Quietly, rather unassumingly, wow creative turned 10 years old on the 4th January.

With the run up to Christmas the wow team had other things to think about and as most of the corporate world didn’t return until the 5th January we hadn’t arranged anything to celebrate.

Over the Christmas break I had a few thoughts about the whole ‘10 years old’ thing, what should do to celebrate, if anything, what does this year mean in the great scheme? My team all wanted to do something to announce the anniversary to our clients and prospects. To shout it from the roof tops. I can totally understand that point of view, lots of companies follow that route.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud that we made it to a large landmark. And perhaps a year ago I may have been thinking we should really shout about it, press ads, little 10 year badges, PR, the works… But then came Woolworths; 99 years old and it still went bust. I wonder how many of their marketing team were working on next years centenary celebrations?

You see, to me that’s the problem with a lot of marketing today. It’s about telling people things about your company, when surely we should be telling them what you can do for their business - i.e. helping them to be more successful. Being 10 years old doesn’t really help them.

I’m not saying that it isn’t nice to know that a company has some credibility and some experience, but you don’t need to have been doing the same thing for 10 years to be able to be good at delivering good creative and good service to a client.

10 years is no mean feat, and I have started to say thank you to my team who have helped get us here, along with some great suppliers. I will also say a big thank you to our clients for their support, but that’s as far as the 10 year anniversary will go I think. Instead, I’ll concentrate on helping the clients we have fulfill their plans for the future… that’s a much better plan for making sure there’s another 10 years in our tank rather than patting ourselves on the back wallowing in our own pride.

At the weekend, I’ll quietly raise a glass of champagne with my team to Mr Woolworth and the numerous other landmarks in business that have fallen by the wayside, you have been an inspiration along the way. Thank you for the years you gave us, but please excuse me for now I must ensure we focus on our clients.