Overview Page

In the hot seat 2

The new agency model 3

2011 predictions 4 & 5

Agency success 6

High performance teams 7

A global perspective 8 & 9

What’s hot in M&A 10

M&A opportunities 10 & 11

Our global team 12

A brave new worldIssue 54 1st Quarter 2011

It’s gratifying being told by someone that

they not only read our Bulletins, but they

actually keep many years’ of them for

future reference. Those readers with

issues 51­53 still fresh in their minds will

no doubt be hoping to see a continuation

of last year’s headline themes; global

macroeconomic trends edging into more

benign territory, hard evidence of

improving fortunes of marcoms businesses

across the globe, heightened levels of

strategic M&A activity and forecasts of

better still to come.

So will 2011 truly be a new dawn? Perhaps.

The kind of dawn that greets a wide­eyed traveller

to Peru on their first morning in Lima. The sun has

unquestionably risen but to foreign eyes it’s not the

familiar dawn to which they’re accustomed as the

garúa laying over the city obscures distant objects

and even makes closer ones hard to discern.

Within this Issue 54 you’ll read the predictions of

some notable commentators, but before looking

too far forward it is worth pausing to briefly reflect

on the year that was. There were some painful

corporate failures last year in the marcoms industry,

but they weren’t as numerous as might have been

predicted in the circumstances. Asked on 1 January

2010 if they would have settled for the year they

finally ended up experiencing, it would probably be

GLOBAL LEADERS IN BUILDING AND REALISING VALUE IN THE MARKETING AND RELATED TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES

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B U L L E T I N

www.resultsig.comBULLETIN TWO

IN THE HOT SEAT WITH

NICK FARNHILLMANAGING DIRECTOR

POKE

Q: Career highlight?

A: Finding a career I actually like.

Q: Best piece of advice given?

A: When you can afford it, always buy the rounds.

Q: Favourite book?

A: London Fields ­ Martin Amis.

Q: Sports hero?

A: James Hunt during his World title winning 1976 season and then the commentating years with Murray Walker.

Q: Favourite hobby?

A: Riding horses.

Q: Business or brand to watch?

A: Instagram / http://instagr.am/

TweetDeck / http://www.tweetdeck.com/

MindCandy / http://mindcandy.com/

Q: Media must­haves?

A: A calculator.

Q: Rainy day objects?

A: Guitar.

Q: Best digital campaign?

A: One of ours ­ The Global Rich List ­ http://www.globalrichlist.com/

The one I wish we'd done ­ The Best Job in the World ­http://islandreefjob.com.au/

Q: What a 2020 agency model will look like?

A: Will there even be a need for 'agencies' then...?

www.pokelondon.com

fair to bet that the majority of agency CEOs

asked would have accepted it.

Ever increasing client demands (at lower

remuneration levels and via ever more

rigorous procurement apparatus), the

acceleration of technological changes

affecting both media consumption habits

and delivery mechanisms, and, frankly,

some pretty exhausted and downbeat

teams have certainly been big challenges

for agency leaders. However, their relative

success in navigating these very choppy

waters bears testament not only to the

famous creativity of the industry but

also the absolute professionalism with

which the best businesses are undoubtedly

now run.

What does 2011 have in store for us?

Reading the runes is still a very imprecise

art. The Q4 earnings announcements from

the quoted marcoms groups and digital

media businesses will make for very

interesting reading. By Q3 the signs were

looking very encouraging and analysts were

expecting this positive trend to continue, in

the same way that the consensus between

the economists and forecasters is for

growth in the industry as a whole.

However, at the macroeconomic level, the

markets are volatile and 2010 ushered in an

era where entire national economies have

come under rapid and sustained attack.

Governments have taken differing stances

on bringing their countries back to

sustainable growth, with the UK and US

currently adopting very different strategies.

Where austerity budgets were introduced,

such as the UK, the effects will start to show

in the first half of this year as cuts bite.

There is no doubt that the digital society will

continue to present the greatest threats

and opportunities for brands and therefore

for our industry. As we all might have

imagined, last year (again) turned out not to

be the year that mobile finally stood up

and delivered. There has to be a decent

chance however, that 2011 will see its time

finally come. Not through some romantic

hope or based on the law of averages, but

because of the numerous technological,

commercial and behavioural indicators that

confirm momentum is building and creating

a platform for growth.

You only have to look at the app market in

2010 and how this is continuing to drive

smartphone and tablet device uptake;

mobile web and the expected growth in

m­commerce and mobile search, as well

as the growth in location services, with

Foursquare leading the way and Facebook,

Twitter and Google hot on their heels.

The drive for greater customer engagement

and higher levels of traffic, fuelled by

social media, will see more agencies

develop or partner to create original

content.

Having come through more than two years

of its own austerity, living cautiously and

conservatively, perhaps the dawn of 2011

will herald the biggest challenge yet to

the marketing services industry. It is, of

course, a cliché that more businesses go

bankrupt coming out of recession than in the

grip of it.

Coming out of recession we cannot content

ourselves with cost control, but will have no

choice but to tackle the bigger opportunities

presented by the digital world.

If you would like to discuss any of the issuesabove, please contact Jim Houghton atjhoughton@resultsig.com

JIM HOUGHTONPARTNERRESULTS INTERNATIONAL

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NEW WORLDA BRAVE

RESULTS INTERNATIONAL 2011 SPORTING DIARY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Argus Cycle Tour (SA): 13th March

• MCCA triathlon: 4th June

• Three peaks challenge: 17th – 19th June

• English Channel swim : 20th July

Keep in touch via our website/social mediaand wish us luck!

Someone once described a great

marriage as not when the 'perfect

couple' comes together, but instead

when an imperfect couple learns to

enjoy their differences.

Data and creative are this imperfect coupleand for many years the attempts at makingthem good bedfellows has been the keychallenge in creating the new agencymodel. Unfortunately, in many of theseattempts the issue has not been about howto fuse these disciplines together. It’s beenabout bigger issues such as culture,leadership, roles and responsibilities.

