Justin Cooke's secret to his new found Fortune Cookie

AKQA. BBH. Acceleration. ISpy. And now Fortune Cookie. All these agencies have recently been snapped up by the larger networks which have gone on acquisition sprees to consolidate and grow their international and local offerings.

July has been a frantic month for acquisitions, mergers and agency sales, but I’m delighted to see MiNetwork member Justin Cooke’s Fortune Cookie get snapped up as part of this hectic activity.

As the former editor of The Drum for more than a decade one thing I used to hear quite often was why would I want to raise my profile among my peers, rivals and competitors? The acquisition activity of the last few weeks demonstrates exactly why it is vital for agency owners to build and develop a high media profile.

Let’s face facts. Most people launch their own agency to become rich. Let’s not beat about the bush. The vast majority of agency owners out there want to build their business and ultimately exit with a nice pot of cash that will enable them to live their dreams for the rest of their days.
Well, that dream is never going to come true if you don’t get out there and tell the world – clients, rivals, suppliers and potential recruits alike - what a switched on business leader you are and what a great business you run.

Let’s look at the boss of Fortune Cookie. Justin Cooke is a master at his own self publicity and I mean that in the most positive terms possible. I don’t mean he is egotistical, far from it, I mean he is driven to succeed and isn’t afraid to let the industry he works in know that.

Funny Story Alert: Did you know Justin got paid for his first ever website job in hotel room nights? He then sold these to people online for around £30k to get his fee.

As well as heading up Fortune Cookie he also heads up BIMA, which helps his and Fortune Cookie’s profile enormously and gets him through doors that would otherwise be locked. That also gets him into the media as an industry leader, expert and commentator. Add all this together and what you get is someone and something that is highly visible and ultimately becomes very attractive to acquisitive groups when they get involved in a land grab.

It’s time for agency bosses to stop being shy about why you are in this business. To make money. There’s no shame in that. Tell the world about yourselves and maybe someone like WPP might like the cut of your jib and come calling.

If you own an agency and want to make more money from it join MiNetwork and learn from the best business brains in agency land.