Partner Article

Trio of strategists join forces to launch Agent

Today sees the official launch of Agent, the human-centred insight, innovation and brand agency based in Manchester. The agency has created an intuitive business model that challenges traditional marketing methods with regards to audience engagement. Addressing the relevance of traditional demographics, Agent works with consumers on an individual level to gain a deeper and more targeted understanding of their lives, preferences and habits, providing real-life foresight for business.

Agent believes it occupies a clear space in a market it refers to as ‘the part that research companies, innovation agencies, advertising agencies and management consultancies fail to reach.’ The agency’s innovative methodology has sparked the interest of a number of high-profile brands and clients at launch include; PepsiCo, Heinz, Bauer, Aegean Airlines, SyCo, The Woodland Trust, HiPP, British Council and Freemantle Media.

The agency was founded by brand strategist Alfie Sim; real-life marketing and insight specialist and founder of acclaimed MumPanel, Lynne Barcoe; and writer and innovation expert Paul Coleman - who recently won critical acclaim for the creation of the immensely popular series ‘Car Share’, starring comedian Peter Kay, which aired on BBC1 this month.

Commenting on the launch of Agent Paul Coleman said; “Society is a moving machine. People just don’t fit into neat profile boxes any more. Rather than behaving as they ‘should’, today’s consumers are far more varied in their choices and have their own unique journeys in making them. This social shift is not something many brands can easily get to grips with when using the demographic-centred models and focus groups they’ve relied on over the past decades.

“To provide real insight and foresight, you need to roll up your sleeves and immerse yourself in people’s worlds to uncover their real needs and wants. That’s why at Agent we work from the inside, out, rather than the outside, in. Instead of reporting back on the latest trends, we’re there as those trends are actually being created, seeing the whole picture as to how and why they’ve developed in the ways they have.”

Their vision to create a unique way of working with consumers to deliver tangible, real life results was made real by the development of specialist panels of consumer ‘Agents’ grown organically both online and within the real world. The team also works with carefully selected ‘Associates’; similarly minded strategists, experts and key influencers to research, co-create, test and deliver solutions based on the valuable foresight they gather from this human-centred approach.

The trio has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands - including Heinz, Nike, PlayStation, Christian Aid, BBC, PepsiCo, British Council, Molson Coors and Mondelez.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Catherine Dickinson .