'Helping to make brands freshly relevant to a complex world...' – From Rankin the man to RANKIN the company, official one-stop-shop agency launch September 2019 plus Q&A with Richard Pinder, CEO RANKIN, for you on GoSee
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In the ever-changing, ever-evolving era of creative industries comes the need for an agency to cut through the bull. Enter: RANKIN. Once known as simply one man, now an amalgamation of the independent operations Tonic Reps, The Full Service, Rankin Photography and Rankin Film; all tidied up in one neat creative package.
RANKIN is now a one-stop-shop, with one easy-to-remember name. Bringing together all the many creative facets of the acclaimed photographer and over 80 talented people buying into Rankin’s creative vision under the one umbrella means the agency sits in that unique spot of not being just a film or photography studio but also wearing hats in idea generation, editorial content, brand identity, talent management, and start-to-finish production.
Rankin himself is now joined by leading industry players Richard Pinder, ex Publicis Groupe and Crispin Porter, as CEO, and Christine Jones, ex Ogilvy & Mather and WPP, as Executive Creative Director. RANKIN, which officially launches this September, already has the names of Samsonite, Unilever and Rolls Royce on the wall – the latter for which it helped throw out the luxury car rule book with the help of Gwendoline Christie.
Rankin says: “I’ve always been excited by the new. So when the world started changing, I just grabbed it.”
“That’s what RANKIN is about – taking Rankin’s reputation as a cultural provocateur and providing that same creative agitation for brands that need to cut through all the media clutter,” Pinder explains.
“This goes beyond providing creative ideas. It’s about helping to make brands freshly relevant to a complex world that, frankly, needs to be impressed to pay any attention.” says Jones
Here is our Q&A with Richard Pinder, CEO RANKIN, for you on GoSee:
What kind of clients are you aiming to work with?
We want to work with the kinds of brands that already find us intriguing. Brands that want to stand out in culture. Brands that see the changing world as an opportunity to change their world, not be changed by it. And brands that think a new kind of creative company built around a cultural provocateur and visualizer like Rankin is exactly what they are looking for.
RANKIN is a global brand of its own. How do you want to use this?
Rankin the man is very well known. We aim to build RANKIN the company in his image, with his vision but with a large number of talented people delivering to that. We are already 80 people, and we expect to grow that pretty quickly. As we head into turbulent times, it’s a time of opportunity for brands. We think those who are open to new things will be intrigued by the Rankin they know morphing into the RANKIN they need.
What do you think is the difference between RANKIN and a classical ad agency?
Quite a lot of differences. We know that today’s consumers want to be told the truth. So we work with brands to uncover their truth and to see how that can be used to change the world for the better. We are unashamed and unapologetic in searching for that and telling the truth to brands. Then we have studios, directors, photographers, editorial staff, and filmmakers in the building and can very quickly bring the ideas we develop to life. In even the most forward-thinking ad agency, I’ve never seen that combination.
Bloggers, influencers, supermodels, athletes … are self-managed talent, and the new power-play within the industry, would you say, is liberating talent from the administration?
Everyone is looking at cutting out the middle men/women. Stories of going direct are everywhere. Why? Because the end purchaser (often clients) have been disappointed in some way by the status quo and are looking for ways to get a leg up. In a changing world, they are looking to change theirs. That’s why we think we have an offer that is relevant for them.
Do you think ad agencies have lost their bite/wit?
I think no one sets out each day to do a bad job. There are thousands and thousands of smart souls working hard in the ad industry for their clients and their employers. But the tricky bit is to create a situation where the best work can be done for the best reasons. That is much easier at the ‘cottage industry’ end of the scale than at the ‘mass production’ end. Wit is mandatory here. It’s not always welcomed there.
Rankin the man is known for working nonstop – how about you?
Yeah, well we both come from a similar work ethic upbringing which the millennial generation pity us for…but millennials have also taught us something which is that work and life are interchangeable and you can do both in the same hour. If you enjoy what you do and know how to enjoy yourself, it normally works out pretty well.
Any upcoming campaigns you can share with GoSee?
Loads! Lots of work being briefed in and being shot. And we will share with GoSee just as soon as we can :)
