Equator boss harnessing creative sector's digital potential

John McLeish, founder and MD of Glasgow-based creative agency Equator. Contributed

The Glasgow business has grown from what he describes as “humble beginnings” as a two-man band, founded with creative director James Jefferson and armed only with a blue iMac. The firm set out to be a specialist digital agency and today it has offices in London and New York, about 175 staff and turnover tracking to about £15 million this year.

In the last year it has bolstered its client roster with the likes of global property developer Emaar Properties, pensions firm Royal London and Mauritius Commercial Bank.

McLeish says that covering a range of business types, also encompassing areas such as utilities, retail and food and drink, with clients including Baxters, Lookers and SSE, has helped the company’s growth.

“If any one particular sector is experiencing a downturn, another probably isn’t.”

He lists travel and leisure as “a bit of a stalwart for us since the beginning” as this was one of the earliest sectors where consumers made online purchases, and it works with Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, for example.

“Other sectors have started to wake up to the digital revolution,” he continues, citing finance where firms need to communicate far more innovatively with their vast client bases. Equator’s customers in this space include Lloyds Bank and Clydesdale Bank.

“Digital’s becoming a much stronger piece, so our intention is to continue to focus on those key sectors and start to develop new sectors,” McLeish states.

Equator has been working with Village Hotels for more than ten years and through different ownership, with the agency helping the hotel brand’s recent rollout of virtual assistant Amazon Alexa in all of its 28 properties across the UK in what was said to be a first for the industry.

The Village hotel in Glasgow was one of two to pilot the Amazon Echo Dot in its guest rooms and, according to McLeish, the brand is very keen to drive innovation. “They’re pushing some interesting tech into that sector,” he says.

Equator has also been working in the hotel sector in Switzerland and on sizeable contracts in Dubai.

“We are becoming truly international and our plan is once we’ve got enough traction in these territories then we will put a base on the ground,” he says.

“The businesses that we’re working with in Dubai are significant enough to merit looking at a base out there.”

It comes as the firm looks to grow staff to about 250 and turnover to £20m-plus in the next three years. “Over the last four or five years we’ve grown dramatically from a headcount perspective – we would probably be 200-plus if we could find the people. Our headcount growth is our biggest challenge.”

McLeish says such a struggle to find suitable staff led to Equator opening up premises in London and further afield, against a backdrop of continued uncertainty.

“Everything that’s going on from a political and economic background is doing nothing other than putting uncertainty in the minds of our clients and also obviously the people that work for us. It’s a bit of an unknown chapter we’re about to move into… I don’t think we’re out of the woods.”

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Yet he remains bullish about the prospects for the firm, which at the start of last year bought a controlling stake in rival 999 Design Group, which was set up in 1982. McLeish said at the time that the move was part of a “major growth strategy”.

Now, he says it was “a really interesting acquisition for us… we wanted to strengthen up our brand credentials” with the deal bringing a heritage Equator lacked.

“Our intention is very much to look at further growth through acquisition,” he adds. “I’m currently looking elsewhere in the UK and at a

business on the continent.”

McLeish believes in the “work hard, play hard” mentality as well as the social responsibility of Equator, last year hitting the Glasgow pavements to sell the Big Issue as part of Vendor Week.

But the last 18 years have gone “in the blink of an eye”. He adds: “Everybody’s life is [now] centralised around some kind of technology or some kind of digital device. This single view of the customer with multiple touchpoints is really exciting and I think the next five, ten years are going to be far greater than the 15 before. The revolution is well under way.”

30-SECOND CV

Born: 1970, Helensburgh

First job: Flip clothing shop in Glasgow

Ambition while at school: To create a digital agency

What car do you drive? Porsche

Favourite mode of transport: Car

Music: I like it!

Kindle or book? Kindle

Reading material: Business books

Can’t live without: Food

What makes you angry? Poor service

What inspires you? A positive attitude

Favourite place: The Alps

Best thing about your job: Seeing the team achieve its ambitions

Best business advice you’ve ever been given: Take each day as it comes

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