In this exclusive piece, Omnicom Media Group Newcastle Managing Director Pete Coates challenges the outdated view of regional offices as isolated silos or mere service centres, arguing instead that today’s brands demand an agile, integrated approach. By leveraging a distributed, cross-location operating model, Pete illustrates how tapping into diverse talent pools can unlock new career opportunities and drive innovative outcomes.

The outdated perception of the geographic distribution of teams within scaled media agencies being one of Silos, Service Centres and Shop Windows is a far cry from the reality.

Regional offices operating as standalone P&Ls, providing back-office functions servicing internal teams, or acting as forward operating bases to establish a foothold in a new city and brief work back to HQ, don’t meet the increasingly complex needs of today’s brands. Clients want an agency with scaled and diverse capabilities that can operate in a fluid and agile way, delivered with consistently high levels of service.

From the conversations we’re having with clients, the ‘trend’ recent coverage has alluded to, of clients moving from Northern-based to London-based agencies, is nothing to do with the quality and capability of the talent outside of London. It’s their ability to access the diverse range of capabilities they need in the fluid and agile way that keeps them ahead of their competition.

In building OMG’s presence across the UK, in London, Manchester and most recently Newcastle, we set out to meet that need, transforming the outdated Silos, Service Centres and Shop Fronts approach to geographic distribution. We built it with our Agency as a Platform operating model at the heart, which already provides seamless access to the broad portfolio of capabilities that exist across OMG.

Newcastle itself offers us a unique opportunity. It puts our business physically closer to a whole host of Northern headquartered brands, but it also puts us in the middle of an incredible talent pool that we can leverage for the benefit of both our existing clients and the new ones we win.

It’s also a city undergoing incredible transformation with investment pouring in, the cranes flying high above the new buildings being erected, as well as being earmarked as a key region for investment in the creative sector as part of the Government’s overall economic growth strategy.

Since launching at the beginning of 2024 we’ve created 41 roles in the city across a broad range of capabilities, from client leadership and planning to biddable specialists and AV, which has kept us really busy – we’re on to our third office space in just over a year to fit everyone in!

What’s inspired me most is the individual stories. As the only Holdco materially investing in growth in the city, we’ve created some incredible opportunities for people and our clients are reaping the results:

• Senior, experienced talent whose career progression we’ve unlocked by offering them the potential to progress upwards rather than sideways between similar sized agencies.
• Talent who cut their teeth working across a broad portfolio of SMEs who are now plying their craft on some of the biggest brands in the world
• Those who want to return from the London-based Geordie diaspora to be closer to family and friends but don’t want to compromise on their career
• The media-commuters travelling 300-mile round trips to London each week to work for a major agency, but live in the North East
• The industry-entrants taking their first steps in the industry after school or University without having to move to a different city.

The entry-level talent in particular is such a massive opportunity for us. Newcastle has one of the highest student retention rates in the UK alongside some brilliant schools and colleges providing an incredible pipeline of school leavers. With a marketing landscape that is shifting all the time, we’re looking forward to welcoming the next generation of industry talent to develop their skills in this new, future-ready cross-location operating model.

While the conversation about the future of work is perhaps quite rightly dominated by the impact of AI  and how this will change the roles we create and the expectations of our people (a topic that is alive and thriving at OMG too); we believe that looking to new domestic markets and innovating across our operating model offer equal potential for delivering transformative outcomes and ensuring OMG continue to sit at the top of the new business growth tables.