Since 2006 Agent have been on a mission to do good things with good people. We caught up with CEO Paul Corcoran to hear about how the team is evolving, the continued success of Agent Academy and how the Hive programme has helped them grow.

Who are Agent?

Agent are a full-service brand and communications agency with studios in Liverpool and Manchester. We work with all kinds of clients – government agencies, charities, private businesses – but the one thing in common is they want to do good. That’s what drives us, and more and more businesses and organisations are driven by those same values. As is Agent Academy, our social enterprise that supports people looking to enter the industry.

As a sector do you think we have a responsibility to support the next generation?

Absolutely. Back in 2014 we saw there was a real need to support new talent coming out of universities and colleges, to bridge that gap between academia and the commercial world. At Agent Academy we want to help young people understand and navigate the landscape and ultimately help them land their first job in the creative and digital sectors.

Our programmes can only be delivered in partnership with other businesses who are committed to seeing other talent coming through and we're really proud that so many of our young people go on to start their careers with people like Uniform, Open Media, and Influential, that really demonstrates the spirit of the community in the city region.

It’s a circular thing, by encouraging and enabling talent to enter the sector it doesn’t just help them do well it helps the sector and the city do well. Collectively we become an attractive place to base your career and to base your business.

You’ve been on the Shift and Hive programmes – how have they helped Agent?

Well we attended Shift at the start of the pandemic and it helped us at such an important time. It gave us the opportunity to be vulnerable and share the challenges in a safe space with other leaders going through the same thing. Often you don't have the time and opportunity to connect with other leaders in the region - to share experiences and to offer advice and be in a place to receive it. Having that time blocked allowed me to make sense of where I was and where the business was.

And Hive has been fantastic for our leadership team. It came just when we were revisiting our strategy and our operational plan and gave us an opportunity to collaborate as a team and to be supported by a critical friend who was separate from Agent. Having someone who can challenge you but in a supportive and understanding way is really invaluable. It’s helped us think about the business in new ways – who we are, how we lead, how we work best. It’s helped us to understand what we all bring to the leadership team, what we need to encourage more of, and what we might need to add in the future to get the right balance.

Culture is such a big part of Agent, was it hard to keep that going when you were working remotely?

I think workplace culture needs to be continually invested in, it's not a static thing. New people, ways of working, new experiences, they change cultures – sometimes for the better, sometimes for worse. So, it was important we continued to invest in our culture, giving people the space to share the opportunity to talk candidly and reach out if they needed additional support. We worked with partners to achieve that and provide teams with a safe space. Ultimately, we’re a business that cares deeply for our people, it wouldn't be Agent without that, it's what drives and shapes what we do and how we do it, and that helps us keep our culture strong.

What does the future look like for Agent?

It’s really exciting! We've been able to recently bring new talents into the team, new perspectives, more diversity, a real plethora of brilliance and with that comes fresh energy and new vision. We managed to keep the team together throughout the pandemic and we’ve actually added new people over the past couple of years – the team now stands 39 strong. We’ve been around for more than 15 years, and we’ve always had a focus on creating the best possible place to work. Because when you create an environment where everyone is welcomed and valued they do their best work and that’s when great things will come for us and for our clients.

We’re already growing across the north west and we’ll be continuing to expand our regional footprint and super-service new and existing clients with a full integrated offer – strategy, creative, digital and campaigns.

Do you think the sector in the city has changed in recent years?

Yeah I think it’s evolved and grown up. It's always been a warm and welcoming community, but over the last 5 or so years I think the value of the industry has been acknowledged and celebrated more in the city. That recognition has seen new businesses form and existing businesses relocate or open new offices – across a whole range of disciplines. We’ve come a long way but there's still work to be done.

We have an amazing community of businesses who share the same values. Our Agent Academy programme can only be delivered in partnership with other businesses who are committed to seeing other talent coming through and we're really proud that so many of our young people go on to start their careers with people like Uniform and Open Media, that demonstrates the spirit of the community here.

Do you think backing from the public sector is important to growth of the industry?

It’s vital, not just financial investment but it's imperative we listen to what businesses need. The challenges and opportunities – you can't invest in meaningful interventions unless you know what's happening on the ground. We have a combined authority and local enterprise partnership that understand the value of listening and using that insight to invest in things that really matter.

There’s a huge opportunity to support and scale-up a huge range of businesses in our sector and to do that we need trusted partners like Gather. We've seen in the past 12 months how important the creative, digital and tech space is, and we need to do all we can to make sure the region comes out of this stronger. Gather has a big part to play in equipping us to do just that.

If you’d like to read more about Agent, visit their website at http://helloagent.co.uk/ or if you’d like to support the next generation of digital and creative talent contact Agent Academy to get involved.