingham company to form Headland 

Multimedia. In retrospect this was one of the best moves of my career.


Whilst the London new media scene may be more "exciting" and at times 

awash with serious amounts of cash, it's generally more prone to the boom 

or bust mentality. When you're out of town you can often take a clearer 

and more long-term view. Forget the doom and gloom, from our perspective 

(hopefully I speak for most non-Londoners) the market is still expanding, 

profit margins are reasonable, operating costs are controllable and 

clients are getting even more receptive to new ideas. In short, the 

industry is maturing nicely.


Do you Londoners have this sense of optimism? I know some do (I met a few 

last night), but it seems that recent scares have thrown many other 

people into "bust" mode. As for whether you city folk have your heads up 

your arses, I'd have to decline to comment, suffice to say I heard a 

couple of "muffled" voices at the NMA awards (only joking, I had a great 

time and met some great people, well done to the organisers!).


What about non-London agencies and London clients? Well, we have a number 

of TV clients based in London (including British Independent Television 

Enterprises and Carlton), will shortly be launching the 3i site and have 

plucked a couple of other jobs from under the noses of London agencies. 

In fact, in one case the client told us that being out of town helped 

swing the account. He was fed up paying London prices! So, no, being out 

of London doesn't necessarily exclude you from these jobs.


Is this all anti-London bull? I don't think so, but I look forward to 

your comments. No jokes about being a Northerner though, I was born and 

bred on the South Coast...


Sean



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sean clark          |

seancheadland [dot] co [dot] uk

 | tel 0115 9551155

headland multimedia | www.headland.co.uk   | fax 0115 9551156

cuttlefish          | www.cuttlefish.com   | mob 0468 456338


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