The Weekly Wrap – Keith Taylor, Taylor O'Brien
All this talk of recession and ‘credit crunch’ is trying to bring us down. It’s always here, always hanging over us. Ever present.
When we were thinking about this column and the opportunity to spread words of wisdom across the globe ...the ‘obvious’ topic of the day just didn’t appeal.
We want to talk about something positive, something we love, something we believe in …something we could see thriving in the future.
The answer (and the opportunity) is Manchester. Our city. Or, as one of our London clients titled us this week, “The Gem of the North”.
We know Manchester pioneered the industrial revolution with its mills, its workforce and its attitude to life. Greatness came from Manchester when the world needed us.
We created the greatest inland port (apologies to Liverpool), we ‘practically’ invented the modern day computer and when the country needed a boost through our music scene - we were here to lead the times.
Manchester is ready again. We were born ready.
The TO’B team are based within one of those mills where the industrial revolution began. We find ourselves a stone’s throw from the heart of the early 90s music revolution, the computer revolution and the heritage of England’s waterways.
We would like to think that we are going to be part of the creative revolution that inspires us all again.
A few weeks ago we gazed out of the office window as Guy Richie, Jude Law and Robert Downey Jnr made their Sherlock Holmes movie. The buzz around the city was fantastic. The mills that once buzzed with people, machinery, and led the world with their production techniques, now buzz with telephones, keyboards, creativity and the generation of truly great ideas.
Yes, we know that times are perhaps not as easy as they could be right now; but this is where we will thrive on our entrepreneurial spirit.
As a city and a people we have so much going for us. As do the other regional cites that drive this country just as much as our capital claims too.
Let’s be positive, let’s be happy. Let’s celebrate the successes we have achieved and look forward to the challenges for 2009 and beyond.
We are ready, Manchester is ready. Are you?