Issue 30

December 2007

Welcome to the review of 2007 - a year of substantial achievement and growth for creativebrief!

Wherever you look in the business, growth has been the key aspect of our achievements - growth in number and value of client briefs, of agency subscribers, of services offered, of the range of marketing disciplines covered, of industry recognition from our press and from the general business community.

Now we enter 2008 with a creativebrief team organised for the key challenges of the year ahead.

So, what have we done this year?

Highlights of 2007

Client brief average value up from £1.5m in 2006 to £2.5m in 2007
The number of briefs we have managed alone reached over 140 with a total value exceeding £300m

Increase in briefs year on year:

Renewals have continued to grow, doubling their average monthly rates as a direct effect from the increased number and range of client briefs during the year
The launch of our version 3 website just a few days ago, incorporating the latest in functionality and design with the added benefits of what you've asked us for to make the service even more useful and valuable
We are an award winning business. We were finalists of two key innovation awards for business during the year - The Evening Standard and O2 Inspirational Business Award and the FSB Small Business Champions Award. As the only marketing services company to win both these awards, we believe this shows just how far the company has come in the last 12 months

All this achievement takes us into 2008 with a range of opportunity to develop our work with our clients, agencies and affiliates. We have proven our business works and works well, dramatically increasing our range and depth of service - now we will grow faster with our new website and develop greater services to meet the needs of an increasingly complex marketing services environment.

And to what do we owe this increasing success? ...to you, our agency and client members, who use our unique service more and more.

I wish to thank-you all and wish you a very Happy Christmas and New Year!

Paul Duncanson
Managing Director

Digital briefs increase

In keeping with the current trend, creativebrief has received significantly more digital briefs over 2007 compared with previous years. As well as independent digital briefs, there is a noticeable movement to include digital elements within both integrated and advertising campaigns. This surge is indicative of the ever-growing recognition that digital is a medium of significant consequence for the future of marketing. Sportingbet and Coca-Cola have been particularly exciting clients to work with in this respect, due to their ambitious visions for the future of their work through the digital medium and the pan-European scale of this delivery.

Following on from this, creativebrief ispresently managing a digital brief for a major alcoholic drinks brand. We are collaborating with the client to find an agency that can effectively translate their above-the-line advertising campaigns into the digital channel and work in tandem to formulate a digital strategy for 2008. A decision is pending and will be announced in the New Year.

£30 million in international briefs

2007 has seen a marked increase in international briefs with reviews from the likes of Coca-Cola, Scottish & Newcastle and Travelodge. We have covered everything from Advertising, Design, Direct Marketing and Digital through to PR across not only the major European markets (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey) but also Asia, Australasia and the US.

The year started off with a corporate identity and a £5m advertising brief from Oberoi Hotels covering Asia Pacific, swiftly followed by a £2m through-the-line review for Strongbow Gold and finishing the year with a Europe wide review of Coca-Cola's entire design agency roster.

Clients are increasingly recognising our wealth of knowledge outside of the UK as well as the scope, coverage and interactivity of the creativebrief online information resource. With more non-UK agencies signing up to creativebrief and the launch of the third generation website, with it's improved search, functionality and briefing capability, we anticipate a further increase in the number of international reviews over the coming year.

Upturn in media briefs

creativebrief's bid to widen it's offering across a range of marketing disciplines has really paid off this year. As the proliferation of media continues, it has become a particular focus for our expansion efforts. Media briefs from AXA and Friends Provident through to Isklar's water launch into the UK market is just some of the high profile work we have handled over 2007. Recent work and client requests are evidence of the credible offering we are now able to provide in this field and we will be looking to steadily expand our media efforts over the coming year.

New client activity

Newly equipped with our advanced technology, in combination with our client intelligence and extensive experience, creativebrief now stands in a strong position to engage with the wider client market. Over the next year, we plan to implement a comprehensive marketing campaign to reflect the success and high profile that's been achieved over the past 12 months.

Initiatives for the coming year include leadership engagement, which has traditionally formed a strong component within our marketing campaigns. Targeted monthly email campaigns will also be introduced to further encourage both site visits and trials. On top of this, we will continue to develop existing and new relationships with trade associations and marketing societies, several of these involving technology solutions that will rapidly expand the current client database. We estimate that cumulatively, our initiatives will engage approximately 25,000 clients in the early stages of 2008.