Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Companies based locally but reaching a certain size have a habit of assuming they suddenly have to go to London for services.

A glance at Flag’s client portfolio might persuade them of the folly of this approach. The agency is currently handling a major and innovative project directly for Silicon Valley company Agilent, based in Palo Alto in California’s Bay area.

Chairman Rob Cameron said the project was very much a deal “between us in Silicon Fen and them in Silicon Valley rather than an Agilent UK subsidiary;”

“Then our company’s client base is exclusively blue chip. We have very few local clients. In the early days through the 1980s and early ’90s, we were handling mostly small jobs for local companies. We decided that was not how we wanted to progress so changed the business model to attract national clients.

“Since attracting our first national account we haven’t looked back and now handle work for major players like Agilent, KPMG, Prudential, Barclays, BAE Systems. Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury, Standard Life and AstraZeneca.”

Flag, launched in 1984, has just won a PR Week award for its work with Agilent. The agency specialises in communications strategy and also in implementation across print and web media via intranets, extranets and related activities. Creating highly-focused websites accounts for 30 per cent of the business.

It is a web-based promotion - designed to attract more bright young graduates - that Flag has created for KPMG.

Within the design arena, Flag handles general corporate communications, internal communications to help companies engage and enthuse their staff, the high growth area of corporate social responsibility (environmental, health & safety communications) and graduate recruitment.

The company was founded by Rodney Dale - also a founder of Cambridge Consultants - in 1984. Cameron joined six months later.

Company secretary and print production manager, Janet Whelan, remains with the business, which has 43 staff compared to three at the outset and nine in the early part of the ’90s.