Feature: Market intelligence: Katharine Roseveare

Katharine Roseveare (pictured), who founded agency Intelligent Marketing with Tricia Weener, talks to Becky Munday of Mando Brand Assurance

BM: Tell me about growing up.

KR: I grew up around the world. My dad was a merchant banker and we lived in Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore. I went to boarding school in England which I think probably installed quite a strong work ethic, which I have also from my parents. I have an older sister who is a mum now and a lawyer, a younger brother who is also a lawyer and both my parents also trained originally as lawyers, so I am kind of the black sheep.

BM: How did you get your first job?

KR: I came out of university with an English degree, and a lot of people said you’re going to be a teacher – absolutely not my cup of tea at all. I can’t really remember when I first thought actually I would love to be in marketing but I knew when I came out of university that’s what I wanted to do. I thought maybe it’s been a disadvantage that I haven’t done a vocational degree where you take a year out in the industry and you actually experience the working world. So I thought I would just volunteer my work for free in any marketing and advertising agencies I knew. One of the very first companies I went to was The Marketing Partnership. After two weeks, they offered me a permanent job. It was literally at the bottom of the bottom, but I had the right kind of attitude and enthusiasm they were looking for. The role was consultant assistant, general help out with reception, help type things up, answer phone calls. The fact that it was a small agency meant that I got an insight into loads of different areas: client work, a little bit of finances, how the business ran. I then just progressed after that really quickly because it was a small company from consultant assistant to consultant, which is sort of an account manager role, and then through to client services partner and that was a successful speed up the ladder. It was at The Marketing Partnership that I met Trish, who I set the business up with.

BM: How did it come about? Glass of wine, chatting about how you could do better?

KR: It was kind of like that. It was conversations about the way the market was going and how clients were really interested in much more results-oriented marketing.

BM: Is that where the name came from?

KR: It was because it’s about thinking through exactly what the issues are, drawing out the best insights and then focusing on how you can measure the results.

BM: What makes Intelligent Marketing different? Is that the four “I”s?

KR: Yes, it is. I have expanded that now to the five “I”s. It is basically our approach. The first of the five “I”s is “involvement”, working in partnership with our clients to deliver the best things for their business. Next is “intelligence”, which is about research and drawing out the insights and issues that clients have. “Ideas” are the basis of every solution. “Implementation”, which is rolling it through – we have creative in-house so we actually manage all the projects. And then there’s measuring the “impact”.

BM: Can you talk to me about your role within Intelligent Marketing? You and Trish seem to have very set roles.

KR: And also we are quite complementary characters. Trish has skills in certain areas that I don’t and I have skills in areas she doesn’t. My job title is agency director. It’s a mixture of operations and client services so I oversee the account teams and account directors, checking where we are and tracking the accounts, and growing existing business. I am also responsible for efficiency, the smooth running of the agency, making sure that the processes run effectively, and obviously HR so recruitment, training, motivating.

BM: So what do you look for when you are recruiting somebody at Intelligent Marketing?

KR: Mostly the right kind of attitude, passion and a good cultural fit because a lot of what we have built our business on is having brilliant people who have been really passionate about doing the best job.

BM: So how do you motivate?

KR: It depends on lots of things. The creative department get really motivated by working on inspiring pitches, and brilliant clients giving them creative freedom. We have quite a clear progression path so there are lots of people within the business who have been promoted all the way up, most recently the account director who started with us as an exec. So that’s a motivator and we have a good culture and working environment. We have a birthday party every June for the business. We are quite interactive and involve everybody. It’s not like we just hire a room and stick everybody in it and have a few drinks. We have had treasure hunts through Regents Park and Essex and then and we have away-days every six months, updating people with what’s going on with the business and then fun stuff in the afternoon.

BM: So what were the early days like?

KR: Exciting and frightening probably – but more exciting then frightening, because there was a real sense that we were going places, the opportunities were coming our way and we could make things happen. We actually got off the ground rather quickly. If you worked with us, you knew that it was risky to work with a start-up business but it was also a mass of opportunities and lots of exciting times. Everyone was happy to muck in.

BM: What advice would you give to young marketers out there at the moment that would think about setting up?

KR: I have no regrets so I recommend that everybody does it. I think it’s worth thinking through as much as you can before you do it because once you get off the ground there is no time to think. We did spend a little bit of time putting processes together that probably would never have happened. They shouldn’t be afraid: there are always ups and downs – and don’t be afraid of the downs. If you are always positive, then things come out. And people starting in marketing: don’t be afraid to start at the bottom and don’t be afraid of hard work. Right at the beginning, when I started at The Marketing Partnership, there were times when I thought, I have a first-class degree, why am I doing someone else’s typing, why am I answering the phone? But I just kept with it and decided to take the advantages of that role and learn as much as I could and that led onto the next things.

BM: But that passion and ethos have spread into the agency?

KR: Yes, a real positive attitude, which is something that Trish has quite a lot of as well. We say, don’t sit and wait for things to happen to you, which I think is the tendency with quite a lot of graduates.

BM: Plans for growth for the agency are very impressive. I understand that you currently turn over £2.5 million and that within, the next five years, you forecast to take it up to £20 million.

KR: We have high expectations of ourselves and the business and people within the business, and it’s good to set high targets. We do beat ourselves up a lot if we don’t reach them. Every single year we have grown. For the first three years, it was rapid. The last year is still growing but slower because we are a more established business just going through a slow growth period. We think we could be doing this better – we are really bad at saying well done us, tick that box and say wow.

BM: So how do you plan on getting there?

KR: It will be a mixture of different things. Obviously, new growth, new business, establishing relationships with clients we have already got. HSBC is a growing account with us. We are also looking at how we grow areas such as digital within our business and whether that would involve bringing in a different team. Also, efficiencies, keeping costs tight for profitability.

BM: So, who inspires you?

KR: Trish is actually a very inspiring person because she is so positive and driven. People talk about the likes of Richard Branson and I think, yes, they are inspiring but there is also that mixture of luck and opportunity. It comes back to you making your own luck, your own opportunities, and if you are driven to do things, you can do them.

BM: So what does Garry Lace, your chairman, bring to the mix?

KR: It is bringing in perspective from someone else who has been in an almost identical industry who has run businesses before and seen them grow. He comes into the business, inspiring people – a magic dust kind of thing. He is a fantastic sounding board for ideas and bringing different perspectives into it, thinking big.

BM: What makes you such a good entrepreneur? Business acumen combined with passion – it’s quite an unusual combination.

KR: I think it is to do with those two things and also determination to do really well. I am really rubbish with failure. I couldn’t do anything half-heartedly. I have to do everything to the best of my ability.

BM: Where do you think that comes from? Do you think that was inspired by your parents?

KR: I am sure there’s a genetic thing in there – definitely my parents, my mother especially. She is very rational and logical. I’m not saying I am argumentative but I like to put an argument together. I sometimes think I would probably have made quite a good lawyer because it’s that kind of detail, doing things properly and thoroughly that comes in from her side.