“Great work isn’t just reserved for postcodes within the M25 region,” urges Rachel Roberts, managing director at independent creative agency ZEAL.
But it isn’t just a statement. For Roberts, it’s a mission that cuts to the heart of a continuing, deeper issue the industry can’t ignore: a lack of meaningful investment in creative agencies outside London.
As part of Prolific North’s Creative Powerhouse series, Roberts shares how world-class creative work can thrive beyond the M25 through the lens of ZEAL’s growth story and her own experience as employee number one.
READ MORE: Unveiling Prolific North’s deep dive series into the North’s creative industries
Founded by “two very proud Northerners”, Stewart Hilton and Robert White, around a kitchen table in Manchester back in 2014, the agency has since expanded with an additional London office. Today, ZEAL has around 120 staffers working with major clients like Nestle, Arla, and Carlsberg.
“We were born right here in Manchester with an absolute belief that we can create exceptional work,” Roberts tells Prolific North.
Despite ZEAL’s growth of ‘30% year-on-year’ for the past five years plus its longstanding relationships with major global clients, Roberts says a “perception” problem still lingers that paints Northern agencies as cheaper.
“If you are based ‘regionally’, procurement teams will expect regional rate cards,” Roberts reveals. “It is getting less and less common but I’d like it to go away. We’re not a regional agency. We’re just an agency.”
Roberts is particularly weary of the label ‘regional agency’: “I’ve never seen us as a regional agency. We are a creative agency that just so happens to have been born in Manchester and are thankful every day for it.”
Although some of the bigger network agencies often live in an “ecosystem bubble”, she’s optimistic about the growing recognition of Northern talent.
“The more that recognisable industry heavyweights build campuses, and at least have a recognition of the talent that exists up here, the better. Hybrid working and the borderless way in which we can now communicate is definitely contributing to some change.”
A “wake-up call”
A recent report from UK advertising think tank Credos unearthed a major industry shift – 60% of advertising and marketing jobs are now based outside of London. Yet 70% of the industry’s economic output still remains concentrated in the capital and South East.
Roberts describes the findings as a “wake-up call.”
“When I read the report, I was pleasantly surprised to see the 60% stat. Not so pleasantly happy to hear about the 70% stat. But that’s not a statistic. That is a seismic shift from when I joined the industry.
“It is a proper wake-up call that the creative economy is not just London-centric. It drives real value up here, and that culturally, economically, creatively, we need more than just lip service paid to what we do.”
READ MORE: The UK’s advertising and marketing industry isn’t London-centric anymore – it’s ‘booming’ up North
On what she would say to those procurement teams, government bodies and holding groups: forget the lip service and invest more “meaningfully” in regional talent.
“We need to dedicate more funding up here. We need better access to national briefs. We need better access to the same level of opportunity. Let’s make it equal.”
“We’ve always had borderless ambitions”
For the past decade, ZEAL has worked hard to challenge the narrative that being based in Manchester or the North is a “constraint”.
The agency spotted a “real opportunity” to deliver work that ”punches above its weight” to compete with its London counterparts by producing award-winning campaigns for the likes of TENA Men with ‘Dry Manuary’ to bust taboos around men’s health.
“We’ve always had borderless ambitions,” she explains. “Our global clients have always believed in what we’re all about.”
But breaking into national conversations, budgets, and boardrooms still takes extra effort if you’re headquartered outside London. And it’s all about “visibility”.
“Unless you’re visible within the industry conversation, you will make yourself invisible within the client conversation.”
But it doesn’t stop at funding, the industry still needs to invest in attracting and retaining top talent too.
READ MORE: Hollyoaks producer Lime Pictures unveils high-end new studio facility for Liverpool
“I was brought into this industry as a 21-year-old as I worked with my current founders for a really long time at a previous agency. But in that time, I feel like the industry has changed a lot.”
10 years ago, there was an entirely different “perception” battle as it became difficult to retain talent in the North.
“We’d see them shipped off down to London when they hit the ripe old age of 25, as they felt like they had to, to further their career or achieve leadership positions or creative positions.
“I am pleasantly relieved that we’re seeing much less of that now. We’re able to support leadership opportunities, growth and creative opportunities on brands so that they don’t feel they have to sit within a London postcode.
But that shift needs to continue or the industry risks becoming underresourced outside of the capital.
“If we allow ourselves to feel isolated or regionalised, we run the risk of becoming isolated and regionalised. What that means is we don’t get access to big enough budgets, big enough opportunities, and that means we can’t then attract and retain the best talent.
“If we don’t attract and retain the best talent, we won’t create the best work. It’s really important that we have the opportunity to showcase and be very loud and proud about what is created outside of the echo chamber of London at times.”
While progress has been made, certainly in the past decade, systemic change is still needed to reshape the pipeline and encourage more underrepresented people into the industry.
“In the North West, there’s still a real misperception about creating successful careers in the creative industry. As a business, we really want to try and look at ways in which we can invest in getting to the grassroots level. But perhaps there is better work that we can do at government and policy level to try and drive that as well.”
A new chapter – and a call to action
As ZEAL moves into its second decade, Roberts teases a fresh proposition for the agency that focuses on building “energy for brands”.
“We’ve evolved into what was a traditional shopper marketing agency, and we’ve evolved again into a full service creative business,” she explains.
“ZEAL – it’s in our name. Energy, passion, enthusiasm. We love what we do. We think it makes a difference. It’s what has always set us apart.”
And for Roberts, the time for regional compromise is over.
“We need to move away from the perceptions that the capital is where it’s at.
“We shouldn’t feel lucky to be part of this industry. We are leading the conversations, and will continue to do so. We have a really powerful voice, a differentiated voice, a voice that is rooted in reality and truth,” she urges.
“There is lots coming from us, lots of change! Watch this space. We’re very proud of being born in Manchester and this will always very much be our home.”
