The Midlands boast a healthy creative industry, but it's failing to carry out it own PR campaign, says Keith Price.
For the last 15 years, the marketing industry's big annual jamboree has been a four-day network event on a cruise ship that departs from the south coast.
At the 2007 Marketing Forum, delegates Marketing Birmingham organised a party on board for all the companies and agencies based in the Midlands.
As the organisation tasked with promoting the UK's second biggest city, Marketing Birmingham thought it worth highlighting the turn-out from the region and celebrating the fact that the sector is alive and well in the heartland of the UK.
"When I first came on this event two in 2005, there were two of us from the Midlands," says Dave Hodgson, marketing director for the body. "In 2006 there were eight of us."
This year there are at least 20 marketing individuals, all representing Midlands-based businesses.
Birmingham's proximity to the capital, when you consider the likes of Manchester and Leeds, means competition in the marketing and PR sector is tough. Many businesses choose to use agencies based in London, with the 90- minute train journey considered acceptable and the talent in the capital perceived to be superior.
Over the last ten years, the Midlands has seen the profile of its marketing scene dwindle, leaving many to question its strength in today's market. The emergence of Leeds and Manchester as creative hubs has also played a part in the region's apparent relative decline as a centre of marketing excellence.
In Manchester and Leeds there is an abundance of agencies that proactively keep the media, their rivals and their potential clients updated on what they're up to and what they have to offer. But does the Midlands have the same critical mass as its friends in the north?
"You'll find that an agency in Manchester will have "Manchester' featured prominently on its website," says Hodgson, "while I'm not sure that's the case in Birmingham.
"We need agencies to be proud of the city and to shout about it. The agencies are there and I genuinely believe the talent is there too, but the scene itself has a limited profile."
Julia Willoughby, managing director of Birmingham and Nottingham-based Willoughby PR, doesn't believe that the region is too light in terms of agencies.
"I actually believe that the Midlands has got a sizable critical mass of marketing and PR consultancies. There are probably fewer large agencies, but the Midlands is well served by a number of long-standing agencies as well as many new creative companies."
Headline Communications' partner Dawn Roberts agrees: "I really don't believe Manchester and Leeds have any more critical mass than Birmingham. We act for a number of national firms who employ regional consultants and they have been scratching around for agencies in Manchester and Leeds.
"Our industry is pretty fragmented and I don't see that changing much. One of the reasons is the conflict of interest issue with clients. We come across it all the time in our business and it puts a ceiling on our growth."
Allying to the fact that there is a bustling scene in the region, Jacqui Lennon - managing director of advertising agency WAA - completes the set: "I think the Midlands does have the critical mass. It's a case of perception versus reality. In fact, the Midlands probably has more large agencies than Manchester. Manchester has a handful of big players, but its mass and reputation comes from the plethora of boutique shops based there."
So why then does this perception that the Midlands does not have this critical mass exist?
Bron Eames, managing director at Haslimann Taylor, says: "If we want the perceptions to be that we are on a par with Manchester, then the Midlands needs to have unified communications strategy. We are maybe less effective at selling our wares and do not brag about our achievements perhaps as much as we should. We just get on with it. The reality, though, is that the region is producing great work."
Elizabeth Lewis-Jones, director of Liquid PR, feels that there are two primary reasons why the scene has fallen away in terms of stature while the likes of the North West and Yorkshire appear to be burgeoning.
"Firstly, there's noise: we're so busy doing the work we're not shouting about it," she says. "Secondly, PR consultancies are spread across the Midlands and not just located within one creative area."
Armadillo director Mark Triggs believes that agencies are so preoccupied with the job at hand that self-promotion is often forgotten about.
"PR professionals can occasionally be a bit rubbish at their own PR. For a business that is concerned with reputation it must be one of the most misunderstood outside its own members. We need to raise our profile in the industry by shouting about our achievements. It's about time we made some noise."
The lack of voice emanating from the region has not always been the case. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, the Midlands was at the forefront of the communications industry. But what has changed?
Big names have fallen, granted, while others have merged with competitors and start-ups have been launched, but what are the other notable differences with the scene that exists today?
"Over the past ten or 15 years we've seen some great new PR consultancies emerging in the region," says Triggs. "Many of the most notable start-ups have been graduates of some of the more established names, such as Key Communications, (now IAS Smarts) or Haslimann Taylor, which I think demonstrates how the sector has built a foundation in the region upon which ambitious new talent can flourish."
Ashley Kirkpatrick, commercial director for Perspektiv, says: "Agencies have been set up and many have fallen away. Others have been formed as breakaways from larger agencies. There are a developing number of agencies that have stood the test of time. There has been some migration of those who have worked in larger agencies relocating to the Midlands, which is helping to develop the region's ability to offer clients the quality of a London agency, but at more regional rates."
However, Lennon believes that some of the younger agencies back in the early 1990s have fulfilled their promise and become leaders within the advertising, design and PR field.
She adds: "The big change over the last ten-15 years is the growth the region has seen and its elevation onto the national stage. For example, 15 years ago there were a load of young Turks who grew up to become major players, WAA included.
"What's interesting is I can't see who the next generation of big agencies are in the Midlands. Those that left the bigger agencies to set up their own shops haven't developed into serious forces and we're not feeling the pressure I think we should be from any start-ups. Where are they?"
And there lies the problem. In Manchester and Leeds, there has been a healthy supply of breakaway agencies being formed and many of them are now working on significant projects.
In the Midlands, in contrast, there appears to be a shortage of people willing to take the plunge.
Lennon says: "I don't think that there's a strong second tier of agencies snapping at the heels of WAA and our peers. It seems like there's a general lack of ambition in the region. I want to see more ambition, more competition. It's good for business."
However, even without the emergence of the Next Big Thing, the scene can boast of handling a plethora of desirable accounts. Significant projects and, in some cases, the entire marketing or PR accounts, are being serviced by Midlands agencies. Habitat, Goodyear, Halfords, Mitchells & Butlers, Arriva Buses, House of Fraser, Vision Express, the National Trust, WKD, Belling and Stoves and T J Hughes are all among the firms placing sizable chunks of marketing work in the trusty hands of Midlands suppliers.
If agencies in the Midlands want more clients to use their services, whimpers over the London-bias of marketing decision-makers need to become a thing of the past.
Instead, there needs to be a proactive plan in place to shout louder and be proud of their location. By talking themselves up, the marketing and PR scene in the Midlands will develop an identity - something that has eluded it for a long time - and the heads will inevitably start to turn.