The Club’s buzzing at our 9/9 in Campaign’s School Reports. It’s really great for us, great for our clients, great for new business. Job done huh?

Not really. What about next year? How do we stay up? How does the plucky 5-year old eventually grow into the Man?

So few agencies have really managed to stay consistently great year after year because so few run themselves like proper brands. You have the usual suspects: iconic shops like Mother, droga5, W+K etc, but few really stand for anything distinct. Even if they were once built on solid gold, how many neck their own medicine and make long term investments into the one thing that can help them outperform year after year? 

I liked O2 CEO Ronan Dunne’s comment this week – ‘We’re a brand that runs a business, not a business that runs a brand.’

I’ll take that into 2013, thanks.

We’ve had recent newbiz success by telling clients up front what our Purpose is, what we Believe, and what we Value. Guess what? Every one of them has found it more interesting than charts about billings, structure or the senior team.

Peter Mead once told me ‘When you have the comfort of your convictions, you already know the answer to 90% of life’s questions.’ He’s right.

When we think through the lens of the Work Club brand, everything gets better. The ideas grow bigger. The talent gets stronger. Executions look better. People learn faster. There are more smiles in the Club House.

Working out our Brand Purpose took some painful days and nights last year, but it’s been transformational.

A good school report in 2013 (and far beyond) will depend on only one thing – our courage to push and invest in our brand. This is our promise to ourselves. We will keep it.

@martinbrooks

2012 was a defining year for Work Club. The five-year-old independent shop won Campaign’s Digital Agency of the Year accolade for the first time – fending off older, bigger rivals with the sheer gutsiness of its work and its impressive business growth. 

First, the work. The agency, led creatively by the creative partners, Ben Mooge and Andy Sandoz, made an internet-powered T-shirt for Ballantine’s and a digital bottle top for Strongbow Gold, gave people the chance to enjoy a beauty spa experience at home for The Sanctuary, and analysed the brainwaves of football fans for Sharp. Work Club also created an upgraded version of the McLaren “race dashboard”, which provided a second screen for Formula One fans and shared driver data. Also, for Ballantine’s, Work Club created the platform “loud blue” that lets people enhance their Instagram photos by adding bespoke music. 

Next, new business. The agency pitched for, and won, the Google+ digital account across Europe. It also landed BT Business’ “insights” online offering after a pitch, and Heineken appointed Work Club as its lead digital agency across Europe for its premium cider, Strongbow Gold. Clients such as Coca-Cola also handed the agency additional business. 

And finally, people. Work Club, led by the chief executive, Martin Brooks, took on new recruits including the senior creatives Jim Stump and Lucy-Anne Ronayne, from DDB UK and AKQA respectively. It also hired Christy White, a business director from JWT, and Ben Phillips, a senior strategist from BETC Paris. 

As if all that wasn’t enough, Work Club’s pro-bono activity included the D&AD “call for entries” campaign for the organisation’s 50th anniversary and the Creative Spirit initiative, which helps people with disabilities find work in creative companies. 

So, in all, 2012 was a year to be proud of and, no doubt, the agency will hope to build on this success in 2013. 

click to read Martin’s response