There is however a new solution, which isbeing proven out on a massive scale by thenew powerhouse digital media owners suchas Google and Facebook. It’s the techniquesand technologies in these businesses, whichwill provide the answer for agencieswanting to generate better insight, giveclearer client direction and establish morecertainty around their creative solutions.

At the heart of these new media ownerbusinesses is what the technologycommunity refers to as ‘big data’. Basicallythis is the new way in which clusters ofdatabases can calculate in almost real timethe answers to previously impenetrablequestions.

It’s what calculates the inter­relationshipsbetween Facebook’s 500 million users whenyou download a page and it’s what givesthem the ability to mine their multi­petabyte database in minutes, not hours.It’s also the reason why Google, with theirunderstanding of search behaviour, couldprovide faster and greater detail about theoutbreaks of Swine Flu in the US than theCentre for Disease Control.

For agencies, this points to a new level ofinnovation and certainty. For instance, it’spossible to mine all of Twitter for a full datapicture of what people are saying, it’s viableto interrogate Facebook ‘Likes’ for people’spreferences and it’s possible to view a widearray of digital behaviours from ad serving,website and media exchange data.

These incredibly rich and available sourcessuggest a future in which large pools of datawill be central to the planning function increative agencies. In this new big data worldthe planning role becomes more about thetechniques of the statistical prediction andbehavioural economics. However, inachieving this vision there are a couple ofpractical steps, which are easier to writeabout than do.

The first is that most of the digital data youneed, particularly web, media and mobiledata is all over the place, in agencies, inmedia owners, in formats defined by themeasurement tools that are being used. The other challenge is that the data ismassive and our minds aren’t quite readyfor that massiveness. We still struggle tofind the start point to the answers we’retrying to solve when we see the whole of amarket. Every behaviour, everywhere is alovely dream but it’s difficult tocomprehend sometimes what to do with it.

As such we believe there are two solutions.Firstly, on behalf of clients there’s anopportunity to invent, on an industrial scale,tools that provide better predictions fromthe available data.

This is eminently possible and relativelystraightforward with the right mindset. Forinstance, two researchers at HP Labs,Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman, havedeveloped a method using Twitter data to

predict how well a movie will do in the firstcouple of weekends after release. Thismethod is proven to be 97.3% accurate,significantly more accurate than theindustry standard Hollywood StockExchange. For agencies it means they’reable to reclaim the valued relationshipbetween their work and the outcomes forclients in sectors such as financial services,retail and FMCG, which are beginning tolook at this opportunity against specificindustry challenges.

Secondly, there’s more of a process­basedanswer. Not trying to invent new things butsimply developing a forensic approach tothis type of data and this depth ofinformation. This requires a fusion of manyof the traditional planning tools such asqualitative research, market analysis, as wellas sophisticated quantitative analysis toaddress the more voluminous digital datasets. Within this realm, finding disparitiesand proving things that are not immediatelyintuitive is the goal that has been writtenabout on many occasions by authors suchas Steven Levitt in Freakonomics and IanAyers in Supercrunchers.

What’s really interesting here though is thatby combining the insights from traditionalplanning and then exploring the realbehaviours and expressed opinions aroundthese insights, statistical and provablecertainty is developed. It is this certaintythat is the gift that big data gives to thecreative department. Data used in this way,on a massive and immediate scale isincredibly powerful sustenance for theflickering flame of creativity. Certainty is theprenuptial agreement that sustains themarriage of data and creativity.

If you would like to discuss any of the issuesabove, please contact Andy Collins atacollins@resultsig.com

BIG DATA AND IDEASTHE NEW AGENCY MODELRESULTS INTERNATIONAL ­ AGENCY MODELS

www.resultsig.com BULLETIN THREE

CHRIS PERRYJOINT CEOTRUE WORLDWIDE WWW.TRUE­WW.COM

www.resultsig.comBULLETIN FOUR

Our industry rests uneasily under the shadowof a meteor of change, as whole swathes runthe risk of extinction. The survivors will besmarter, more evolved and exciting.

1) Unstructured data grows in import: 85% of what’s out there is invisible to 95% of insight teams. Getting a handle on this is crucial: this means far more than ‘social media analytics’.

2) Researchers will become knowledge activators, not information providers, with new duties in knowledge management and consultation, not simply the creation of projects.

3) Emotional understanding becomes key. The global financial crisis redefined consumer psychography in ways we’re only just beginning to comprehend ­ old paradigms of brand and measurement grounded in 1950s thinking don’t stand a chance.

Clare Bruce, CEO, Nunwood

Every industry conference or debate I’ve beento over the last year always ends up withinterests focused on social media. Social is a likea magnet, it’s what people want to understand,preach or sweep away. Social seems to polarizepeople into believing it’s the biggest thing sinceradio, or it’s purely something that kids do, butwill grow out of. I naturally edge towards thefirst, but I don’t believe it’s at the expense of allother media and I certainly don’t see peoplegrowing out of it.

I simply believe that Social Media will have animpact, to a greater or lesser degree, oneverything that happens in marcoms ­ it'sprogressively an essential cog in the machine.Like it or not, agencies need to get sharpenedup to this new reality. It’s not goinganywhere, and it will morph and adapt asusers require it to.

I predict that Social Media will be the biggestexplosion in 2011 ­ we're at the tip of theiceberg. If your competitors understand and grow with it, and the marketing directorsunderstand and grow with it, but you don’t,guess who’s going to win new business.

Hal Stokes, Founding Partner, Punktilio

Budget and ROIThere will certainly be budget constraints,due to the economic climate, which willimpact brand marketing in a number of ways.Measurement and analysis of results willbecome ever more important to justifyspend, In an ideal world a universally agreedtool for brand performance, which stretchesacross sectors and agencies, would take agreater role in working with clients to putmeasurement at the heart of what they do.

Also Agencies need to accept that clients areworking with tighter budgets ­ this shouldchallenge them creatively and also make surethat the right commercial controls inmanaging clients’ money are in place. Theyhave to be accountable and be responsible.

