The If Agency

It’s been announced today that 8-year old Facebook is worth £66 billion, (that’s more than Disney). But has it become more than just a media channel?

What did we do without Facebook? Not just for the Monday Morning trawl through tagged pictures to see how our mates embarrassed themselves this weekend. Not even to snoop on our exes or ex-classmates. What did us advertising bods and our clients’ brands do?
Because, let’s face it (no pun intended) Facebook can make the news, it can break the news, it can support, it can tear down. But, mostly, if we’re honest, it’s a place where we can show off to all our friends.

So it follows that anything we mention on this social network is probably going to be bigged up. Especially brands. It’s a massive opportunity for them – instant brand awareness to a big audience. And, if you engage them positively, just like a builder that someone likes, the brands are likely to be front of mind for all the right reasons.  You only have to look at what brands and groups ask you to do – like us. It’s like word of mouth times one thousand.
This social juggernaut is really not going to stop anytime soon. With recent billion-dollar splurges on different apps like Instagram and techy newcomers like Glancee “the friendly stalking app” it seems Facebook’s intent on, if not world domination, social media domination. Which is good news for all us marketers who want lots of people to make positive associations with our brands too.

And if you want absolute proof of the power of Facebook, just look at the recent donor organ donation tool Mark Zuckerberg released in the US and UK, inspired by Steve Jobs’ liver disease and the general lack of young organ donors. Users can basically sign up to be a donor, and the fact is put on their timeline. The amount of organ donors was instantly increased in both US and the UK by a big amount. But, that’s not the most interesting thing. The amount of Young Organ donors also increased in Canada – an area where the tool wasn’t available. Something to think about, huh?

I know people get passionate about their own home towns and cities, but from a commercial point of view, from a creative point of view, as the legendary Stone Roses front man Ian Brown put it, “Manchester’s got everything except a beach".

Of course it comes down to the people. And our healthy influx of new people from different cities and cultures means we are always getting new perspectives; it means we never stagnate. And it’s our regions ability and desire to collaborate with these new influences that underpins the world class standard of its’ creative industries.

The if agency operates in the ‘creative agency’ sector. We think we are pretty good and have had some reassuring endorsements in the last five years from clients and peers alike. But we’ve never pretended for a minute that we’ve done everything on our own. And why would we?

Our clients love it when we bring amazing talent in from the fields of music, film, illustration or digital arts to help execute an idea or develop a solution.

In the 20 years I have worked in Manchester, I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing, iconic creative forces – from Factory records to Cosgrove Hall animations, Granada TV and the MEN, to The Halle and The Whitworth.

But I’m so much more excited about whom we’ll be collaborating with next.

Why is Manchester Greater? Anthony Wilson was right: we do things differently here. The difference is we do things together.