Leeds agency Boutique on plans to “speed up” growth, agency partnerships and consultancy focus

Hybrid working and building the team

With a headcount of 25 staff, the agency will soon be a team of 30. 

He highlighted how the agency has only had three employees leave the business in three years despite the “great resignation” many businesses have encountered, due to Covid-19. 

With five vacancies currently available at the company, and a graduate intake commencing in April, several new roles will be based across the marketing and growth departments as the agency focuses on accelerating its growth.

From the agency’s office in the heart of Leeds, the existing team now work in the office two days a week after adopting a hybrid working policy, which he said works best for the agency.

“Because we have multiple services we need to get teams together for that collaboration piece and for the creativity and strategic thinking around accounts.

“We think that’s what is going to work for us, getting everybody together. It has made a difference that there’s been a real buzz in the office.

“We’ve been able to do things socially and just build back some of that togetherness across the team,” he added.

As with most companies, the impact of remote working though the pandemic has led to teams “drifting apart slightly” especially with different teams working across different projects in media, digital and PR.

“It felt like now is the right time to bring everybody back together again and it has been really important for employee engagement,” he said.

DISCO model and working at a “strategic consultancy level”

The agency has its own marketing model called DISCO, which aims to address the evolution of the marketing world by tracing the customer journey through Data, Insight, Strategy, Channel and Outcomes.

“We take clients through the traditional channels of media, digital and PR. We work with a lot of brands to help them identify where best to invest their marketing spend across those channels,” he said.

The agency works with brands to “enter new territories” such as taking “ecommerce brands into new areas such as television advertising or offline advertising”.

With some of the agency’s clients such as French Bedroom Company and its recent appointment on jewellery brand Astrid and Miyu, he detailed how there is only so much they can do in the “digital space before they hit that glass ceiling”.

The challenge when working with a brand is ensuring there is a consistent level of awareness, which he believes traditional media advertising gives “reach and scale much easier and much quicker, with greater potential than digital”.

“There’s also the positive brand association that you get with offline advertising such as TV as well.” 

Alongside the agency’s DISCO model, he said Boutique is moving towards embracing more of a consultancy-driven offering through collaborating with fellow agencies and clients.

“The area of focus for us is working with more clients at that strategic consultancy level,” he said.

While agencies typically struggle to charge for strategic and consultancy-driven advice, he explained how he is seeing more clients seeking this service just as much as the “actual delivery of work”.

“We are getting more clients talking to us about paying us for the consultancy work.

“They are paying us for this strategic work because they want that agnostic view, they want that second opinion from somebody that’s not their agency,” he said.