Webinar: Moore Kingston Smith Annual Survey 2020 – Lessons from the leaders

On Thursday 26 November 2020, our annual survey took place. The webinar kicked off with the results of the annual survey, presented by Ian Graham, highlighting:

• 2019 is projected to show the smallest growth in revenue across the sector since the 2008 financial crisis with average operating profit margins also falling across every marketing services discipline
• The impact of Coronavirus is expected to be a 12% fall in average revenue across the whole sector, the biggest ever decline
• Operating profit margins for 2020 are also forecast to fall to historic lows but immediate action on salaries, reduced hours and effective use of the furlough scheme has mitigated this
• Ensuring your business has a clear strategy married with a compelling value proposition will be critical for agencies moving into 2021

Esther Carder then went on to interview our three leading industry guest speakers:

• Mark Read – CEO of WPP
• Nan Williams – Group Chief Executive of Four Communications
• Robert Senior – Redrice Founding Partner and former Global CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi

Our guests individually discussed their views on our annual survey results for the year, how their business has coped during the pandemic and how they see the next year playing out for the media industry.

Key take out lessons from the leaders included:

Mark Read

• Maximise this time to get closer to clients – the opportunity exists to increase client satisfaction and loyalty
• Best way to counter price pressure is quality of work and narrative, not competing on price
• Culture within your business – prioritise your talent to become a business that people genuinely want to work for

Nan Williams

• Communication is critical – be transparent with your employees, with the good and the bad news
• Find opportunities – this could be a new product/service or a new acquisition
• Mind the burnout – ensure employees (and you) are getting the balance right between work life and home life

Robert Senior

• Now more than ever consumers and clients are attracted to a quality proposition, so have a crisp narrative for what you do
• Control the controllables – proactively prioritise how you spend your time
• Talent, talent and talent – attracting, engaging and retaining the right talent is critical

On this occasion a recording of this webinar is not available – however, please do get in contact with your normal Moore Kingston Smith contact or contact our media team for any questions you may have or to discuss the findings of our annual survey.