Rapid InnovationAs rapid platform innovation in the digitalspace enables new opportunities for engagingwith audiences, Agencies will be expected toproduce 'big ideas' which can be leveragedacross all platforms; old, new and emerging.Ultimately, true integration will be criticalgoing forward. We see many agenciesviewing integration as buying up a digitalagency ­ true integration often starts at theconcept stage and advertising agenciesespecially dramatically need to rethink theirpositioning.

Power and PersonalisationAs the shift in power moves from brand toconsumer, brand reputation managementand brand control becomes more important.Also there is a consumer expectation to beserved personalised brand messages withvalue adds. Creative ideas have to work onmultiple platforms and be adaptable andflexible in not just their thinking but also intheir implementation.

Tina Fegent, Director, Tina Fegent Ltd

Online will come of age as a medium forbrand building not just direct response. Thereare a number of reasons to believe this isalready happening:

1) The convergence of technology. There are already a plethora of products that suggest the lines between traditional TV

and the internet are blurring: Virgin TV, Apple TV and plenty of other wireless technologies have got the ball rolling and the emergence of internet enabled TVs, particularly Google TV, will render TV vs Internet a meaningless distinction.

2) Video online. One of the biggest growth areas of the last year has been video online: video blogging, YouTube’s unstoppable growth, TV services like iPlayer and Seesaw are just the tip of the iceberg. For brands, the increasing number of video player units on websites, that allow streaming HD video, changes the game for display advertising.

3) The inexorable rise of social media. Disney have over 100 million likers on Facebook, Oreos biscuits have 15 million. The numbers are growing to such a level that social media is starting to deliver the marketing holy grail; huge numbers of brand advocates that can be reached at very low cost. This means brands can communicate regularly and relevantly with their core customers and either reinforce or shift brand perceptions.

These three things will change the wayconsumers use media and the way brandscommunicate with them. Traditional media isnot going to die but the game has changedforever. Clients and agencies are going tohave to change their models, their ways ofworking and their channel focus if they aregoing to capitalise on the amazingopportunities that this will create.

John Wood, Managing Director, LibertineLondon Ltd

2011 is going to be tough on several fronts.Job losses in the public sector and reducedexpenditure by the ‘squeezed middle’ willcombine to make things very difficult forretailers and manufacturers alike.

In the marketing communications world thesqueezed middle will be us, the agencies:squeezed between requirements from brandmanagers to maintain share in thiscompetitive environment, and a demand

PREDICTIONS2011RESULTS INTERNATIONAL ­ AN INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE

www.resultsig.com BULLETIN FIVE

from Finance to achieve these results withsmaller or static budgets. Which makes ithighly likely that 2011 is the year that wefinally see more major brands really thinking(and acting) beyond traditional paid­formedia, if only in an attempt to make budgetsgo further.

Peter Dann, Director, The Nursery

I believe that the Government’s austeritymeasures will have further impact on theeconomy in 2011, making it anotherchallenging year for the marcoms industry asa whole. Marketers will continue to strive tomaximise budgets and search for trulyeffective campaigns that provide the bestpossible ROI and will be under pressure todeliver. That said, we are currentlyexperiencing renewed confidence acrossmany sectors and expect that to continuewith caution on both agency and client side.The dust has generally settled on therationalisation process across manybusinesses and I would describe the currentmarket prediction for 2011 as ‘cautiouslyoptimistic’.

Julian West, Managing Director, J2*

2011 will be characterised by the increasingimportance of Asia for both UK basedagencies and the wider marcoms industry interms of overall spend.

Agencies that can work with global clientsand work everywhere will profit. Those thathave relied on just UK and also the hugegovernment marcoms spend will struggle.Technology­led plays and finance (includingmobile) will drive the market spend as thesedevices become as much a part of daily life astoothpaste.

Adam Hall, Finance Director, Fig Tree Network

If 2010 could be summed up as the yearwhere social media grew up into a bona fideadvertising medium, 2011 could beremembered as the year when mobilefollows suit. Smartphone usage is set toincrease with 50%+ consumers in the UKpredicted to own one by the end of the year.Such uptake will see the lines betweenmobile and online become increasinglyblurred. It will be interesting to see how themain players capitalise on the trend. Atpresent Facebook doesn’t have any ads onmobile. So you can bet that they – and theircompetitors – will launch new mobile adformats in 2011.

Social media will continue to mature, withmonetization being the key area of

innovation. In addition to the increasingprevalence of incorporating PayPalfunctionality and social media currencyexplosions like Facebook credits, additionalrevenue streams will come from integratingpurchases into friends’ alerts. As mobile cutsthrough and social media continues growingfrom strength to strength, we’re lookingforward to seeing how the main playersreact; no doubt with dazzling innovations. Thesafe money says Google and Facebook willlead the way. In such a dynamic and ever­changing field as ours, it’s comforting to knowthat some things remain the same.

Grant Muckle, Managing Director, iSpy Labs

While we see the major ad agency groupsmaking further inroads into what are now'conventional' digital budgets, marketers willincreasingly rely on the strategic insight,technical capability and specialist creativity ofthe 'pure digital agency' to keep their brandsahead. In particular, we see enormousgrowth continuing in social media, especiallyin the new area of social commerce, and inthe development of high quality onlinecontent such as Dunhill's Day­8 iPad app andwebsite.

Alan Page, Chairman, Skive

Despite privacy rights campaigners growingmore vocal this year, consumers willincreasingly favour the convenience orentertainment value of mobile apps and willremain relatively ignorant about how much oftheir data (such as location or mobilenumber) is being passed to third partieswithout their permission.

However, this will reflect a changing attitudeto privacy as much as a lack of educationaround how these technologies work.

The spectre of government regulation willloom larger, but probably fail to come to anymeaningful fruition in 2011.

Iain MacMillan, Director, RMM

Mobile advertising comes of age ­ we areseeing more than 10% of search volumecoming through mobile devices (includingtablets) for some clients. 2011 will be a yearwhere other forms of mobile advertising startto become more prominent including in appads.

