At drp, a large Midlands base of operations has facilitated growth, integration and cross-discipline work. How has creativity developed and grown across the agency? Creative director Rich Hingley shares his thoughts

Why does DRPG have a headquarters outside London? Does this present challenges or opportunities? Why? 
Like many businesses, including many of our clients, having headquarters in London can prove to be both expensive and a hinderance to creating sustainable growth. For ourselves, we are finding the combination of an ever-strengthening skilled and experienced employee base outside of London, a growing client base located across the UK and the world, and improving transportation links to the capital itself, is providing us with the opportunity to grow our capabilities across all our locations without compromising our creativity or the competitive value we bring.

To what extent has its large physical base of operations helped DRPG to grow?
Service, quality and creativity has always been at the heart of our group, but these do not happen by chance. In order to guarantee we deliver to the highest standards against all of these, we must have the right people, with the right support to do just this for our clients. Our physical bases are key to providing both our team and our clients with agile working environments that are conducive to collaborative working and delivering consistently successful results.

What can agencies based outside major cities do to build awareness and ensure they pitch for the right work?
Your brand is everything, but it is not a logo. It’s a manifestation of the great results you achieve and a tool to help clients recognise you as the agency that has been integral to achieving them. So, finding ways to align your brand with the important attributes your potential clients are looking for, is key. Ultimately you need to be seen and you need to have a voice, as insight is currently the name of the game. Joining established industry organisations can also help and never be afraid to step into the limelight and win a few recognised and prestigious awards. It’s all an important part of your brand conversation.

How can having an integrated creative offer help clients?
First, it’s worth explaining a little about what this is. Often agencies talk about being integrated, but unless every element of your creative offering is within your total control, or in other words you own it, then it’s impossible to be truly integrated. Integrations enables collaboration to thrive, and with that comes speed and quality of response and greater choice for your clients. True integration means your solution is not denoted by a set of narrow channels you have at your instant disposal, but by the most appropriate channels for the job, because you can strategise, produce and deliver in-house across all channels.

What kinds of work are you most proud of? Why?
Work that creates an experience that generates movement, change and results. Often the ‘experience’ is overlooked and seen as the sole property of a live event, but this is not the case. All communication is about experience, whether you read, watch, listen or take part. We create experiences of all kinds that result in greater understanding, lasting memories and organisational improvements. Often this is achieved when delivering across multiple channels that are meticulously planned, perfectly executed and constantly talked about. This is what makes us proud.

What do you hope to achieve for the future at DRPG?
We have created something quite unique in both the way we operate and the results we achieve.  As a team we are proud of where we are today, but never complacent when it comes to our purpose and what we are here to do. DRPG is about creating an agency that clients choose to work with because they know we can always be relied upon to then achieve valuable results, no matter who, or where they are. Moving forward we hope we can do more of this, for more people, in more organisations, globally.