SLG is an integrated marketing agency for the construction, manufacturing and technology sectors.
SLG won the award for B2B Campaign of the Year for its work with Polypipe Building Products on ‘Mission Max’ at this year’s Prolific North Champion Awards and was highly commended as Independent Agency of the Year.
Working at the agency for more than a decade, Jones initially joined the agency as PR account manager and has risen through the ranks through various roles. He was promoted to the role of managing director in March 2022.
Here, he shares how a recent week in his life went…
Monday
My week starts at 00:30 when my two-year-old has a nightmare.
And again at 4:45.
At 06:00 the alarm goes and it’s time to start the day properly. There are quite a few big things on this week that have my focus, so I start with planning out the week and making sure I’m as on top of my admin and small tasks as I can be.
After admin I have a couple of cups of coffee and play with my son for an hour before getting ready to leave. I get some of my social content for the week written on the way to the office so that I’m ahead.
We have the whole agency in the office on a Monday, so it’s our day for getting work for the week planned across our teams. I catch up with our leadership team on key actions and make sure that we’re tracking where we’re supposed to be financially.
Away from this, I have a report and press release to review for the not-for-profit that I’ve established, Deconstruction. I get drafts of these over to the relevant staff in our teams to review.
Tuesday
There’s quite a bit of pacing and repeating things to myself today. I’ve been invited to speak on two panels at UK Construction Week, which is taking place at the NEC.
One of these sessions involves me giving a 10-minute address on a piece of research that we’ve done with YouGov on the public’s attitudes to careers in the sector, which has some stark findings to digest, including the concerning statistic that 69% of UK adults would not consider a career in the construction industry.
I try and give the address practice every hour or so, getting comfortable with the content so I can think on my feet on the day.
Away from this, we have an impromptu management meeting to run through sales for the month and review our numbers for the remainder of the year. We’ve landed several new clients in recent weeks, all of them involving brand strategy, positioning, and creative development, so we want to ensure that we manage resource properly. It all looks good.
I pick my son up from nursery and we play for a couple of hours before his bedtime. Reading with him is my favourite part of the day, and I’m going to be away for the next couple of days, so make sure that he gets my 100% focus.
After this it’s time to pack and spend time with my wife. This involves me sitting silently and trying to understand the appeal of ‘Married at First Sight’.
Wednesday
Wednesday is the first day of UK Construction Week. I’m only due on the main stage at 13:15, but there’s a train strike, owing to some conference going on at Manchester Central, so I drop my son off at nursery at 07:30 and set off. Thankfully the M6 is kind to me.
I arrive for 10:30 and jump straight into a meeting on Deconstruction, looking at plans to gather support from across the construction sector, which we’ll be rolling out in the coming weeks.
From here, it’s time to get on stage. The session goes well, there’s a good crowd, my fellow panellists are all brilliant, and the questions in the Q and A section are great. The adrenaline subsides afterwards, and I can finally eat something, at 15:00.
After this, it’s time to meet a client for a meeting. We’ve been chatting over Teams for months, but this is the first time we’ve met in person. It goes well and there’s lots of exciting plans made for the coming weeks.
I leave the NEC at 4:30pm and head to my hotel a few miles away. After sorting some emails and admin I grab a quick bite to eat and head to Coventry Skydive to ice skate for a couple of hours, something I used to love as a kid and have just got back into (Yes, I am having a mid-life crisis).
Thursday
Thursday starts with a quick FaceTime with my son before he heads off to nursery. I get ready and grab a quick coffee before checking out of my hotel and heading back to the NEC.
This morning I’m on a smaller stage discussing how construction can acquire talent. The subject matter is something I’m hugely passionate about, and the session is great.
I have a quick meeting with a prospect to discuss a project before preparing to do battle with the M6. I take a couple of calls on the way home and need to stop at the services to send a few quick emails and share some files (Norton Canes, M6 Toll, if you’re wondering).
I get home at 5pm and spend a couple of hours with the family before heading out for a last minute dinner with a prospect. This takes place at a Balti house beneath a Travelodge on a retail park next to the M62.
And the naysayers claim B2B marketing isn’t glamourous…
Friday
It’s back in the office again for the whole agency as we unpack the week.
We start with our monthly agency breakfast, which is led by my colleague Josh Heaton, who takes the team through several of the brand strategy and budget-setting models that we’ve been using in recent weeks, while we all tuck in to a variety of breakfast butties.
After this we have a kick-off meeting with a new client. They’ve just completed a huge research piece and have agreed a commercial strategy for the next five years and have asked us to help them devise a suitable brand position to help them deliver this. It’s our third significant client win in recent weeks, and we’re excited.
We end every week with our ‘Inspiration’ session, where each staff shares their highlight of the week and gives a shout out to the member of the team that has helped or impressed them the most. It’s great for ensuring that we all keep up to speed with developments from across the business in an informal way, and a lovely way to end the week.
Then it’s time to head home for a weekend with the family to make up for the time away this week, before doing it all again on Monday.