Local advertising starts to ramp ­ withsmartphone penetration now at mass levelslocation based services, in particular on theback of in built mobile GPS, will driverenewed interest in local advertising. Services

like Google Places and Facebook Places willfight it out to become the de facto authorityon local information. FourSquare will fail butmight get bought.

Advertisers will (finally) get serious aboutsocial media ­ realising that a joined upapproach to engaging customers, brandadvocates and prospects where they candeliver results ­ and the agencies that canprovide a robust approach to make itaccountable will win.

Winning advertisers will start to understandintegration ­ using path to conversion dataand attribution modelling, smart advertiserswill start to unpick interactions across onlinemedia channels and truly understandintegration. A step change in understandingwill be achieved as SEO, social media, prerollson IPTV and VOD are added into the'trackable' media universe. Offline will beincorporated via more traditional offlineresearch techniques.

Matt Isaacs, Founding Partner, Essence

In 2011, digital marketing will be prominentas consumer behaviour shifts unabated tosocial networks, mobile devices and e­commerce. I expect to see increasingcompetition and choices for marketing spendbetween browser and application­basedstrategies and channels. Whilst more localtargeting, regional sales and promotionstactics will develop exponentially, considerthe potential influence that companies likeGroupon, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter canhave in this regard.

Jacques van Niekerk,Chief Executive Officer, Acceleration

Our view for 2011 is one of optimism for ourindustry. Clients recognise the continuedneed to invest in and build their brands andan overall growth in confidence will translateinto stronger investment in consumerengagement programmes. The exponentialgrowth of social media has transformed theopportunities for brands to engage with theirconsumers and the landscape is going tocontinue to shift with the wider use of mobiledevices. The agency challenge will be to finelytune its media and market intelligence toachieve cut through across all the differentchannels and deliver maximum value to itsclients.

Caroline Kinsey, Founder/CEO, CirKle PR

If you would like to discuss any of the issuesabove, please contact Angela Lurssen atalurssen@resultsig.com

www.resultsig.comBULLETIN SIX

What makes a successful agency? In today’s cash­strapped world, it’sa question being asked by big andsmall businesses alike. So how do you get it right and what are the challenges of the future likely to be?

These were some of the questions on theagenda at a recent roundtable event hostedby Results International. The attendeeswere some of the movers and shakers fromthis year’s ‘Private Plums’ survey ­ anindependent assessment of the financialcredentials of the 71 largest privately­owned companies in the marketing servicessector. The survey was carried out by theFintellect consultancy and edited by BobWillott.

They began with an agreement that a keyelement of success is authenticity and‘keeping it real’, but that this type of cultureis difficult to keep going as the agencygrows: especially once past the 65­70person level. Expansion can dilute servicequality, particularly with clients demandingthat everything is always right first time.

In fact, one attendee spoke of a client whoonce requested only an 80­90% quality jobdue to budgetary constraints, rather thanthe 150% he normally gets. He paidaccordingly, but on delivery reverted todemanding the uber quality he had becomeused to at the knock­down price.

This also means managing the quality ofclients. The more disorganised they areinternally, the more overservicing they willprobably require from their agency. Withclient retention so important, it’s vital tomanage profitability on long­term partners.Attendees commented that added­valueservices such as research can be a wayforward for proving an agency’s worth.Where such services are something that theclient cannot provide themselves and

provide a competitive advantage, agenciescan become indispensable.

Of course, that then leads to formerlyspecialist agencies offering more integratedservices. Some clients want everything fromone agency while others look for the best ineach discipline and will manage integrationthemselves. The former is more commonamong so­called smaller ‘tier two’ clientsand the latter among the big ‘tier one’multinationals.

It was generally agreed that a big problemwith integrated agencies is the future,because they’re harder to sell as “peopletend to buy in silos”.

So when it comes to mergers andacquisitions, specialists definitely sell overfull service models. Not only do specialistsgenerally command a better price thanthose agencies with a generalist,undifferentiated offer but the latter areincreasingly unlikely to find M&A partnersat all in mature markets.

This presents an increasingly pressing needfor existing businesses built around a fullservice model to contemplate how they canre­engineer themselves, despite theenormity of the task.

Another issue highlighted with integration isthe role of digital and the feeling that “ifyou don’t do digital, you don’t do anything”.The traditional polarisation of digital andnon­digital seems to be fading, althoughone attendee noted that seniormanagement who don’t ‘get’ digital can beresistant to taking it on board.

When asked about the situation in fiveyears’ time, they discussed how digitalnatives will be coming into senior managementpositions at client organisations, which willpossibly decrease their reliance on digitalagencies but mean they might lack skills inand knowledge of the more ‘traditional’marketing disciplines. An interesting turn­around on today’s scenario.

One attendee worried that the increasingrole of procurement departments wouldlessen the chance of independent agenciesbeing able to work with ‘tier one’ clients,but there continues to be debate over thispoint. Another commented that start­upsneed ‘tier one’ clients to succeed – andthere are plenty of newish start­ups withsuch clients, such as Adam & Eve and 18Feet and Rising. A third pointed out that notall agency heads are looking to sell out andare happy working in their niche. This maythen lead to polarisation between the big,scale­based players and small niche boutiques.

The drivers of agency success are obviouslymanifold, but it was agreed by all presentthat they depend on agency foundersplaying to their strengths andcomplementing them where needed tofacilitate growth, usually by bringing inexperts in areas where the founders areweak. There was broad consensus that tryingto be a jack of all trades rarely works out.

Similarly, several attendees noted how the‘big characters’ that defined the industry inyears gone by have faded away, replaced byrather less flamboyant people who oftenpossess business rather than creativebackgrounds. One commented how “clientsdrive this as there are so many things theytell you that you can’t do” and that culturesgenerally have become more corporatised.

Nonetheless, there is a role for the “big,inspirational leader” in that theirprofile/fame can create and add value forclients and for the agency as a whole. Eventhough the cult of personality isdisappearing (as noted by the decreasingnumber of agencies named after theirfounders) there is a lot to be said forbuilding a corporate profile. As oneattendee said, “the day after we win anaward the phone rings off the hook withinterest from potential new clients”.

