London creativity at Yorkshire prices doubles agency turnover

The Lift Agency has broken through the £1m turnover barrier with work for clients including Arsenal, Celtic and Everton football clubs, cycling star Mark Cavendish and designer knitwear firm John Smedley.

Antony Robinson, founder and managing director, said the company’s approach has resonated with customers in a tough economic environment. His business is celebrating its 10th birthday this year.

Mr Robinson founded the firm after a successful career working for sports brands including Adidas and Fila. He worked as managing director of a London advertising agency and secured the breakthrough deal with David Beckham to promote Police sunglasses.

The 44-year-old plans to develop the company’s full service offering, broaden its range of clients and “do something special in Harrogate”.

Two years ago, The Lift Agency won its first major non-sports work to promote Matlock-based John Smedley. Mr Robinson said: “They didn’t feel they were getting value for money from their London agency. We had an opportunity to show what we could do and delivered a great campaign. It’s changed the game for us.”

The agency now employs 12 people. Mr Robinson’s hardest challenge is to recruit good quality staff. He said: “If you are good in my world you go to Manchester or London. We have some real talent in the agency that want to do more stuff that’s not just sport.”

The business made more progress in this direction after winning work with Harrogate-based NEOM Luxury Organics, which he said was disappointed with its London agency.

Mr Robinson’s industry contacts played a key role in securing a deal to develop a brand for the champion cyclist Mark Cavendish, the so-called fastest man on two wheels.

He said: “Mark is a very bright and talented bloke and he knows what he wants. He is a very hard taskmaster.”

Cavendish’s representatives wanted a brand logo that would stand the test of time and could be used across his various sponsors, including Nike, Oakley and Specialized. The end product features a green arrow cutting through the cyclist’s name with the vowels missing, CVNDSH, to signify his speed.

Looking ahead to next year’s Tour de France, which departs from Yorkshire, Mr Robinson said: “It does not get any more exciting for a Harrogate resident to know the Tour is coming next year and potentially the winner could be someone wearing our logo.

“It’s a massive opportunity for Harrogate, a massive opportunity for Yorkshire and I really hope we do it justice.”

Stage one of the world’s biggest annual sporting event starts in Leeds and finishes in Harrogate. Stage two runs from York to Sheffield.

Mr Robinson, who went to Harrogate Grammar School and studied economics at Salford university, started his working life at the stockbroker Wise Speke.

He later joined Yorkshire Bank’s communications team, which exposed him to the world of advertising via the lender’s London agency.

A chance meeting with an Adidas executive on a golf course led to a job in the sports giant’s marketing department, where he spent three years before being headhunted to join the Billington Jackson advertising agency as account director.

The London agency’s accounts included Fila and Police, the eyewear firm. Mr Robinson met a representative of David Beckham’s on a train to Leeds and floated the idea of working with the footballer to promote the sunglasses.

The star’s agents came back and said he was a fan of the brand and keen to get involved so the partnership was born. In 2000, the year of the launch, Police reported a threefold increase in sales. The deal also helped cement Mr Beckham’s fashion credentials.

Mr Robinson’s experience in adland taught him that agencies do not need to be big players to create great work. And while social media and the digital revolution might be disrupting traditional forms of media, the art of storytelling remains the same.

“At the end of the day, you are still talking to people,” he said. “It’s no different to sitting around a campfire. You can tell a good story or a bad story.”

Twitter: @bernardginns