Today, we’re speaking to joint managing director, Richard Slater, one of the first employees at MI Media. In this Day in the Life, Richard talks about the value of shared responsibilities when growing your team and why a governor at his child’s school should be an international diplomat!

What led you to a career in media?

When I left university, I didn’t know what I wanted to do so I decided to take a year trying out work experience in different industries. I did a broad range of placements; everything from financial hedge funds with a more data analytical lens, through to consumer PR.

At the end of the year, I’d found that I enjoyed the marketing side of PR but wanted to be able to incorporate some of the more analytical aspects of my other experience. I talked to my mum who worked in marketing and she put me onto the idea of looking at media agencies. I applied for a few different agencies (and got knocked back from a couple!) before ending up at what was then MediaCom. I loved it from day one and I’ve been in media ever since.

I did a good stint at MediaCom, by the end managing teams across RBS and Direct Line Group brands. I was doing well, but I could see that there was a limitation on how much of an impact I could make while working at a big agency on big brands. I knew the founder of MI Media who was just getting the business started. Having talked to him about looking at all sorts of options, I realised that there was a huge amount of potential for my development in working at a small media agency. All the skills and training I’d acquired at a big agency could be applied to clients where it would make more of a difference. Working at a small agency would also give me exposure not only to client-side stuff but how businesses are developed and how you determine what kind of agency you want to be; from proposition to who you recruit.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Every day starts with me getting my son to nursery on the back of my bike. A cycle to work is a great way to start the day, it certainly wakes your brain up navigating London traffic with a two-year-old on your bike!

As a joint managing director, my role covers the client side of the business, making sure clients get what they need and that we’re practicing what we preach as an agency. To do this, much of my day is spent having conversations with and connecting the right people.

To make sure I’m on top of what’s going on, I’ll usually speak with our head of data & digital, George, or group client services director, Gary, to understand our current areas of focus and any support that’s needed. I will undoubtedly want to talk to our new business director, Nicole, about current opportunities and ongoing pitches to ensure that the right senior support is involved and that junior members are coached through the pitch process. Finally, having worked together at MediaCom before sharing ten years at MI, I have a close working relationship with my fellow joint managing director, Jamie. It’s great to have a colleague that you trust who can both challenge and validate you and I always find it worthwhile having a conversation with him to do just this.

I’ve always been keen to retain a level of involvement client-side as it’s client work that got me into the job in the first place. It’s interesting to think about our clients’ challenges and new ways to solve them. It also gives me a chance to keep in touch with broader team by understanding what they’re working on and how they’re approaching it.

All of that will take me to the end of the day and I’m back on the bike to rush to nursery!

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

Early on in my career, I would say it wasn’t understanding the value of developing your team through sharing responsibilities. When we started off as a three-person company, we were doing almost everything ourselves. As we grew, my behaviour didn’t change quickly enough. I saw delegation as senior peoples’ excuse for getting other people to do the work for them. But, if you do it in the right way, it’s not only hugely beneficial for you but for the rest of your team.

The first time I went on paternity leave, I was away for three months. It forced me to give responsibility to other people. When I came back, my team had progressed massively. I had a moment of realisation that I hadn’t been thinking about delegation properly. People who take pride in their work often want to hold onto it, but it’s so important to learn the skill of delegation.

Who’s your role model?

Its not a big celebrity or personality people would know, but there’s an amazing woman who is a governor at my child’s school. She has an incredibly difficult job dealing with families from every walk of life. So many people with so many different agendas could create a chaotic situation. But she has a natural ability to communicate in a way that works across the board.

From a leadership perspective, the ability to bring everyone together without just paying lip service to one group of people or alienate anyone is such an incredible skill. She will never pander to any one group but will always give the right answer, even if it’s a difficult one. She will always take the time to make sure that people understand why a decision is being made for the overall benefit of the school. I always come out of meetings thinking, I have no idea how she just did that. She should be an international diplomat!

Marketing Insight

Aldi is no stranger to toeing a thin line between the branding of its own products vs. those of other household names as part of its ‘Like Brands, Only Cheaper’ platform. You couldn’t be blamed for looking down the confectionary aisle and getting easily confused between a ‘Racer’ and a ‘Snickers’ bar.

Its challenger brand image appeals to most working families in the UK and beyond, with a growing percentage of young adults doing their weekly shop at Aldi. Using its position in the market, Aldi has taken the strategy of challenging household names by making a like-for-like product at the same price point, something it has successfully done for years.

However, in 2019 when Aldi launched ‘Cuthbert the Caterpillar’, drawing inspiration from a close competitor, the reaction was far bigger than it may have anticipated. M&S’ ‘Colin the Caterpillar’ had been on shelves for over 30 years and the supermarket didn’t take kindly to Aldi’s copycat approach. M&S’ reaction put Aldi’s brand at risk. It faced criticism in the press and a legal case from M&S.

