Talking Point: All the best consultancies are in London
After nearly 20 years of running my business, the brand delivery consultancy Visual Thinking, from Leicestershire, I recently moved it to Warwickshire.
My consultancy is ‘leading’, meaning that we work or have worked for many of the biggest names in retail in the UK and around the world. So the perception was (from everyone but us) that we should move to London – ‘where all the best consultancies are’?
But the truth is they’re not, and for Visual Thinking, being in London would not be as useful as being in the Midlands. Had we been in London thus far, yes we would have been successful but our work lives (which are pressured enough) would have been made unnecessarily tougher, the costs substantially more, and I imagine that ‘the journey’ to success wouldn’t have been so sublime.
It’s a fact that costs are lower in the Midlands, but cheaper rents and supplier services are not the main reason why we decided to grow from here. We enjoy the local area, and more than anything else have never struggled to find talented and dedicated people to be part of the business. Importantly, many have stayed with us long-term rather than job and salary hop as can be the short-term way of working in London.
The Midlands offers the team a good quality of life in that it’s easier to get to and from work and has good access nationally and internationally due to a great choice of transport links. In our line of work consulting retailers on store presentation and retail training, we can spend as much time in Europe and the US as we do in London. Add to this the fact that we are working with retailers throughout the UK and beyond, then motorways and airports become important tools to maximise our productivity.
I am sure it’s not so black and white, but I have also found that suppliers work that bit harder for you here and they work with you more and don’t have the complacency that we have found in some London agencies. And I have to say that our Midlands suppliers have never rested on their laurels when supporting our business and helping it get to grow to the positive position it’s in now.
Many businesses are discovering that London is no longer the centre of everything. With 24 hour media and total communication available, just about anywhere, high costs and congestion are proving less and less appealing to businesses that service Blue Chip organisations like we do. Basically a London postcode doesn’t have the kudos or pulling power it once did.
Like renowned retail destinations, perhaps this is the start of the next business revolution where creative consultancies like ours leave London in favour of the new regional business centres – ones in which all companies are encouraged to thrive and challenge the complacent ‘authority’ of London based consultancies.
Karl McKeever, brand director, Visual Thinking
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