Another year has come and gone – and what a year it has been. As we expected, this year has not been without its challenges, but despite some monumental issues facing us all on the domestic and global front, 2022 has been another successful year here at LEAP.
This success is fundamentality down to two factors. The loyalty, support and trust placed in us by our clients, along with the energy, dedication and skill of our amazing team of staff across the entire LEAP family.
So, whether you have been a loyal client of ours for many years, or one of our many new clients in 2022, I would like to personally thank you for your continuing support.
To my amazing team of staff, in every area of the LEAP business, my thanks and admiration. Despite every pressure placed upon you, every early start and late finish, every seemingly impossible deadline, you have delivered time and time again. I am in awe of each teams’ resilience, constant collaboration, and hard work – you are all, truly the best in the business!
I started this message by saying that 2022 has seen some monumental events in the world at large, and this is indeed true.
Whilst I obviously maintain a cautious eye on such events, my main role as CEO is to focus on the things I can affect, to ensure the business remains robust enough to support staff through difficult times and at the same time allow us to continue to grow and evolve our agency in line with the needs of our clients, and the wider advertising and marketing services industry.
In 2022 this is exactly what we did, and I would like to take a moment to mention just a few of my personal highlights;
- In response to the talent crisis and a growing need for more effective employer branding, we relaunched our People Communications Agency business as LEAP Create to resounding success. In our maiden year we delivered a diverse and impactful range of work, across a broad client base and won multiple awards and industry accolades in the process. More on this via the ‘LEAP Create 2022 round up‘. Congratulations to the entire team in Chichester!
- This was the year we could all finally return to serendipitous coffee break moments, team lunch Mondays and thirsty Thursdays, so we were delighted to invest in making our working environment better than ever before. We delivered on our ambitious plan to double our real-estate investment in 2022, undertaking an extensive refurbishment of our Clerkenwell offices over the summer months, to create a modern, collaborative and engaging workspace for our staff and clients.
- Despite industry unease, we have continued our excellent new client growth trajectory this year. Our Sales, Account Management and Client Service teams added multiple new contracted clients to our roster in each and every month in 2022, in industries ranging from Fashion to Finance, and Travel to Technology.
- Our integrated production teams delivered some of the biggest and most complex international projects we have ever seen. In the process they helped clients undertake global rebranding programmes, release films and entertainment series to international audiences, advertise their products and services across multiple media platforms and promote their own values and messaging to their staff, to other businesses and to their channel partners.
- The world this year was open for business, so we took to the skies. 2022 was a year of international reconnections, we attended the first Cannes Lions festival in 3 years, finally got to meet with US-based clients that we have spent the last three years working with across video screens, and in Amsterdam, we took to the stage to speak on our multilingual SEO capabilities.
- As planned, we continued with a bold and far-reaching recruitment programme, with more talented and multi-skilled staff joining LEAP in the year 2022, than in any of the previous five.
All of this, and more, adds up to a very busy 2022 for everyone at LEAP, and every reason for us to look forward to 2023 with confidence and optimism.
Speaking of 2023, we will be continuing with our planned investments in our people, in our services, in our facilities and in technology, to ensure we keep pace with the changing needs of our current clients, as well as remaining relevant and attractive to future clients.
We also have an important birthday to look forward to early in the new year.
In February, it will be 35 years since our founder, and my friend and business partner Paul Towsey launched the business in London 1988, and with dry January conveniently behind us, we will look forward to inviting many of you to help raise a glass and blow out the candles!
That is obviously all to come. Until then, I would simply like to take the opportunity on behalf of myself, Paul and everyone in leadership team here at LEAP, to wish you and your loved ones a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas, and a very happy and healthy New Year.
Sincerely,
Steve