Accelerating Growth

Aldi’s news sentiment score grew by 8.5% and purchase consideration grew by 6.8% during the court battle.

While the controversy was legally settled between the two supermarket giants in 2022, Aldi continued to capitalise on the public’s interest in the spat in 2023 with the launch of a new advert. The ad was a fun play on the caterpillar cake rivalry, depicting a party attended by all the supermarkets’ caterpillars. When Colin arrives a scuffle breaks out with Cuthbert before ending with the line ‘Aldi. Like M&S. Only cheaper.’

Our planning & buying remit will cover above-the-line and performance channels. We will work in partnership with Goodstuff’s G-Force team for TV buying. 

Richard Slater, MD at MI Media said, “During the last 21 years, up to 70% of ancient woods have been lost or damaged. Our woodlands play an important part in our environmental futures and not nearly enough is being done to save and restore them. Alongside the obvious environmental benefits, research has proven the benefit of green spaces for our health and wellbeing, so we’re determined to drive the memberships and donations needed to help the Trust protect our woodlands and grow more trees.” 

Marketing Insight

The aim of Rockstar Games at its inception was to disrupt and revolutionise the gaming community. It wanted to create games that imprint themselves culturally and stamp its name in pop culture.   

In the 2000’s, Rockstar Games had a major release: Grand Theft Auto (GTA): San Andreas, selling over 27 million units worldwide. Whilst the game was praised for its expansive open world play and influential gameplay, it also faced massive backlash with its controversial ‘Hot Coffee‘ mod to the game. This led to legal issues and damages to brand reputation. Despite retaining a loyal fan base regardless of the backlash, Rockstar Games wanted to branch out of its niche gaming appeal to achieve mainstream success.  

Accelerating Growth

Rockstar Games’ anticipation strategy has Accelerated Growth for the brand even before its latest game has been released. Although the last GTA was released back in 2013, more than 210 million units have sold worldwide as of the end of 2024. Today, Rockstar Games releases reach cultural icon status. 

So far, this series has taken a look at the lives of our client-facing teams. Today, we’re changing things up and speaking to our finance manager, Jeffrin Antony. In this Day in the Life, Jeffrin talks about the importance of communication & storytelling in a finance role and the life lessons he’s learnt from the inimitable Arsène Wenger. 

What led you to a career in media?

I’ve spent my education training for a role in finance. I wasn’t necessarily looking to work in the media industry. During my ACCA exams I gained three years of practical experience in practice: accounting firms that do tax returns for individuals and businesses. After I completed my exams, I wanted to make the jump to industry. In practice, it’s a lot to do with year-end activity; whereas in industry the work you do is tailored to the industry you choose to work in. There’s variety in budgeting, forecasting and month end work.

It was this search for a role in industry that led me to my role as a finance manager at MI Media. It has been great to learn more about an industry I didn’t have any experience in and develop my understanding of how advertising works. Now when I walk down the street and see a billboard, I know that’s an OOH campaign!

What does a typical day look like for you?

My role as a finance manager is unpredictable and involves a lot of problem solving. I collaborate with every department across the business, from client services to the managing directors. Externally, I also build relationships with various stakeholders from suppliers to rebate partners. Every day there will be questions to answer, whether it’s about credit insurance or media owners. Once each query has been dealt with, I can get on with my day-to-day work which can involve anything from proactively managing accounts receivable and account payable to optimise our cash flow, to delivering detailed variance analysis and financial reporting to support the Finance Director in providing key insights to our senior leadership team. My job is definitely about finding the right balance between dealing with requests while managing people’s expectations.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

In finance you will make mistakes as part of your career. Understand that it’s bound to happen as part of your development. What you should be doing is learning from them. Sit back and reflect on what you got wrong. Don’t let it affect your day but understand how you made the mistake and implement changes for the future.

I could tell you 50 or 100 mistakes I’ve made but what has helped me the most is reflecting on my mistakes instead of shying away from them. Even directors make material mistakes, everyone does it!

Who’s your role model?

Arsène Wenger is like a father figure to me. Not just because he used to manage the team I support. It’s who he was and how he represented the company he worked for. He wasn’t afraid to show his ambition.

One of the only books I’ve read in my life is Wenger’s Red and White. The early chapters are about his obsession with football growing up. He discusses how the road to success is a lonely one, you have to make sacrifices. For Wenger, that meant watching tapes of football games while others were at the pub. But those sacrifices lead to him changing the culture of football when he came to England.

There’s a quote by Arsene Wenger during an interview: “Don’t be scared to be ambitious. It’s not a humiliation to have a high target and to fail. For me, the real humiliation is to have a target and not to give everything to reach it.”