If you would like to discuss the above topic,please contact Keith Hunt atkeithhunt@resultsig.com or Andy Collins atacollins@resultsig.com

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR KEITH HUNTMANAGING PARTNERRESULTS INTERNATIONAL

ANDY COLLINSSENIOR PARTNERRESULTS INTERNATIONAL

RESULTS INTERNATIONAL ­ ROUNDTABLE DEBATE

AGENCY SUCCESS?

www.resultsig.com BULLETIN SEVEN

HOW HIGH PERFORMING TEAMS CAN PRODUCE BETTER RESULTS IN

RESULTS INTERNATIONAL ­ GROWING YOUR VALUE

My induction into ‘HighPerformance Teams’ was a chillyexperience, literally rather thanmetaphorically that is. Having beeninto long distance running forseveral years, a few in desertenvironments, a friend of mine,Martin Palethorpe, had called meone warm August evening, ‘How doyou fancy doing something cold fora change, a race to the NorthPole?’. ‘Sounds amazing’ I said, ‘butI can’t ski!’

The enthusiasm in his voice was infectiousand 9 months later I found myself playingback the same conversation to him and myother team mate Stuart, this time on thestart line of the Polar Challenge, a 650kmunsupported race to the North Pole. We feltready for what lay ahead, we performed andacted like a team and we knew what weneeded to do to win.

Moving back in time 9 months, we met forthe first time to discuss the race. What foodwould we need? What training plan shouldwe follow? Oh and how do we raise £45ksponsorship for the race? What would weface in the Arctic? How would I be able towork with Stuart who I hardly knew? Our ‘todo’ list filled 3 sides of A4, we were startingto panic as it was clear there was so muchwe didn’t know and many things we neededto do and with busy jobs it seemedunachievable. We lacked focus and we couldsee things slipping badly. We needed help!

Martin advised that we speak to RalphPeters, a coach and team performanceexpert. Ralph suggested that we follow astructured programme that would help usfocus, share responsibility, buildaccountability and overall work better as ateam. At first I was sceptical as we had somuch to do my inclination was to just get on

with it, but after the first few meetings Icould see the immediate benefits.

Not only did we have a clear plan but wewere also seeing signs of team developing –accountability to ‘self’ and the team, focuson the goal, positivity, responsibility to task,all the things we lacked at the early stages.

The programme also helped us identify ourweaknesses as well as our strengths. We stillneeded help with things like diet, trainingand psychology so we brought in topnutritionists, coaches and psychologists tohelp. How would we think and react under extreme physical and mentalpressure?

Shooting forward 9 months again, I stood onthe start line feeling enormously prepared,surely no one had trained as hard as us orprepared as well? This was backed up byobserving the behaviours of the teams onthe 5 day trek to the start line. It was clearthat some teams were dysfunctional, othersarguing under the stressful conditions,others unclear how to work togethereffectively. Our only competition came froma team led by a military officer.

Ralph’s programme had prepared us welland we all felt confident and, as the gunwent off to signal the start of the race, weshot off into the lead. But 4 days in, disasterstruck. Martin had been nursing a blisterwhich had appeared a couple of days intothe race. As it was only a blister, it had beenstrapped up and ignored but had gotinfected. By the time we reached checkpoint1 Martin had developed septicaemia andwas pulled out of the race by the medicalstaff. We would need to continue as a 2­man team, sharing the additional load ofhis 10 stone sledge between us.

After 14 days of racing we crossed the finishline in 1st place, 23 hours ahead of the nextteam.

Having a week in a tent by yourself gives youtime to think. Martin used the time toreflect on what parts of our preparation hadworked and what had not and some monthslater partnered with Ralph to develop‘UpAGear’, a structured programme todevelop high performing teams in business.Would we have produced the same resultswithout the same level of preparation andwithout the following the programme,doubtful, we would certainly not have wonby such a margin, and the journey wouldhave been a much harder one.

Lessons learned from the Arctic in developing successful teams:

1. Teams aren’t formed overnight, it takes time. Ongoing training, not a one­shot deal.

2. Develop a clear set of objectives, spelled out unambiguously by Management.

3. Break down your objectives into smaller, manageable goals. Assign ownership.

4. Develop metrics allowing the team to access their performance, show connection between the team’s work and key business indicators.

5. Open culture, but assign key roles and leaders.

6. It’s all in the detail; nothing should be overlooked in your planning, the smallest thing can trip you up however unimportant something feels make sure it’s covered off.

7. Get expert help, you have busy jobs and a business to run.

If you’d like to know more about how todevelop High Performing Teams within yourbusiness please contact mwelch@resultsig.com

MILES WELCHDIRECTORRESULTS INTERNATIONAL YOUR BUSINESS

www.resultsig.com

RESULTS 2011 PREDICTIONS

BULLETIN EIGHT

RESULTS INTERNATIONAL ­ A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Brazil/Latin America: Eduardo SteinerDigital technologies have produced significantchanges in the advertising world. Until recently,agencies focused on the creative angle as thestarting point for their actions, but now, they areforced to break the paradigm and includetechnology and content as essential parts of theprocess.

The proliferation of communication channels,especially in digital, has dramatically changed themarket, and today the consumer calls the shots.This trend is irreversible and will even accelerate inthis part of the world as internet connectivity andaccess grows throughout Latin America. As neverbefore, the consumer will be able to build or kill abrand, as well as create and consume his/her owncontent.

In view of this, beyond a shadow of a doubt, thechallenge for agencies in 2011 will be to ensurethey comprehend this new and ever changingenvironment, focused on targeted content and‘conversations’ with the consumer. Thus, theexistence of highly professionalised research anddata analysis departments to follow consumerbehaviour, attitudes and preferences is of theutmost importance.

