The Future's Bright

This is a bit of a milestone week for me. I'm jacking in my job of six years. Leaving a fairly respectable northern agency - and taking a 'career break' for no other reason than 'cos I can'.

When you've been a wage slave for a long while, the idea of just not having to get up in a morning seems divine. But I know it'll only be a couple of weeks before I'm in a blind panic, twiddling my thumbs, desperately DIYing the house and wondering what the troops are up to in the office. (But lets face it even your best work-mates aren't going to thank you for getting in touch and regularly reminding them that you're free and they're not, so emailing ex-colleagues is a bit of a no no).

Soooo, I've pre-empted myself and had a bit of a think about what I can do to wile away the hours and earn a few coppers to pay the mortgage and the new Orange mobile phone bill. (Company paid moby is a gift from god, despite being a taxable benefit and mine is going back - Boo!).

Hence the reason for me limbering up my fingers with the blog - as I'm half thinking of returning to me creative roots and picking up a freelance writing career that I foolishly threw away to become part of the Propaganda Machine.

Anyway - it seems the future's bright. The call for quality writing is on the up, given that even the oldstars are getting into the web these days. An article from the Copywriter's Crucible confirmed something I'd witnessed first hand earlier this week. On a visit to see my Pa, I found him pacing in small circles in his lounge, alternately scratching his head and his arse (apparently become unaware that you're doing stuff that's probably socially unacceptable, once you're retired, so I'll have to look out for myself doing similar scratching). While Dad paced, his mate fiddled with wires out the back of an ancient looking pc, conveniently placed just inside the front door, swearing quietly under his breath. Dad is one of the millions of British, currently engaged in a battle of wits with the British Broadband providers in an attempt to get on the superhighway.

So it seems my last few weeks, spent researching what makes good web-based copy are going to come in mighty handy. Good old Gerry McGovern and countless articles on SEO may stand me in good stead to peddle my services. Now all I need is to put myself about a bit.

SEO Bingo

Reflecting on my previous post - Are UK Agencies Too Slow To Embrace Digital Marketing? I wondered if I had been too fast to judge. So bearing in mind that SEO is hailed as one of the key drivers of the Revolution - I applied the following logic. . .

If UK agencies are on the ball with developments in integrated digital comms, then (maybe) it follows that they will have their SEO house in order too. Anyway to cut a long story short - my brief interlude of SEO bingo suggested that my initial hunch hadn't been too far wrong.

Bang Digital Branding or Digital Agency into Google and none of the big, well known UK agencies appear - with the notable exception of Interbrand (those boys appear to be good at, well, just about everything). What you get instead is a crop of really fresh digital 'boutiques' of varying sizes - who's own virtual shop windows combine a mix of gorgeous eyecandy with some really smart thinking and lovely intuitive navigation. There are a couple who take the moral highground - and use the content argument, in order to excuse their lack of design.

Here are a couple of my favorites. . Rubber Republic, appeals to the kid in me and seem to have a family of services each of which does what it says on the tin. Then there's Agency Republic. These guys just blew me away - go and visit their client sites, particularly the Mercedes site, or for foodies the Hellman's sandwich bar. Just lovely work - captivating, to different audiences and for different reasons.

My view is that traditional agencies who are clued up will be frantically forging partnerships with smaller digital agencies - and white labeling bought in digital capabilities as their own. That, or they'll be busily boosting the freelance books in order to be prepared as and when the client briefs drop. In the meantime, it's ker-ching! for the digital boutiques as they cash in on their top spot on the digital leaderboard.