You should always be setting targets and striving to develop your skills. If you want to be a CFO, don’t be afraid to set that ambitious target. Some people may doubt you but take the risk and believe in yourself. Even if you fail, you tried. That’s what matters.

AI’s impact on beauty consumers’ experience

Many of us are talking about how technology and AI are transforming the advertising industry, they’re also having an impact in the beauty world. 60% of those who tried makeup on virtually said that it influenced their decision to buy. L’Oreal has used AR tech so that shoppers can virtually try on products with photorealistic accuracy. Meanwhile, Ulta Beauty, Clarins, Beiersdorf and Unilever are among the first adopters of a generative AI-powered platform for businesses. Called Skin GPT, it analyses facial photos to predict future aging and simulate the effects of skincare products and treatments. While skin analysis is nothing new, it’s seen a renewed interest as brands seek out ways to tap into AI mania and make use of recent progress in the field. However, nearly 50% of Gen Z and Millennials aren’t aware that brands are offering ways to try on makeup virtually, so these services must be communicated more effectively to have a real impact.

Diversity in the beauty industry has become crucial. Arbelle’s State of Inclusivity in Beauty report tells us that the industry is being reshaped by consumers demanding diversity across gender, age, ethnicity and skin tone. Brands like Fenty Beauty are offering a wide range of shade offerings and a great thing about this is that other companies are following suite including big players like L’Oreal and Mac. So much so that it’s been named the Fenty effect. It’s not just about skin colour, but age and gender: 56% of men now have a skincare routine and companies are now using older models as brand ambassadors, think Helen Mirren and Jessica Lange.

For me, I had been using a French skincare company for ages, since I was in my twenties. In later years I’ve needed a restorative cream, but the brand became more expensive with the product costing £90. During Covid, when I was furloughed, I decided that this was too expensive and made a change to Nivea Age Spot. It’s probably a third of the price and unbelievably brilliant. This one product introduced me to Nivea as an affordable brand which means that I now use the night cream, serum and day cream.

Marketing Insight

Ryan Reynolds’ early career began with his breakthrough into acting in the late 1990’s. Starring in Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place for all three seasons led to a couple of larger Hollywood movies like Van Wilder and Smokin Aces which established him as a recognisable face in Hollywood. Early in his career, Reynolds often got typecast as the ‘charming’ guy in comedies and, while he found success in those roles, it took time for him to transition to more varied, serious roles. Ironically, his hard work eventually landed him the role of Deadpool which is where everything started to fall into place.

Reynolds has since built a personal brand that is both humorous and authentic. His self-deprecating humour and playful, witty persona resonate with a broad audience. This ability to connect on a personal level has made him more relatable and has helped him gain a loyal following. Reynolds’ online presence, including his social media platforms, reflects his personality and plays a big role in driving engagement and awareness for his own brands, making him an extremely useful tool for many other brands to capitalise on.

Last year, we welcomed Eden Cuffe to MI Media as a senior account executive. In this Day in the Life, Eden shares his thoughts on how others starting in the industry can build their roles by becoming the person people ask for information, even if you don’t know the answer and why there’s no such thing as a worthless idea.

What led you to a career in media?

I started my career in advertising sales in my local village back home. I didn’t get much exposure to the agency world, but I enjoyed having conversations with different people and trying to secure the best benefits for them. I think media can look like all the work we’re doing is just for a brand, but I see it as also doing the work for the client team. Media is such a people-based industry that, if you get on with the teams you’re working with and do good work for them, you can form great relationships. Media is a small world and if you’re a dick, you’ll get found out, which I appreciate. I’ve also found it to be one of the more progressive sectors out there in terms of things like flexibility, hiring and sick pay.

Having worked in sales, I wanted to get more exposure to planning & implementation. Following a six-month stint at Channel 4, I moved to Manchester, where I went to university, and joined the team at Dentsu. The north has a really strong media landscape offering, you don’t need to be in London to be part of the industry. That being said, I wanted to move back down south to be closer to family and that’s what led me to my role as a senior account executive at MI Media.

What does a typical day look like for you?

It does vary but the main principles stay the same day-to-day. I grab an instant coffee every morning, maybe a bit of toast, then go through and prioritise my to do list for the day. My priorities can be anything from writing a report to interpreting a brief from a client to dissecting a schedule sent over by a media owner. I don’t find my days to be mundane or repetitive. We’re in a reactive industry, so we have to allow headspace for the unknown that might come into your inbox at any given notice. You could have a whole week planned out, but something could come through that will take priority and you have to be able to react well to that.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

There isn’t such a thing as a fuck up. At the end of the day, what we’re doing isn’t life or death. But when it’s busy, it’s sometimes difficult to remember that. Mistakes are a good thing, it means you’re trying. It goes back to the fact that media is a people industry. If you do something wrong; miss a deadline or don’t present something the way you want to, everyone’s human and you will learn from it.