Western Europe: Jim BellAfter years of anticipation, the mobile Web isfinally maturing. By 2013, the US mobile Internetaudience is expected to reach 134.3 million users.In the US, one network alone, AT&T, has seen itsmobile data traffic increase by fifty times in just thelast three years. Perhaps the biggest name inmobile consumer products, Apple’s iPhone, hasstimulated 3 billion mobile application downloadssince the opening of the App Store less than twoyears ago.

In Europe, UK, Scandinavia and France are theleaders in Smartphone usage and many of themajor multinational marketing communicationsgroups such as Publicis and WPP are makingsignificant investments in acquiring mobilemarketing capabilities.

With recent advances in mobile commerce,advertising cannot be far behind. In fact, theindustry anticipates a $1.56 billion mobileadvertising market by 2013. Google and Apple haveboth made high­profile mobile ad networkacquisitions that are helping to fuel expectations.

Behind the scenes, accelerating smartphone salesare further driving this boom. Morgan Stanleypredicts smartphones will out­ship the global PCmarket (that’s desktops, laptops and netbookscombined) by 2012. Smartphones already beatbasic feature phones by a factor of five times incomplex services usage, such as email and Webbrowsing.

If search is the dominant function on the Web, it’seven bigger in mobile. Given the smaller screensize, hand­held devices encourage searching overbrowsing. More significantly, the “anytime,anywhere” appeal of smartphones stimulateimpromptu searching when shopping, travelling orpursuing leisure activities.

The most recent search upgrades are designed tomake mobile search even faster. Google is leadinga trend that would allow searches by location(leveraging GPS technology), by pictures (usingbuilt­in phone cameras) and even by voice input.The combination of more sophisticated devices,more powerful browsers and superior connectivity— today’s WiFi and 3G network speeds can be asmuch as six times faster than their 2G and 2.5Gpredecessors — have elevated end­userexpectations. Speed of response, user interfaceand reliability have become the benchmarks forconsumers and in the US for example, 58% of usersexpect Website load speeds on their mobiledevices to be comparable to, or better than, whatthey experience on their desktops.

2011 will see the sophistication of the Smartphoneand related services truly begin to changeconsumer behaviour and we can expect a furtheracquisition spree in this space as marketingcommunications networks continue to buy theexpertise to deliver creative and technicallycompetent mobile marketing programmes.

UK: Miles WelchWith the government’s budget cuts, the uncertainfinancial outlook and the pressure on marketingbudgets, agencies will need to be in a constantstate of change to stay operationally andcommercially on top of their game.

Businesses that embrace change, and are equippedto manage a state of ‘constant’ change, will have abetter chance of success in 2011.

Facebook will sort out their privacy issues, thencreate some more.

Spain: Pedro CalderónIn our geography, we believe the market is going tobe more fragmented (as a consequence of manynew start ups) and evolve in three different kindsof cluster players that will interact withcommunications in three ways:

1) Big agencies (mostly international) will still play the integration and specialisation game, using both poles to leverage capabilities, size and opportunities.

2) Mid size agencies (mostly national) will have integration at the core of their growth strategies.

3) Small agencies will claim specialisation and collaboration with other specialists to leverage their own capabilities and clients service demands.

In terms of M&A we predict growth in activity indigital (after two years of strong growth and costrationalisation), PR, healthcare and agenciesconsolidating their businesses to offset marginerosion and increase service capabilities.

www.resultsig.com BULLETIN NINE

Central & Eastern Europe: David Blois1) Resurgence of RussiaWhen compared to its BRIC compatriots – Brazil,China and India – Russia is the exception. It is notcurrently growing at the same rate despite havingvast energy and mineral wealth, pent up consumerdemand and government and household financesin a sound state of health. This, I believe, is aboutto change as a new driver of growth is fuelled byincreasing wages and lower taxes. Social reformshave created a welcome safety net, givingconsumers the confidence to spend more andcatch up with their Western counterparts. In thisfavourable environment, domestic demand forgoods and services will increase significantly.

2) Strong marketing communications investment in Turkey

Turkey, the China of Europe, will continue to beone of the fastest growing advertising markets in

North Asia: Chris Beaumont North Asia may be a region of economic and socialcontrasts, but as we go into 2011 a unifyingmarcoms characteristic is the focus on innovationfor brands to capture the hearts and minds ofconsumers in new ways. Of course technology is akey empowering ingredient which goes beyond theburgeoning number of new smart phone apps.

In Japan, the use of GPS will come of age to createa new form of mobile marketing. One suchexample is the use of GPS in gaming. Travel is anobvious element but we will also see social mediacontent connections and a boom in virtualcurrency (pura) and augmented reality.

Korea remains the country that leads digitalconvergence and as such offers a ‘future’ windowon new behaviours and how brands are impactedby new forms of community and monetising apps.

China will start to go west (within country) as theypersist in their central strategy of “expandingdomestic demand and maintaining steady andrelatively fast development”.

Across the marcoms continuum, from traditional tomobile media, we are witnessing unparalleledgrowth; the key challenge is to integrate and beable to connect (on­ and off­line) with thepopulation in second and third tier cities in orderto establish a platform for sustainable growth.

To discuss global expansion, please contactAndrew Kefford at akefford@resultsig.com

South East Asia: Andrew KeffordIt is expected that the region will continue itsstrong economic growth in 2011 – not the wildgrowth levels experienced in 2010 (Singapore over15%) as exports picked up globally but a moresustainable level of around 5 – 6% for the fourbigger markets; Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia andThailand. Currently, the majority of the region’sexports are to China, so this does depend, to acertain extent, on continuing export and domesticconsumption in this critical market.

The marcoms sector is growing at a similar pace(faster in the largest market, Indonesia) withinwhich there continue to be a number of very goodcompanies looking for international partners whoare not completely focussed on China and India.

Middle East & North Africa: Imad Kublawi Following on from two ‘quiet’ years, 2011 isexpected to show increased momentum in tradeactivities, which will reflect positively on themarketing and communications sectors. Clients areexpected to increase their marketing spend, albeitwith stringer demands on measurable (and better)returns, which will give greater rise to specificsectors such as one­to­one marketing and, ofcourse, digital.

