During the dot com crash of 2001 many people in the industry panicked. Advertisers stopped advertising online and people left their online advertising jobs, returning to TV and Press advertising.
There was, however, one point that most seemed to ignore, namely that consumers were still spending time online, especially on the large portals and search engines (Yahoo, MSN etc). Simon Mansell, TBG London’s Managing Director, saw this opportunity and TBG was born.
Simon’s solution was to approach the seven largest online media owners and offer to buy their media based on results, rather than via a classic media buy. Simon also guaranteed the portals blue chip, “bricks & mortar” advertisers who were more reliable and stable than the boo.com’s. In one case, Simon had to meet a publisher seven times before they agreed to offer a performance-based buying model. It was this tenacity, resilience and sheer determination that would prove to be one of TBG’s core business strengths going forward.
After demonstrating to clients that consumers were still visiting websites even though the internet market was in trouble, TBG signed Britannia Music and Vauxhall as its launch clients. TBG’s solution was not only to offer performance based media buys but to be also fully involved in the user journey, from creative to landing page to purchase process. By owning the customer experience from start to finish, TBG could dramatically improve customer experience and enable more efficient site conversions. TBG’s first year turnover was £1.7M.
TBG unfortunately lost its biggest client at the end of its first year, which accounted for 70% of the first year revenue. With seven staff by this point and the market at its lowest point it was very difficult to recover. But recover it did. No-one lost their job and TBG still grew the turnover from £1.7M to £2.3M.
TBG has continued to grow at a fantastic rate with our fifth year delivering a turnover of £13.63 million. We are now ranked number 9 in NMA’s Top 100 Interactive Agencies and Number 5 in the Top Marketing Agencies. But, of course, we won’t be happy until we’re number one.
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