BAND Is Six Months Old!

Author: Rob Quinn, CEO

It’s hard to believe that six months have passed since we launched BAND on April 17, 2023. Starting with a team of nine professionals, we’ve grown to a robust crew of 40. In half a year, we’ve not only quadrupled our staff but also moved into a new office space in Farringdon, integrated the Redfin team, welcomed a new chairman, and launched our BANDwidth content and event series.

Personally speaking, launching BAND was a landmark moment – the culmination of years of groundwork and ambition. Before BAND and its predecessor, Fortus London, I founded and ran a creative agency – Purity – for 13 years. In many ways, BAND sprang from my experience at Purity, where I built up such affection and admiration for the UK’s creative sector.

Launching BAND allowed me to harness that affection and admiration and plough it into a firm whose primary objective is advising, supporting and celebrating British businesses in the creative, media, entertainment, and sports sectors.

Running Purity gave me many insights and sowed the seeds of BAND. Today, it’s a huge honour and privilege to share those with our creative clients.

Even better, I do so working alongside a brilliant team, each of whom brings their own distinct knowledge and experiences. Perhaps uniquely, every member of our leadership team founded or co-founded a business before joining BAND. 

Here are further thoughts on BAND’s six-month anniversary.

The key to success: clarity
One of the key factors contributing to our growth has been our clear focus and proposition. We aimed to fill a niche by providing specialised advisory services to the creative, media, sports and entertainment sectors. This distinct clarity in proposition, purpose and vision has guided us through our first six months and will continue to act as our compass.

Expertise backed by experience
The depth of experience within our leadership team makes BAND unique. As touched upon above, every member has founded or co-founded a business before joining us. This experience allows us to sit across from our clients and offer advice from a place of understanding and firsthand experience. For example, our chairman, Neil Stammers, co-founded Lee Associates, bringing a rounded, invaluable perspective to our business. Andrew Johnson, the head of our sports team, and Bryony Balmforth, our architectural design specialist, also come with years of entrepreneurial experience. Indeed, BAND is full of exceptional, talented people – too many to mention here.

Smooth integration of Redfin
Just two weeks after launching BAND, we had the opportunity to integrate Redfin into our team. This significant addition aligned well with our client base and brand ethos. We managed this integration carefully to ensure it was seamless and respectful of Redfin’s legacy and clients.

Our new home in Farringdon
Five months into our journey, we moved to Farringdon, a known hub for creative industries. Being amidst many of our clients in this locality is invigorating. We designed our Charterhouse Street office to be where team members feel comfortable and productive, reflecting our commitment to creating a great work environment.

The launch of BANDwidth
Last week marked the launch of BANDwidth, our initiative aimed at hosting industry-specific events and generating valuable content. Whether it’s creating video content aimed at our sports clientele or publishing insight reports for our marketing audience, BANDwidth is a dynamic platform. We plan to conduct regular benchmarking surveys within the creative agency space, emphasising the rapid changes occurring in the industry.

Collaboration with The Alliance of Independent Agencies
We are also working closely with The Alliance of Independent Agencies. The Alliance is a significant trade body for creative agencies, boasting around 108 member agencies across various disciplines. We feel our expertise aligns well with their goals to enhance agency performance. To that end, we offer our support in multiple ways. For instance, we contribute to their insights survey and provide agency health checks, facilitating in-depth conversations with agency owners. 

Looking ahead
While we have achieved a lot in half a year, we’re still focused on our primary goal – delivering perfect client service. And, the next six months look exciting. We are poised for further growth but always with an eye on maintaining the quality of our client service and experience. We have several significant announcements in the pipeline that will expand our capabilities and improve how we serve our clients.

Thank you to all our clients, team members and supporters who have been part of this incredible journey so far. The future looks bright, and we can’t wait to share the next chapters with you.