Government spending will continue to stimulateeconomies, not only in the usual markets of KSA,UAE and Qatar but also in Kuwait where megaprojects are expected to be given the go­ahead.KSA has approved its highest budget ever for 2011.

As a result of strong domestic markets, favourabledemographics, market growth and liquidity fromoil and gas revenues, M&A activity in the marcomssector is expected to increase in 2011 but mainlyfor quality opportunities. Buyers, including privateequity firms, have stepped up their enquiries andwe should hear about acquisitions in the course of2011.

the world. A continuing trend will be the high levelof interest from serious investors in the marketingcommunications sector. This includes niche playersas well as the major holding companies who will belooking to consolidate their footprint in thisgeographical and strategically important market ­the only European market identified by GoldmanSachs in their ‘next eleven’ fastest growingeconomies report.

3) A move towards integrationTrends in marketing communications invariablytend to follow the patterns of the more establishedmarkets. I believe that 2011 will see an increasingconvergence of on­line and off­line marketingagencies. This will be driven by the need of digitalagencies to develop and the motivation of thelarger integrated agencies to more fully embracedigital at the request of their clients.

Germany: Arne Tödt Overall sentiment of the German marcomsindustry will remain positive in 2011 and isexpected to grow by 3%. The strong recovery ofthe German economy and increasing spending inonline advertising are key drivers for growth. This isspurred by the breakthrough of video ads in socialmedia now becoming a relevant category in themarketing mix of advertisers. While M&A activity in2010 has lagged behind other key markets, such asthe US and UK during 2010 (down 35% in volumevs. 2009), M&A activity has significantly increased

over the past few months so much more activity isexpected in 2011. While international buyers areattracted by the strong recovery of the Germaneconomy, there is also a need to increase skills asclients demand multichannel service capabilities.

Most business owners have, during the course of2010, recovered from 2008/2009 and are keen todiscuss opportunities for growth due to theirstronger balance sheets and enhanced businessperformance.

RESULTS INTERNATIONAL VIEW

www.resultsig.comBULLETIN TEN

UNITED KINGDOM:

ATLANTIC A well known B2B lead generation business specialising in the technology and communications sector.

BLUE OCEAN Fast growing, London­based, specialist social media agency with EBIT of £400k and a blue chip client base.

BLUE SEA London­based number one iPhone/iPad application developer with EBIT of £550k.

EVEREST UK market leading customer experience evaluation agency in mystery shopping and customer satisfaction research. Blue chip clients in the retail, leisure, hospitality and gaming sectors. Over £1m EBITDA.

JUPITER Highly creative, integrated agency located within the M25 with a blue chip client base and a strong digital capability looking to join forces via an acquisition with a London­based digital agency.

MORZINE Award winning full service PR agency with key strengths in consumer and B2B with a strong digital capability.

VAIL Leading full service PR consultancy, outstanding client list and EBIT significantly in excess of £1m.

Following a poor 2009, 2010 saw avery significant increase in globalM&A activity in the marcoms andrelated technologies sector. Per theResults International database oftransactions in the sector, 226 dealswere recorded in 2010, up 60% fromthe 142 deals recorded in 2009. The2010 level was still 15­20% belowthe heady days of 2007 and 2008,but as the year started slowly,gradually picking up momentum intoa very busy final quarter, we mightwell expect this trend to continueinto 2011. Certainly our currentactivity levels at Results Internationalare at an all­time high.

Several factors have been driving thisincrease. Inevitably the activities of the bigfive marcoms networks have had asignificant influence.

Last year saw their return to the M&Amarket with over sixty completedtransactions, more than double the numberseen in 2009 (twenty­seven transactions).

There was a strong foray in particular byWPP who completed twenty­six transactionsacross thirteen countries, fourteen of whichwere in the digital space and eleven were inthe US. Publicis and Omnicom announcedtheir return to the M&A market after aparticularly quiet 2009 completing twelveand eleven transactions respectively.

Interpublic and Havas also stepped out intothe market with another 12 transactionsbetween them as they make a play for newterritories. We expect networks’ M&Aappetites to remain strong throughout 2011. We also saw a growing amount of activity

from the Private Equity and Venture Capitalhouses in 2010 with the majority oftransactions tracked by Results falling intothe digital and digital tech space.

More sizeable fundraisings include a $200mfundraise by US social network Twitter,£62.5m raised by UK marcoms companyEngine Group, $60m by German emailmarketing technology platform eCircle, $50mby US ad network Glam Media, $40m by USvideo monetisation and advertising companyTremor Media and $33m by US social gamingdeveloper Playdom.

Indirectly, Private Equity led to further M&Aactivity as PE­backed companies, such asFullSix, used their financial backing to go onthe acquisition trail. In the case of FullSix, toacquire UK digital agency Grand Union.

Overall digital was the most popular sectorfor M&A activity, but it was by no meansalone. The PR sector had a surprising amountof activity with Next Fifteen, Huntsworth,Lewis and Edelman all completing deals inthe sector.

Another popular sector in 2010 washealthcare with a large amount of M&Aactivity across multiple disciplines coveringPR, medical education, market access anddigital. Most of the transactions took place inEurope and North America with over 25%coming from the UK and the US. A fewtransactions worth noting are PublicisGroupe’s acquisition of UK strategichealthcare communications agency ResoluteCommunications, Huntsworth’s acquisition ofUK healthcare PR agency Scope Medical andthe acquisition of UK market access companyTotal Healthcare Group by United BiosourceCorporation.

As many acquirers were driven by the needto target fast growing companies and toservice clients globally, it was inevitable thatthe emerging markets would see plenty of

activity with Brazil, China and India being thedestinations of choice.

The most active acquirer was Publicis Groupewhich completed seven transactions in thesecountries. Four of these were in Brazil andtransactions include digital agency AG2 whichwill lead its digital operations in the region, amajority stake in leading Brazilian digitalagency Talent and Chinese advertising agencyG4. WPP and Interpublic also madeacquisitions in the digital space in Brazil withWPP acquiring Midia Digital and I­Cherry andInterpublic acquiring CUBOCC.