For me, I didn’t speak up as much as I wanted to when I first started. You might think your ideas are stupid but when you say it, someone responds with an ‘oh, I hadn’t thought of that’ and it’s proven to be useful. So back your own knowledge and don’t be afraid.

Emotionally driven storytelling: Charities can move beyond the technical aspects of legacy giving by focusing on the personal and emotional benefits. Sharing stories of how legacy gifts have made a tangible difference in people’s lives can help donors visualise the impact of their gift. Charities should focus on showcasing the lasting change their supporters’ gifts can create for future generations. This emotional connection is essential for building trust and engagement with potential legacy donors.

Make sure you consider the environment: Asking someone to pledge a gift in their will is a significant request, often driven by emotion and a deep connection to the cause. Creative storytelling works best when aligned to contextually relevant environments. There’s real power in aligning to the right media property where you can build connection to the cause and harness greater awareness. It’s something we took advantage of in the award-winning partnership we secured for the MND Association with ITV’s Coronation Street as one of its key characters, Paul Foreman, navigated his Motor Neurone Disease diagnosis. We secured unprecedented access for the MND Association to Coronation Street’s storylines to ensure that we placed the ad’s airtime against the most relevant episodes and plots. The campaign provided the charity with a unique platform to work with the UK’s longest running and most watched TV show to drive meaningful conversations and raise national awareness of MND. It’s important to not only focus on channels and environments that might deliver short-term, cost-efficient leads. Attracting Legacy donors is a long game.  

Measuring Impact: While legacy advertising is a long-term effort, it’s still important to track its effectiveness. Short-term metrics such as response rate percentage and cost per leads are easy to track, but it’s vital to understand how these might later convert into Legacy gifts. Understanding donors’ first connection with the charity and their ongoing touch points is hugely insightful, it can help you focus your efforts in the areas with the best overall returns, not just the ones delivering short-term efficiencies. 

Targeting younger donors: Legacy giving has traditionally been associated with older generations, but charities should also turn their attention to younger donors who may not have considered this form of giving. By presenting legacy giving as a long-term investment in a cause they care about, charities can tap into the values of younger audiences who are interested in making a lasting impact. Crafting targeted campaigns that emphasise the collective power of many small gifts can engage younger potential donors who might be hesitant about making large contributions. 

Marketing Insight – Lego had lost its brand identity

In the early 2000s, amidst losses of approximately $1 million per day, Lego was on the brink of bankruptcy. It was a company, and brand, that had lost its identity. Faced with the threat of intensified competition in the traditional toy market and the rise of digital entertainment, the brand reacted by over-diversifying. It moved away from what had made it successful and launched products which had little connection to the core business. It was a costly error which confused and alienated its traditional audience.  

To re-build, Lego needed to re-establish its brand position and reconnect with its customers. It undertook extensive audience research, embedding researchers into families in US and German cities. This uncovered the insights that “children still had plenty of free time, that they enjoyed difficult problems and that they often behaved differently when unsupervised.” To survive, Lego needed to go back to its roots and remind people of what made it special: imagination, creativity and play. Advertising and storytelling would play a crucial role in this.  

Expanded audience targeting changed brand perceptions  

Lego realised that a major part of its audience were the adults who used to use its products when they were children themselves. Global advertising campaigns like ‘Rebuild the world’ allowed the brand to adopt a consistent message that Lego is for everyone and is a tool for creativity rather than just a toy. Classic sets were relaunched to tap into nostalgia and campaigns ran targeting adults specifically where previously kids had been the sole target audience. Through this sustained and consistent strategy, Lego expanded its audience and shifted perceptions. Today, Lego is seen as a multi-generational brand, rather than just a toy. 

Accelerating Growth: adapting to a changing environment 

From near bankruptcy in 2003, Lego has built revenue from $1bn per year to $9.8bn in 2023. The group now employs over 25,000 full-time staff members, with the workforce growing by 10,000 since 2018. It has gone from making daily losses of $1m to an annual profit of approximately $1.8bn. 

This was not an overnight success. Lego had a vision of where it wanted to go and it put the building blocks in place to get there. It measured effectiveness and made the adjustments necessary to be successful, instead of repeatedly knocking the whole thing over and starting again… The impact of activity like the Lego Movie and Rebuild the World campaign on product sales was carefully analysed (there was a 37% increase in Lego sales the year following the movie release). Customer perception of the brand was closely tracked, as well as engagement with content and advertising campaigns (Rebuild the World drove a 5% increase in sales and over 100million views across social platforms). 

Ultimately, a willingness to understand its audience, its position as a brand and the flexibility to adapt to a changing environment allowed Lego to build on its existing brand strengths to become one of the leading toy manufacturers in the world today.