Jane and Nick pose for an impromptu shoot for our client blackandwhite.co.uk

Last night we marked 25 years of WWAV with a gathering at the Kensington Roof Gardens of around 250 of those of us who'd worked there during the last two and a half decades.

John Watson founded WWAV in 1981 and within 5 years it was the largest DM agency in the UK. Many of us learnt the business of direct response from him and his team. The fact that so many of those who went last night have gone on to create their own successful agencies or rise to senior positions at pretty much every major DM agency is testament to this.

Hats off to you John and every success with your new agency.

I picked up on Kathy's blog from Dave at Chemisty Digital. 'Be provocative' is a useful reminder of what we're in the business to do for our clients. "The secret is to be more provocative and interesting than anything else in their environment."

I'm preparing a presentation on branding and came across this from Mark Ritson (Marketing Mag, 3rd October) which neatly sums up the essence of brand positioning:

“Branding is all about getting customers to recognise your brand and then think a certain way about it. Customers tend to describe their brands in short, pithy descriptors, and great brand positioning has always replicated this economy of expression.”

Ex-dragon, Doug Richards, was the key note speaker at today's B2B Hub conference in Coventry. He talked through his checklist of what makes for a successful entrepreneurial business. People were at the top of the list. Interestingly he said that most successful business had a group of people at the helm running the show. Three functional types were needed: a salesman, someone who can deliver the product and a third who does the numbers. Secondly there is the product. In every pitch he receives he is thinking about what the product benefits are and how strong they are. Finally the market. Go for markets that are recent, new and uncertain. You'll make the most progress in niche sectors.

Doug spoke with the confidence of someone who has been at the top of his game for some time and made a few quid too. He also highlighted his failures in business - two out of his five companies went under. You learn and you get up and start again he said. Questioned about how to motivate staff his reply was that transparency in business was paramount. Be open with the figures and when you hit difficult times people are more likely to pull together.

He finished by suggesting we continually ask ourselves: what is the potential return here and what is the cost? Is it worth it? If so put everything you've got into making it work.

However great the creative and the planning it's often the small things that clients notice and which make for a great relationship. Going the extra mile is what counts. A small example of this was when we launched the new local entertainment complex (cinema and bowling) - it was a fantastic evening with everything going down to the wire (as usual). When the client introduced me to someone that night he commented: 'these guys thought of everything, right down to providing 20 brollies in case it rained!"

Here's an interesting insight from Neil Christie of W&K

"I suspect that browsing of agency websites has to a certain extent replaced the part of the new business process known as the 'creds meeting'. It used to be that the new business director of a large agency would be expected to arrange two or three creds (credentials) meetings a week, at which the agency would present examples of its work and approach to potential clients, whether or not they were actually reviewing their business at the time. These speculative meetings just don't happen any more. Clients don't visit agencies unless they're actually putting a pitch list together. Partly because they're too busy and partly because the competitiveness of today's new biz environment would mean they're liable to be torn apart by desperate agencies if they started just 'popping in for a chat.' It's easier for them just to have a look at the agencies' websites - no commitment and no feeding frenzy."