Another encouraging sign in 2010 was theemergence of buyers that might not havebeen associated with marcoms in the past,for example Hearst Corporation boughtiCrossing and St Ives plc acquired Occam.

You may be wondering how valuations faredover the year? Multiples paid for leadingbusinesses and technologies have remainedstrong with the main difference being agreater proportion of consideration beingdeferred in order to minimise risk for theacquirer.

What can we expect to see in 2011? Giventhe amount of interest Results is seeing bothfrom potential vendors and acquirers, thisyear could well return to the levels seen in2007 and 2008. The major networks willcontinue to acquire in the digital arena andemerging markets and we expect to see asharp growth in transactions across the socialmedia spectrum as companies seek to getahead or stay ahead in this fast moving area.

We also expect to see the major digitalplayers like Google and Facebook continue tomake further acquisitions and there will beplenty of hype and speculation in the nexttwelve months around the potentialFacebook and Twitter IPOs.

If you would like to discuss the above topic,please contact Keith Hunt atkeithhunt@resultsig.com

M&A OpportunitiesThe following summary is a sample of the range of companies currently represented by Results International. If there are other sectors or areas of opportunity not indicated here that interest you, please advise us at the earliest opportunity. If you'd like to discuss the opportunities below in more detail,please contact Angela Lurssen at alurssen@resultsig.com.

WHAT’S HOT IN M&A

www.resultsig.com BULLETIN ELEVEN

WESTERN EUROPE:

AVIEMORE Scandinavian marketing PR network with EBIT of €550k, headquartered in Stockholm.

BLUEBOX New online sports gaming startup seeking a €5m investment.

BOND STREET Madrid­based leading Internet and advertainment agency, seeking investment or acquisition by an international group.

GREEN PARK Barcelona based Outdoor Media Specialist Agency seeking investment or acquisition. EBIT 2009, €143k.

SPRINGBOK Highly successful Paris­based advertising agency. Long term, high margin business, with strong growth.

EASTERN & CENTRAL EUROPE:

NOBLE Leading Istanbul integrated agency, highly profitable with EBIT level of €1.2m seeks trade buyer.

TESLA Leading Istanbul PR consultancy with top international brands and €6.5m fee income seeks trade buyer.

XENON Istanbul based media sales agency with revenue €2.5m, EBIT €0.8m seeks trade buyer.

ASIA­PACIFIC:

BAHAMAS A well established, Indian and Mumbai based TV and feature film production company seeks a strategic partner or funding of US $10m.

CAMERON Singapore­based 28­strong leading independent interactive agency with two additional offices in the region seeks trade buyer.

CASCADE Integrated marketing firm headquartered in HK, but operating across Asia that has consistently out­performed the market. After almost 3 decades the firm has established a preeminent position based on technological leadership and executional excellence, with an estimated EBITDA of US $953k seeks trade buyer.

MERLION The leading design company in Southeast Asia with blue chip client base seeks trade buyer.

ST JOHNS India based integrated communications agency seeks trade buyer.

ST KITTS Leading Indian­based, well established integrated software solutions provider specialising in web design, CRM, online advertising and email marketing with blue­chip client base seeks trade buyer.

ST LUCIA Indian­based pioneering and highly awarded independent full­service digital interactive/digital communications agency seeks trade buyer.

MENA:

AQUA Dubai based experiential marketing agency with young and creative management team. PBT over $1m seeks trade buyer.

ATLANTIS Dubai based award winning advertising agency with a talented and ambitious management team and diversified income seeks trade buyer.

CORAL Market leading digital agency with people, processes and technology of world­class standard and headquarters in Dubai. Revenue $8m seeks trade buyer.

LATIN AMERICA:

BOLERO High profile Sao Paulo­based interactive agency, the 10th largest in Brazil. Internationally experienced management team with strong social media expertise seeks strategic partner.

Conditions:

1.All clients whose details are provided in this bulletin, and respondents, are deemed to accept the need for absolute confidentiality on allinformation provided by clients and will be expected to sign a confidentiality letter before any information will be provided.

2.Important note: the information contained in this document does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for shares. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the reliability of the information contained herein, but no warranty is given as to its accuracy or completeness.

Authorised and approved by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

www.resultsig.com

RESULTS INTERNATIONAL

MEET THE TEAM

BULLETIN TWELVE

If you would like to discuss any of the articles in this bulletin please contact Angela Lurssen at alurssen@resultsig.com24/25 New Bond Street, London W1S 2RR

Tel: +44 (0)20 7629 7575Authorised and approved by the Financial Services Authority (FSA)

Andrew KeffordPresidentInternational,Regional Director Asia­Pacific

David BloisRegional Director,Eastern and CentralEurope

Jim BellRegional Director,Western Europe

Ronnie CohenPartner, US

Dan EgertonProject Manager,Consulting

David CoppProject Manager &Research Analyst

Hemavli BaliCorporate FinanceManager

Keith HuntManaging Partner

Andy CollinsSenior Partner

Mark SeabrightSenior Consultant

Julia Crawley­BoeveyCorporate FinanceManager

Eduardo SteinerRegional Director, Latin America & ManagingPartner, Brazil

Keith McCrackenManaging Partner,North America

François JourdanPartner, France

Pedro CalderónManaging Partner,Spain & Portugal

Arne TödtManaging Partner,Germany

Peter SchorkChairman, Germany

Richard EyreNon­ExecutiveDirector

Chris JonesNon­ExecutiveChairman

Angela LurssenHead of Marketing & Project Manager

Imad KublawiPartner, MENA

Chris BeaumontRegional Director, North Asia

Sunil GuptaManaging Partner,South Asia

Nikhil NehruChairman, India

Graham BeckettFounding Partner

Jim HoughtonPartner

Sophie JewsonPractice Manager

UK AND EUROPE

Tony DyettGroup Accountant

Hannah JonesTeam Assistant

AMERICAS

ASIA

Miles WelchDirector

Jamie KeffordManager,South East Asia