Record year for M3 as it looks to push the West Midlands’ creative talent

The West Midlands has the creative and digital talent in place to rival anything the UK has to offer according to the boss of a leading local full service advertising agency.

Nick Lovett, Managing Director of M3, urged firms to have more belief in what they do, explore the possibility of having a presence in the capital and leverage the expertise and imagination available in the region in a bid to attract more national and global brand campaigns.

He was speaking at the firm’s latest Smart Talk event held at Flight Club in Birmingham and just a few weeks after his own company announced a record £4m year and a string of new ‘wins’.

This includes all the creative work for MG Motor UK’s new SUV launch, exciting new campaigns for Marston’s and a package of work to provide branding and strategic marketing for Pattingham Vineyards. 

M3, which has its head-office in Albrighton, has also enjoyed a strong first year for its Birmingham operation, with revenue heading past £500,000, relocation to a larger office in Somerset House now complete and the team extended to six people.

“The West Midlands has a thriving creative and digital scene, packed full of people and agencies that are not only delivering fantastic campaigns that look good and get people talking, but actually deliver results,” explained Nick Lovett.

“We have had our best ever year and this has been through a combination of long-standing accounts we manage and taking on exciting new work, a lot of which has been won in competitive tenders against national and international agencies.”

He continued: “Moving into Birmingham has definitely been a major plus for our business and, led by Sam Hufton, has helped us transform our digital offer and get us more heavily involved in the local creative scene.

“This got us thinking about how we could bring everyone together and harness all the talent we’ve got in the West Midlands, especially with the Commonwealth Games coming to Birmingham in 2022.

“The result of these conversations was the birth of Smart Talk, an event that will create a social hub for the region’s advertising, creative, digital, marketing and tech people to engage with each other and share best practice.”

The latest Smart Talk event was jointly organised with tmwi and sponsored by Gleeson Recruitment, a specialist recruitment agency for finding finance, HR, IT and marketing personnel.

Over 100 people took part in a competitive ‘killer darts’ competition at Flight Club, before listening to keynote speeches from On The Tools’ Andy Taylor about ‘community first’ and Gary Taylor (tmwi), who focused on how to get your audience to take action and the importance of local mobile to your brand.

Delegates were also given an insight into the importance of the Commonwealth Games 2022 and the opportunities that exist to be involved in delivering messaging and brands to a global audience.

Claire Summerfield, Divisional Managing Director at Gleeson Recruitment, added her support: “Like M3, we are passionate about giving the marketing and creative sector in the West Midlands the skills and people it requires to reach its potential.

“Smart Talk is filling an important gap in the Birmingham social calendar, providing specialists from this field with the chance to meet up, discuss ideas and, importantly, learn about the latest trends, new digital innovations and audience engagement. We’re already looking forward to the next one.”

Source: M3

  Digital agency, M3, Nick Lovett, Smart Talk, West Midlands